*press samples*
Hi folks! I know, it's been a while, but it's that time of year where not a ton of new polishes are being released. I hope you had a wonderful Christmas if you celebrate. My husband and I spent it by ourselves which was the first time we've done that since we've been married. It's so sad we weren't able to see our families, and I hope vaccines become more readily available soonish. I can't wait for 2021, even though I know it will take a while to see any real changes. On a much lighter note, can you believe Polish Pickup starts this Friday? This month's theme is Birthstones, Gems, and Minerals which is near and dear to my heart. I used to be a soil scientist and there is a lot of overlap with minerals which are components of soil. 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, Jan. 1st at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, Jan. 4th 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. The website is now open for wishlisting, so go check out this month's offerings STAT. Time for swatches!
Inspiration: the song Aquamarine from Silverstein
Price: $12
Cap: no cap
Surprise, Static Lacquer is rebranding to Lacquer is in the Air. New name, new labels, but the same great polish. It's Not a Diamond is a bright silver foil with a splash of holographic pigment. The holo really pops in brighter light, but it looks more like a foil in indoor or low light. I was surprised that it only needed 2 coats for full opacity, and it dried with no texture at all.
Lacquer is in the Air It's Aquamarine (3 coats over white)
Inspiration: lyrics from the song Aquamarine by Silverstein
Price: $12
Cap: no cap
Remember when I posted about the Static Lacquer Stained Color Theory polishes earlier in the year? It's Aquamarine is a light blue color stain with a soft sprinkling of aqua sparks. It is meant to tint any base you use it over, and will not be opaque. I used it over a white so you can really see the sparks and blue, but if also works well over It's Not a Diamond shown above. You can also do some cool art with a yellow to get shades of green as well. What combo would you use?
Starlight Polish Ammolite (3 coats)
Inspiration: Ammolite! It's an organic gemstone, sometimes found in ammonite fossils. Gem-quality ammolite comes more often in red or green than blue or purple, and has gorgeous chromatic shift. I was inspired to use UP and UP sibling pigment for my ammolite-inspired pieces this month because the colors and shifts of ammolites match up really well with these pigments!
Price: $16
Cap: 150/US 15/UK
You know Issa had to bust out the flakies and UP for this month's gorgeous color. Ammolite is a black jelly base with red to green shifting old school unicorn pee pigment, red to green shifting aurora flakes, and red to green shifting multichrome flakes! For this polish, the inspiration was specifically red dragonskin ammolite. I went ahead and used 3 thin coats for my photos, but if you use thicker coats or have short nails, you may be able to get away with just 2. It does dry with a little bit of texture from the abundance of flakes, so you may end up needing a second coat of topcoat to smooth it all out. Just look at that shift!
Starlight and Sparkles Ammolite Pendant
Inspiration: Ammolite
Price: $11
Cap: 250/US 25/UK
The Ammolite pendant uses a black pendant tray and a glass cabochon, and green to blue old school UP sibling pigment, which shifts from a rich cool-toned green to turquoise to vibrant blue and even into indigo at more extreme angles, much like blue (or blue-green) ammolite. The glass cabochon in the pendant is 1" (25mm). The pendant itself is 1.1" (28mm) wide and 1.4" (35mm) tall, including the loop at the top. The interior width of the loop is approximately .17" (4.5mm). I find that it's not too big and not too small for my neck and to make a statement. The pendant comes on an 18” black cord necklace with nickel free findings and extender chain, and can be removed from the cord, so you'll be able to swap with something else if you wish. This makes a wonderful complement to last month's necklace.
There you have it, folks! A few of these items have a cap, so it's best to add your items to the 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? What are you picking up this month?
*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*
2 comments:
These are gorgeous polishes :-D
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