Monday, February 6, 2012

Nubar Jellybeans Collection for Spring 2012 Swatches and Review

I love jelly beans. They're not necessarily a seasonal-only candy (they're around all year), but I tend to only think about them in spring, especially around Easter. My grandma used to make me an Easter basket every year and decorate the tufts of plastic Easter grass by sprinkling large jelly beans around it. Those were usually the very deceptive Spice jelly beans- you know the ones... They're fruit colored, but then you bite into them and they taste like burning band-aids? I don't mind them now that I'm older, but I'd still much rather have the fruit kind. I remember when the Starburst jelly beans first came out, I used to love those. But my all time favorite are Jelly Belly jelly beans. When I buy them, I always have to make a mix of Buttered Popcorn (best jelly bean flavor ever), Kiwi, Juicy Pear, Cantaloupe, Pink Grapefruit, Dr. Pepper, Watermelon, Peach, Toasted Marshmallow, Cream Soda and Root Beer.

But... what does any of that have to do with nail polish? Not much, except that Nubar has just released their spring 2012 collection called Jellybeans.


Nubar Blueberry. Gorgeous bright primary blue creme. This is a clean blue- no muddiness or dustiness, no other colors in it, just pure Crayola blue.



Nubar Blue Raspberry. This is a light turquoise creme. Actually, to my eye, it looks like a near-perfect Robin's Egg Blue. Can't think of a more spring-appropriate blue than that.



Nubar Cherry. This red it a little different than most. It's lighter and has an odd sort of faded look to it. It leans more warm than I'd think of for a cherry red, more like hot sauce than cherry candy. I can't think of another red creme that looks exactly like this (Zoya America or Tamsen are the closest to compare it to), and I know my picture doesn't really convey it, but this is a pretty unusual one in my collection.



Nubar Grape. Bright grape candy purple creme. This one has a bit of a creamy jelly look to it, but mostly because it's pretty sheer. This is three coats and I can see a little nail through it still, so it could probably use a fourth. Really pretty purple color, though.



Nubar Kiwi. A pale sea green. This has more yellow in it than a lot of the mint colors in my collection, so it's slightly less harsh looking on my hands (doesn't bring out too much red) and it's easier for me to wear.



Nubar Lemon. It's a very bright yellow creme. I think it's great! It's really bright but not neon and has a super creamy finish.



Nubar Strawberry. This is a creamy strawberry ice cream color. Or, even better, the filling inside one of these:

Nubar Toasted Marshmallow. This is the oddball of the bunch. It's a light brown caramel-suede type of color and it looks very strange next to all the brights and pastels in this collection. I can see where they were going with the jellybean/toasted marshmallow or maybe even toasted almond look, but it really stands out like a sore thumb in this collection!

The formula on these wasn't what I expected. Recent Nubar cremes have been very smooth and opaque, these weren't. They were very sheer and unexpectedly runny but thick in texture. I had difficulty with most of the shades. I did three coats of each and they needed all three. Some might even benefit from more. The dry time on them is rather long and I experienced some bubbling with them. I would recommend doing very thin coats and waiting a few minutes in between each. That's my usual method for preventing bubbles on polishes that dry slowly.

Judging from the name of the collection (Jellybeans) and the sheerness of the formula, I think these were supposed to be a set of jelly finish polishes. None of them really look like jellies to me, maybe Blueberry and Grape come close, but not exactly what I think of when I think 'jelly'. They're just sort of diluted cremes that take three coats to even out. If jelly finish was what they were going for, they missed the mark... but the colors are still really pretty.

Overall, I like the colors but not the formula. I wish that they were either more jelly-like or more dense and opaque like Nubar's other cremes. The colors are gorgeous, though. My favorites are Grape, Lemon, Blueberry, Kiwi and Blue Raspberry. I actually wore Cherry, Lemon, China Glaze Gaga For Green, Blueberry and Grape as a Skittles manicure last week and the colors looked really fun and colorful together. Just don't forget the quick-dry topcoat!

This collection will be available soon (no exact date given on the press release) on ByNubar.com.

(This was sent for review.)

39 comments:

  1. These make me hungry! I hope they aren't scented! LOL

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  2. I also love Cinnamon flavour and Pina Colada.. Oooh and frutti tutti! and Cherry Cola and Watermelon - more because it looks like an actual watermelon the green outside and the red inside.. SO off topic.

    Love the swatches. pass on this collection though :\

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    1. I don't think I've had the Cherry Cola one, but I want it! I love the Dr. Pepper ones :D And that's the best part about the watermelon one- I always bite them in half when I eat them so I can see it, haha!

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  3. Omg! Yay! Jelly Bean colors! I am little sad that they are all cremes (just because I was hoping for some new great jelly based colors since EVERYTHING is cremes right now), BUT I do love all the colors, even the oddball Toasted Marshmallow. Thanks for the swatches and the tips on working with the formula! :)

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    1. I love cremes, but I do agree- wish they'd been true jellies :) Thank you!

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  4. Kiwi is kind of cute, I might nab it if I think about it.
    I did laugh, though, your list of Jelly Belly favorites is pretty much my list of the flavors I throw out. The only cross is Toasted Marshmallow - I'll fight you for those.

