Nubar is a brand that I have never had the chance to try. I've thought about placing an order here and there and never got around to it. So, when I got the opportunity to try their new Holiday 2010 collection, Holiday Jewel Basket, I was more than a little excited.
Per Nubar's website and PR materials, Holiday Jewel Basket is their most discounted collection. The cost is $49.95. It contains nine total bottles, which breaks down to 1 creme, 4 glitters, 2 glitter/flake topcoats, and 2 treatments. That's $5.55 a bottle. The set also comes with an adorable wire and bead hinged basket, which would be perfect for holding cotton pads or q-tips. Unfortunately, mine was swiped by my 4-year daughter as a bed for her stuffed kitten, and I can't seem to find it, so I don't have a picture of it. BTW, it makes a great bed for a Beanie Baby. ;)
Normally when I post a collection, I post the colors in alphabetical order, as that's how I label the pictures. However, as this one has several distinct groupings, I'm going to break it up by finish.
Competition Red - Pin-up red creme. The lone creme in the collection, this one is a classic red creme, but it's also got a touch of brown in the base. As it's pretty basic, there's not much to say. Formula was perfect. Pic is 2 coats.
Gold Glitter - Dense, fine, bright yellow-gold glitter in a clear base. I love the gold in this one. As I've been using the term "old gold" lately as a descriptor for several golden polishes, I almost wanted to use the term "new gold" for this one. The gold is very bright and clear. It doesn't work with my skin, however. Hence the redness around my nails. The application on this one was great. Because the glitter is so dense in the base, it only took 3 coats to reach opacity, and it was actually more like 2 coats and then a thin, third coat to cover a few bald spots.
Grass Green Glitter - Slightly-chunky green and gold glitter in a clear base. The application on this one was not as smooth as Gold Glitter. It took 4 coats to reach opacity, and on the last coat, I had to "place" the glitter in places. It was also a bit rougher in texture than Gold Glitter, and the 2 glitters to follow, but I evened it out pretty quickly with a coat of Nubar Diamont. All that said, I love this color. I know Emerald Sparkle is the holiday green glitter, but I have to say, if you want a brighter green for your holiday manicure, definitely check out Grass Green Glitter. Also, I absolutely love the pops of gold in this glitter. It makes me think of a field of grass scattered with dandelions.
Red Ruby Glitz - Fine red glitter in a red jelly base. This one just screams HOLIDAY to me. This is 3 coats, though in terms of opacity, I could have been okay with 2. However, the glitter in this one is very fine, so it "floats" in the jelly base, which means it adds dimension with each coat. Of all the 4 glitters in this collection, this one had the best application. If practically flowed on the nail.
Silver Glitter - Bright silver glitter in a clear base. This is the silver equivalent to Gold Glitter. It's very bright and has a ton of shine. Normally with silver glitter, I find it rather boring and flat, unless of course, it contains holo glitter. However, this was not the case with this polish. I was parrakeeting my nails like crazy. The formula and application were identical to Gold Glitter. Pic is 2+ coats (meaning 2 with a thin third coat in places to cover thin spots).
2010 - Thick clear base with red-based multi-chrome, rainbow flakes. I wanted to show you this one, and Pixie Dust (below) on naked nails, as well as on a dark base (but these are definitely meant for layering). This one, I had trouble coming up with a descriptor. I don't own many flakes, so I hope I did it justice. Basically, the flakes in this one change from red to orange to golden with a bit of green thrown in (much like the flakes in Barielle Elle's Spell). They almost look like flames. From what I gather, 2010 is a dupe to Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (which I have yet to see in person, much less own). I liked before, and then I put it over the black base and... wow. It was beautiful. This is 2 coats on both the naked nails and the black nail.
Pixie Dust - Very fine, iridescent silver, blue, green, and purple shimmer suspended in a thick clear base. This is one of those polishes that you have to see in person to fully appreciate. There's something almost ethereal about it. In the bottle, it looks like swirls of fine snow and it's practically on mesmerizing. It's equally beautiful on the nail, and I think it would look amazing over any of colors in the shimmer particles (silver, blue, green, and purple). Pic is 2 coats on all nails.
This set also contained Diamont, a thick top coat, and Nubar's Foundation Nail Base Coat. In this review, I used Diamont over Grass Green Glitter and Silver Glitter. I have yet to use the Base Coat, as I like to give treatments a more thorough review. I plan on using the Base Coat over the next few days, along with Diamont, and I will report back in a separate post.
All in all, I must say I'm impressed with this gift set/collection, as well as with NubarNubar, but nonetheless, I love it. I've already created a small wishlist of Nubars I want to try in the future. :)
Nubar's Holiday Jewel Basket is available at their website,
bynubar.com.
These were sent to me for review
