Monday, March 7, 2011

Nubar Spring Garden Collection Spring 2011 Swatches and Review

Here's Nubar's spring 2011 collection, "Spring Garden". A set of pastels that are a little different from all the ones we've seen lately. They're kinda dirty (in a good way) and each shade except Honeysuckle has a silvery hidden shimmer.


Baby Sprout. Not the mint green clone I was expecting! This is just barely green, like a creamy white with a bit of green cast to it. It's lighter than China Glaze Groovy Green. Really pretty color, though unfortunately it gives me mega lobster hands.



Blue Hydrangea. This is a pastel blue- it's like a dark baby blue or a pale sky blue. It is the only one that actually looks shimmery, the shimmer in the rest of the colors is more of a secret shimmer. The shimmer gives it a reflective pearl finish.



Earthen. A dirty, murky grey! I like. It has a little bit of a taupe tone to it, but it looks mainly grey on my skin. The very fine shimmer softens the color a little bit so it looks sort of... fuzzy? It's ever-so-slightly pearly, but only in certain lights.


Honeysuckle. Here's the obligatory Pantone 2011 Color of the Year honeysuckle shade. It's the only true creme in the collection and it adds a jarring pop of bright color amongst all these faded, dusty pastels. It's bright and clean and surprisingly nice; it has a subtle jelly look to it, though I wouldn't call it a true jelly finish (it's too opaque). Oddly, I never think of this color when I think of honeysuckle flowers. The honeysuckles I remember from my Grandma's garden were all white and yellow.


Pink Lily. Light, peachy pastel pink. Slight subtle pearl finish from all that fine silver shimmer in there.


Purple Aster. A light lavender pastel. Not quite as blue toned as it looks here, but still slightly blue toned in real life. I had about two seconds of sunlight to take this picture, I think it shows how subtle the shimmer is. Only a hint of silvery frost, you would never know if you didn't see it in direct light.


White Peony. This looks like a pure clean white in this picture, but in real life it has a bit of a dirty look to it. Not enough to call it off white or ivory, but it looks slightly faded and really creamy. I can't tell if this one has shimmer or not, actually... At some angles it looks like it, but my eyes hurt from staring at it!


Yellow Primrose. Very pale butter yellow. Lighter than Nubar Lemon Sorbet and Maybelline Banana Pudding. Very cute, very springy. The shimmer in this is almost invisible, but it softens the look of the color so it doesn't look chalky.

There's one more color in this collection- a coordinating glitter topcoat called Dewdrop. It doesn't really show up well alone, so I've only photographed it layered. It's a pastel opal glitter in a clear base, reminds me of something like Color Club Bishop's Weed or China Glaze Glacier.

I've done one coat over each color, no topcoat.

Dewdrop over Baby Sprout.



Dewdrop over Blue Hydrangea.


Dewdrop over Earthen.


Dewdrop over Honeysuckle.


Dewdrop over Pink Lily.


Dewdrop over Purple Aster.



Dewdrop over White Peony.


Dewdrop over Yellow Primrose.


The formula on all of these was good. It was thinner than usual but still nice and even, not runny. These weren't as opaque as previous Nubar cremes, I found that I needed three coats on all shades to get them completely even. Drying time is good. Bottles and brushes were all without defect.


These pastels are a little bit different from all the other pastels this year. I really like Earthen and Yellow Primrose, and White Peony is a nice white for wearing alone since it's not quite as chalky looking as other whites.

These will be available soon on ByNubar.com, though I don't know the exact date.

(These were sent to me for review.)



45 comments:

  1. I really love Blue Hydrangea it's soo calming to look at and that shimmer! And you're right there is a certain dirtiness to these that make them different from all the other spring collections out there.

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  2. I totally dig Earthen, even though it would probably look weirdly ridiculous on my super pale skin.

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  3. I'm really liking the Honeysuckle--- lately I've been wanting a nice watermelon pink. I agree with you--- I've never seen a pink honeysuckle flower--- all the ones in my yard are white or yellow too (I loved eating them when I was little)=P

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  4. I'm just not a pastel kind of gal, so I'm a bit disappointed with this collection. Minus Honeysuckle, of course. However, Dewdrop looks killer over Blue Hydrangea and Purple Aster!

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  5. Some colors look really boring, but I actually like how Dewdrop looks over all the polishes

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  6. Honeysuckle and Dewdrop are my favorites from this collection, although Nubar left me pretty disappointed. I thought they could do more.

    Then again, I have really high expectations for this brand in particular. When they get it right, they hit it out of the park!
    - Mary

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  7. Well, well, this is really a nice pastel collection for this spring! I have been waiting for something like this for a while, because all other spring collections have been very dull. If the formula is as good as you say, this may be a "must" collection for me. :)
    Thank you so much for the review.

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  8. The Nubar 2010 top coat which is a flakie is one of my favs, have you tried this one? xx

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  9. I said it before and now I know it for sure: this is my favourite spring collection! Thank you for great swatches.

