OPI Infinite Shine ‘OPI’m Dreaming’ Spring 2025 Collection – Swatches & Review

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Yes, we’re DEEP into summer, we’re already seeing Fall collections, but I’m talking about spring, okay!! Sometimes you have off years! I should be smart and blame it on my upcoming wedding and honeymoon, like “yes that’s clearly why I’m too busy to keep up with consistent posting”. Never mind that we’ve had everything booked out for said wedding for almost 2 years, and I’m feeling comfortable with any last tasks coming up, no, THAT’S clearly still taking up ALL of my time, yes, yes that’s it.

Sorry, we have to pause again and let me have my existential moment where I think about how I started this blog the summer before my senior year of college, and now here I am at 30 years old, 2 weeks out from being married. I’ve enjoyed taking you along for every part of my life journey.

ENOUGH EXISTENTIALISM. Let’s talk about polish, that’s what you want. And yes, even with summer and fall collections sitting on my memory card and breathing down my neck, the title is not fooling you, I’m going to finish posting about spring first. I’ve posted about every seasonal OPI collection since 2017 and I won’t be breaking the order now, it’s about the principal. I have all these shades swatched up, so it’s better late than never.

So here we go, we’re pretending like I posted this months ago when I first swatched up these shades. I say to you “Today, we’re looking at the other half of OPI’s Spring release, called ‘OPI’m Dreaming’. As I’ve mentioned in posts about the collections of 2024, OPI seems to be in this trend of releasing both a regular nail lacquer line as well as a matching Infinite Shine collection for reach season. That Infinite Shine release spans from 9-12 polishes, so combined with the regular lacquer shades, we’ve been regularly getting 21-24 polishes per quarter. They just like to keep me busy. Today’s post is about the Infinite Shine polishes, but if you want the regular lacquer swatches, you can read my thoughts here: Regular Lacquer collection

OPI has described this half as 12 soft shimmery pastels, and I find that pretty accurate overall, you know, good work OPI on describing your own product. There are a few brighter pops of color throughout, but overall these colors will run lighter in pigment.

OPI thinks of their Infinite Shine line as the “next step up” from the regular lacquer formula, as indicated by its higher price. But it’s still just regular lacquer – not gel – and comes in the bottles with the silver metallic caps. OPI says it’s a longer lasting nail polish formula that “delivers up to 11 days of gel-like wear”. Again, not gel, no need to cure with a lamp. (For reference, any actual gel polish will be within an opaque bottle as it cures through UV light. Sunlight would mess with the formula. Anything within a clear bottle is absolutely not a gel formula). With my constant rate of swatching, I’m never keeping one shade on long enough so I can never speak to any sort of longevity claims from any polish brand.

But I will say, I often don’t notice really any huge difference in application between the lacquer and the Infinite Shine shades. Maaayyybe the Infinite Shine applies shinier, but I really think it’ll depend on the specific shade and finish. I would be applying a top coat for a full manicure anyways, so again that’s not swaying me. I always review both sets of shades now because they do feature different colors and finishes. It’s always about showing you what each color looks like and how it applies on my own nails and from there you can decide with your own preferences and budget. The whole ‘I tried it so you don’t have to’ idea.

We’re a few months and collections out from release, but you can still find these specific shades on the Beyond Polish website, along with plenty of other brands. If you do go ahead and purchase from Beyond Polish you can use code GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items. It is affiliated so I would earn a tiny little commission – so I understand if you’re not comfortable using it. I fully support Beyond Polish and purchase from them myself, and I just want to get you some discounts! You can also find these shades on Polish Pick – another site I shop from constantly, I’ll only ever advertise places I’ve used and fully trust.

Now, let’s get on into these swatches!

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Essie ‘Be Them All’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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[A note: I’ve been destashing! I went through and got rid of over half of my collection, and there’s some greatly discounted, mainly mainstream polishes looking for new homes (US only, I’m sorry to my international friends, the shipping just isn’t feasible or cost effective). You can check out what’s available on my destash Instagram @GingerlyPolishdestash or by checking out this Google Doc! Feel free to message me on IG or email me if you’re interested in any shades!]

