Polish Pickup May 2018 90s Pop Culture A-D

*Press Samples*

Hi everyone! I'm so glad to be one half of the official Polish Pickup Blogger of the Month team for May 2018! If you didn't know, Nichole (the maniacal mind behind Bedlam Beauty and also one of  your friendly Polish Pickup admins) and I will be splitting the May Polish Pickup products and she will have the last half of the alphabet up on her blog (L-Z) while I will have A-K on my blog. This post will contain makers A-D.

So what about our theme this month? Well...we are having a flashback to my childhood and it's all things 1990s! The Polish Pickup makers have gone above and beyond this month pulling fantastic 90s pop culture inspiration from TV, Movies, Music, Fashion, and even hair care products and accessories! It was such a pleasure to review this month because not only did I get to try amazing products, but each one was also a little trip down memory lane for me. May's 90s Pop Culture Polish Pickup shop will open on May 4th at 11 AM Eastern time and will remain open until May 7th at Midnight Eastern time.

Alter Ego Macarena! AAAY!
Inspiration: Los Del Rio's Macarena
Price: $8
Cap: No Cap

Description: Pale pink (slightly purple-leaning) foil.

Formula: Formula applied smoothly and easily and I used 2 coats for full coverage. Foils are a pain to clean up if they are runny and get around your cuticle (those teeny particles stick to skin like nothing else), but this easy to control formula allowed me to have to do nearly no clean-up (and I am not a careful polisher folks).

My Thoughts: This is a lovely foil polish with a great formula! There are some ladies in the Macarena music video that are wearing some shiny hot pants and mini skirts in this pale shade and their looks are perfect examples of terrible 90s fashion we would all love to forget! This also makes me think of the super shimmery pale eyeshadow that I sported in the 90s (before we discovered that that isn't a good look for pretty much anyone).

A Mother of Dragon Eggs Nerdy Dragon Egg Necklace
Inspiration: Nerds Candy
Price: $20 each
Cap: 75

Description: The Dragon Egg Necklace is a pygmy-sized dragon egg. Each necklace comes with an 18” black braided leather cord and a small dragon figurine. These are made by hand, so no two necklaces will be alike. 

My Thoughts: This is such a bright and colorful necklace and fully captures the candy it is inspired by! I think the black cord gives it a bit of a 90s vibe as well (I know I wore me some black chokers in the 90s). 

Baroness X Be Kind, Rewind Acetone Antidote/Rad Cleanup Brush Duo
Inspiration: VHS Tapes, Sour Patch Kids Candy
Price: $7.75
Cap: 250 sets

Description: The Acetone Antidote is a 15ml/.5oz additive containing glycerin and jojoba oil that you add to pure acetone that helps protect your nails/skin/cuticles during polish removal. It has been scented to smell like Sour Patch Kids Candy. The Rad Cleanup brush has a rainbow metallic handle and is an angled brush with synthetic bristles to help aid in polish clean-up. 

Recommended Use From Maker: Add the entire vial to 6-8oz of acetone. You can add more or less, these are just suggestions for optimal scent and protection from acetone. Once the AA is added to your acetone just shake the bottle once to mix it each time you change polish. There's no need to keep shaking during the removal of a full mani with our formulation, it will stay blended long enough to remove your polish.

My thoughts: Acetone Antidote has been a lifesaver (and timesaver) for me as a blogger. It keeps your nails nice and moisturized without the gross white dehydrated skin situation. I love a good angled clean-up brush too and Demi's brushes are great and hold up well for a good long while with frequent use (I have some of her brushes in my rotation). The Sour Patch Kids scent really packs a punch and I thought it smelled very much like the candy. 

Baroness X/Demiflux Earrings Interplanetary Shift Earrings
Inspiration: Oversized Surf Style ("Interplanetary Body Gear") Duochrome Windbreakers
Price: $11.50
Cap: 95

Maker's Description: These stainless steel, anti-tarnish coated 13mm stud earrings have painted glass cabochons set into them. There are iridescent flakies of various colors (mostly pink to green) and pegasus pee (shifting teal to blue/indigo to purple). The earring backs have a plastic comfort backing as well. These will come wrapped in a black box and matching iridescent tape for gift giving.

My Thoughts: Demi captured the gorgeous duochrome windbreakers well with these earrings! The flakes and shifting shimmer are beautiful and they are fun to wear!

