It’s been a long time since I’ve posted a review on this blog, and yet suddenly, it feels like I have a heap of things to review all at once. Funny how life works like that. Anyway, today I’m really pleased to be able to talk to you about Heroine New York City; a vegan and cruelty-free nail polish brand. They were kind enough to send me a package of their products to try, and now I’m going to tell you all about my experience!
Heroine NYC aim to work with their customer on the creation of their products, hence they’re very in tune with their audience. They provide the shades that clients request, as well as holding polls to allow their Instagram followers to name each polish. I had a pleasant surprise when I turned over the bottle to see not only the colour title, but also an Instagram handle for the person who chose it! This kind of authenticity to their following, along with their ethics – not only are they a cruelty-free and vegan company, but they also donate a percentage of their profit to charity – and transparency, is what makes Heroine NYC such an empowering brand to support.
I was gifted their ‘Dream Cremes’ collection; a set of pastel shades entirely up my alley. I only photographed myself wearing one shade; my nails are unfortunately at their worst right now, breaking and peeling constantly. I have photographed all the other bottles, though, and tried to get them in the most accurate lighting. You can read their names and undertones below, before my review.
Empower-Mint
Peek-A-Blue
Lilac It
Sugar Spun
Peach Please
When I applied these polishes, as I mentioned before, my nails were probably in their worst state. I apologise again for this, I’m aware nail polish looks better on a proper hand model but unfortunately my nails were all I had at the time…
I found these polishes to be really easy to apply. The brush is pretty thick, meaning it spreads out an even layer across the nail with two strokes maximum. I’m not the best at painting my nails – I’m clumsy and impatient – so for me, the faster the process, the better.
One coat doesn’t quite do it with these shades, but as I tend to apply two coats of nail polish anyway, it didn’t really bother me. I did apply my layers a bit too thick, though, and unfortunately they came out looking a bit lumpy (as you can see from the photograph). This is entirely my fault, though.
The texture of the polish is the right density to paint on evenly, it’s not too runny but it isn’t thick and clumpy either. The blue and lilac shades have the most pigmentation, whilst the pink and orange are lacking a little bit of coverage. As I said before, though, they all take two layers to fully coat the nail. They dry down from a liquid very quickly, but can easily be smudged until they’re fully set. I found this took around ten minutes or so, which for me is a pretty average time. I normally can’t use painted nails for at least an hour after they’ve dried…but maybe that’s just me being too rough on them!
The product packaging is simple and elegant. It has a matte handle and the bottle is made of thick glass, which is my personal favourite style of bottle. It looks well made and sturdy, rather than cheap like some other polishes can.
These polishes retail for $10 each, or $45 for one of their collections (all made up of 5 nail polishes). I think this is great value considering the high quality, and the fact that an amount of it is donated to charity.
Over all, I would definitely recommend that you check out Heroine NYC (follow their Instagram here). Not only for the beautiful nail polishes you will receive, but for the peace of mind in giving your money to a caring and ethical brand.
You can always follow my blog using the button below, and my Instagram account to keep up to date with my posts. Also, be sure to let me know in the comments: have you ever tried out Heroine NYC? Did you love their products like I did?
Thanks for reading,
Eve
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