***

Let’s begin this post by saying that Essie has been on quite the silly little journey lately. I get it, Essie, I turned 30 last year and I feel a little silly at times too.

But it all began in 2023 when they released a UK exclusive winter collection called Just Chill. Yes, this was very strange for a US based brand that had been steadily releasing collections to their American customers for the entire year and had never missed a seasonal release previously. It was like ‘A Year Without a Santa Clause’ (was that too niche of a reference, was that too millennial of me, did anyone else watch that growing up). And that UK collection had some gorgeous polish colors in it, but like a baby, I forgot about it as soon as it was out of my sight.

2024 came, and there was again, no winter release – not even in the UK either. Still strange, but again they had been steadily releasing collections all throughout the year, so I wasn’t worried. Then in February of 2025 (I’m crosschecking the timeline by @essie_obsessie’s account – if you’re interested in anything and everything Essie, I highly recommend her account) suddenly, the Just Chill collection reappeared as a US release. Essie didn’t formally announce it at all, and it hasn’t appeared on their website, but apparently it was our Spring 2025 collection (I do have it and will be swatching it up soon). Also, the US release only came with 5 of the 6 UK shades, missing ‘Easy Freezy’ and instead replacing it with ‘Muchi Muchi’, an already permanent shade.

Weird, but alright new shades, sure! I did say they were gorgeous so I was glad to be able to snatch them up. Then later that month, there was an official announcement for the ‘Be Them All’ collection (which this post is covering today). When this collectoin was originally released, it featured 10 shades: 6 cream enamel shades and 4 special effects toppers. But now, as of this blog posting, suddenly the Essie website is only featuring 7 shades of the 10 shades, with 3 of the creams missing. They’re still featured in the Be Them All header photo, but they’re missing from the specific collection listing.

Because suddenly, those shades are shown in a new release called ‘Riviera Rush’. THAT collection hasn’t been officially announced on Essie social media but you can find the shades at Ulta now (at least the cremes). Those shades include 3 new cream shades, 2 new special effects polishes, the 3 creams from Be Them All (including the namesake polish of that set) and 1 re-promoted special effect polish that came out in the original release of the line in April of 2024.

I cannot understand it, and of course, Essie will not be explaining any of this. We can simply speculate, like hey maybe it’s tariff related, maybe it’s inflation related. Either way, it’s all simply fascinating to me and I just had to lay it all out for someone else and get it out of my brain. (I had also already typed out and finished this post once, and then WordPress didn’t save it and I lost it all, so I had to extra talk about it).

We’re beginning with that whole history lesson to set up the fact that this post will be going over the ten shades of the ‘Be Them All’ collection and I just wanted to explain why there might be some discrepancies when you look up this collection later. I shall be swatching it as it originally released, so this clearly means that this blog is now helping to record history. You’re all welcome.

So okay yes, the Be Them All collection. As I mentioned a few times, it released with 10 shades: 6 cremes and 4 special effects toppers. Essie notes with this release: “Who wants to tick one box when you can be them all with loud and vibrant shades that showcase every side of you”. So it’s about how you’re not just one thing, you can Be Them All. Get it. (The redoing of this entire post is clearly getting to me, I’m getting Bold Happy).

The 6 cream shades are available from Beyond Polish. You can use code GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items. It is affiliated so I would earn a tiny little commission for each sale, so absolutely no pressure to use it. And then for the 4 shimmery special effects shades, Essie says they are exclusive to CVS.

Okay PHEW let’s finally get on into these swatches!

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Glam Polish ‘Rocketman’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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[Before we start, I wanted to update that I’m destashing! If you’re in the US and want some discounted – mainly mainstream polishes – check out my destash page or my full google doc listing them all out! Feel free to message or email me with questions or requests!]

