KBShimmer Birthstone Collection - Swatches and Review (Partial)

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Hello Loves!  Today I have six of the KBShimmer Birthstone Collection polishes to show you.  This collection released January 1st.  I'm a bit behind on showing them, but I promise they are sooooo worth seeing!  The collection consists of 12 gorgeous, full cover flakie packed polishes with scattered holographic effects.

To be completely honest right off the bat, I love and hate this collection.  I love it because it is incredible and applies beautifully (at least the 6 I have to show you do...I can't say for the rest).  I hate it because I didn't have the extra cash to pick up the other 6 and I NEED them.  NEED!!!  Read that in the whiniest voice you can imagine.  That's how bad I NEED them!  lol  Even more, I NEED them in Gel Polish, but that will never happen unless I can somehow convince Christy to launch a gel polish line.  (Hint Hint lol)  Oh, and they were a pain in the butt to photograph.  I did my best and they look beautiful in my pics, but seriously, the pics do not do them justice.

There is a method to my choices.  I picked Diamond because the Two Foot Terrorist was born in April.  I picked Black Pearl because The Young Prince was born in June.  Sapphire because my husband was born in September.  And Ruby because I'm a July baby.  Garnet for my Anniversary Month and Aquamarine because I ran out of important months and just thought it was pretty.  lol

Let's look at Diamond first.  This one is probably the least unique of the 6 for me.  There are a lot of silver glitter polishes out there with holographic sparkle.  However, I don't have any quite like this one.  It applies beautifully and is opaque in two coats.  The sparkle is over the top and the flakes are fine so that I didn't have to fight with it at all.  Perfection in a bottle, I tell you!  Though the color isn't that unique, it has quickly become my all time favorite silver polish.

Aquamarine is very similar to Diamond but has a slightly aqua tint.  Application and sparkle are the same.

Since Diamond and Aquamarine look very similar, I decided to include a swatch stick picture that shows them side by side.  I took this in an attempt to capture the scattered holo a little better in all of the polishes.  That was a fail, but it makes a great comparison picture.  ;)  You can see the aqua tint better when Aquamarine is between Diamond and Black Pearl.  Both rows of swatches are the same...just slightly different angles.

Moving on, Christy shared that Black Pearl has been the least popular color from the collection so far.  That little fact honestly blows my mind!  I've worn it three times already and I don't even wear polish since I wreck it working on clients.  Black is such a hard color to make unique.  Sure, you have blue toned blacks and red toned blacks, but black glitters usually fall kind of flat.  This one has awesome depth and sparkle!  Oh yeah, and that perfect two coat coverage.  Sadly, I completely failed to capture the scattered holo effect on this one.  The silver flakies took over a bit.  You can see it a tiny bit on my middle finger in the second photo.

Next up is Sapphire.  Words cannot even begin to describe this polish.  Perfection.  Sapphire Blue perfection.  Of course, y'all know how crazy I am about blues...but seriously, just look at it!  Two coat coverage and more sparkle than you can shake a stick at!

Garnet is a dark maroon that is just as amazing at Sapphire.  The darker shade really lets the holographic shimmer pop.  Oh yeah, and it's another two coater.  I currently have this one on my toes and it makes me wish I had a few extra toes.  Ok, not really...but you get my point.  lol

Finally, Ruby is your standard ruby shade - red that leans a little to the pink side.  I don't think Christy could have nailed this shade any closer than she did!  Trust me, as a July baby, I have had a lot of rubies in my life.  Both natural and lab created (aka flawless...just not "real").  This color is DEAD ON for a flawless ruby.  And yes, two coats again.  The color is a little blown out in the first picture due to the silver shimmer, but it is accurate in the second and third pictures.  :)

All of the swatches shown here have KBShimmer Clearly On Top over the colors.  I can't remember if I've talked about Clearly On Top here before, but it is my current favorite fast dry top coat.  I've tried several and Clearly On Top has yet to let me down.  It doesn't go goopy as fast as Seche Vite and keeps colors true unlike my old favorite Out The Door.  Its especially perfect for winter pedicures so my clients don't have to walk out the door in flip flops, but I love it most for princess manicures.  Little girls do NOT sit still long enough for polish to dry and Clearly On Top dries so fast that they at least have a fighting chance of making it out of the building with pretty nails.  Oh, and it doesn't smear my art either.  Whoo Hoo!

In case you're wondering about removal, I did find that the polishes in this collection are a tiny bit harder to remove than a shimmer or cream, but not as difficult as glitter polishes.  I saturate a cotton ball in acetone and let it sit on the nail for about 20 seconds before wiping.  It takes about 3 cotton balls per hand and I have plenty of sparkle left over on my skin to wash off, but it isn't too bad.  Not like those glitter polishes that require a jackhammer to remove! 

So there you have them - six of the twelve amazing polishes in the KBShimmer Birthstone Collection.  Rest assured, I WILL have them all at some point.  After all, I NEED them (whiny voice again lol).  If you need them too, you can pick up your own bottles on Amazon here or by clicking on the names throughout this post or on KBShimmer's website here.

~Michelle

*The polishes featured in this post were provided by KBShimmer Bath and Body for my honest review.  This post uses Amazon Affiliate Links.  Purchases through these links generate commissions that help fund this site.  All other links are courtesy links and do not benefit ManicTalons.com.