Monday, August 3, 2020

Polish Pickup August 2020 Weird Science Swatches & Reviews

*press samples*


Hi everyone! I told you'd I'd be back soon! My parents are here and I am so happy to see them! We are distancing and masking with our HEPA filter going to be on the safe side. Tonight I have a bunch of items from this month's Polish Pickup to share with you. The theme is Weird Science and this is near and dear to my heart as I have a Ph. D in Microbiology and worked in science for over a decade. Despite not being in science anymore, I'm still a science geek in my heart. New to PPU? If so, here's how it works:

Definitely join the Polish Pickup Facebook Group. You don't necessarily need to actively participate in the group, but it will give you a look at the polishes that will be available in the coming month. PPU themes are chosen by the people, often a few months in advance (brands need time to find their inspiration and test their polish). Any indie brand that has been around for at least a year can participate and each has their own specific inspiration picture and polish for that month. All you need to do is go to the Polish Pickup site during the pre-order window (the first Friday-Monday of the month) to make all of your purchases of these exclusive polishes. There's no need to pay for multiple shipping charges; since this is a pre-order, all polishes get sent to Polish Pickup and they send you the polishes you ordered. Yup, it's that simple. Oh, and shipping is a flat-rate of $3 to the US (more for international and they just had to increase the pricing to Canada). Recently they also opened a UK site which you can find here. Since all orders are pre-orders, shipping will take place about 3 weeks after the end of the pre-order.

PPU starts Friday, August 7th at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, August 10th at 11:59 PM (but if a polish has a cap and sells out before the end of the pre-order, it's gone, unless you get lucky and the cap gets raised...which is rare) on the PPU website. Guess what next month is?? PPU Rewind! Each brand gets to bring back a shade (or product) from a previous month for the PPU website, and a different color they can sell on their website if they're interested. 

The website is currently open for wishlisting, so go check out this month's offerings STAT. Time for swatches!











Noodles Nail Polish If I Only Had a Brain (3 coats)
Inspiration: Weird Science Fact: Jellyfish don't have brains
Price: $12
Cap: 200 bottles


Thanks, Natalie, I didn't know that jellyfish don't have brains. I'm a huge fan of jellyfish and watching them float in aquariums (less so seeing them out in the ocean). This one is a tangerine coral crelly (verging on jelly finish) with pale coral and pink glitters, violet/green/gold and blue/violet/pink/gold color shifting flakes, purple pink subtle shimmer, and a touch of gold holo glitters. This one dried with texture, so I would definitely double up on topcoat to smooth it all out. I think this will be the next polish to go on my toes for this summer. 








Serum No 5 Dancing Waters (warm) (3 coats)



Serum No 5 Dancing Waters (cold) (3 coats)



Serum No 5 Dancing Waters (transitioning) (3 coats)

Serum No 5 Dancing Waters (dark) (3 coats)
Inspiration: a science experiment with different cups with colored water and a string or paper going in and out of each one, you get the see the color travel up and blend into the next one. 
Price: $14
Cap: No cap


This is my first time trying Serum No 5, and I know about them for their thermals and glow-in-the-dark polishes. Dancing Waters is a trithermal that shifts from a milky white (hot) to pastel yellow (warm) to a dusty sage mint (cold) with iridescent flakes and shimmer that glows blue in the dark. You know how some glow-in-the-dark polishes aren't very bright? Sure, you have to "charge" it a little bit, but after you do, it is intense and long lasting. My cat woke me up during the middle of the night and my nails actually startled me because they were so bright. This will be the perfect polish for Halloween if any Halloween festivities happen this year. I found the formula a little thicker, so make sure to use thin coats. I used 3 coats for my photos and I had to use some ice water to show the cold side because it has been SO hot here. 










Starlight Polish Fetch Me My Lab Coat (3 coats)
Inspiration: The color is inspired by copper and nitric acid, but the true inspiration for Fetch Me My Lab Coat is a quote by chemist Ira Remsen (which is apparently a trimmed down version of the full original).  This quote is one that I've carted around with me in various forms (in binders, in notebooks, and eventually in my phone) since I was fourteen or fifteen years old. 
"While reading a textbook of chemistry, I came upon the statement, nitric acid acts upon copper, and I was determined to see what this meant. Having located some nitric acid, I had only to learn what the words act upon meant. In the interests of knowledge, I was even willing to sacrifice one of the few copper cents then in my possession. I put one of them on the table, opened the bottle marked 'nitric acid', poured some of the liquid on the copper, and I prepared to make an observation. But what was this wonderful thing which I beheld? The cent was already changed, and it was no small change either. A greenish- yellow liquid formed and fumed over the cent on the table. The air became coloured dark-red. How could I stop this? I tried by picking up the cent and throwing it out of the window. I learned another fact: nitric acid acts on fingers. The pain led to another unpremeditated experiment. I drew my hands across my trousers and discovered nitric acid acts on trousers. This was the most impressive experiment I have ever performed. I tell of it even now with interest. It was a revelation to me. Plainly the only way to learn about such remarkable kinds of action is to see the results, to experiment, to work in a laboratory."
Price: $16.50
Cap:150 US/15 UK *$1 from each bottle will go towards the American Association of University Women*

I totally remember the copper and nitric acid experiment. Fetch Me My Lab Coat is a beautiful teal crelly base with UCC flakes that shift between red/bronze/green with unicorn pee pigment (the real deal, not aurora pigment) that shifts from red to gold to green. Unicorn pee pigment is very expensive and hard to come by. This one applied like a dream and you could get away with just 2 coats for full opacity, but I used a third for flake/shimmer density. It dried quickly and with no texture.









Starlight Polish Charm and Page Marker set
Inspiration: Issa's favorite branches of science, chemistry, and biology
Price: $15
Cap: 47 US/3 UK *5% of each set will go to the Society for Science & the Public*


I've been a huge fan of Issa's charm and page marker sets. I've found new and innovative ways to use these around the house. For one, I've started using the charms on the elastic of my masks to add a little interest to my daily mask wearing. This is an eight piece set, with six paperclip page markers and two clip-on charms.  The six page markers are a bottle with a syringe, a microscope, a section of an electrograph (most people will know of these from electrographs of heart or brain activity), a caffeine molecule, a brain, and a section of DNA.  The clip-on charms are an Erlenmeyer flask and an atom – carbon, if we’re assuming the atom is uncharged, since there are six electrons.  Each charm and page marker has two glass beads, which glow green in the dark. 

The page markers use rectangular paper clips (also called owl clips), glow in the dark glass beads, various charms, and stainless steel findings (the lobster clasps and the rings). Due to the shape of the paperclip, the charms can’t freely slide all around, and these types of paperclips are quite secure, reliably able to hold quite a few sheets. I also find they’re usually less likely to leave paperclip imprints in the page they’re attached to. I use these all the time for my books and plethora of notebooks I'm using. :-D

There you have it, folks! I've already been making my wishlist on the website, and it is quite long. There is a great deal of variety of this month, and I'm loving it. Leave it to science to really break the barriers. A few of these items have a cap, so it's best to add your items to your cart the night before the sale goes live. You need to have an account and sign in first before adding your wish listed items to the cart. Easy peasy. What do you think? Which ones are you picking up? 

*These polishes were provided by the company or PR representative. All reviews are based solely on my opinion. For more information, please see my full disclosure at the bottom of the site*