***

Yes, my dear readers, you are going to just be getting an absolute spree of blog posts in these next few weeks, and obviously I know you’re excited. If you didn’t see in my OPI Spring post, I noted how I was deep into destashing my entire life (okay, fine just my nail polish collection), and how that general disorder and disorganization had kept me from blogging – even before embarking on the massive cleanout. I’m one of those people who needs a clean and calm environment for my brain to also feel clean and calm and focused, so squeezing my hand into the tiniest little open spot on my desk to swatch and record videos was no longer sustainable. I may still have boxes of polishes in front of my closet waiting to be shipped to new homes, but they’re at least fully pulled and the polishes I actually want to keep fit into drawers and I have room on my desk again! We breathe of sigh of relief, and we go into this new phase feeling better already.

So I went through my collection and then I also got really into bullet journaling and plotting out every part of my life, so we’re working our way to a ROUTINE. As I adjust and catch up and create these new and improved workflows, you’ll get some spurts of bunched posts. Eventually I do hope to settle into a truly consistent and spaced out schedule, posting 3 times a week–with nail collection reviews on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and a makeup review on Sunday. You would think this shouldn’t be a new concept that I’m only now implementing, considering that I’ve been blogging for almost 10 years now, but it just shows how much I was flying by on vibes these past 9 years. Better late than never.

For those of you loyal subscribers who are reading all of these in order right as they publish, I’m so SORRY for my yapping so much at the beginning of each of these – it had built up from months of not posting and I just had to get it all out and explain my entire life to you all in these beginning posts. It IS what I do, I mean, look at any of my first posts of a new year. We shouldn’t be surprised either.

Alright, I’m done waxing poetic about my life, let’s get on into the review (I bolded that so anyone can scroll right to it amidst my ramblings, like a precious ‘Jump to Recipe’ button). I want 2025 to be the era of clearing out clutter, both in actual collections as well as the blog post backlog. While I’ll of course continue posting more recent collections, I have so many “older” polishes and collections (aka released within the last few years) that have been swatched up, posted on Instagram, and then lost into the grid. Instagram is great for showing newer releases in real time – but it’s lack of a search function on a profile makes it hard to go back and easily find specific shades – especially the farther back their post date. And that’s the main reason I started as well as kept up this blog! Instagram gives us the flash, but the blog is all about being a reference.

And the brand that I absolutely have the most backlog for is Glam Polish (which makes sense when I’m swatching a collection each month for them). While some of their polishes that I review might no longer be available, there are many that still are, so I want to become a Glam Polish Guide.

I’ve been lucky to swatch for them for a while, but if you’re new to the blog and unfamiliar with Glam Polish, they’re an indie brand that works out of Australia. Their collections are often inspired by and reference pop culture, whether it’s a newly released movie or TV show, or an iconic property we grew up with. Though they’re Australian based, they also have a US warehouse, making it so us USA babies don’t have to pay expensive international shipping fees. (I’m sure you’ve heard about our president actively trying to destroy the country and start trade wars with tariffs, so it’s nice to be able to get some pretty things through to distract us and keep us sane).

The collection we’re looking at in this post one is a newer released collections and debuted at the end of February 2025. It’s called the ‘Rocketman’ collection and features 6 shades of rich shifty shades of dense shimmer, all with names of famous space-themed songs. There’s one lighter color that breaks that deep color palette, but it still fits in, okay, I just wanted to give a nice one sentence description.

These are all available on the Glam Polish website as of posting. Alright, let’s get on into the shades!

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Rom&nd x INAPSquare Black Spectrum Collection Swatches

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Ever since my fiancé and I traveled to Japan last year, Asian beauty has absolutely captured my attention – specifically from Korean, Japanese, and Chinese brands. They all have such innovative products overall, and their style and formulas are completely different from anything in the American market – so much so that we’re starting to see Western companies release products that are very obviously inspired by these same Asian beauty trends.

So while in Japan, I was dragging my fiancé along to so many stores (specifically a lot of Don Quijotes, iykyk) after watching various YouTube videos discussing top products and recommendations. I then walked into a WONDERLAND, I’m talking AISLES and AISLES of affordable products and gorgeous packaging and I just needed it all. Because of this, I was an absolute gremlin and came home with a suitcase almost full to bursting of new beauty products (you gotta save on shipping when you can). I’m not promising I’m now going to become the expert on Asian beauty – we’ll still have plenty of American brands to review – but I hope to feature it on the blog more and more because I’m won’t be stopping my purchases anytime soon.

