The New Black - "Graffiti" Ombre Set Review

Yesterday, I showed the second of the ombre sets from The New Black, and today, I have for you the black/grey ombre set, "Graffiti".

Just to be clear, this set contains five 0.125 fl oz bottles that are intended to be used to create an ombre manicure.  Ombres are something I have grown to love, have occasionally tried, and usually failed.  These sets from The New Black basically take all the guesswork out of creating the perfect ombre manicure, and they contain a good combination of glitters, shimmers, and cremes...

I have labelled each of the polishes within the picture.  I did this one in reverse order, light to dark from thumb to pinky.  Here are the descriptions of the pictures in order from thumb to pinky...

Bright Silver Glitter in a Clear Base - when I first saw this one, I wasn't impressed, and I then I put it on my nails and I was practically blinded by it.  It looks like a frickin' Miss America tiara on your nails.  It would be very hard to reach opacity, though, as it's not quite thick enough.  I used 4 coats on the above swatch, and I still had bald spots.

Bright Silver - pretty standard silver metallic, though this one is verrrry bright.  It almost looks polished.  Formula was fine and took 2 coats to reach opacity.

Medium Grey with Blue, Purple, and Pink Shimmer - this one is where it get's interesting.  This polish is fantastic.  The shimmer stands out in this one and is quite the contrast with the grey base color.  2 coats.

Black Jelly with Gold and Silver Glitter - okay, remember in yesterday's post when I wished The New Black would sell a few of their polishes separately, in larger bottles?  Well this polish would be at the top of the list.  I cannot tell you how amazing this polish is.  It's not a traditional jelly, in that you can reach opacity, but it's also not a creme.  It is jam-packed with glitter, but it's not gritty.  Formula was great.  2 coats.

Jet Black Creme - this is a nice black creme.  It was completely opaque in 2 coats and I had no formula issues.

I like this set.  I really like the way it goes from a deep, jet black to a bright, super-sparkly silver glitter.  But the stars of the show, in my opinion, are the grey and the black jelly.

And because I could... here is a picture of the Black Jelly with Gold and Silver Glitter used as a full mani...

I am completely in love with it.  

Again these polishes come in a set.  For your reference, here is a PR shot of the full set...

These sets retail for $22 and are available online and at major department stores.  Best news... The New Black is now available at Sephora.com.  

This set was sent to me for review.  The picture of the 5 pc set was sent to me by The New Black's PR.  

30 Days of Blues for Autism Awareness - The New Black Horizon Ombre Set

Today is Day 19 in my "30 Days of Blues" and unlike most days, today, I am incorporating a product review in with my "30 Days" post.  I've been meaning to review the rest of my The New Black sets for the past month or so.  Then I got busy with doing the daily blue posts and I had a bad break on my swatching hand, so reviews kinda got pushed to the back burner.  

As I am finally able to start swatching for reviews again, so I figured that it would be appropriate to review this The New Black Ombre set as part of my "30 Days of Blues"...

As The New Black doesn't label their polishes, I am describing these by name.  From pinky to thumb, there is a bright white creme, a pale blue creme, a aqua blue peal with a pink flash, a cornflower blue, and a navy shimmer.  

Bright White Creme - this one is such a nice white, that I wish it came in a larger size.  It was almost opaque at one coat.  I just had to do a second coat to cover one thin spot.  The formula was excellent.    

Pale Blue Creme - this one rivals Julep Jessica, as a favorite pale blue creme, and is another one that I wish came in a full size bottle.  It was opaque in one coat and the formula was very smooth.

Aqua Blue Pearl with Pink Flash - This one was a really pretty shade.  It was a pearl, in my opinion, but there was a bit of frost in the finish.  It was probably too much frost to try and wear this polish as a stand-alone shade, but as part of an ombre set, I liked it.  That said, I did think this one was a bit of an odd duck in the ombre set, as it's the only one that leaned green or aqua.  Also, the pink flash in this one was beautiful, and not one that you really had to work for.  The flash was evident from the moment I put it on.  This one was one of the thinner polishes in the collection and it took 3 coats to reach opacity.

