It has been an incredibly busy two months, and right around the time I got my last blogger package from Rainbow Honey, I was being berated by my friend, who I will call “K,” who was in the exact same work hell I was in, thus knew quite well why I didn’t have time to post polish pictures, so hopefully this will shut her up.

The latest surprise package from RH was a trio of polishes. Fall in Love is a very bright pink but with an unexpected blue/purple shimmer in it. Best Friend perhaps best captures the mood of the collection – “Summer Mixtape,” and since the last time I remember listening to anything on tape was probably the late 80s, it’s fitting that this topper takes me back to the early days of MTV. Finally, Lanterns, which is by far my favorite, is described as “a luminescent blend of iridescent and translucent glitters.” It reminds me of what a jellyfish would look like if it ate some sparkly stuff  – and this was the hardest to photograph accurately on the nail.

Let’s start with Fall in Love. I’ve tried my best to capture the shimmer on the nail, and can’t really, so if you see how it shows up in the bottle – I promise that is on the nail as well. This is two coats, and it went on smoothly with very little cleanup needed. 

Because pink isn’t really my scene, though, I was really just letting this one dry so I could get to the most exciting part – the toppers!  Here’s Best Friend first. This is a very 80s glitter. The clear base has blue shimmer in it, and then the glitter itself is full of 80s neon triangles and hexagons. I had no problem fishing out the shapes; it seemed to be well mixed and evenly suspended. You can see a bit of that shimmer in the base, on my pinky – that’s more from the topper than from the pink base polish.

And here is Lanterns! What you can’t see because of my lack of master ninja camera skills is that this gives an overall sparkle to the whole nail. In addition to the actual glitter pieces, which are a mix of iridescent, almost holo-y goodness in a variety of colors, the shimmer in the base is also much stronger in this polish. This is a topper that works in the same way a very sparkly diamond does in an engagement ring – you move your hand too fast and people say, “whoa, what was that?”

Summer Mixtape is available to purchase now, and you can use MIXTAPE20 to save 20% off your order. Rainbow Honey is also, as always, offering free mystery bags and LE polishes with purchases of various amounts; again, one of my favorites not just because of their great polish but because they are SO generous with the extras!

WOW. I bought the whole Summer of 199X Collection from Rainbow Honey last year, and, as per my usual modus operandi, put them away in the polish Helmer for later use. When Rainbow Honey sent me my blog samples last week, though, they included a mini of The Kraken, and I’m so glad they did. I hadn’t used it since I bought the collection, but I grabbed it to swatch for you, and it is absolutely dazzling.

This is two coats with a generic clear topcoat. The Kraken is a blue-green with amazing glitter of different sizes; silver, holo, hex, dot – just wow. All I can think is that if I were a mermaid, this is what I would look like. In these pictures it’s coming out a little bit more blue than in real life, but it’s raining out so there’s no natural light for other pictures.

Rainbow Honey always has a way of sending me polish when I’m in the middle of some huge life project that has taken me away from blogging. In the middle of a rainy, cold, not quite snowy day last week, I got five Rainbow Honey minis out of the blue to show you – and three of them are here today.  I also have some amazing colors from the new spring collection to show you, courtesy of a mystery grab bag I got a couple of weeks ago, so stay tuned this week!

Rainbow Honey released the Sweet Talk collection last year, consisting of XOXO, Be Mine, and Sweet Talk. This year they’ve rereleased those polishes and added three new colors – My Girl, Cutie Pie, and Love Bug. Since these are February releases, there’s a generally pink theme to these polishes. The first of my three minis was Be Mine, and I used pink with gold shimmer as a base coat for the other toppers they sent. It took three coats for opacity to get rid of the visible nail line, but went on smoothly. Over Be Mine I used Summer Blossom, Papillon, and XOXO, shown from left to right below:

Summer Blossom came from my mystery grab bag. This Limited Edition is still available at Rainbow Honey, and is a glitter topper that has white, yellow, and orange flower glitter. I had no trouble snagging the big pieces in one coat, and you can see from the bottle that this one does not skimp on the dramatic part!

Papillon is from the upcoming Midnight Garden collection for spring – and there will be more to come on that later, as they sent me some of the most beautiful colors I have ever seen as previews from Midnight Garden. This one has HOLOGRAPHIC BUTTERFLY glitter, with a pink tinge. Again, this is jam packed with the “good bits” in the bottle, and I easily got 2 butterflies on my nail on the first try.

Finally, XOXO, which is a re-release from the original Sweet Talk set. XOXO has some seriously hot pink sparkle to it:

While pinks aren’t really my go-to colors, these are beautiful polishes. And when you see the rest of what I’ve got to show you from Midnight Garden, you may just be ordering the whole collection; I know I can’t wait to get them!

I also have a $5 off coupon to share with you. Rainbow Honey is awesome because they calculate amounts for free shipping before coupons, so if you have $50 in your cart then use a coupon, you still get the free shipping. As always, there’s a free LE polish with a $50 order. Use code ILOVENAILBLOGS to take $5 off. In case I haven’t mentioned it before, the ladies at Rainbow Honey are super nice and have great CS. Every issue I’ve ever had has been resolved quickly, even though it’s usually my fault (I forgot to use my promo code, can you please add it?). I really can’t think of a nicer brand to buy from. In full disclosure, I was sent free minis from Rainbow Honey for blogging.