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    1. Too funny! Sounds like we'd get along great together- I'll eat all the ones you don't like and leave you the rest! Just how like me and Mr. Scrangie with french fries- I like the soggy ones (yes, I'm weird) and he hates them, so it works out great. lol

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  5. Thanks for the swatches and review!

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  6. Haha, your description of jelly beans that tasted like burning band-aids both repulsed me and made me laugh! :P Thanks for that - I needed it!

    I was really looking forward to this collection because I was hoping that they'd have a real jelly finish, but after reading your review, it looks like I'll be passing these up. None of the colours seem original to me, and I would've only tried to get some if they were jellies.

    Thanks for saving me some money, Scrangie! :) (Hehe, you usually do the opposite! My wallet thanks you.)

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  7. Hooray for buttered popcorn Jelly Bellies!! Best flavor EVER!

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  8. Pretty colors, but a shame the application was rough on them. Also came here to say, Jelly Bellies rock! My favorite are the Peach ones :)

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  9. I am almost certain that Joan Rivers has been sporting blueberry in all of her appearances lately.

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    1. Might be! I'd thought maybe it was Deborah Lippman I Know What Boys Like.

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  10. OOO I love all the colors(except for the marshmallow one. I'm just not a fan of brown polish.

    If I had to pick just one color, I would have to go with blueberry. That is such a beautiful shade of blue!

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  11. Man, WHAT is up with Nubar? They were my favorite brand for so long, but their collections lately have been SO weak! Formula problems, blatant knockoffs of other collections, boring colors...it's so disappointing. So many others are doing such spectacular things -- duochromes, flakies, magnetics, really unique glitters and shimmers. And Nubar is all "Here's half a dozen creme colors you probably already have, and btw you'll need seven coats for opacity. Whatever."

    On a less-complainy note: OMG, Jelly Belly. The pomegranate ones RULE. I'd fight you for the pear and cantaloupe, but srsly. Pomegranate.

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  12. Goshdangit, just when I thought I couldn't be talked into any of the Spring collections...

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  13. Goshdangit, just when I thought I couldn't be talked into any of the Spring collections...

    Loving Blueberry and Blue Raspberry.

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  14. ¡Qué colores tan chulo! Quizá el que menos me gusta es el Toasted, pero los demás ¡los quiero todos!

    Besotes

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  15. it's funny. I was munching on Jelly Bellys when I clicked the link to this page.

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  16. omg Blueberry!!! do you know any dupes for it, please? :)

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  17. they are so bright and cheery except marshmellow, i like them, juicy pear is my all time favorite jelly belly.

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  18. Toasted Marshmallow is exactly the colour I've been looking forward to! I'm not keen on any other spring/special collections at the mo but I have seen an Africa/Safari themed one from China glaze that will be out in the summer and I want almost every colour from that collection!!

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  19. OMG, I love those Koala's March cookie things. My buddy and I call them "smarches," which also doubles as a handy Simpsons reference, haha. You're the best, Scrangie.

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  22. Blueberry is amazing! What a perfect, clean blue.

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  23. When I first saw this collection I wasn't into it, but I think your swatches have me convinced! loving multiple shades of this collection.

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  24. Awesome swatches! Happy that they are all cremes - or I thought they were. Not happy that some of them are so sheer.

    I about spit out my coffee when I read burning band-aids! I agree Jelly Belly are the best. I only buy the peach, tutti frutti and GREEN APPLE ones though. Green apple ROCKS!

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  25. A few colors in this collection seem very reminiscent of CG Electropop but with a more disappointing formula. Bummer, because I was pretty excited to hear that it was called Jellybeans...a whole collection of jellies, yes please! Not so exciting in reality :(

    I can't decide whether to love or hate Toasted Marshmallow! It's got me contemplating, so I guess that's a win in itself!

    Thanks for the great swatches!

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  26. Not into this collection at all. We have seen these shades many times before. I liked the Chic collection but not this one. I can skip them all.

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  27. Definitely want some jelly beans now. My Mother used to make wonderful Easter baskets. Plenty of jelly beans, chocolate eggs, malt ball eggs & of course a chocolate bunny. I needed some black licorice eggs in this collection. Although I don't really need the polish. Love the green polish.

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  28. I like blueberry and Strawberry (from Nubar) and am absolutely on board with buttered popcorn being the best Jelly Belly EVER.

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  29. These are really pretty. Too bad on the formula. My favorite Jelly Bean is the Dr. Pepper Flavor! Buttered Popcorn is good too.

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  30. I know this is waaaaay late but I was doing the 3:30am zombie scroll through old posts and this made me laugh. Scrangie, you always have the best references. I'm in Okinawa and ever since I first tried them I've been addicted to those damn koala cookies. They have so many awesome flavors *sigh*. Between this and the reference... this is why I love your blog :)

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  31. I know this is waaaaay late but I was doing the 3:30am zombie scroll through old posts and this made me laugh. Scrangie, you always have the best references. I'm in Okinawa and ever since I first tried them I've been addicted to those damn koala cookies. They have so many awesome flavors *sigh*. Between this and the reference... this is why I love your blog :)

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