So okay yes, I introduce this post by talking about traveling to Japan, and now I’m going to talk about a Korean brand – hear me out, it makes sense. While Japanese beauty is of course it’s own thing, K-Beauty is absolutely massive, with whole stores dedicated to it (many brands have their own dedicated stores in multiple Japanese locations, and then there are also places gathering multiple brands under one roof like Olive Young). K-beauty is HUGE and it’s starting to get more and more traction over here in the states as well.

After browsing all the products in person and loving my new purchases, I had then been perusing online and keeping up with more new releases while back home here in Chicago. I had found my way onto YesStyle – another site that sells a huge range of Asian beauty, not just K-Beauty (though the stock of Chinese brands has now been put into limbo because of the new tariffs) (if you’ve been questioning at all, I’ll say it outright here – I absolutely do not support anything about this current administration). Once you start browsing that site, it’s dangerous and you can just lose yourself in a rabbit hole of interesting products, filling up carts and wishlists. (I do have a little rewards code, M2JQ8E that if you enter when checking out allows me to get rewards points to use on their site for future orders! No pressure, I’m just here to give you some little discounts to try out and enjoy Asian beauty like I do. I do also love that as you shop more on the site, you steadily get more of a discount.) Each product will have an estimated shipping time underneath it – some can take up to a month since they’re shipping from overseas, while others are fully “in stock” and can ship within 24 hours – allowing you to always know when you’ll get your products. It’s normal that ordering any sort of Asian beauty comes with longer shipping times, but so far it’s always been worth the wait.

Hopping back in, I was scrolling Instagram when I saw the first hints and teasers drop for this collection we’re looking at today. This is from a brand called ‘Rom&nd’ (I believe pronounced Romand) in collaboration with the company INAPSquare. From what I’ve read INAPSquare is a lifestyle brand, and their signature style features black and white with fun little illustrations all throughout.

Now everyone got excited from these teasers–black packaging–and we were all asking “are we actually getting black colored products from a Korean brand?? From K-Beauty that’s famously known for softer, neutral, pinky tones? Black lip products??” I’ll spoil this for you right now, we did not get actual black lip products. We have mainly neutrals here, just wrapped up in that black packaging with cute little illustrations on them. We do get a quad of gorgeous black and white shades, but overall we’re neutral.

And if you were a touch disappointed from that lack of black, I will say all of those comments and requests did lead to Rom&nd actually creating a trio of black lip products, which you can purchase on YesStyle now! It does currently say limited edition, but maybe we can bully them again into making it permanent.

Alright, we’re not talking about those, let’s dive on into these swatches already.

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OPI ‘OPI’m Dreaming’ Spring 2025 Collection – Swatches & Review

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Well hello there buddy (does anyone else watch Old Time Hawkey on Tiktok, no I’m not getting distracted in the first sentence). Yes, we have had another little pause here in posting, but I’m back and feeling better than ever. See, what has kept my brain absolutely occupied for the past few weeks was an absolute MASSIVE destash of my nail polish collection. The first TRUE big destash of my entire collection in my 9 years of blogging. That’s correct, instead of making it easy on myself and continually moving polish in and out, I instead waited until it was taking over every facet of the bedroom and then paused every other ongoing project in my life and tackled this. Yes, it’s obviously a great strategy.

But I did it! And I managed to destash half of my collection (it’s a very large number that I’m embarrassed to say but it’s a LOT). So okay yes, there are still boxes in front of my closet, but they’re now filled with polishes just waiting to go to a new home. If you’re at all interested (and are in the US, I’m so sorry international friends, shipping is just too hard and risky) definitely check out my destash page at @GingerlyPolishDestash, or my big ass Google doc to see all of the polishes I have available. I was practically frothing at this opportunity to create another spreadsheet.

But with it, my desk is starting to become visible and usable again, instead of every square inch being covered, with me sliding polishes around to create the tiniest little space to swatch. It’s now only filled with untried polishes, and the goal of eventually cleaning it off and having a fully open surface again has me extra motivated to swatch. (That and me getting way too into bullet journal videos and now organizing my every movement into 3 different notebooks. I’m already taking far too long to start so I won’t get too into it, but inside of those notebooks I’ve set myself up on a strict content calendar, and I hope soon you can see the results).

