REVIEW of KBShimmer Nail Polish in My Life's Porpoise

Hello my little dolphins,

How adorable is the name of this polish? My Life's Porpoise? I can't even stand it. I have quite a few gray creme polishes already (although they don't have the best formulas) so I probably wouldn't have picked up another gray creme if the name wasn't so cute. As far as I know, KBShimmer is not available in stores. I purchased this polish from their website.

Color: My Life's Porpoise is a medium gray creme polish. I definitely own lighter gray cremes like Color Club Silver Lake but my sense is that My Life's Porpoise is also darker that my other medium gray cremes like Zoya Dove and Confetti Lonesome Dove. I'd have to swatch them all to confirm that. I do like this polish but I don't think it flatters me. It's either too blue-toned or too dark. It doesn't really clash with my skintone but it doesn't flatter the yellow undertones in my skin the way other gray polishes do. However, it does go great with almost any outfit because it can act as a neutral.
Formula: The formula of this polish is a little thin.
Application: The first coat of polish applied super smoothly. While the formula isn't incredibly thin and watery it is thin enough that if you apply too much pressure you can push the polish off the nail with the brush. The second coat of polish also went on smoothly without drag but the polish wouldn't completely even out for me. Although the polish was even in general there were a few nails where the brush formed ridges in the polish. At two coats the polish was still patchy under a light test so I added a third coat. The third coat applied without any drag but I would not try to work with this polish if any ridges or unevenness develops. You will just make things work. This is a polish that does not want to be messed with. At three coats the polish was opaque though there was a bit of balding. You likely wouldn't notice it except under a light test. Painting with my nondominant hand I had less control so the polish applied more patchy and with more ridges but it still went on relatively smoothly and evenly.
Wear: I've been wearing this polish for five days. Even though I haven't been precious with my manicure I've experienced very minimal, almost negligible tip wear in that time.

CONCLUSION: This is one of those serviceable polishes. The color isn't that exciting. Application isn't perfect but it isn't horrible and you get fine results. If you're in the market for this particular shade of gray creme then I think My Life's Porpoise is a decent choice. If the color doesn't appeal to you straightaway then I don't think there's much else worth noting to sell this polish to you.

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REVIEW of KBShimmer Nail Lacquer In Bare Form With SWATCHES

Hello chickadees,

Just to clarify, the polish is called "In Bare Form." I thought there might be some confusion as I usually write "in" before the polish names in the titles of the review posts. Anyway, this is another one of the KBShimmer polishes I picked up in my small haul. Let's Not Coral wasn't a big hit with me but I was hoping for better things from In Bare Form.

Color: In Bare Form is a nude holographic polish. I think the best way to describe the color of this polish is sand. I don't mean beige or yellow. To me, this polish perfectly evokes the color of actual sand. The holo is not super strong with this polish. I couldn't figure out the perfect ratio of indoor lighting and direct sunlight but regardless, this polish looks very different depending on the lighting conditions. Sometimes it's a very flat sandy color with gold and silver shimmer that reminded me a little of Essie Mochacino. At times there's a slight rainbow shimmer but not a true holo. And at times you get the true holo effect. Also, depending on the light source, sometimes this polish can lean a little more gray. I wish the holo effect were stronger but I kind of liked this polish anyway. For me, with my skintone, it ended up being a cool twist on mannequin hands. It also a little dead on me but don't tell me that in the comments.
Formula: The formula was thick.
Application: The first coat applied very smoothly. I had to even out the polish a bit with the brush but there were no issues. The first coat was sheer but very shimmery. The second coat also applied very smoothly and upped the opacity quite a bit though the polish the was still not opaque. The third coat required a bit more evening out but the polish still went on smoothly. However, the polish still totally failed a light test and was not opaque at three coats which is generally my limit except for special cases.

CONCLUSION: I would not recommend this polish. I might have said yes if this polish were more easily accessible or cheaper but you can do better. Application was smooth but it's unacceptable for a polish like this to not be opaque at three coats and a holographic polish should produce a stronger holo effect. Unless your object is a more subtle holo polish that's on the sheer side, I would skip In Bare Form.

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REVIEW of KBShimmer Nail Polish in Let's Not Coral With SWATCHES

Hello my little starfishes!

It took me forever to figure out that this polish was a play on the phrase "let's not quarrel" because I'm either great at conflict resolution or just a bit a dim sometimes. Anyway, this is the first KBShimmer I've ever tried as well as the first one that I'll be reviewing for you so I'll go a bit more in depth than a normally would for a familiar brand. I had no intention of really trying out KBShimmer but I saw swatches on another blog and suddenly a small haul became very necessary.

The bottles have a somewhat clunky shape and resemble nothing so much as a bottle of Seche Vite though they have a shorter cap. As far as storage goes, it's not my favorite bottle shape but I think the design of the logo is pretty. The brush is a little on the thicker side, at least compared to Essie brushes which I feel have the most ideal width. The bristles are very straight and flat instead of rounded and flaring out at the ends. I purchased this polish from kbshimmer.com. I think it's available elsewhere online but I don't know if it's sold at any stores. At $7.50, it was basically in the same range as your standard drugstore polish (Essie, OPI, Zoya) though of course you can sometimes find those polishes on sale or use drugstore rewards to discount the cost of those polishes. Like all of those polishes, a bottle of KBShimmer polish contains 15 ml/0.5 fl oz of product.

Color: KBShimmer Let's Not Coral is a bright pink polish. I'm not quite ready to call it a coral. There are times when it comes close to be that perfect coral that I have been searching for years to find but most of the time I would say it's just a bright pink and occasionally it veers a little orange (mainly in the yellow-tinted lighting in my apartment).
Formula: Let's Not Coral has a thicker formula that threads when you pull the brush from the bottle.
Application: The first coat went on smoothly without any drag but coverage was a little streaky. I immediately found the formula to be a little thick and I would not recommend working with this polish too much. This is not a good formula to try and even out with the brush. Even though the thickness of the polish makes it necessary for you to even out the polish, you will find it very difficult to do so. The second coat also applied without any drag but I had to use thicker coats of polish to achieve a smooth glide. The polish was not going on evenly because I was unable to really work with it. At two coats, this polish did not pass a light test because of the uneven application. Also, there were some bubbles on one nail. After adding a third coat, the polish was still not opaque because of the patchy, uneven application. I'd suggest just adding two coats because three coats adds an unnecessary amount of polish without improving opacity to a significant degree. With my nondominant hand, I didn't try to even out the polish at all. I still ended up using three coats of polish per nail with opacity and evenness about the same as when I was painting with my dominant hand.
Wear: I applied this polish at night on 6/10. By 6/12, the polish had chipped on the index finger of my right hand. This was horrifying for me as longtime readers know that polish rarely chips on me and aside from growth and tip wear, I could probably wear most polishes for weeks without chipping. Anyway, I had an event to attend so at night on 6/12 I repainting the nail with the chipping and rewrapped the tips of all my nails. By 6/12 there was already a significant amount of tip wear on most of my nails. By 6/14 when I finally removed this polish, the tip wear had returned but I didn't experience any further chipping.

CONCLUSION: I can't recommend this polish. I think the shade of pink is bold and fun but application is a massive pain and wear is terrible.

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