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

Sale period: 4-7 September 2020

10 polishes

The PPU shop for September 2020 is bringing us polishes for the spooky season, in time for us to use them for the holiday!

Bee’s Knees: Change the Face of Halloween

BKL was inspired by one of her favorite songs by the band Ice Nine Kills about the movie Halloween. This polish is a bright pastel multichrome that rests in a marigold orange state and shifts gold/green/blue. If you look closely, the particles that make up the polish aren’t uniform, but rather they appear to be of distinct varieties, so it’s not a totally uniform shift. It does have a very Halloween-orange type feel, but maybe under the sun at high noon vs. at midnight.

3 coats + top coat

Cupcake: How Do You Like Meow?

Cupcake was inspired by the classic black cat, and so this polish is a classic black linear holo. It has great coverage in one coat, and so it could probably be used in one coat as a base for nail art, but for general wearing on its own I’d recommend two coats. Beautiful true black with a strong linear flame, and using my regular 5-free top coat didn’t appear to dull the flame in any significant way!

2 coats + top coat

Ethereal: What’s Your Favorite Scary Movie

Ethereal was inspired by the Scream franchise. This polish features a deep purple-ish grey tinted base absolutely packed with holographic microflakes and red/green shifting shimmer. Now, there are some brands that I never expect one-coaters from. It’s not a bad thing at all–I never mind doing three coats of polish. It’s just that their aesthetic tends to demand formulas that build up for the final look. Ethereal’s one of these brands. I find that their complex finishes build with each successive coat. So when I applied the first coat to my index finger, I could not believe my eyeballs when I was left with full coverage. After ONE coat.

This has got to be some kind of record or something. A shimmer- and holo-heavy polish opaque in just one coat. And it doesn’t have to be a thick coat…in fact it dries down much flatter than the typical Ethereal polish.

You do make up for it by needing two coats of top coat for a smooth finish. The holo flakes tend to stick up a bit through the first coat of top coat, but it’s no big deal at all. Not when you get this finish in a one-coat formula.

1 coat + 2 coats of top coat

Femme Fatale: Green Witch

FF’s Green Witch features a sheer purple base packed with an intense green/purple shifting duochrome shimmer and a galaxy of silver holographic glitters in various sizes. In the macros you can also see small accenting green glitters, but they’re not very visible to the naked eye. I just love FF’s polishes with this kind of bombastic finish. It’s loud, it’s extra, and it’s signature Femme Fatale. And now it’s arrived in classic Halloween coloring. It builds up beautifully in three coats with no VNL to speak of by the end.

3 coats + 2 coats of top coat

Glisten & Glow: Monster Mash

Glisten & Glow was inspired by the Halloween hit song by Bobby “Boris” Pickett in 1962. It features a deep purple base loaded with coppery-red/gold shifting shimmer. The polish was a bit sheerer than I was expecting for a polish of this color, but the second coat got me to full opacity. If you use thinner coats you might need three coats, but then I think the base purple color might deepen to almost-black, and I love the purple note that is more visible in two thicker coats. The shimmer is a beautiful and elegant addition.

2 coats + top coat

As expected of a shimmer, this polish is also a stunner matte:

Glisten & Glow: Glitter Grabber + Top Coat

Glisten & Glow is also offering a duo of their Glitter Grabber and signature top coat. In the bottle, the Glitter Grabber is tinted and looks a bit like a matte top coat, although it applies and dries clear and glossy. It serves as an additional layer to grab onto texture from glitters or flakes, and smooths that texture down before the final layer of top coat. I used it to swatch FF’s Green Witch (shown above), which is very glitter-heavy, and I got a nice smooth result.

Great Lakes: The Deadlights

GLL was inspired by the deadlights from Stephen King’s IT. IT‘s deadlights usually send those that gaze upon them into madness or death, while GLL’s features an orange base packed with iridescent flakes that are primarily red and pink and shift to gold and green. The overall effect is an orange-toned red. It’s a super glowy finish and almost feels like I can use it to light my way in the darkness. Although by the inspiration, maybe that’s not such a great idea…

2-3 coats + top coat

Lilypad: Creep on in

Lilypad’s Creep on in features a sheer black base loaded with various iridescent flakes and UCC flakes. Although the first coat is very sheer, it builds up nicely by the third coat. The flakes take up all the space and are what make the polish opaque. This is a polish that is difficult to photograph because the base is both dark and sheer. I have photos in direct light, indirect light, and with a matte top coat to hopefully help aid in understanding the overall look.

3 coats + top coat

MTK Design: Golden Polish Autumn

MTK was inspired by the Polish (as in, from Poland) tradition of lighting the cemeteries on All Saints’ Day. Golden Polish Autumn is a thermal jelly that transitions from orange when warm to hot pink when cold, and packed within are pink/gold/green shifting iridescent flakes and matching shifting shimmer. I recommend thin coats (as best you can) to build up the flakies. It’s still a challenge to photograph thermal cold states, but just know it’s a more intense kind of hot pink than is showing here.

3 coats + top coat

Pahlish: The Big Boo

Pahlish was inspired by The Big Boo from Super Mario World. The Big Boo features a sheer base loaded with blue/purple shifting shimmer, iridescent flakes, and silver holographic flakes. I recommend building this polish up in three thin coats to maximize the beautiful luminous blue glow.

3 coats + top coat

Scofflaw: Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun

Scofflaw’s Ghouls Just Wanna Have Fun features a medium-dark grey base with glitters in red, lavender, and gunmetal grey, purple glass fleck shimmer, and scattered holo. Such an adorable take on Halloween! The purple shimmer particles lean the grey base just a touch purple. The base is pretty sheer for a Scofflaw polish, but it allows the glitters to really take center stage, and it’s the glitters that provide the opacity for this polish.

2 coats + 2 coats of top coat

The September 2020 PPU shop opens at 11am Eastern on September 4.

Polish Pickup: http://www.polishpickup.com

Polish Pickup UK shop: http://www.polishpickup.co.uk