***

So enough yapping (jokes on you, I’ll never stop yapping at the beginning of my posts), and let’s get on it, starting with a new OPI review. If you’ve at all been a consistent reader, you’ve heard me say that it’s never a new polish season until I swatch up an OPI collection. And this sweet little OPI spring collection has just been waiting for its moment to shine, and is just perfect for a “new beginning”.

Let’s look at OPI SPRING. I know the season itself is well underway, but we’re catching up here!! We have to swatch spring before we can even think about summer! So yes, this is the OPI ‘OPI’m Dreaming’ collection for Spring 2025. For this seasonal release, we’re once again getting both regular lacquer and Infinite Shine shades – a trend OPI has been on since fall of last year. We have 12 regular lacquer shades and then 12 Infinite Shine shades – so 24 shades to kick off spring (OPI is here to make me WORK in each new collection). In this current post we’ll be looking at the regular lacquer shades, and later on you’ll get the matching Infinite Shine post.

OPI describes these shades as “a collection of buildable shimmery sheer pastels that’ll nail your wildest dreamzZz from head to toe”. Z’s aside, I found that to be a very accurate summary. We truly do have 12 sheer pastels full of dense shimmer. But don’t let “sheer pastels” make you click off just yet because these formulas did pleasantly surprise me. Unless you’re looking for bold, full colors, then yes you can scamper off. This is a specific look and vibe that we have going on with all of these shades, and if you love that look, you’ll be in heaven here.

I always love picking up my OPI shades from either PolishPick or BeyondPolish, both of which I’ve shopped from for years. (If shopping from Beyond Polish you can use code GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items. It’s an affiliate code, so I would earn a little kickback with each sales – never any pressure to use it! I just want to pass along some savings).

So whew, we’re finally getting on into the swatching! (and blogging again!)

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What’s Up Nails ‘Spooky Spice’ 2024 Collection – Swatches & Review

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Well hello there, and welcome to another post from the Great 2024 Backlog! We have a fall collection here, but the shades are all very much available on the Whats Up Beauty website, so this obviously means it can be spooky all year round. Keeping it short and sweet with my yapping (at least in this introduction), so we can dive right on in to my other yapping.

Today we’re looking at the ‘Spooky Spice’ collection from Whats Up Nails, which is a sub-brand under the Whats Up Beauty umbrella. If you’ve never shopped on Whats Up Beauty, they sell nail polish, makeup and various tools, both from their own brand as well as from many other indie brands. It’s a good little website, and if you’re looking to try out a variety of indie brands, this is a good way to purchase individual items and save on shipping! (They’ve also recently been putting out the most gorgeous makeup products and I just might have to get my little hands on some soon). They don’t release new nail collections too often, so I was so excited to swatch these up.

This release features 9 new polishes. We got a nice little range of colors here overall, and the use of shifty, sparkly flakes connects them all. This whole time I’ve been pondering and wondering how it’s a Halloween collection – but then Whats Up Beauty themselves doesn’t even fully call it a Halloween release, it just happened to release around then, so okay that’s on me. Some of the polish descriptions clearly indicate this collection spans all of the fall events and feelings of the season and that makes more sense to me. You know smart that that’s what they went for the whole time.

Okay I’m done pondering, let’s get on into the swatches!

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Holo Taco ‘Birthstone’ Collection – Swatches & Review

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So sorry for any creme lovers, I’ll say right out that this collection absolutely won’t be for you.

Today, we’re continuing on with our Holo Taco catchup (and overall blog catchup, let’s be honest). At this point I’ve accepted that I’ll be collecting every future release from Holo Taco, so you’re going to get all of the posts about their polishes and collections, and you’re going to like it. I’m working on first reviewing more recent and still available sets, and then we’ll dive into the backlog that’s hanging out under my desk. I’m nothing if not positively overflowing with content.

