Review: Anne Kathleen Nail Polish

Hello!

Today I have a new-to-me cruelty-free, big-5 free indie brand to show you, Anne Kathleen.

Anne Kathleen currently has three nail polish collections up on her site, with an impressive range of polish types. Leanne, the owner, sent me two polishes from the yummy Cafe Au Lait collection to try out; anything involving coffee is the fastest way to my heart...sigh...


First up is Cinnamon, a polish that I think is perfect for the holiday season; it has a beautiful creamy off-white jelly with copper glitter and gold flakes:

This polish looks like gilt-flecked angel wings to me; it also looks like a golden snowstorm. :) It has a dreamy, sparkly holiday feel without being too in-your-face or over-the-top. This is three coats, and while I do have a little bit of visible nail line in these pictures, keep in mind that my nails have a bit of staining (aka: nail blogger's pox!), so three coats will probably suffice for you. This is thin enough to use as a layering polish, as well, and I think it would be a beautiful topper over a gold or a green base.


The second polish is Ginger, a soft butterscotchy-orangy-peach jelly:
 

This is three coats of Ginger; she is soft, and has that squishy translucence the way a good jelly should. It suffuses light so beautifully, it was nearly impossible for me to take a bad picture of it (and I don't get to say that very often, lol!) At one coat, Ginger gave my nails a pretty nude tint that made me look like I had naturally beautiful nails. As you can see, I managed to get a little ink staining on my middle nail that I couldn't get off, and it did show through at three coats--but even this highly unusual stain was covered at four coats of the polish (see below). So, again, three coats should be fine for normal people, although you may want to go with four.

Jellies like this instantly make me think of layering, so I wanted to stick in a layer of glitter before putting on that fourth coat. I wanted to see how this would look with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow, which is a neon glitter mix in a clear base:

Anne Kathleen Ginger layered with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow

Anne Kathleen Ginger layered with Wicked Polish Hung Over The Rainbow

I love the effect of this, it keeps the fun of the neon glitter but gives it a different twist, and that's exactly what you want a jelly sandwich to do--keep the beauty of the glitter, but change it in a pretty way. And notice that at 4 coats, even my problem nails are perfectly covered. :)

Both of these polishes appeared a bit thick when I first pulled out the brush to put them on, but they didn't apply that way at all. The application was wonderful--effortless, and even. The importance of that can't be overstated with jellies, especially soft jellies like Ginger. These are masterfully made.

Anne Kathleen polishes sell for $10, are big-5 free, and are cruelty-free. Most of them are also vegan (she uses symbols on the site to let you know which are/aren't, and I really appreciate that she does this!). You can find her in the following places:

Anne Kathleen store website
Facebook Page
Twitter
Instagram
Pinterest

Go and check her out! You won't be sorry. :)

Hope your Monday is as stress-free as possible! Hugs and loves,
M.