Polish Pickup June 2021 Rainbows Swatches and Reviews

 *press samples*

Hola! Wait, it's almost JUNE? I swear it was just February, so how are we almost halfway through 2021?! Tonight I've got 3 polishes from this month's Polish Pickup which has the theme of Rainbows. Just a reminder, next month (July) is Rewind which means there will be no brand new polishes available, but each maker can bring back 2 polishes from previous months. One of the items will be available in the PPU store, while the other will be available in their own respective stores. I remember in previous years, many makers will try and have discounted or free shipping since shopping at many stores will rack up more shipping costs (instead of the $3 from PPU). 

PPU starts Friday, June 4th at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, June 7th 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. Time for swatches!

Noodles Nail Polish Adventure is "Up" (3 coats)

Inspiration: the rainbow of balloons amongst the sky in the animated film "Up"

Price: $11.50

Bottles Available: No Limit

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You won't believe this, but I've never seen "Up." You see, when my husband and I found out that everyone, and I mean everyone, cried uncontrollably in the first 15 minutes of the movie, that made us immediately not want to watch it. Everyone also raves about it, so perhaps at some point we'll get around to watching it. Adventure is "Up" is an aqua blue crelly base with a rainbow of matte hexagonal glitters in various sizes with a touch of silver holo flakes and silver holo glitters. This one is just so whimsical! The formula was perfect, and I used 3 thin coats for my photos. It self-leveled easily, but did dry with a bit of texture from all the glitter. I'd recommend a coat of a glitter-smoothing topcoat followed by a quick-dry topcoat to smooth it all out. 

Noodles Nail Polish Sweet Rainbow Dreams (1 coat) over various bases or alone in 3 coats

Inspiration: pastel-colored clouds amongst a moon in a blue sky

Price: $11.50

Bottles Available: No Limit

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This is the first month Noodles Nail Polish will have a second topper available. This is Sweet Rainbow Dreams which is a clear based glitter topper with pastel matte glitters in pale peach, pale yellow, aqua, mint, light pink, purple, and periwinkle with a touch of green to purple shifting shimmer, holo flakes, and a very light holo finish. This is one of those toppers that will work with a variety of base colors. I always like to know if a topper can build up to full coverage on its own, and I'm happy to report that it mostly does. You can see some hints of my nail, but the bright lighting causes that. If you really don't want to see the nail, I'd recommend a neutral base such as the Polished for Days Soft Focus Basecoat. It dries with some texture from the glitter, so you'll either need 2 coats of topcoat, or one coat of a glitter-smoothing topcoat followed by your regular topcoat. 

Soothing Soul Nail Lacquer Lollipop Guild (3 coats)

Inspiration: the Munchkins in Oz

Price: $12

Bottle Limit: 100 bottles

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It's been a while since I've been able to review a polish for Soothing Soul Nail Lacquer, and I'm so happy to swatch Lollipop Guild for you. I've said time and time again how much I loved The Wizard of Oz, so I would have purchased this one regardless. This one is a minty base with silverly pearl shimmer. Does it remind anyone else of a mermaid? I think it would also make a great summer pedicure color. It does dry with some brushstrokes, so don't overwork the final coat (float it a little more). If they really bother you, add a matte topcoat followed by a shiny topcoat and that will limit brushstrokes on the nail. I used 3 thin coats for my photos, but you may get away with 2 depending on your application and nail length. I'd also give an extra minute between coats to help with the brushstrokes. 

There you have it, folks! Don't forget to start your wishlist now. The Soothing Soul Nail Lacquer has a cap of just 100 bottles, so you may want to add it to your list and check out early to make sure it doesn't sell out. What are you picking up this month? Have a great 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*

Polish Pickup May 2021 Guilty Pleasures Swatches and Reviews

 *press samples*

Hi everyone! How is it May already? It both feels like March and August at the same time. I got my second vaccine recently, and I'll be officially protected on Cinco de Mayo. If that's not a reason to get some delicious Mexican food, I don't know what does. I had a few side effects for the second one, but they weren't severe, and they went away quickly. Even if it was worse, I'd still get the vaccine in a second. This month's Polish Pickup theme is Guilty Pleasures, and boy do I have plenty of those. Well, most of these pleasures should be guilty, but I have 0 cares given if someone thinks they're silly. Wishlisting started today, and I'm embarrassed to say I have 10 items already waiting to go into my cart. Oops! 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, May 7th at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, May 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. Time for swatches!

Noodles Nail Polish Crazy Plant Lady (3 coats)

Inspiration: Being a crazy plant lady. Do I need more plants? Nope. Am I going to buy more plants? YEP. 

Price: $12

Bottles Available: No limit 

 

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Up first we have Crazy Plant Lady, which, in my house, is more like Crazy Plant Man. My husband does all of the outdoor planting while I enjoy gazing at the beauty in our yard. I'm more of an indoor succulent person to be honest. I absolutely love how Natalie from Noodles Nail Polish combines flakies with glitter. Now pair that with a bit of holo and a beautiful mint green base and we have Crazy Plant Lady. The official description is a sheerish mint green holo base with green/gold/copper/blue UCC flakes, lime green/yellow/pastel green glitters, and a touch of holo/green/gold microflakes. I found that it dried with texture (more from the flakes than the glitter) so I went ahead and used a coat of Glitter Grabber from Glisten and Glow followed by a coat of quick-dry topcoat. I used 3 thin coats for the swatches above. 

Starlight and Sparkles Gilded Phoenix (1 coat) over 2 coats of Zoya Raven 

Inspiration: Inspired by Gilded Phoenix is a gilt-y pleasure inspired by unicorn pee polishes being quite a few people’s guilty pleasure!

Price: $14

Bottles Available: 150

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We got a unicorn pee topper!!! I feel like it's been a hot minute since we've gotten a really good UP topper/polish. If you don't know what UP pigment is, it's a green to red color-shifting pigment that is extremely hard to find. As far as I know, the pigment is no longer made, which makes polishes containing this pigment cost more. Gilded Phoenix isn't just a plain UP topper, it contains a fine sprinkling of gold shimmer and microflakes. The Starlight and Sparkles bottles are a full 15 mL, so you are getting plenty of pigment here. I find these toppers work best over darker bases (the shift just isn't as apparent). I used one thin coat of Gilded Phoenix for my swatches, so this bottle is going to last a long time. Oh, and it dried with no texture, so a thin topcoat works well with this one. 

Starlight and Sparkles Sparkly Things Page Marker and Charm Set

Inspiration: Inspired by the love for sparkly and color shifty things that most indie polish lovers share!

Price: $14

Number Available: 40

I feel so seen by Issa from Starlight and Sparkles! Give me all the sparkly and color shifty things. Things are a little different this month as there are 3 page markers and 3 charms instead of having 5 page markers and 1 charm like previous months. The rivoli crystals shift color depending on the lighting and the angle they're looked at. The three colors of crystals are: light lavender that shifts to light blue, an iridescent lilac-to-celadon, and vibrant teal to purple.

These sets use rectangular paper clips, stainless steel rings, silver-tone lobster clasps, silvery iridescent glass beads, 12mm rivoli crystals, and silver-plated rivoli settings. Due to the shape of the paperclip, the charms can’t freely slide all around the paperclip. I consider these type of paperclips to be quite secure, able to reliably hold quite a few sheets, and I usually find they’re less likely to leave paperclip imprints in the page they’re attached to. I like to use the charms on all my zipper pulls or make some necklaces or charm bracelets. 

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*