If you’re not familiar with the brand Holo Taco, was founded by blogger, then influencer and YouTuber SimplyNailogical aka Cristine. She helped really popularize nail art on YouTube, being the biggest and most popular creator in that genre. Though she’s not posting regular nail videos anymore, she still continually streams, both in gaming and with interesting behind the scenes content of collection and overall stats from the brand. She had years and years of testing various polishes and figuring out her preferences and so it only made sense to start her own polish line, to fill in for shades she wanted to see on the market. It’s in between a true indie brand, one that’s hand mixed, and a large mainstream brand like OPI – they have their own warehouse and are able to create new and unique formulas in larger quantities than other indie brands. She’s known for her love of holographic pigment – it’s even in the name, though she’s expanded into gorgeous creme formulas as well as other interesting finishes!

With that intro, let’s dive on into this release! This collection is the Birthstone collection, and that title can give you a good idea what you’ll see here. That’s right, a 12 piece polish set that are named and inspired after the 12 birthstones. All of these shades are filled with so much sparkle and shimmer, which is only appropriate for gemstones.

When the collection dropped, the crowd went WILD, and it sold out even faster than any of their other releases, which Cristine and Holo Taco weren’t expecting. I mean, everyone loves connecting with a “label”, though many, like me, purchased the whole set. It was just something about the finishes and shades that got us all. Unfortunately the full bundle is no longer available (and I’m not sure if it’ll get restocked, maybe at the holiday time again) There are still a few individual shades in stock now on the site. I still wanted to get this post up JUST IN CASE, whether there’s a future full restock, or any of the available colors catch your eye.

Now let’s get on into the swatches!

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OPI Infinite Shine ‘Wicked’ Winter 2024 Collection – Swatches & Review

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No you’re not experiencing Deja Vu. So that means, yes, we have more OPI x Wicked nail polishes to talk about today. I told you there was a little OPI backlog to work through – but we’re almost there, just one more after this next post (OPI x Hello Kitty), and then we’ll be diving full on into OPI SPRING.

But for now, let’s focus on Winter. Starting with their Fall 2024 collection, OPI has been doing a new little thing where they release both a regular lacquer collection, as well as a companion Infinite Shine set. That means anywhere from 21-24 polishes per season, and you know, as a nail blogger, who doesn’t love more polishes. New OPI releases are always the most popular posts on the blog, so I can’t be mad at them providing me 2 per season. And yes, the upcoming Spring collection does have both a 12 piece lacquer set and a 12 piece Infinite Shine set.

As implied, this review is going over the companion to the 12 piece regular lacquer Wicked collection that we discussed here. You know the big points already: this is in collaboration with the movie Wicked, a Wizard of Oz prequel with 9 new shades. We’ll of course get even more green and pink shades (did you see how many shades of pink make up Glinda’s wardrobe), as well as “filling” out a color palette inspired by the movie. Overall we have new and different shades here, but there are a few that are getting a touch close to the regular lacquer shades. I’m guessing OPI isn’t assuming most people will be purchasing all 21 polishes, but WE EXIST, OPI.

If you haven’t read any of my other Infinite Shine reviews, or you’re unfamiliar of how it differs from OPI’s regular polishes, here’s a lil rundown. They’re the same OPI bottles, with instead with a silver metallic cap, and they will be more expensive than the regular lacquer – mainly because OPI is claiming that these will give longer wear and shinier finishes. They say they “lock onto nails like gel” but I am here to emphasize that these are absolutely not gel. They do not need to be cured, and they won’t cause any allergies – and they won’t wear as well as true gel. Any polish that’s not in an opaque bottle will not be gel. Overall, I’ll be honest, I can’t say I notice a ton of difference in the formula and application between their lacquer and these Infinite Shine polishes. And in a blind test, I most likely couldn’t tell the difference. I can always find them discounted from sites like Polish Pick or Beyond Polish (affiliated code: GingerlyPolished for 10% off individual items there, no pressure to use it), so that higher price tag doesn’t hurt as much. I can’t ever cover longevity because of my swatching schedule, so these posts are just about showing you the colors and applications.

Now let’s get on into these swatches!

