Sunday 19 April 2015

CM Handmade UK Nail polish Swatch & Review

The indie brand CM Handmade UK sent me some of their nail polishes to swatch.

This is a UK based indie brand established by 2 sisters: Anna Christina and Shelley Marie. They sell bath products, candles and of course nail polishes on their Etsy page.

The full size nail polishes (12ml) retail for £5 and the mini's are £2 each of £5 for 3.

I received a good range of nail polishes from beautiful cremes, to glitters in a creamy base and crelly's.

I'll go from dark to light.

More info and swatches after the jump!




First up is Plum Sauce.

Plum Sauce is a dark plum berry pink base with tons of purple shimmer. In dull lights you can't really make out the shimmer, but you can see that the nail polish has a glow to it.

When you're in the sun the purple shimmer radiates!

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

The first coat was a little sheer and slightly streaky, but the second coat sorted everything out. The second coat also deepened the colour.

It dries with a dull shine, so I added a top coat for the photos.





Next up is Sparkle Berry

The is a dark raspberry pink crelly base filled with purple, pink, red and orange micro glitter.

Even in dull light, the sparkle is very apparent, but depending on which lighting your in, different glitters will be visible.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

It was almost opaque on 1 coat, but the second coat darkened the colour.

It dries with quite a gritty finish so I applied topcoat for the swatch photos.




This was a surprising favourite for me. This is Starfish.

Starfish is an orange shimmer polish with holographic golden micro glitter.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

The first coat was a bit sheer, but very even so you could just wear 1 coat if you like that look.

It's fully opaque in 2 coats.

It dries matte so I would recommend using a topcoat.




Alivia is a warm toned baby pink base with tiny holographic micro glitter and larger holographic hex glitter.

I had to do a little fishing and placement to apply the larger hex glitter, but is wasn't difficult.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

It's a very opaque formula. The first coat was slightly streaky and the second coat covered everything up.

Because of the opacity, the holographic micro glitter kind of gets lost in the base and any hex glitter you applied on the first coat, it completely covered up by the second coat.

I think this polish would work better maybe as a crelly formula so it would look more like a jelly sandwich.

It dries very gritty, so I applied 2 coats of topcoat.





Next up is Spring Chicken.

This is a pastel yellow base with white and purple matte hex glitter.

The polish was a little bit thicker than the rest, but it's packed with the hex glitter so I didn't need to fish for anything.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

The first coat is slightly streaky but very opaque. The second coat covered up all the streaks.

Again I think this would work better with a bit more of a crelly formula, to get that real jelly sandwich result, however because this wasn't as opaque as the previous polish, you could still see the first layer of glitter.

The glitter dries on top of the polish, so you need a top coat to smoothen it all out.

The next colour is Grass is Greener.

This green is so beautiful!! It's the perfect warm shade with a hint of blue. Definitely not a mint, but definitely not a pistachio.

It contains medium sized white matte hex glitter.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

This had the easiest formula out of all of them, it was slightly streaky on the first coat, but fully opaque on 2 coats.

Because it's so opaque, again the hex glitter on the first coat disappears on the second coat.

The hex glitter was a little tricky to get out of the bottle, so I needed a little fishing and a little placement.

It needs topcoat to smoothen out the glitter.

This colour though... I's perfect!




Next up are the straight up cremes.

This is Strawbaby, cutest name ever!

This is a cool toned light baby pink.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

The first coat was streaky, but it was fully opaque with 2 careful coats.

I'd say it would be 2-3 coats depending on how careful you are.

This was really easy to work with and dries glossy on its own, so no topcoat needed!




Lastly is Perble.

This is a gorgeous light blue toned pastel purple.

I used 2 coats for the swatch.

It was slightly streaky on 1 coat, but the second coat sorted everything out.

The formula on this was easier to work with than Strawbaby.

Again, it dries glossy on its own so I didn't need a topcoat.



My favourites are Starfish, Sparkle Berry and Perble. All of them have a great formula, are easy to work with and look beautiful! My least favourite would have to be Spring Chicken, it's not really my type of polish, but perhaps it would work better in a crelly base to get that jelly sandwich look. 

I'm so happy I tried out this brand, they have some amazing nail polishes and all of them are perfect on 2 coats! 

Will you be picking up any of the CM Handmade UK polishes? Let me know what you think of them! 
xx Elaine 

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