Lacquer or Leave Her!: Review: Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Review: Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!

You may have noticed that galaxy nails are making quite a resurgence, and I love this because I've always been a huge fan--they're super easy to make, the only hard part is picking the right polishes that work well together. And Spellbound Nails has put together a collection of polishes designed just for that purpose.

Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

So what I'm going to do is show you each polish, and as I go, I'm going to show you some galaxy art done with each polish. But before I start, I just can't resist mentioning the totally adorable packaging this collection came in:

Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

How adorable is that spaceship card that describes the polishes?!! And that galaxy tissue paper! I love it when a maker goes the extra mile to make your experience awesome from the very moment you open the box.

Let's get down to it, starting with Black Eye, since most galaxy nail art uses a black background. This is a beautiful black creme:

Spellbound Nails Black Eye

The formula on this was excellent and it applied like butter. This is two coats wit topcoat--easy peasy. Galaxy nails or no, this is a sexy, vampy black creme. Mee-rowr.

Here's the galaxy design I did with this polish:

Galaxy nails with Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

Somebody on YouTube said this looks more like the northern lights than a night sky, and I'm totally okay with that! Normally I do prefer to have a more blended look but I was doing this on video and make it brighter than I normally would--but I love how it came out so that was a happy accident! And it also makes a very important point--it's nearly impossible to go wrong with galaxy nails. Just about anything you do is gonna come out looking great in the end.

And speaking of the video tutorial, here it is if you want to check it out:

The basic techniqe for all the nails is pretty darn easy:

(1) Pick your base polish
(2) Sponge the polishes one at a time overlapping one another until you get the effect you want
(3) Put on your glitter topper
(4) Draw on any stars or planets you want
(5) Add topcoat if you so desire.

Here's a graphic to show you how easy it is:

Okay, let's move on to the next polish. Milky Way, a white creme:

Spellbound Nails Milky Way

This is three thin coats; as with most white cremes, this was a little patchy on the first two coats, so I kept the coats thin and went with three--that evened things out well, and you may be able to do this in two coats. The polish dries quickly, so this wasn't a problem.

Here's the galaxy art I created with this polish:

Galaxy nails with Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

To my eyes, this doesn't look so much like a galaxy as what I hope heaven looks like! Since the background is white, I pulled out some silver polish for the stars--next time I might stamp some angels. :)

Next up is Pinwheel, a pink crelly that dries to a waxy finish:

Spellbound Nails Pinwheel

Because this collection is designed for nail art, the polishes are opaque and fast-drying. That means they dry fast when you're applying, too, and with the colored polishes in this collection I found I got best results when I applied three thin coats, working quickly so I didn't have to go back over the same spot too much, otherwise I got too much pulling. I still got a little unevenness, but it evened out well as it dried. I'm a huge fan of wax finishes, so for me the extra care was well worth it.

This is such a pretty cotton candy color in this finish! But if you prefer your polish glossy, here's what it looks like with topcoat:

Spellbound Nails Pinwheel with topcoat

I used Pinwheel as a base to show you Comet, a glitter topcoat with teeny holo glitter and teeny holo shards that are perfect for creating stars in your galaxy art:

Spellbound Comet over Pinwheel

This is one coat of Comet over Pinwheel, and I also show one coat of Comet in all of the galaxy artwork you're seeing here. For this mani I wanted to show you how just one galaxy accent nail looks, and in honor of the name of this polish, I made a sort-of pinwheel galaxy.

Next up is Whirlpool, a robin's-egg blue crelly with a waxy finish:

Spellbound Whirlpool

And if you prefer the glossy look:

Spellbound Whirlpool with topcoat

For the art on this one I wanted to do a little more of a background effect:

Galaxy nails with Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

The last polish in the collection is Cosmos, a smoky lilac crelly with a waxy finish:

Spellbound Cosmos

And here's the glossy version:

Spellbound Cosmos with topcoat

For the art on this one, I wanted to focus the galaxy portion closer to the tips, with a little hint of them at the cuticle:

Galaxy nails with Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

This one is without a doubt my favorite!! It's sort of like I dipped my fingers into the edge of a galaxy, and something about the purple just gives it a little extra oomph. I did this one last and I'm glad I did because I couldn't bear to take it off until I'd worn it for a few days. Even then it was hard!

To wrap up, here are the different looks I made with the collection:

Galaxy nails with Spellbound Nails Galaxy Nails collection

What do you think, do you have a favorite? You already know mine...

I think this is a great idea for a collection that's ready made for nail art--the polishes work very well together, they blend easily but keep their colors distinct, and that's not always the case when you work with polishes from a bunch of different collections or makers. So if you like galaxy nail art, this makes the process extremely easy, and I'm very happy with the results.

You can buy these polishes individually or together as a collection in the Spellbound Nails shop; she has them in both full-sized an mini-sized bottles. And don't forget to follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

Happy galaxy surfing!
M.