Two actual nail polish posts in one month? Call the nail polish police! I feel like I have talked about it a lot already on my blog/Instagram, but you might have noticed that I do not do as much swatching as I did in the past. This has to do with two things: 1) I currently don’t have much time for marathon swatching and 2) when I was swatching a lot I rarely had time to wear the polish that I was using, and I missed just wearing polish for multiple days. This simply results in fewer nail polish swatch posts on my blog!
The most beautiful polishes in my collection are most definitely indie polishes. However, they often don’t get the attention they deserve. My most popular shades of the season posts are always filled with mainstream polishes, and so far not one indie polish made it in there and when I share them on my Instagram page, they get significantly fewer likes than my OPI and Essie posts. It makes sense when you think about the fact that the Essies and OPIs of the world just have much more money for marketing than an average indie polish brand.
Despite all this, I definitely want to keep on sharing the indie polishes that I recently wore, just because they are so pretty!
Different Dimension Equinox
I bought this polish back in 2017 and sadly it seems like the indie brand Different Dimensions kind of stopped existing. I purchased Equinox because I was going through a ‘galaxy nails’ phase. The base of equinox is a purple to orange multichrome and it’s packed with holographic flakes. If you’re able to purchase this shade from someone, I would highly recommend it.
Illyrian Awaken your magic
I purchased Awaken your magic together with Equinox. I remember I was completely obsessed with this shade and had been looking at pictures of it on Instagram for hours. When I finally got it, I was kind of disappointed. The formula was weird and overall the shimmer was not I was expecting based on all the pictures I had seen. I pulled it out this year and was actually surprised by how pretty it is. Yes, the holographic glitter is a bit gritty but it’s a really unique shade. Sadly, Illyrian Polish also does not exist anymore, but if you want a shade like this I highly recommend ILNP’s Fairy dust.
Starrily Menchie the cat
Sadly, this is another discontinued shade (I’m sorry)! It’s Starrily’s Menchie the Cat, a collaboration with Cristine from Simplynailogical. I got this as a gift back in 2017, and even back then I believe it was already on the market for a while. Menchie is a gorgeous fully opaque pink glitter. When I got this shade back in 2017 I remember I found it very difficult to apply, but this time around I actually thought it was OK. The holographic effect in this one is actually super amazing. I don’t think I’ve ever seen something like it.
While Starrily’s Menchie the cat is discontinued, Cristine created another Menchie the cat polish for her brand Holo taco. I posted a comparison of Holo taco’s Menchie the cat and Starrily’s Menchie the cat over here on Instagram. You can see that Holo Taco’s new Menchie is much paler, and to be honest, the holographic effect is not quite the same. Starrily currently also has a shade called ‘Cat mom’ which is surprisingly similar to Starrily’s original Menchie the cat.
Cirque Colors Juicy Fruit
Moving on to a color that is actually still available, Cirque Color’s Juicy fruit. This polish already has been on the market for quite some time, but I only picked it up last year. It’s a gorgeous purple jelly with iridescent flakes. This one really doesn’t disappoint! It’s super unique and the jelly is indeed super ‘juicy’. Cirque has a couple of other shades that have this same jelly+flakie formula, but in my opinion Juicy fruit is definitely the one that you just need to have!
Painted Polish Gilded Greenhouse
Ending on a positive note with a shade that is also still available, Painted Polish Gilded Greenhouse. This polish was released in 2023 as part of Painted Polish’s Gilded Garden Party Collection. The entire collection consisted of thermal polish with a gold flake. Gilded Greenhouse is grass green in its cold state and shifts, according to the website, to a clear polish in its warm state. On me, it never shifted to a clear polish but it always got stuck in a retro yellow-green state that you see in the above picture. Still, a very nice polish and it was always a surprise to see what it does on the nails!
Conclusion
In hindsight, there are a lot of discontinued shades in this post and I’m sorry for that! I intend on making this a returning series on my blog, but I’m not sure how long it will take me to create another post. Nevertheless, I enjoyed making this post and enjoyed giving some attention to lesser-known brands.
