I first heard of Chrissy, the owner of indie polish brand Polish TBH (IG @polishtbh) through a mutual friend, Brandy (@polishednshined) who loves Chrissy's polishes so much, she owns a bottle of each Polish TBH ever released. Wow, very impressive! Little known fact: Chrissy named her indie line "Polish TBH" because she's known for saying the common phrase "to be honest" quite a bit. It was only a natural choice & it's quite catchy. She and I began to talk through Instagram & finally, after months & months, she moved from Northern California to Southern California & we met at Victoria's (@serumno5) "Love Preview" event in November 2013.
Chrissy is a bubbly person & passionate as an indie maker. She spends a lot of time & effort making sure each polish is just right before releasing them. As an astute Britney Spears fan, she has an entire line dedicated to Britney's fragrances & some songs, of which "Circus" was my first Polish TBH. Now Chrissy is a member of our SoCal-based CaliNailGirls group where we meet up monthly. I've had the pleasure of hanging out with her multiple times now & can honestly say that when it comes to her handmade polish, Chrissy is very dedicated to quality & creating unique looks with fun twists & names. I was so flattered when she surprised me with her Holiday line to swatch. Soon after, I became very sick with the flu & had personal things to attend to, which ultimately delayed my swatches & postings. Most of these polishes are still available on her website:
She's currently working on a new line to be released soon. Hopefully you can see the quality she produces throughout this blog post.
The first three polishes I'll review are (from Top to Bottom) "Sugar Plum Fairy," "Polar Express," & "Blue Balls." Sadly "Sugar Plum Fairy" & "Polar Express" flew off the shelves when Polish TBH had her last amazing sale on Cyber Monday last month. They will all be back next holiday season. Each polish has a unique look, but all have small shiny glitters embedded in their formula,which make them different from the others I swatched at the end. I'll start with "Sugar Plum Fairy."
I wasn't wowed by this polish when it was in the bottle, but as soon as I got the first & second coat on my nails, "Sugar Plum Fairy" became an instant fave of mine. Such a beautiful cranberry-toned jelly with a constant shimmer from a million tiny gold glitters with tons of sparkling reflections suspended in this almost mauvish-red tone. The bottle macro shot is much darker than the actual polish. It is more true to colour in all the other photos.
Here's a macro shot of it on my nail with two coats, no top coat. Yes, it's that shiny!
I started playing with angles using my macro lens. Haven't seen anyone do this personally (a friend said she's seen it before though), but I love this focal point and angle & will continue to do this with each swatch. Gives you an idea of the macro detail in front while also displaying the unfocused shimmer we try to get with glitter/holo photos.
A side-by-side macro shot of two nails, so you get the effect of the miniscule glitters popping out at you. Pretty amazing perspective.
Here's a final picture of my nail swatch with the back of the bottle so you can see how closely coloured the two are.
Next up we have "Polar Express" which is a navy, blue jean look, has miniscule, but vibrant gold glitters, just like in "Sugar Plum Fairy," but dries with a matte finish. I chose not to top coat mine with either a shiny nor matte top coat just for pictures, but for added protection & durability, Polish TBH recommends a matte or shiny top coat, giving you a dual effect for this polish.
Here's a macro shot of the polish inside of the bottle, which again is a little darker than the actual colour. Look at those incredible sparkles, like you're time traveling through space. Like whoa.
A macro shot of my nail with two coats of "Polar Express" & no top coat.
I added gold star nail studs because this polish is not only inspired by the movie "Polar Express" & it's beautiful hues in the animation, but reminded me of the night sky & good ol' American blue jeans & Fourth of July. This is a very versatile polish for many designs all year-round.
My new favourite angle. You can see how wonderful the matte finish really looks with the two out-of-focus nails.
Next up & lastly of the three, I present to you, "Blue Balls." Not only will the name tickle your fancy to say, but this frosty, light blue, slight holographic polish will delight your eyes as well. I felt like I was looking at Cinderella's magical ball gown. No holo polish I own has this same effect. It's enticing.
