Swatchfest: New Jordana Glitters Specialty Nail Polish (PART ONE)

TO SEE PART TWO OF THIS SERIES, CLICK HERE. 
TO SEE PART THREE OF THIS SERIES, CLICK HERE.

TO SEE PART FOUR OF THIS SERIES, CLICK HERE.

NOTE: Whenever I review glitter polishes, I inevitably receive a few comments from new readers about how they don't like to wear glitters because they're difficult to remove. HOPEFULLY I can prevent any comments of that nature this time around and suggest once again that you read Elvira's tutorial on the Foil Method for removing glitter polishes.  This removal method is a game-changer!

I recently received 18 of the new Jordana Glitters Specialty Nail Polish that I posted about a while back (there are 24 shades in this range but some of the shades are "coming soon"). Since there are so many polishes in this collection, I decided to break it up into a three part series. Today I'd like to start with the blues/greens/silvers.

Please click here for more information about where to purchase these polishes and which shades will be at Kmart (some are only available on the Jordana website). I've heard from some readers who have said that these polishes are already showing up at their Kmarts even though the official release date is February, so they might already be available in your area.

All of the polishes in this collection are Big Three Free and made in the USA. They retail for $2.99 each.

Left to right: Cosmic, Blue Bash, Celestial, Rhinestones, Lunar Lights (not pictured: Green Glitz)

Please note that all of my swatches were done in low lighting with no flash. I did this so that you could better see the glitter detail (in sunlight or with flash, glitter gets washed out because of its sparkly properties). So in real life, these glitters are all quite sparkly and shiny even though they may look "flat" in my photos.

For all of the following swatches, the first nail was done with THREE COATS (no base color). The second nail was done with ONE COAT over a black creme polish. The third nail was done with ONE COAT over a white creme polish. I did not use a top coat for any of my nail wheel swatches.

Cosmic is probably my favorite polish of the six featured in this post. Described as "clear with fine blue and chunky green, blue and silver glitter" on the Jordana website, this description is 100% accurate to my eyes. All of the glitter is hexagonal in shape, and the glitter is floating around in a semi-watery clear base. The glitter in this one isn't dense (see nail above on the far left after three coats) and because of the semi-watery base, it can be a challenge to position the chunky glitter exactly where you want it, but I personally love this color combo so much that I think it's worth the extra trouble (a little later in this post I'll show you a look I did using Cosmic and you can be the judge!).

Described on the Jordana site as "fine and medium blue glitter", this one obviously contains no chunky hex glitter, but the fine and medium glitter are hexagonal. The base color is tinted blue, which means you can get away with two or three coats on bare nails and get pretty decent opacity without having to lay down a base color first (see the first nail above, swatched after three coats and no base color).

 

Just like Blue Bash, Green Glitz contains fine and medium hexagonal glitter. The glitter is of course green, and the base is tinted green as well, which lends to the overall opacity. I will definitely be using this one for my St. Patty's Day mani this year--I really like it over black.

Celestial is similar to Blue Bash and Green Glitz, but of course it's teal and it contains chunky hex glitter. The glitter in Blue Bash and Green Glitz is fine and medium, whereas the glitter in Celestial is chunky and fine (no medium-sized pieces). Like with Blue Blash and Green Glitz, the base of Celestial is tinted, so it helps with opacity if you wanted to wear it without applying a base color first.

The hex glitter in Rhinestones is the same as Celestial: chunky and fine. In person, I found Rhinestones to be extremely opaque after two coats. In fact, it's pretty opaque after one coat--I tried to do a look by layering Rhinetones over a cool lavender creme and believe it or not, after one coat you really couldn't see the lavender base color AT ALL. In my opinion, this one's best on its own or over a very dark color,  because the tinted gray base and the silver glitter will really overpower a lighter base shade.

Described as "clear with fine and chunky white holographic glitter" on the Jordana site, I would say the glitter in this one is more iridescent than holographic. My pics don't do it justice--I love this one over black because it gives such a lovely rainbow of colors to the nail. In person, this polish is more sparkly than what you see above.

I thought it might help to see a few of these polishes on my actual nails, so I picked the following four shades to show you:

In the photos above and below, I used TWO COATS of each polish, with NO base color underneath. I also used a thick layer of top coat in these photos. Can you you see now how opaque Rhinestones is after two coats? It's definitely the most opaque of all the shades I've shown you today, with Celestial coming in second, Blue Bash and Green Glitz tied for third, Cosmic fourth and Lunar Lights fifth.

And because I can never leave well enough alone, I decided to add two layers of Cosmic on top of all four shades above. I took this picture outdoors in shade to better give you an idea of the sparkle:

My favorite combo is how Cosmic looks over Rhinestones (second-to-the-left). In person, it looks like sea glass layered over a disco ball. LOVE LOVE LOVE it and I can't wait to wear this combo on my toes.

Overall, I"m very pleased with all six of these shades. With the exception of Cosmic and Lunar Lights, the texture of these polishes is easy to work with although, due to the high glitter content, they can become goopy when exposed to the air for too long. If that happens, just recap the bottle, give it a good shake and you should be good to go again. Cosmic and Lunar Lights are not as densely packed with glitter as the other four shades, so it will be a little bit more of a challenge when it comes to glitter placement. All in all, I think these are definitely worth $2.99 a bottle if any of these glitter combos appeal to you.

Oh! I also want to mention that these glitters aren't exceptionally bumpy to the touch when on the nail, but remember, they're glitters so they're not going to be perfectly smooth. I used a thick layer of top coat and that seemed to create a pretty smooth surface. If it's not smooth enough for you after one layer of top coat, just wait a few minutes and slap on another and that should do the trick.

Please stay tuned for parts two and three of this series, coming soon! In the meantime, are you excited to try any of these polishes for yourself? Have you already spotted them at your local Kmart?

A sample of this product was given to Nouveau Cheap for editorial purposes, either directly from the manufacturer or from the agency that works on behalf of the manufacturer. All reviews on NouveauCheap.blogspot.com are the honest opinion of its author and editorial samples do not, in any way, affect the outcome of product reviews.