Polish Pickup: Apr 2020 Aquatic Wonder

*Disclosure: PR samples- I received these polishes free of charge in exchange for photography.*

Sale period: 3 – 6 April 2020

10 polishes (in this post)

The April 2020 PPU shop brings us polishes inspired by what lies under the sea!

Bee’s Knees: Subject Delta

Subject Delta has a blackened navy base with a pink/gold/green magnetic effect and gold/green shifting ghost flakes. I love anything BKL adds ghost flakes to, and I find her magnetics to be very responsive and quite easy to use.

The base is indeed a very dark navy, which is visible if you apply this polish on its own. You can definitely also use it in one coat over a black polish, but you probably won’t be able to see the blue in the base color.

For these images I applied three coats alone and only magnetized the last coat and also applied the magnet after top coat. I left the middle finger unmagnetized, although that finger only needed two coats for opacity.

3 coats + top coat

I also shot some photos in diffused lighting. Not too shabby, no?

Cupcake: Ready for this Jelly

Cupcake’s Ready for this Jelly is a hot pink with iridescent flakes and shimmer. The base jelly sometimes photographed a little more red-ish but overall it appears to be hot pink.

2 coats + top coat

And some photos in diffused light to show off those flakies!

Ethereal: Dreamtide

Ethereal’s Dreamtide is a soft pink-coral base with intense red/green shifting shimmer. I absolutely love the concept of this polish, but unfortunately the base shade doesn’t play super nice with my warm skin tone, especially with the shimmer in its resting red color. It’s a common issue I have with pinks. I think on someone with pinker undertones this will be very beautiful. The shimmer in its far green shift contrasts beautifully against the base color.

3 coats + top coat

Femme Fatale: Lotus Mist

Now this is the kind of odd yet gorgeous combination I love from Femme Fatale! Lotus Mist has a reddish base with green/purple shifting shimmer and gold holographic glitters. Sooo beautiful! The shimmer works beautifully with the base color, and the glitters add the perfect bit of glamour. That purple glow at the end is what dreams are made of.

3 coats + top coat

Lilypad: King Komodo

Lilypad’s King Komodo features a clear base packed with a rainbow of glitters and flakes. The overall look is really fun! I imagine this would make a good topper over various colors as well since the base is clear.

3 coats + top coat

Pahlish: Little Sea Sheep

Pahlish’s Little Sea Sheep has a sheer dark base, but it is packed with olive green microflake shimmer and accented with little red shimmers that show up as accenting flecks. The overall color is an olive green that sometimes looks almost like an antique gold. There is a gorgeous luminous shift to blue at an angle.

3 coats + top coat

Scofflaw: Purrmaid

Scofflaw’s Purrmaid has a mint crelly base with an assortment of matte and metallic glitters. Those larger circular glitters are so cute. I found 1 thinner + 1 thicker coat to cover well, but if you apply very thin coats to maximize glitter visibility, you may need three coats.

2 coats + 2 coats of top coat

Top Shelf: Long Lost City of Atlantis

Top Shelf’s Long Lost City of Atlantis features a beige base with gold/green shimmer and matching UCC flakes. Polishes that are described as “beige” usually play very well with my skin tone, and this one was no exception! This really is a lovely kicked-up neutral on me. Sometimes my warm skin even brought a cute pinkish tone out of the beige, which is one of the few acceptable ways for me to wear pink 🙃

3 coats + top coat

Top Shelf: Ocean Rainbows

Top Shelf is also bringing an effect top coat. Ocean Rainbows is a quick dry top coat with a rainbow of small iridescent flakies suspended within. I recommend adding another coat of top coat on top since it doesn’t dry very shiny on its own, and it will also help the flakies pop.

I also want to note that I experienced shrinkage with this top coat. I did not notice it with Top Shelf’s last PPU topcoat, so I’m not quite sure what happened. Amy (the maker) didn’t experience shrinkage with this one, so I think it’s just an odd chemistry thing.

1 coat over various cremes

Wildflower: Dressed to Krill

And finally, Wildflower’s Dressed to Krill is a dark green-based multichrome that shifts blue/purple/gold/green. It’s a really luminous and stunning polish.

2-3 coats + top coat