The macro shot of "Blue Balls" displays how the linear holo has a slight green shift to the polish & reflects mass amounts of light with a crystalized micro glitter effect & slightly larger blue holographic glitters that pop.
This nail macro shot looks like Cinderella's glass slipper or the lightest shining glass Christmas ornament on a delicately decorated tree.
Macro shots of holographic glitter polishes always make a visual treat because they look like the polish is twisting & turning in the picture. Such visual movement is stunning.
Prepare yourself, for with the next three polishes, there will be massive amounts of glitters in all shapes, sparkles, & colours. Starting off with "Shelf Elf," I layered two coats of this glitter topper over Zoya nail polish's amazing white lacquer called "Purity." "Shelf Elf" instantly reminded me of peppermint candy canes, which happens to be one of my favourite scents of the holiday season. I used Zoya's "Purity" along with Essie's "Jag-U-are" with a thin striping brush to make the alternating sized lines. I love how my very first peppermint accent nail came out. This polish is very fun & inspiring.
This macro polish bottle shot of "Shelf Elf" displays how it contains glitters of all shapes & sizes, including hex glitters in white, red, holographic red, white, & irredescent. There are also a couple red bar glitters and small squares in an array of colours.
Look at just how many glitters there are with only two coats. Absolutely NO FISHING for glitters at all. So incredible looking! Makes me instantly hungry for peppermint bark.
I added red rhinestones at the tops of my nail beds & love how it created a visual statement. Just check out the blue & purple glowing gleam from the iridescent glitters. I love this combination with the red & white stripes, but I can't wait to incorporate "Shelf Elf" into my designs throughout the rest of the year. So super unique & pretty!
"Reindeer Vomit" is a lot less barfy & a lot more magical than it sounds. ;) I started off with a coat of Sinful Colors' "San Francisco" because I knew that the dark green metallic polish would help the indie polish with MULTIPLE glitters in ALL shapes and sizes display perfectly. I added a kooky Rudolph on my accent nail. You can find a full step-by-step pictorial of how to make him on my Instagram @peacehappnails.
Too many to even list, I don't think this indie polish even has an inch without sparkle or glitter. Truly only the contents of a magical reindeer's stomach after a crazy, roundtrip world tour with a jolly fat man would create such a wondrously sparkly concoction. "Reindeer Vomit" is kaleidoscopic.
I have a thing for stars, so I tried my best to grab as many holographic stars & place them on each nail along with at least one large red hexagon glitter to accentuate the reindeer art on my other nail. There was a little fishing required, but not too much, as this base is a beautiful moderation between a light clear topper base & a heavy green jelly. It may be the scintillating mini holo glitters suspended in between, but this polish goes on smoothly & there's plenty of awe-factor with each swipe.
This polish is available in both "Christmas Tree" & unscented. Mine was scented, which I expected it to smell like pine scent, but it was more of a sweet smell that once dried, even permeated through the top coat. Definitely a nice touch.
Last, but not least is "Gingerbread House" which was an instant fave of mine even in the tiny bottle. I planned on doing an intricate gingerbread house on at least two of my nails, but went with the accent nail of a little gingerbread girl over Pipedream Polish's holographic "Red Light" using layered acrylic paints on top. Absolutely love how this mani came together.
The bottle was chalk full of glitters of all shapes in sizes, just like "Reindeer Vomit," but very unique. A range from purple, light pink, green, gold, and white hexes, with teeny little white squares, to medium white circle glitters and then large, red, satiny heart glitters in a light brown crelly with hints of darker brown micro shimmers that make it look exactly like gingerbread.
I used a base polish of one coat of Essie's "Penny Talk" since it has a similar copper hue, but this crelly polish could easily be layered with itself & have no VNL (visible nail line) in 3 coats. I used 2 coats over the base & then cleaned off the largest glitters with a small brush dipped in acetone so that they would stand out.
I like for my jelly sandwiches to still have some visible glitters, but most nail swatchers seem to like to layer & cover all glitters. To each their own. There's no "right way" to use a polish, while some may say otherwise, but if you like it, you are the only person whose opinion matters. Remember that :)
Thank you for reading! Stay tuned for more indie brands & makers coming up soon!
