A little while back there was a post in a Facebook nail group where someone had mentioned that they knew someone (a young boy) was being bullied for liking nail polish. It made me sad, a little angry even, to think that in this day and age we still cannot be who we want to be without someone putting us down or criticising our choices. Well, I wasn’t alone in thinking the that way I did and many members came to offer advise, support and even stories of their own male friends and family members who also loved polish. In comes Kat, of ‘Ard As Nails, and takes it one step further, not only asking men about their favourite kind of polish but actually making it for them too. And the Here Come the Boys Collection was born! Yay!
I don’t want this to be a essay (rant) about why we should all just get along, supporting each other and not trying to make fun and tear each other down, all I *will* say is that as long as it isn’t illegal, immoral or hurting anyone else then do what you makes you happy! If you would like to read more of Kat’s own thoughts on what prompted her to make this collection, you can find her blog post here.
Right then, you came to see polishes so here they are!
First up we have the utterly beautiful “Bermuda Blue”. This is a petrol-blue holo which looks a little lighter under a bright light. I do love this shade of blue, perfect for this time of year too. This covered beautifully in one coat and is shown with top coat.
Macro of “Bermuda Blue”.
I just had to stamp this polish with the kind of patterns you would find on Bermuda shirts! 😀
Up next is “Honour” and this blood-red matte polish was a collaboration with @ianjpalmer. I do really love a “good red” and this definitely falls into that category. This took two coats but the formula was lovely to work with and covered beautifully. Shown with top coat.
I took advantage of the matte and stamped this with a blingy silver holo, which I think is a beautiful contrast.
The next polish is called “Unity” and is a dusky pinky/lilac holo. Of course I have to love this one (it’s pink!). Another one-coat wonder! Shown with top coat.
Macro of “Unity”.
I did some (a bit more subtle than I planned) stamping over this polish with a dusky pink creme.
“Mantis” is a collaboration with @buffnails80. It is a stunning hunter-green holo packed with antique-gold flakes making this a super sparkly number! I used two thin coats for this, only because I get greedy when it comes to flakies! Shown with top coat.
This also looks beautiful matte. Yes, I did the unthinkable and killed the holo but just look at those flakies glow!!
Macro of “Mantis” with top coat.
Macro of Mantis with matte top coat.
I also stamped over this with gold, but I picked a really bad pattern, so here’s a close up of the better pattern…
Another red, but this time a glossy, pillar-box red that is called “El Chupa O+”. This was imagined by @daddy_long_nails. This beauty was another easy, one-coater. This is another “me” red. I like it blood or pillar-box and this doesn’t disappoint! It is very glossy on it’s own but I added top coat, cos I’m weird like that…
“El Chupa O+” with some simple white stamping.
“Gunning for Glitter” is a sparkling gunmetal holo. I like grey toned polishes but I do really enjoy gunmetal hues, possibly a throwback to when I used to paint Warhammer models… This, like the other holos, was done and dusted in one coat plus top coat. This was created by Jason, although I’m not quite sure who Jason is and why he wanted to remain anonymous. If I had made this stunner I’d be shouting it from the rooftops!
Macro of “Gunning for Glitter”.
I did have a lovely pic of this with some white stamping but my camera decided to corrupt the photos and I simply didn’t have time to redo them 😦
This little glitter-bomb is “Yaaaaasss” and was a collaboration with Devon, @polishhisnails. This polish is a deep, berry coloured base packed with holo glitter. This is a party for your nails, which, if you have seen the false nails that Devon creates for others, is spot on and would fit in nicely with some of his creations. I used two coats and two coats of top coat for these pictures.
A macro of “Yaaaaasss”. My camera did not like it! 😀
Silver stamping over “Yaaaaasss”.
The last polish in this collections was created by @nailpolishdude23 and another stunning holo (does Kat make any other kind?!). “Violacious Dream” is a deep, plum-toned purple, this was another one-coat wonder. I love deep and dark polishes but the holo in this makes the purple shine and gives it so much depth. Shown with top coat.
Macro of “Violacious Dream”.
Another victim of my camera, I sadly have no nail art pictures of this stunner. I shall update this post if I manage to get time to recreate them.
Ok then, my thoughts on the Here Come the Boys polishes. Firstly, I think it’s another great collection, I love the variety of polishes available. It’s also nice that each polish has a little of each designers nail polish passion in there and the guys have done a great job with their contributions. After chatting with Kat and watching on Instagram and Facebook, there seems to be a great response already to this collection and it hasn’t even been released yet!
Formula: The holo polishes are as perfect as always, one coat and they apply smoothly. I was curious as to whether another coat would make any difference to the depth of colour of the holos but it made absolutely no difference at all to my swatches (I bet you can’t even see which nail of which colour I added an extra coat to!). Put simply, save your holo! The matte and the glitter polish did both need two coats for full opacity but again, they were a dream to apply. I applied two coats of Mantis (green and gold flakes) but you could probably get away with one, slightly thicker coat.
Favourite: Oh my gosh, there are simply too many to choose just one but I would probably have to go with the blue and gunmetal holos. Don’t get me wrong, I love them all, but these two actually made me call my husband over to look, ha ha!
The guys will be receiving their polishes soon so do look out for their own swatches by following their individual Instagram links next to their polish, above. The collection will be released tomorrow, 31st of January, so make sure to check out @ardasnailsuk for more details and to buy yours.
Which is your favourite polish? Are you a holo or a creme fan? Let me know in the comments below!
Thanks for reading, ’til next time….. and don’t forget, POLISH IS FOR EVERYONE! YAY! x x
**These polishes were sent to me for the purposes of swatching, any thoughts about said polishes in this post are my own.**
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