Bee's Knees Lacquer Go Ninja, Go Ninja, Go! 
Inspiration: Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: Deep green jelly base filled with opalescent shimmer, and packed full of red, gold, orange, green, blue, and purple iridescent flakies. 

Formula: This polish is packed with flakies, but it wasn't thick or hard to apply. I used 3 thin coats for full coverage and it was smooth with 1 coat of QDTC (I use KBShimmer Clearly On Top). 

My Thoughts: I am green lover AND I love the Ninja Turtles so this polish was right up my alley. The sheer jelly really allows all of the flakes to shine and gives the polish wonderful depth. 

BlackLace Cosmetics Fall From Grace 
Inspiration: KoRn Follow the Leader Album
Price: $11.50
Cap: 75 bottles

Description: A  greyish-brown taupe metallic with a hint of shimmer. 

Formula: Formula applied smoothly and easily with full coverage in 2 coats. Be sure to work in quick, even strokes to avoid the characteristic streaking that can happen with metallics if you go over the polish too many times. 

My Thoughts: This polish really hearkened back to the 90's to me with the cool metallic finish, but with a nice updated formula and without the super frosty streakiness that plagued a lot of 90's metallics. The shade is a little grungey/a little chic. 

Blue-Eyed Girl Lacquer The Ancient Power
Inspiration: Charmed (TV Show)
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: Pale blue crelly filled with red/green aurora pigment, green/purple shifting shimmer, medium blue shimmer, and blue/purple micro flakies. 

Formula: Formula was slightly thicker than usual, but I think that aided in it not being streaky (as pastel blues can be). I used 3 light coats for full coverage. 

My Thoughts: This polish is complex and ethereal. I can definitely see magic in the shimmery goodness! As usual, pastels bring out my lobster hands in photos, so I tried to fix that as much as possible! This polish also reminded me that I really need to add Charmed to my Netflix queue. I've seen episodes here and there, but I've never watched the entire series. 

BLUSH Lacquers You Don't Take Art
Inspiration: She's All That (movie)
Price: $12.75
Cap: No Cap

Description: A purple jelly with large particle red/orange/gold/green color shifting pigment and a scattered holo pigment. 

Formula: Formula applied smoothly and easily and built nicely to opacity in 3 thin coats. 

My Thoughts: I'm a sucker for purples with shifty pigment, and this one is stunning. Beautiful formula to boot. AND it's inspired by one of my fav movies from the 90s (it mimics the purple/orange of the movie cover). 

Bohemian Polish Zack AttackInspiration: Zack Morris is Trash
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: Blackened navy base filled with navy/purple/gold multichrome shimmer, multicolored ultra chrome flakes, and scattered holo flakes. 

Formula: Applied smoothly and easily, easy opacity in 3 thin coats. 


My Thoughts: This is a very nice multichrome and I love the addition of the colorful flakes for some more dimension. The multichrome pigment in this one is a larger particle on that adds additional sparkle to the polish. Per usual, It's much more shifty and nice in person (my camera never shows the full amazingness of multichromes). Jennifer has reminded all of us that while Saved By the Bell is an iconic and beloved show of the 90s, Zack Morris really was a douchebag! 

B Polished Punk Rock! Let's Go. 
Inspiration: Nancy from The Craft (movie)
Price: $12
Cap: 200

Description: Vampy brown-red jelly filled with color shifting flakes, shimmer, and scattered holo. 

Formula: Application was smooth and easy and I used 3 thin coats for full coverage. 

My Thoughts: First of all...Francine sent me THE DVD in my package, which I think is really awesome! My camera freaked out with this jelly goodness for some reason (I can't figure out why) and I could not get it to focus very well. It's juicy and has great depth though and a perfect vamp for its inspiration!

B Polished Cupcake Squishy
Inspiration: Lisa Frank
Price: $8
Cap: 100

Description: Cupcake stress relief squishy with lightly scented strawberry vanilla frosting and chocolate scented liners. The frosting is white with multicolor pale neon glitters and the liners are multichrome (colors will vary).

My Thoughts. These cupcakes are super cute and have a lovely soft smell (but not overwhelming). I was worried that the glitter would get all over my hands, but I was happy to see that it didn't! Definitely going to be a desk accessory for me (and a stress reliever when people are getting on my nerves. Also...the scented cupcakes reminds me a bit of those scented Cupcake Dolls from back in the 90s. I took my squishy to work and caught myself sniffing it all throughout the day. :D

Cameo Colours Lacquers He's Worm Food
Inspiration: Beavis and Butthead "The Final Judgement of Beavis"
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: A pastel blurple crelly with gold, pink, violet shimmer, copper/gold/fuchsia and blue/violet/copper ultra chrome flakes, hot pink, deep violet, and gold micro flakes, silver and gold holo microglitter, scattered pink and red/blue/purple microglitter, scattered navy holo glitters, and silver holo microflakes.