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  10. Wow I love Dewdrops! It goes so well with all the collection! I love that you go all the way and show us Dewdrops with each one, very useful, thank you so much xx

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  11. love honeysuckle and dewdrop - never tried nubar before so maybe nows a good time to start my collection x

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  12. Great swatches! They made me want Baby Sprout, Honeysuckle and Yellow Primrose for sure. Maybe a couple of the others as well.

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  13. I'm actually really impressed with this... I've been looking for a really light pink that is actually opaque enough to wear on its own and I can only seem to find shades that are too sheer or too shimmery/glittery which isn't what I've been looking for. Someof these I probablyw ouldn't wear on their own, like the white, but I think it would look nice with some konad or something over.

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  14. Man, I'm a sucker for coordinating glitter top coats.
    They're a major selling point for me. I wouldn't even consider buying one polish from this collection if it wasn't for Dewdrop. Dewdrop looks awesome over Earthen and Yellow Primrose.

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  15. I really like the whole collection which is weird for me! I think it's because you can mix and match them all so easily.
    Stacie xoxox

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  16. Earthen is a beauty! I must have her.

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  17. 2 words: YELLOW PRIMROSE!!!

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  18. I didn't expected them to be like that and I really like Blue Hydrangea, and maybe I could add another pink (Lily) and lilac (Purple Aster) to my wishlist!! BTW your swatches are really awesome!

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  19. love love love baby sprout!

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  20. Really digging Earthen, Baby Sprout and Yellow Primrose! Might need to try and get my hands on them.

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  21. Yay so exciting to see spring colors!!! Great pictures, as always!

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  22. The Dewdrop has won me over. Gorgeous!!!!!

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  23. These are so pretty! I'm not normally into pastels but I especially love Baby Sprout and Yellow Primrose. Is there anywhere you can buy them other than the website?

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  24. Is Earthen close to RBL Jane? They look very similar based on your picture.

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  25. these pastels are awesome, and i'm really digging them!! though probably not on me, with my sallow asian skin...@@ thanks for the swatches! it seems like corresponding glitter topcoats have become a much in nubar collections... the more reason for me to not think and just splurge.=D

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  26. I like how the formulation has a bit of shimmer or sheen to it because I can't wear cream formulation at all which means the majority of pastels don't work for me. Maybe these will look nice.

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  27. Scrangie, does honeysuckle have as strong of an orange tone to it in person as it does in your picture? Aka is it not just the standard blue based pink creme? If so I must get it! Thank you so much for your as always lovely swatches!

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  28. Pink Lily and Purple Aster are my favorites out of them all and that Honeysuckle looks gorgeous on your nails!

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  29. Interesting collection, I like all the off whites.

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  30. OOOOOOOO totally loving dew drop over earthen!

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  31. Hey there, I just came across your blog and I literally just spent like 1 hour looking around it and checking out the nail colours! ;)
    I am starting to blog about beauty, fashion and nails... what advice do you have for me since your blog is so successful and you do it so great? ;D

    I would really appreciate your help

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  32. I think Blue Hydrangea and Honeysuckle are my favorite, Dewdrop is just gorgeous!

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  33. Yellow Primrose looks so yummy!

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  34. Wow, I really love the Yellow Primrose shade. I'm on a bit of a yellow kick, lately, and this is a very unique pale butter color and I haven't seen before. Thanks for the review!

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  35. I was surprised to hear there is hidden shimmer in most of these shades!

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  36. Not too thrilled with this collection. More pastels to add to all of the other collections.

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  37. I like a surprising number of these. I'm not usually that into pastels, but there seem to be some unique ones in here. I liking Baby Sprout, Earthen and Yellow Primrose in particular.

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  38. I normally like Nubar. But have to say, these shades seem sort of ho-hum on first look. I did like them a lot better with the glitter overlay on them however - but don't like to wear glitter all that often. I will be interested to see some in person (if I can find them) to see the hidden shimmer. I also am one that likes a shimmer in pales. But that is so rare to find. Maybe I will see what the entire collection costs when it's available, then decide if I am going to opt for it all or just a few select ones.

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  39. FYI for those of you not all that familiar with color labels from Panatone, Panatone names don't always jive with what one would 'think' of that color by the name. Honeysuckle is a perfect example of this as there are no Honeysuckle flowers that are bright pink. They are as some of you said, either white or pale yellow or a mix of the two. Panatone names don't always make sense literally.

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  40. These are really pretty, I like the colours, they're different than some of the other pastels I have seen, and I love dewdrop!

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  41. Hey Scrangie, by name is becky. One of my readers ChinaDoll mentioned you, so I decided to check your blog. Your blog is so helpful so I'm going to follow:). By the way, the polishes are so pretty!

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  42. Got the e-mail from Nubar today and I see they're on the site now! I'll be thinking about these...the colors look really nice. Thanks for the swatches!

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  43. Scrangie where are you, i'm having withdrawal!

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