Cornflower Blue Shimmer - This one was such a nice blue.  I waffled between calling it denim or cornflower, but it had the tiniest amount of periwinkle in it, thus I called it cornflower.  In the bottle, this one had silver ribbons, but those turned out to be part of the shimmer, rather than frost. Like the Aqua Blue Pearl, it was a thinner formula.  3 coats.  

Navy Shimmer - First off, I apologize for the weird placement of this picture.  I was rotating all of the pictures of this collection, and I didn't even notice that this one looked weird, before I had edited it and saved it.  Anyway, this is a beautiful, inky navy with purple and pink shimmer, and is the third polish in this kit that I wish I could have in a bigger bottle.  Unlike the other two shimmers, this one had a thicker formula and was opaque in 2 coats.

Also, I wanted to include a picture of the kit all together, as I completely forgot to take one before I took it out of the package...

This set contains all of the polishes I featured above.  Only they are listed in reverse order from my swatches.  

Again, I found myself really liking these ombre kits from The New Black.  I love that they take the guess work out of ombre manicures, which is something I love, but fail at when left to my own devices.  I do find them to be a bit on the pricey side, but they aren't too outrageous, especially considering you get five polishes.  I also find their brush handles to be a little short, but they are mini bottles, so it's understandable.

The New Black polish kits retail for $22, and you can now find them at Sephora,com.  It looks like the have several new ones in stock at Sephora.  If you are interested in this one, please note that this is the blue "Horizon" kit and not the blue/green "Waves" kit (though that Waves kit looks awesome).  

Thank you for reading my "30 Days of Blues" posts.  Remember, tomorrow is the Blogger Round Up, so if you would like to participate, please respond in the latest Blogger Round Up post (the one below this one).

The New Black Horizon Ombre Set was sent to me for review.  Image of 5 pc set was provided to me by The New Black's PR.  

The New Black Ombre Shades - Rover Review

When ombre manicures first started trending a couple years ago, I didn't like the look.  It seemed like skittles, only a lot more work.  Then it started to grow on me.  Unfortunately, creating a good ombre manicure does take a bit of skill in selecting your colors.  You have to have the right mix of colors, and textures to create the perfect look, and that's a skill I just don't have.  Thankfully, The New Black takes the stress out of creating an ombre look.  They have put together several ombre shade kits.  I received 4 of them for you and today, I have for the pink kit, that they call "Rover".

I apologize for the awkward "claw" hand pose.  I haven't taken a full hand picture in forever, and I felt like I was contorting my hand in a thousand different poses to show each of the 5 colors.  I also couldn't hold one of the bottles and take a picture of my entire hand, they are just a bit too little for my mannish hands.  :P

Anyway, on to the polish...  Again, The New Black's individual colors do not have names.  From my thumb to my pinky, they are in order, a deep burgundy, a pink-red jelly, a pink-red shimmer, a bright pink shimmer, and a pale pink with fine silver and pale pink shimmer. 

Individually, the colors aren't unique, but I do want to say that the pale pink in this set is the best of the bunch.  It's exactly what I wanted Zoya Gigi to be.  It's completely opaque in 3 coats.  Whereas, with Gigi, I struggled with 4 coats and I could still see my nails as if I only had on a topcoat.  

I really like this look.  I think it is so cool how they tie 5 seemingly different colors together.  They are all different, except for being pink, but they work so well together tonally.  No, like I mentioned above, the colors aren't incredibly unique, and if you have a large collection, you probably have dupes in your stash, so you could probably duplicate this look.  That said, I know if I tried, I would drive myself batty trying to find colors that worked so well together.  They have taken all the guesswork out of ombre manicures, and that is the best thing about these little kits.  

The New Black Ombre kits are at $22 for 5 mini bottles and you can find them through various retailers such as HSN, Nordstroms, and Drugstore.com.  

These were sent to me for review

The New Black Glimmer Twins - Golden Ticket

Today, I have for you another offering from The New Black.  In addition to their 5 piece sets, they also have little duos that they call "Glimmer Twins".  They offer these little duos in 4 combinations: gold, red, black, and silver.  In each of these duos, you will find a solid, opaque color, along with a coordinating glitter topcoat.  This post is for the golden set.  FYI, like Jewel Heist, these do not have names, so I am calling them Gold Satin and Gold Glitter.

