The Polished Kiwi Gets Swatched!

Well hello there, lovely people! I know I've been a bit AWOL but it's for good reason, and to make it up to you I have a HUGE and exciting post for you today - Polished Kiwi Lacquer swatches!! You guys have no idea how excited I am to be doing this!! The beyond kind and wonderful Jade from The Polished Kiwi has started making and selling her very own home-brewed lacquers right here in NZ, and I've managed to snag the immense honour of swatching five of her currently available beauties. It's a bit pic-heavy, but soooo worth it. Click on through to see these yummies in action!

First up I wanted to snap a shot of the brush on these lacquers, because it's one of the first things I always wonder about with indie polishes. I was playing with the mini bottles, so the brushes may be different to the full-sized ones, but I'm a happy chickie with these ones - I can't stand a too-thin brush! Thinner than OPI but a little wider than China Glaze, I think? I had no troubles!

I went straight for Southern Alps when I opened my parcel! Ohmigosh, how freakin' gorgeous is this??? Two coats over OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls, no top coat. 

Southern Alps is a milky-white crelly with aqua hex glitter and iridescent micro-glitter flecks. The tiny fleck glitter makes it quite textured, so if you want a smooth finish, a gel-ly top coat like Seche Vite would be necessary. I actually loved the fine texture so I didn't use a top coat for these photos. My new favourite 'snow' polish!!

I initially thought it looked a little sheer in the bottle, so to play it safe I layered it over an off-white, but when I started applying it I realised it would've been fine on its own, though would probably take maybe three coats for opacity (depending on how much you hate VNL). Just look at that scrummy glitter!! I didn't have any trouble getting the larger hex glitter out, though I'm no pro at applying this kind of polish, so a bit of glitter placement was necessary. The semi-star shape on the ring finger was a complete fluke, though! The lacquer is massively packed full of the micro-glitter - sooooo pretty!!

Sticking with the blues, next up we have Bay Of Plenty. For you non-kiwis, 'Bay of Plenty' is actually a physical place here in NZ (as are the Southern Alps, in case you were wondering). Bay Of Plenty is a bright blue creme stuffed full of blue, green, and yellow hex, square and micro glitter. This lacquer is oh so yum and honestly, I was super impressed with this formula - so chocka full of colour and glitter! I used two coats for the photos below.

I did add a coat of Seche Vite for that ^ photo, because it has a rough finish being so jam-packed with glitter, and I wanted to see it glossy. Definitely reminds me of a clear shimmery blue bay!

There you can see the 'roughness' created by the different glitters. Depending on what you're into, this lacquer is perfectly happy without a top coat - I added one just to see a different finish =).

Macro-y goodness. Can you believe this is only two coats??!? Nice one, Jade!

Again, two coats with no top coat. A different angle to give an over-all impression ^_^.

Purple Fairy is a scrummy yummy lavender-purple creme with purple mini-hex glitter, big pink-purple circle glitter, and HOLO!! Oh I do love me a good holo... It's pretty subtle as it's a very fine scattered holo glitter, but it's still happy to come out and play. I used two coats with a coat of Seche Vite for these photos.

A third coat would've given a deeper purple shade but I wanted to show the awesome opacity of this lacquer. There was no glitter fishing with this one - the larger purple circle glitter appeared on the nail before I even realised they were in the bottle! I added Seche Vite because again the glitter gives a 'gritty' kind of finish. This is no top coat eater either - one coat of SV was plenty to smooth everything out.

Those round glitters are so sneaky-subtle - they just kind of peek out for a little surprise, like fairies! 

You can see the holo a bit better in this ^ macro too I think. This one shimmers like mad in the sun!! Again with only two coats needed, I'm loving the formulas on these cremes!

If you love a good glitter topper, you need K'rd Queen (another well-known NZ location ;-). This stunner is like nothing I've used before. Glitter, glitter, and more glitter floating in a clear base. Definitely one to wear for maximum POW!!

Black is the dominant glitter in this baby, and therefore makes the bottle sort of a foggy-grey-blur. I actually thought it was a milky-grey base before I cracked it open. The base is crystal clear which makes it perfect for layering over absolutely anything- it's not going to tint your base colour at all. I used two and a bit (placement kind of added another half...) coats over Essie Blanc to show aaaaaaall the glitters!  

Bottle shot. Talk about stuffed full!!

A little bit dalmation-y, no? When I say "all the glitter!", I mean "ALL the glitter!!!"! I can't even list all the different kinds of glitter in this stunner - some macro shots to follow should give you an idea! 

Black, yellow, red, pink, green, blue, aqua, purple, orange, iridescent, hex, square, micro, round, flakies... Phew!!

Obviously if you want specific glitters, you'll have to do a bit of fishing, but it's so packed, if you don't wanna fish you'll still get a tonne of pieces to play with. Thinking of trying this over silver or gold to see the different effects, too... Stay tuned!

Lucky last is Silver Fern. It's the most unique lacquer in the collection and very different from anything in my stash (and I don't get to say that very often!!). A super sheer pearly green jelly with iridescent flakies - I used three coats over Essie Blanc, no top coat.

This lacquer is so glowy!! Maybe because I layered it over a white, but my gosh does this baby GLOW! Personally I had a little trouble getting my flakies to lie flat (I think I smooshed one pretty hard and it became a defiant statue) but there wasn't too much fishing involved, and the sheer shimmery iridescent pieces create a unique and gorgeous effect. 

The little flakies look like ice chips to me - anyone else? I wonder what this would look like over Southern Alps...? Oooh, must try!

You can see how sheer the jelly is - there's still a tonne of the white base showing through even after three coats. This makes it perfect for layering over other colours though - a huuuuuge amount of effects could be created with this! This and K'rd Queen are the two super-uber versatile lacquers available from Polished Kiwi, so when you find you're having trouble choosing from all her stunning lovelies, grab a bottle each of these ;-).

Phew! Long post! A virtual high-five for you if you made it through! It's okay if you just scrolled and drooled - perfectly acceptable XD. All five of these beauties along with some others are available on the Polished Kiwi's Etsy store and retail for US$11.50 (NZ $13.83). I'm already eyeing up a few more... 

Jade's done a brilliant job, and I can't wait to see what else she creates! Follow her on Instagram to keep up to date with new collections etc. She's put flash deals up in the past (the most recent one was for you international nail junkies) so definitely worth following!

Thank you so much for checking in, and I hope you nab a few of these wonderful indies while you can! ^_^