So my enormous BF haul arrived with me – checked out as soon as the final item arrived to avoid the temptation to add more stuff and spend more money. Fedex delivered two days earlier than they said – I was really pleased about that because I wanted to have time to go through the enormous box and check all had arrived safely, and I’m in the office for the first time since October on Thursday (due to deliver day) and Friday, so I wouldn’t have had time to go through it until the weekend. It took a while! Overall – I actually don’t really regret much that I bought! I thought I’d have many more things I wish I hadn’t bought, but I’m actually happy with my purchases, even if it was way too much! I haven’t spent the time to go through everything in detail, but I checked all was present and had a quick glance at most things.
Roundup:
Cuticula – not as impressed as I expected to be. Bought 4 different scented topcoats, which were discounted, so happy with those so far (hard to judge scents until worn though). I bought three of their chrome collection and could have skipped two of those, but they are nice enough. I bought one of their flakie polishes (Dragonglass style) and it looks beautiful at first glance, wishing I’d got more of those instead of the two chromes! I got the doorbuster, and it is a regret – just not really my colour and not very exciting but at least it was cheap. I also got the GWP and the limited edition BF polishes and they are stunning. The other one I got was just an older red holo flake polish, nice enough but nothing special.
Polished for Days – picked up a spare Snow since it was discounted and I was ordering. Got most of the Halloween collection and most of them are stunning – maybe a bit less impressed with the pink but very happy with everything else I picked up. Bought a 3-item mystery bag and super happy with what I got! It’s always a risk but I got a stunning shimmery orange proto, and two FTLOP oldies, Everybody Scream and Very Berry Sangria. I’m not into black polishes really but ES looks really purpley and cool and VBS is gorgeous. Very happy with taking that punt! Also got the new BF GWP which also looks stunning.
Great Lakes – very nice, could probably have skipped the darkest one without regret but it was just a small order and it will probably be nicer on.
Sparkle & Shine – two mystery Nailed Its and two Mystery Wildflowers. No major regrets – though one of the Wildflowers is a beautiful shimmery white flakie bomb (not sure if it’s full coverage) and white isn’t my thing. I might try using my few whites as accent nails as it’s just my index that discolours, so if I like that look I will be happy. I got a stunning red NI, a really pretty shifty WF and a shimmery blue/pink NI which is quite saturated and pretty. Overall a really nice set.
EdM – I didn’t open any of the boxes, just checked they were all there, so no thoughts yet!
Lumen – I bought Krampus (a red shimmer) and the six piece “Naughty” (dark) half of the advent calendar. Krampus is not as nice as I hoped (a bit dull and dark – hopefully nicer once on). The mysteries are generally very nice though, one is a stunning red which I will never regret buying, the others are nice colours and finishes which I’m quite happy with, though I’m not sure how many I’d have actively picked out to buy individually if this was a straight-up release. There’s a duochrome purple, a stunning bright blurple, a deep glowy blue, a dark green with gold microflake shimmer and a purple with gold shimmer, if I remember right.
Victorian Varnish – I only opened the boxes for a few of these, where they were my lucky dip ones or unlabelled. They sent me a compass! Which is very cool and a very steampunk freebie! There are also a ton of stickers with my order, which is very nice! I regret buying the green neon with blue shimmer just because it’s identical to the Kathleen & Co I bought recently. I got a pretty pink flakie polish which is really nice. Most of the others I didn’t open up, except the two lucky dip ones – I got an OK pale blue with dark flakies and shimmer called Anti Time Tablets, not sure about that one yet, need to see it swatched to make a judgement I think. The other one was Steampunk Spirit, which is a really nice blue magnetic. Looking forward to exploring the rest of my purchases when I have more time – I’m falling for this brand, love their aesthetic. Also got their glitter smoother to try – I am led to believe there’s not much difference between different brands with this and I’ve got the KBShimmer version, which works well enough. I chucked this in to get to free shipping and because their bottles are larger than other brands and it was also at an introductory price, so it worked out really cheap. I failed to be one of the first 20 orders so didn’t get the freebie for that, but did get the GWP which isn’t very exciting.
Polish Me Silly – by far my biggest purchase and the one I expected to regret most. But I don’t! Most of them are nicer than I expected at first glance, some absolute stunners, a couple not quite what I wanted but nice enough, maybe two or three are far from needed as they are similar to things I own but in general I almost wish I’d bought a few more with the 25% discount (and free polish of your choice). I did cull my basket a lot, and I think I now want those ones.
Potion Polish – an impulse buy without discount because they restocked a couple of polishes I’ve been really wanting, and I added their mystery 3-piece advent. Got another shimmery white (again pretty, will try as accent as with the WFL) a nice shimmery pink and a stunning glowy red. Nothing awful, quite happy with purchase!
Bee’s Knees – didn’t get a huge order but did pick up a few of the new and previous collection. Haven’t really examined those closely, just enough to check they were right. Did buy one of the mystery duo bags and got a stunning red again, which was my fave of the options available, and a nice purple shimmery duochrome. I was surprised that the free gift with purchase was just a past polish, which is a nice dark blue from the House of Usher collection that I wouldn’t have chosen to buy but it looks fine.
By Dany Vianna – this was an extra small order after BF, because I saw a couple of pics of the DVW (Dany Vianna/Watcha collab brand) Grinchmas collection and I kept really wanting two of the polishes, so I got them! Added one extra item from the BDV website and surprisingly received a free reflective glitter topper with my small order. Only opened the freebie as I had no idea why it was there or what it was in its unmarked box!
I think the only other thing I bought was a few more ingredients from DRK nails, which all look lovely. I wanted to get round to playing with the polish mixing over the holidays but you need to be able to try it on your nails and my manicure was looking too nice to remove…
Forgot Pahlish! They look nice through the bubble wrap but I didn’t unpack them for a closer look.
I was hoping it would sort itself out, but I don't think it will now. Haven't bought any polishes either. Had a look at HHC and passed.
