*press samples*
How is it August already? August is traditionally my busiest month of the year for my job, and the whole delta variant thing really has me scared, despite being vaccinated. I'll have to be around groups of people, but at least they are requiring social distancing and masks for everyone. After last month's Polish Pickup Rewind, makers are back with all new shades inspired by The Elements (Earth, Air, Fire, and Water). 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). 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 6th at 11:00 AM ET and ends on Monday, August 9th 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. The website is now open for wishlisting, so go check out this month's offerings STAT. My wallet hopes I can bring my list down a little bit.
Noodles Nail Polish Colors of the Wind (3 coats)
Inspiration: Pocahontas Song "Colors of the Wind"
Price: $12
Bottle Limit: none
Up first we have Colors of the Wind by Noodles Nail Polish. You know I'm a sucker for glitter and flakie polishes. It's a deep violet crelly (leaning jelly) with matte red/pink/lavender glitters, lavender holo glitters, and violet/red/orange color-shifting flakes. I used 3 thin coats for my photos, and it dries with some texture due to the glitter, so either use 2 coats of thicker topcoat, or a layer of glitter-smoothing topcoat followed by a quick-dry topcoat to smooth it all out. That topcoat will also bring out that squishy look from the polish.
Starlight and Sparkles The Breeze and the Storm (1 coat) over 2 coats of black
Inspiration: the element of air, which can be as gentle as a softly blowing breeze, or as powerful as a howling storm. It can also combine with other elements (water, fire, and earth) to incredible effect. As someone who loves to play element-wielding mages in RPGs, people really underestimate the power and flexibility of air, which is why that is my inspiration for this polish!
Price: $9
Bottle Limit: 150 bottles
Up next we have a beautiful effect topcoat from Starlight and Sparkles. The Breeze and the Storm is a topcoat full of turquoise and teal shimmer, and delicate green and blue translucent micro flecks. This is one of those polishes that will look great over a variety of base colors, but I used black since it shows the shimmer the best. I used 1 coat for my swatches, but 2 coats will intensify the effect even more.
Starlight and Sparkles Five Elements Page Marker Set
Inspiration: the idea of the five classical elements – air, fire, water, earth, and aether.
Price: $11
Limit: 65 sets
You're gonna laugh at me, but the first thing I thought of when I saw the page marker set was the infinity stones from the Marvel Universe. Oops! The Five Elements Page Marker set has five page markers, each with a different colored faceted glass stone, in a silver-colored frame. The five pieces are yellow (air), red (fire), blue (water), green (earth), and clear (aether). These are simple, but simply adorable.
These sets use rectangular paper clips, stainless steel rings, silvery iridescent glass beads, and faceted glass stones. Due to the shape of the paperclip, the charms can’t freely slide all around the paperclip, and I find 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 use these for my recipe books, organize ink swatch cards, and in books I'm reading.
There you have it, folks! Don't forget to start your wishlist now. The Starlight and Sparkles items have a low cap, 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*
1 comment:
Gorgeous polishes :-D
Post a Comment