Formula: This polish is packed with flakes, glitter, pigments, but it still applies smoothly and easily and I used 3 thin coats for full coverage. I used a thicker topcoat (KBShimmer Clearly on Top) for a glassy smooth finish)

My Thoughts: I adore the complexity of this polish! There is so much going on, but it just works beautifully together. It makes for a unique and lovely shade that is likely far better than Beavis deserves. :p It definitely nails the inspiration!

Colors by Llarowe Schwing!!
Inspiration: Wayne's World
Price: $11
Cap: No Cap

Description: Charcoal black scattered holo with a blue and blonde rainbow.

Formula: Formula applied smoothly and easily and if you are a careful polisher, it could easily be a 1 coater. I suck at being careful, so I used 2.

My Thoughts: This is one of those holos that has a velvety finish, not an in your face flame.  And the formula...if I can almost get away with 1 coat...that's good stuff! Also, my indoor lighting is not the best at capturing the beauty of velvety holos like this, but in the sun the holo sort of floats along your nail. It's a lovely finish!

Colors by Llarowe The People's Princess Pink Himalayan Salt Scrub
Inspiration: Princess Diana
Price: $7
Cap: 150 scrubs

Ingredients: Fine Grain Himalayan Pink Salt, Vegetable Glycerin, Sunflower Oil, Jojoba Oil, Apricot Kernal Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Shea Butter, Almond Butter, Neroli Essential Oil, Helicrysum Essential Oil, Orange Lemongrass Blend Oil, Grapefruit Seed Extract, Fragrance Oils.

Scent Notes: Fresh beachy scent. Smells lightly fruity to my nose.

My Thoughts: I'm very excited to see Leah Ann's very first non-polish item, and this scrub is lovely. It has a looser consistency vs a whipped or stiff consistency and is packed with lots of nourishing oils and good scrubbability (yep, that's a word). The scent is delightful as well, a fresh and fruity scent that I think would be very appealing to most.

Celestial Cosmetics My Butterfly Clips Bring the Boys to the Yard
Inspiration: Butterfly Clips
Price: $11
Cap: 130

Description: A pale lavender holo with strong blue shimmer.

Formula: Very nice application with full coverage in 3 thin coats.

My Thoughts: This is a spot-on interpretation of those colored baby butterfly clips that were glazed in sugary shimmer and glitter. I don't know how I never really got into that accessory in the 90s (don't worry...I used plenty of other questionable 90s hair accessories), but they were definitely all the rage. The blue glow is very nice in this polish.

Chaotic Glitz Polish In the Name of the Moon
Inspiration: Sailor Moon (Cartoon)
Price: $12.50
Cap:100

Description: Bright teal jelly filled with indigo/purple/red/green aurora shimmer, scattered holo, and scattered clear and silver geo pigments (tiny glitters). Each bottle will also come with a free Luna sticker (colors will vary)

Formula: Formula was very smooth and easy to apply. I used 3 thin coats for full squishy opacity.

My Thoughts: This is a stunning shade of teal (so bright and cheery), and I love the jelly squish in combination with the glitters/shimmer. The Sailor Moon specific branding is also stellar with the bottle label and extra cute Luna sticker that you could use on your Helmer or anywhere else you might like.

Colors de Carol Give Me a Sign
Inspiration: Britney Spears Baby One More Time Album
Price: $11.50
Cap: 300

Description: A bright pinky-red linear holo with holo dust, aurora shimmer, and ultra chrome flakies in violet/pink/gold.

Formula: Formula applied smoothly and easily and I used 3 thin coats for full coverage.

My Thoughts: A very bright and fun shade (pushing us out of fall reds and into juicy summer reds) with a fantastic holo flame! I actually ended up wearing this for for several days during a break from my swatching sessions and it held up really nicely as well.

Contrary Polish Crimson Glow
Inspiration: My So-Called Life (Angela's Hair)
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: A maroon jelly base filled with red/bronze/copper multichrome shimmer and a mixture of linear and scattered holo pigments.

Formula: Application was excellent and I used 3 thin coats for full coverage.

