Hello! Guest post here from Pattie Anderson, another of Lauren’s online nail polish friends. So as a nail polish friend, it should come as no surprise that my guest posts are reviews of, you guessed it, nail polish boxes.
First up is my review of the monthly box from Native War Paints. I own several polishes from NWP and had heard good things about its new monthly semi-mystery box, but when I heard the theme for June was Mean Girls, I had to try it. I call it a semi-mystery box because you know it will contain at a minimum one full-size polish and one mini, and the theme is announced in advance, but colors, finishes, and other items in the boxes are a surprise! Each package is $17.50/monthly.
My package arrived in a padded mailer (despite the name, it isn’t really a box) on June 11. I was a little worried about the finishes because NWP does a lot of glitter and crelly polishes, but this box contained three different cream/shimmer polishes in gorgeous colors, plus a lip balm, packed in an organza bag with a piece of candy. All of the names kept with the Mean Girls theme:
The full-size polish is named, appropriately enough, On Wednesdays We Wear Pink, and it was a gorgeous dark fuchsia with a hint of shimmer. Shown here with three coats, except on my pinkie, which has two coats (and a slightly visible nail line)
The mini polishes were a purple called That’s So Fetch and a Teal called Boo You Whore. I tried That’s So Fetch as an accent nail in another manicure. Pretty color, but will probably need three coats for opacity. The lip balm is called Word Vomit and is supposed to be snow cone flavored. The flavor is super subtle — like so subtle that it doesn’t taste like a snow cone at all to me, but it is not unpleasant.
Grade: A
The retail price for a full-sized NWP is usually around $9, with minis and lip balm priced at $5. Personally, I would not pay $5 for a lip balm, but even if you knock a dollar or two off the value, at a price of $17.50 including shipping, I got plenty of value for the price. The box this month also contained a discount code good for a future purchase from NWP.
The theme for the July box is mermaids. Hmm, what could it contain? In addition to the full-size and mini polish, NWP boxes can include hand and nail care, top coats, base coats, lippies, eyeshadows, blush, or more polish. Whatever is in the box is exclusive to the box and available nowhere else.
This is a popular box, and slots are sold out, but once a month the window opens for more slots. The next window opens July 3. If you want to purchase this box, go to http://nativewarpaints.bigcartel.com/subscribe-to-nwp-montly-box. If you want to know the theme for the next box, check out NWP’s Instagram feed or Facebook page.
Editor’s Note: Pattie wrote this in a very timely manner when the above dates made sense but I was the one that was too slow about posting this dang thing! June got away from me. How is it already July? How does time work?