Indie-licious Review: The Nail Junkie

Hello!


Part of my recent birthday haul included two polishes from an independent polish brand I just discovered, The Nail Junkie; in my haul I got two of her polishes, Snake and Tiger.

I'll show you each of these polishes and talk a bit about them, but first I have to rave about the package I received from her...I have never received such a thoughtful and eco-friendly package from a polish maker! The package came not just with the polishes I ordered, but with a number of thoughtful touches. There was a beautiful hand-written card thanking me for my purchase and a little pot of cutie balm--a special balm made for your cuticles.  In lieu of styrofoam, she included a bundle of felt tied up with a ribbon to keep the packaged protected and balanced; these are designed to be use as glitter-removal pads, but as a crafter, I'll be using them in some project I make, and in the meantime, I love the environmentally-friendly alternative way to add softness to the package.

To make sure the polishes arrived safely, these also were packaged in an environmentally-friendly alternative to bubble-wrap: cardboard tubes. How cool is that?! I can guarantee you that the next time I need to send polishes, I'll be reusing them to ship with.

But on to the truly, truly important thing...the polishes themselves. Snake is a deep green polish with small green glitter, medium copper/blackish hex glitters, and large gold diamond-shaped glitters that are reminiscent of the diamond-patterns you see on snakes. The deep green base these are set in is a gorgeous polish in its own right--shimmery and complex (dare I say iridescent?), it complements the glitters perfectly. This is simply the most interesting and beautiful polish I've ever seen, glitter or no; in my opinion, it's a masterpiece:

The Nail Junkie Snake in the bottle

This bottle picture is the best representation of how the polish looks on the nail, because it captures all of the different glitter effects as well as the base color all at once.

One thick coat on my nail wheel, applied quickly and with no fishing or adjusting

One thick coat, applied quickly and with no fishing or adjusting.

I wore Snake recently as an accent nail for a manicure along with Color Club's Snakeskin. I pushed the glitter to the center of the nail a bit, because I wanted to create a sort of an abstract pattern, and I love the way it turned out--the base polish still looked perfect, and I was able to get a really cool effect. Even though I played with the placement of the glitter, there was no need to fish from the bottle to get enough glitter: 

Two Thick coats

Two thick coats

As you can see, Snake covers well in one coat but could also be used to layer that way over undies, builds up beautiful depth and texture with more than one coat and can be worn alone, has an amazing base color and incredible visual interest, and it applies like a dream. I can't say enough good things about it. :) 

The second polish I got was Tiger. This polish is simpler, but no less worthy in its own way. It's an orange polish with a finish between a creme and a jelly (I've heard some refer to this as a 'crelly'), with black bar glitters. Here again the base polish is beautiful enough that I'd buy it on its own, even if it had no glitter in it. There is just the right amount of the bar glitter, in my opinion--so many bar glitters go over the top and just look messy and overdone--just enough for the visual contrast, but not so many that you lose the base color or feel like a monkey just sat on your finger.

The colors in the polish represent the orange and black stripes on a tiger. I love kitties of all sizes, so I'm happy to be able to represent tiger-ness whenever I want. But honestly, the reason I got this polish is for Halloween manicures. I can see using this so many ways with green, purple, and black polishes for a cool Halloween feel. I also think it has excellent potential for fall and Thanksgiving manicures, too. And it's just plain fun. :)

Tiger in the bottle

Tiger, two coats, no fishing or adjusting

Two coats in direct sun; no fishing or fussing

Two coats in indirect light; no fishing or fussing

I normally have problems applying jellies and crellies. But this one went on with no problems at all for me. The polish settles into itself wonderfully, so I don't get those uneven spots that I usually get with polishes like this. The glitters also go on with no fuss--there's plenty of them without fishing, and they lay nicely; I didn't adjust this at all, just left it as it came on. I paired it here with Revlon's Orbit (creme half) covered in CND Amethyst Sparkle; typical Halloween colors because I am going to do some stamping on it and turn it into a Halloween manicure. :)

I asked Aleta Colucci about her polish making, and I loved the answer she gave me: "I love making polish and I'm inspired by all the things that are around me. Animals, plants, fruits. That's where I come up with ideas and themes for my polish. I figure, I'll never run out of ideas this way. :)". I love that philosophy--there is so much beauty in the world, the challenge is to capture it well. And I think in these polishes, she shows a love of her subjects and of polish-making that does just that. I have a feeling we'll be seeing a lot more incredible polishes from her in the future. :)

The Nail Junkie polishes are 3-free, and cruelty-free; she charges a flat shipping rate, so pile 'em on (I certainly wish I had gotten more!). She currently has polishes inspired by the animal kingdom, fruits, and flowers. And, she donates 10% of her sales to charity! You can find her current collections by clicking here or by clicking here.

Thanks so much for taking a look!

M.

(the products contained in this review were purchased with my own money)