My Thoughts: The shifty goodness in this polish is droolworthy. Carrie definitely captured Angela's fiery hair with this shade. The delicate mix of holo pigments is the perfect finishing touch.

Contrary Polish Central Perk Tinted Lip Balm
Inspiration: The Central Perk Coffee House from Friends
Price: $7
Cap: No Cap

Description: A sheer brown tinted balm with a cappuccino flavor.

Ingredients: Beeswax, Cocoa Butter, Coconut Oil, Castor Oil, Shea Butter, Jojoba Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Iron Oxide, Orange 5, Titanium Dioxide, Flavor Oil, Stevia, Laurel Laurate.

My Thoughts: The sheerness of this balm is really perfect because it allows for the brown lipstick trend of the 90s to be more modernized and to work for all skintones since it lets a bit of your natural skintone come through and ends up giving you a perfect MLBB shade. It is buildable, but not quite as buildable as Carrie's previous tinted balm shades. I will warn anyone that does not particularly love the taste of coffee, this balm definitely tastes like coffee (since I do not care for coffee, I know that even a hint of it sticks out to me). I've seen rave reviews from coffee lovers about the flavor though, so if you love coffee, I think you will be pleased!

Crafty Taco Cookies & Milk Scrunchie
Inspiration: Scrunchies, obviously
Price: $5
Cap: TBD

Description: A pre-washed cotton scrunchie with milk and cookies pattern on a blue background.

My Thoughts: Nichole's spawn has infiltrated my bloggg! Ain't she cute though? This is such an adorable homage to the 90s! Scrunchies were all the rage and this throwback can be worn in your ponytail or to tie up the corner of your fav oversized t-shirt for real 90s flair.

CrowsToes Nail Color Under Our Tree
Inspiration: Forrest Gump
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: A bone-tinted crelly with gold/green shifting shimmers and gold holo glitters.

Formula: Formula was on the thicker side, but spread easily and it built up nicely to opacity in 3 thin coats. I did use 1 coat of a thicker topcoat for a smooth finish due to the smattering of glitters.

My Thoughts: This beautiful and ethereal shade is full of shimmery goodness! Lauri loves Forrest Gump and made this sweet and moving tribute to his love for Jenny. Lauri always had a deft hand with glitter, and I love gold holo glitters delicately peeking through the crelly base.

PS: This movie has been the bane of my existence since it came out. If I had a dollar for every time I've heard "I LOVE YOU JENNAY" or "Me and Jenny's like peas and carrots"...I would be retired and blogging full time for fun! ;)

Crystal Knockout BSB Girl
Inspiration: Backstreet Boys
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: A lavender metallic shade with a periwinkle glow, blue/purple shimmer, and blue iridescent flakes.

Formula: This polish is dense in flakes, but it applied really nicely and built up to opacity in 3 thin coats.

My Thoughts: This polish really does capture the inspiration image well (it's them all in purple/periwinkle). This polish also has a little nostalgia from me because it reminds me of one of the first "edgy" polishes that I purchased back in the 90s from Claires (which was literally the only place near me that had polish that wasn't red or pink.) I remember searching high and low until I found Claire's cool nail polishes!

Cuter Cuticles Blossom Cuticle Oil
Inspiration: Blossom (TV Show)
Price: $6
Cap: No Cap

Description: 5 ml rollerball cuticle oil with a soft, feminine scent of willow blossom and gardenia with a hint of baby powder. 

Ingredients: Jojoba Seed Oil, Apricot Kernal Oil, Avocado Oil, Grapeseed Oil, Sweet Almond Oil, Vitamin E, and Fragrance Oils and/or Essential Oils. 

My Thoughts: This is a lovely cuticle oil with nourishing ingredients that is the perfect size to toss in your purse or pocket. It has a nice loose rollerball that rolls easily and distributes the ideal amount of product (I'm super picky about rollerballs, and this is a great one!). I was scared of the scent description when I saw it, but it isn't overly perfumey or floral, just a nice soft scent for every day. 

Cuticulia Sparks Fly Timeless Topcoat and Static Base Coat


Scent: Pink Sugared Lemons (combo of Pink Sugar and Lemon Sugar)

Cuticulia Sparks Fly Timeless Topcoat
Inspiration: Jelly Shoes
Price: $9.00
Cap: No Cap

Description: Clear-based topcoat with silver holo microflakes. Is to be used as a final topcoat with no need for an additional topcoat.

