KB Shimmer Spring 2013 Release!

KB Shimmer sent me three of the polishes from her Spring 2013 Release along with her Clearly On Top top coat for review.    Clicking on the link will take you to the full line which will be live on her website on February 15th.

Up first we have Iris My Case, which is described on the press release as:  

Violet pastel crelly with glitters in purple, pink, silver and blue - Full coverage in 2-3 coats

I was thrilled with this polish.  I haven't had the best of luck with crelly bases in the past and this one was just perfect.  I applied three thin coats and got full coverage and amazing shine.  It was so easy to control this polish on the nail I had virtually no clean up needed.  The glitters spread perfectly in the polish and it was a breeze to get them from bottle to nail.  The photos are topped with Clearly On Top.

Artificial light, no flash

Artificial light - with flash

Macro - look at all of those glitters!

Next we have Spring Training, described in the press release as :

Soft green crelly full of pink, purple, blue and green floral toned glitters, scented with a floral freesia note - Full coverage in 2-3 coats

Just like Iris My Case, the formula was outstanding.  You see three thin coats on the nail below, topped with Clearly on Top.   It was so easy to control and the glitters easily came from bottle on to nail.  I know this one was scented and I have to say if it was, the scent is very subtle, because I didn't notice it when I was painting.  When I went back to sniff, I could smell the delicate freesia notes, but not when I was painting did it register with my senses.

Macro shot!

Finally, I have a glitter top coat Squared Away, described in the press release as:

Square glitters in a variety of sizes, colors and finishes including metallic and holographic in a clear base - Top Coat

Once again this was a great polish, I tried this over a variety of colors and decided in the end to put it over a England Camelot, the perfect shiny black.  I felt that it showed off the holographic properties best, however I also will include my swatches of it over other colors.  What you see below is one coat of Camelot with one coat of Squared Away on top, topped with one coat of Clearly on Top.

The shine that Clearly on Top imparted to this was outstanding, I loved all of the different color blends in Squared Away, the glitters were easy to get from bottle to nail and they laid down very well.  I am in love with this!

Artificial light, no flash

Artificial light, with flash

macro

Below you can see Squared Away over different colored bases:

l to r: Sheswai Hot Damn, OPI Koala Berry, OPI Anti-Bleak

l to r:  OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, NARS New York Dolls, Butter London Pillar Box Red, OPI Plugged in Plum, a England Camelot

l to r:  OPI Plugged in Plum, a England Camelot, OPI Russian Navy, OPI Ogre the Top Blue

Finally, I decided to do a little trial with Clearly On Top to see how it compared to my other "go to" topcoats, Seche Vite, Gelous, and Nails Inc Kensington Caviar.  Generally I use Kensington Caviar over non-glitters since it isn't as thick, but it dries super fast.  I switch between Gelous and Seche with thicker glitters.  The price point is fabulous, with 5.00 for a full size and 3.00 for minis.

I started off with the grittiest glitter I own - OPI Get Your Number, one of the liquid sands.  You can see the graininess below without any top coat:

Then I put one good coat of each top coat, from Left to Right - Seche Vite, Gelous, Clearly On Top and Kensington Caviar.  I let it dry for about five minutes for the next photo.  As you can see Kensington Caviar really didn't take away any of the bumpiness.  Gelous wasn't that fantastic either.  But Seche and Clearly on Top definitely took away a good bit of it.  Another thin coat on top of just the Kensington Caviar would have been perfect coverage without adding a bunch of bulk to the polish.  

The dry time of Clearly On Top seemed to be on par with Gelous and Seche Vite as well.  I will definitely be stocking up on Clearly On Top!  I am really excited about this top coat!

I am so excited about this debut on February 15th!  I am definitely going to be getting the rest of this collection as well as a few extra Clearly On Tops!  There are two additional pastels that I can't wait to try along with two amazing jelly based polishes and two new glitter top coats.  

While you are at her store, be sure to check out her body care line, I have several of her lotions, lip balms and soaps and they are ALL outstanding!


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