(All items in this post were purchased by me.)
Hello!
Recently I stumbled upon this collection of minis at Costco--not normally a place I look for polish, but definitely a place I look for bargains. And this was definitely that--the price came out to just a bit over $1 per bottle, so I was very excited to try them out.
I've never heard of Jenna Hipp before, and wondered if I was just ignorant of something great. But after doing a little research, as best I can figure out, Jenna Hipp is a celebrity manicurist who believe in environmentally friendly alternatives, and this is her first attempt at a collection...however, I may be wrong, and if so, please let me know! She has embraced her celebrity manicurist roots by giving the polishes names that celebrate celebrity, fame, wealth, and Hollywood.
Here's the collection as it looks in the bottles. First, After Party and Hollywood Reporter:
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| Jenna Hipp After Party and Hollywood Reporter |
Awards Season, Editor's Pick:
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| Jenna Hipp Awards Season and Editor's Pick |
Damage Control, Hashtag, Tweet Me, Freshmaker:
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| Jenna Hipp Damage Control, Hashtag, Tweet Me, and Freshmaker |
And finally, Room Service, Private Getaway, Look Hot Feel Cool, I can Afford It:
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| Room Service, Private Getaway, Look Hot Feel Cool, and I Can Afford It |
Now let's get down to the nitty gritty--how do they look on the nail, and how are the formulas? In each case I have two coats of polish, except with the glitters, where I've only used one coat.
In the above two pictures, I have the following:
Index finger: Private Getaway--an orange jelly that reminds me of a Mandarin Orange shade. Lovely formula, squishy jelly goodness all the way home. I don't normally favor jellies, but I love this and Room Service. :)
Middle: Room Service--a pinkish-red jelly that looks more red on the finger than it does in the bottle. The formula on this one was also good, and it settled in really nicely for a jelly.
Ring: Look Hot Feel Cool--an aqua shimmer that didn't quite cover in two coats, but probably would have in three. Other than that, it applied well and was pretty on the nail.
Pinkie: I Can Afford It--a fairly typical blurple shimmer with standard blurple qualities; it predominates purples and flashes/shimmers blue. The formula was great.
Thumb: Editor's pick--a black crelly with gold glitter. I generally tend to be disappointed by polishes like this and am on a never-ending quest to find one that lives up to how it looks in the bottle--this one does. The gold glitter is beautiful, and I couldn't be happier to own this.
So far so good...next hand:
Pinkie: Freshmaker--Tiffany-blue creme. This, and all of the cremes, were absolutely horrible to apply. No matter what I did, they were patchy, and wouldn't self-even at all. No topcoats helped. The pictures show my best attempt to show these polishes--and as you can see, the results were not good.
Ring: Private Getaway--Soft orange sherbert creme. Also had horrendous formula. Ugh.
Middle: Damage Control--Light pink creme. Third strike on the nasty formula.
Index: Tweet Me--a pretty yellow creme. Of the cremes, this had the best formula, but that really is damning with faint praise. At least I was able to get it to be patch-free.
Thumb: Awards Season--a pretty typical gold. Unfortunately, as you can see, it's crazy streaky and shows every flaw in your nail, even with basecoat.
Wow, that second hand didn't go well...Let's see what happens with the glitters...First up, Hollywood Reporter, a silver holographic glitter polish with hexes of various sizes in a clear base:
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| Jenna Hipp Hollywood Reporter over the jellies and shimers |
This applied well, went on evenly, and was pretty. But, truth be told, you've probably seen this polish about twenty times before...the only thing really unique about it is the larger hexes (see on my pinkie). If you don't already have this polish from another line, it's worth having. :)
And to end the Jenna Hipp journey, here is After Party, a pink, slightly holographic glitter with hexes that range from fairly small to large, in a clear base:
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| Jenna Hipp After Party over the cremes |
On the nail, this looks a bit more rose and less bright pink than it looks in the bottle--from my perspective, that's a good thing, since I prefer the softer rose-type pinks. This applied without fuss, and had a good formula. The downside is that this again is a glitter you've probably seen many, many times before.
To sum up, I was expecting to hate the jellies and love the cremes, and the exact opposite occurred. I really adore the two jellies and can't wait to layer them over textured polishes and use them in glitter sammiches. The cremes frustrated me, and I can't see wearing them again--they'll most likely be put aside for nail art purposes only. Such a shame, because I love the colors (well, except the pink, lol). I suppose they might also be good as undies for glitters, if the glitters can hide the patchiness (as they seem to do in the glitter pictures above). The gold is a throw-away in my opinion--I'm hoping I can use it for stamping, because it's too streaky for me to wear as a base polish. And the two glitters are fine if they aren't dupes of something in your collection, which they are for me. The two shimmers, and the black glitter were really nice, and I'm glad to own them.
So overall, what do I think of the collection? I believe this collection is intended for a casual nail polisher, to give them a range of summer colors and a little bling to throw on top. Unfortunately, the collection is extremely uneven in quality, and I think would end up being at disappointment to most people unless they go in expecting to use only half of the collection. For me, there are 4 polishes I expect to use in the future, and the rest I'll only use for nail art or frankening; so if I were just counting the polishes I actually intend to use as polish, that puts the price at about $3 per bottle--for minis. Since I can get China Glaze, Color Club, Misa, and some other brands for $3 per full bottle, this is not a great bargain to me. However, if you don't already have a blurple, a pink glitter, and/or a silver holo glitter, that would raise the value of the collection to a point that it would be worth buying, despite the poor-quality cremes. I haven't been able to find anywhere that you can buy these polishes in full-sized bottles individually; for that matter, I can't find any polishes by Jenna Hipp outside of this Costco collection.
I really do like most of the color choices that were made here, and I'd love to see the colors she'd put together in a fall collection--if only she works on improving the formula of her cremes. Ah, what I could do with some beautiful fall jellies...sigh...:)
Thanks for stopping by, I hope this has been helpful! Big hugs and good wishes for the rest of your week. :)
M.
(All items in this review were purchased by me.)
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