My Thoughts: I use Cuticulia's Timeless Topcoat as a sort of quick dry topcoat even though it isn't technically a QDTC. I think it still dries pretty dang fast. This is lovely twist that can add holo sparkle to any nail look. It isn't a dense coating of holo flakes at 1 coat (all of my swatches show 1 coat over a base), but you could do 2 coats for additional sparkle. I really got into the jelly shoes theme here, so I swatched over just a ridge filling base-coat for a nude nail look and then over a purple jelly. The Pink Sugared Lemons scent comes through nicely and is very fresh and bright smelling.

PS: A big thanks to Amanda for making me think about the jelly shoes of my childhood. Never have I ever clamoured more for "cool" footwear and then had sweaty feet and blisters in return for such audacious fashion choices. Didn't matter...JELLY SHOES OR DIE was my childhood mantra!

Cuticulia Static Base Coat
Inspiration: Jelly Shoes
Price: $8.50
Cap: No Cap

Description: Static Base Coat is a sticky base coat which helps polish adhere to nails providing longer wear-time and helps prevent against staining.

My Thoughts: Unfortunately due to my frequent swatching, I wasn't able to test out the durabilty of this sticky base coat, but I actually DO NOT OWN A STICKY BASE COAT so I'm very excited to try this one out to see if it extends the life of my manis. It did apply well and has the same lovely Pink Sugared Lemons scent as the topcoat.

Delush Polish Master of Your Domain
Inspiration: Seinfeld
Price: $11.95
Cap: No Cap

Description: A cobalt blue jelly filled with red/pink color shifting shimmer and iridescent flakies.

Formula: Formula was packed with flakes and shimmer, but it still spread smoothly and easily with opacity in 3 thin coats.

My Thoughts: The shimmer in this polish is over the top! It's super pretty and softens the bold blue just a tad. It's one of those polishes that the camera just doesn't capture well compared to how awesome it is in person. HUGE Seinfeld fan, so I was very glad to see an homage to it here!

Dollish Polish Black Hole Sun
Inspiration: Soundgarden/Chris Cornell
Price: $12.50
Cap: No Cap
Charity: 10% of all sales for May's PPU shade will go to the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention in memory of Chris Cornell

Description: Black jelly with scattered holo, red/orange shimmer, silver holo flakes, and color shifting microglitters and flakes in shades of ruby red, copper, and gold.

Formula: Formula spread smoothly and easily and I used 3 thin coats for full coverage.

My Thoughts: Dolly has made a stunning tribute to Chris Cornell as we approach the 1 year anniversary of his death. Such a beautiful gesture to donate a portion of the proceeds of this polish to a charity that will help prevent future deaths due to suicide. It's a gorgeous polish with a great cause, win-win!

Don Deeva Shamrocks & Shenanigans
Inspiration: House of Pain
Price: $15
Cap: 120

Description: Silver linear holo loaded with orange/gold/greem ultra chrome flakes with spectraflair and copper/gold microglitter.

Formula: This one started off sheer, but built up beautifully to opacity in 3 thin coats.

My Thoughts: All of the glitters/flakes in this silver holo end up giving it a bit of a green tinge that I love. This is another one that I ended up wearing for almost a 5 days during a break from swatching and it just wore like iron on me! Made me want to Jump Around...

Dreamland Lacquer Mrs. Mia Wallace
Inspiration: Chanel Vamp/Pulp Fiction
Price: $12
Cap: No Cap

Description: Blackened red jelly filled with holo microglitter. 

Formula: Formula spread smoothly and easily and built up nicely to opacity in 2 coats. I used 2 coats of KBShimmer Clearly On Top for a smooth finish. 

My Thoughts: Chanel Vamp is an iconic shade of the 90's (as is Uma Thurman's fashion in Pulp Fiction) and I'm so glad that Noelie chose it for her inspiration! This updated twist is stunning! People often ask me about removal of Noelie's microglitters and I can tell you (I've been wearing them for YEARS now) they remove pretty easily with minimal scrubbing. Don't be scared of microglitters y'all!

Polish Pickup is an interactive shopping experience where a theme is voted on by the Polish Pickup Pack group and a selection of makers will make polishes inspired by that theme. All of their polishes will be available to purchase from the Polish Pickup shop and you can pick and choose which polishes to purchase (there is no box commitment) and just pay one $3 flat shipping fee. The Polish Pickup shop is live the first Friday of each month at 11 AM Eastern time.  It stays open for four days, until the following Monday at Midnight Eastern time. There will be a 2-3 week TAT after the polishes are purchased.