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Cosmic Brushes ‘Tis the Season’ Eyeshadow Palette – Swatches

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In November of 2024, I finally published up a little post swatching a NYX makeup collection (that collection was limited edition, but if you still want to read it, I’m not stopping you). If you’ve been here long enough, you’ll know I had dabbled in adding makeup to this blog before that post, starting way back in 2017. From there I had some scattered moments throughout the years until all makeup posting finally petered out in 2021. I had been more ambitious and consistent with my reviews in January 2020, but then we all know what happened a couple months later. Either way, even as I was posting makeup reviews, I had never fully settled into a routine with them to keep them consistent, and no matter what they always took a very distant 2nd place behind nail polish.

Now don’t let that above phrasing scare you, Gingerly Polished will always be first and foremost about new nail polish. But makeup has always been right up there in my interests along with nail polish. I get just as excited for its new releases and collections, and I enjoy wearing it just as much. The beauty products in my life are never limited to just nail polish, and so I don’t want this blog to be either. With each of these first posts of this new year, I’ve been detailing my blog plans (I promise that won’t repeat much longer) and now it’s time to talk about the other essential part of those resolutions.

I’ve been adamant that eventually I want to settle into a 3+ posts per week routine for Gingerly Polished in 2025. I’ve mentioned that obviously at least 2 each week are going to be nail related, but now I’m fully noting it down that eventually I want at least 1 makeup related post going up each week. Am I now going to use this goal as an excuse to buy even more new makeup products, saying “it’s for the blog” Obviously. (It’s a joke I’m still being financially responsible here, I promise). I already have built quite a little stash of new products over these past months that I’m still so excited about, and I just want to share them with an audience. Just like nail polish, I’m here to show you the colors and formulas and just help you be more informed shoppers. We’re just finally following through with our goals and plans here!!

So here’s to the first Gingerly Polished makeup post of 2025! I don’t expect to be immediately amazing and have those posts up constantly – I know it’ll take some time. But if I just post once more makeup review after this one, we already beat 2024’s totals! That’s just called smart goal-making, okay.

So here’s to more makeup on Gingerly Polished in 2025! Let’s get into our first one already!

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Orly ‘Après Ski’ Winter 2024 Collection – Swatches & Review

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Oh hi there, it’s me! With my 2nd post of this week!! Of the year even!! Look at me go!

If you missed my previous post – in fact my first post of 2025 – it had a nice little novel to start it (you all know how much I like to yap). As the author of said post, I do recommend reading the whole thing, but I’ll give a little quick summary here. First I go over how many life changes I’ve gone through while keeping this blog, and it’s all very sentimental. But I also talk about how this blog was the item to get pushed to the back burner this past year, and how I truly want to remedy that in 2025. We’re going to work to get to a ‘3 posts a week’ schedule, and there’s just so much nail polish and makeup content on the way (yes more makeup review!!). This blog has been kicking for this long, there’s no way I’m abandoning it before my true 10 year anniversary.

In my time of not writing here, I did build up a nice little backlog of swatches and photos and little thoughts. I’ve been posting away on Instagram still, (if you want to follow me there too, that would be nice), yet those collections didn’t receive their complimenting blog. Instagram is fun for the moment, but the blog comes in for the archive. I see you all searching up OPI’s Fall 2022 collection in our year of 2025, I know how much you all like an archive. So in the work of filling in the gaps, we’re looking at recent mainstream brand releases first.

A mainstream brand like Orly!! That’s right, today we’re looking at Orly’s winter collection, from this past winter 2024 (I know that doesn’t seem too far off, after all it is still winter, but I have plenty of other much older collections to get up here).

This is their ‘Après Ski’ collection – yes add that little accent mark in there, be fancy, pretend you’re on a posh ski vacation as you wear these shades. Orly says to “embrace the magic of winter with crisp cremes and luxe glitters that capture the essence of the season”, and that’s a great little summary for this color palette. We have their normal 6 piece release, with 4 cremes and 2 gorgeous glitter shades in a variety of neutrals accompanied by a few rich pops of color. The names are all themed after the idea of hitting the slopes and then cozying up at the fireplace after. It’s the fantasy we all need to make it through these long cold months.

As always this collection is available on Orly’s website. Now let’s dive on into the swatches!

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