From left to right you have the solid gold, the solid gold with the gold glitter topcoat, and then the topcoat by itself.

The solid gold in this little set is beautiful.  It is a perfect muted, light gold with a satin finish.  I did have a little issue with brushstrokes, but in this instance, it didn't bother me.  They just added to the satin feel of the polish, IMO.  I have a love/hate relationship with gold polishes.  I adore then in the bottle and then I hate them on me.  One of my biggest lemmings is Chanel Gold Fiction and yet everytime I find it for a reasonable price, I never pull the trigger because I feel it would look terrible on my nails.  I don't feel this way about this polish.  The gold is light enough to be wearable on even the most untanned skin out there.  Also, there is no shimmer in this polish.  It's simply a golden satin.  Gorgeous.  2 coats.

The golden glitter is beautiful, and quite similar to Julep Oscar that I should you a few days ago.  Oscar does seem to be a bit more packed with glitter, but side-by-side, these look identical in color to me.  The picture above is almost at opacity and it is 3 coats, so you could certainly get there with this polish, if you would rather not use it as a topcoat.

Speaking of using as a topcoat, I think the look on my ring finger with the golden glitter over the satin is probably my least favorite way to wear this set.  I think they are nice polishes separately, with the satin being a winner for me, but together, I just don't like the look at all. 

For me, the golden satin is real reason to buy this set.  It is a perfect gold polish, I just wish it were bigger.  The set sells for $10 for 2 0.125 fl oz bottles, and is available on drugstore.com, HSN, and at Nordstrom.

The New Black Jewel Heist

Several months ago, I received a press release for a new brand, The New Black.  A few days ago, I received an unexpected package at my door with most of the product line for The New Black.  There were so many colors that I couldn't wait to try them.

Today, I have for you one of the 5 piece sets of this line, Jewel Heist.  This set includes 5 jewel-toned mini-sized polishes.  As the colors do not have individual names, for this review, I'm going to refer to them by the specific color.

Cobalt Blue - bright blue shimmer.  This one has foil ribbons running through it.  Because of this, I was scared that it would be a frosty mess, but rather than being frosty, the ribbons gave this one a slight foily finish.  The color on this is very saturated and rich.  2 coats.

Emerald Green - Bright green shimmer with golden flecks.  This one was most similar to Cobalt Blue above, as it also had the silver ribbons.  However, unlike Cobalt Blue, this one did have a bit of a frosty/brushstrokey appearance.  That said, it wouldn't turn me off from the polish and it's not bad, by any means.  Also, this one had a fantastic formula and was a one-coater!


















Pearl Grey - pearly silver with a green/pink multichrome flash.  You can't tell from the picture, but this one was very similar to OPI Not Like the Movies from the Katy Perry collection.  Of all of the polishes in the collection, this one was my least favorite.  I felt, it washed out my hands and the multi-chrome, while pretty was not strong enough for my preference.  This one also had the thinnest formula.  Pic is 3 coats.

Bright Purple - bright plummy purple creme.  This one had a similar that was very similar to one of my all-time favorites, Zoya Charisma, though the color was closer to OPI's Dim Sum Plum.  The formula was great on this one.  2 coats.

Bright Red - bright red with a jelly-ish finish.  I know reds are a dime a dozen, but this one is a very nice red.  The color is a little deepened when compared to other bright reds, and it leans a bit blue, so it looks nice on my skintone.  The finish is a very nice squishy, opaque jelly finish.  Application was one of the best in the set.  2 coats.

There were several fantastic colors in this set, and all in all, I really liked it.  For small bottles, I had no issues with applying the polish, and I usually do with mini bottles.  You can find The New Black in several places, such as drugstore.com, HSN, and Nordstrom.  The price is expensive, IMO, at $22 for 5 0.125 fl oz bottles, but that's one of the ideas behind this brand... cohesive mini collections that don't require you to buy a lot of full-size polish bottles to reach a specific look.

These were sent to me for review