Wednesday, September 1, 2021

Polish Pickup September 2021 Trick or Treat Swatches and Reviews

 *press samples*



Wait, you mean to tell me it's September already? And did I hear recently that I should be buying Christmas presents NOW because things are going to be a mess near the end of the year? I'm just not ready for any of that! Please tell me I'm not the only one. I just got back from San Francisco a couple days ago for work, and I also forgot how hard a 3 hour time change messes with your sleep. I haven't been out of the Eastern Time Zone since 2019! This month's PPU theme is aptly Trick or Treat.  Wishlisting is up now on the website and I'm blown away by the variety of inspirations. 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). Since all orders are pre-orders, shipping will take place about 3 weeks after the end of the pre-order.

PPU starts Friday, September 3rd at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, September 6th at 11:59 PM (but if a polish has a bottle limit 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. Shall we get to some pictures? 








Noodles Nail Polish All in a Days Lurk (3 coats)
Inspiration: a decorated haunted house at night with vibrant orange, blue, and purple lights
Price: $12
Bottle Limit: None


Up first we've got All in a Days Lurk by Noodles Nail Polish which is a black jelly base with orange/pink/gold and blue/pink/purple flakes, holo flakes, and orange/purple/blue/turquoise metallic and holo glitters. This one is so squishy-looking! I'm a huge fan of Natalie's flakie and glitter polish mixes, and this one is no exception. I used 3 thin coats for my photos, and I used 1 coat of Glitter Grabber and 1 coat of QDTC to smooth it all out. 









Starlight and Sparkles Spooks and Sweets (3 coats)
Inspiration: Halloween, the night of tricks and treats, spooks and treats
Price: $16
Bottle Limit: 200 bottles


Up next we have Spooks and Sweets from Starlight and Sparkles which is also a black jelly base with gold to green shifting old school unicorn pee sibling pigment, pink to green shifting aurora flakes, and purple to teal shifting multichrome flakes. It's so cool how different black jellies can look with various shimmers and flakes! The gold/red shift can be seen more straight on, while the green shift is more apparent at sharper angles and lower lighting. I used 3 thin coats for my photos, and it dried with a bit of texture due to the amount of flakes. You should be able to get away with just 1 coat of topcoat though. So pretty! 







Starlight and Sparkles Shimmer Scale Necklace
Inspiration: All the beautiful shiny, shimmery, scaly folks out there this Halloween – there are so many gorgeous fabric and makeup options for costumes now, and people use them to create so many truly incredible looks!
Price: $11
Necklace Limit: 300

The Shimmer Scale pendant uses a black pendant tray and a glass cabochon, and gold to green old school UP sibling pigment, which shifts from a bronze gold to green, and flashes orange and teal at more extreme angles! It always made me think of dragons! The outline of the same overlapping spiral/criss-cross pattern that is on the back of the pendants shows under the pigment in the pendant, making a pattern reminiscent of scales. 

It comes with an 18" black cord necklace with nickel-free findings and extender which is great for me because I am sensitive to nickel. The color shift is more apparent in person, but I did my best to show the teal that pops out at the most extreme angles. It's a beautiful statement piece without being ostentatious at all. 

There you have it, folks! Halloween tends to bring out the best in many indie brands, so I'm super excited for this month. What are you picking up this month? Have a great rest of the week! 


*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*

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