Nail Haulin’: Black Heart Beauty

I meant to do this post as a “Nail Mail Monday”. But … it didn’t happen. Story of my normal and daily life. And that’s okay! I’m here now and ready to talk about some fun and funky nail polish. This post is all about Black Heart Beauty, which is a nail polish brand sold through Hot Topic stores. I love Hot Topic. I’m a “woman of a certain age”, so I should have outgrown all the anime t-shirts and such years and years ago. But I haven’t. And you know what? I never will. Mwuahahahahahahahaha!!!

A few weeks ago, my family and I made a little day trip to Peoria, which is about 45 minutes away from where we live. We go there from time to time to eat at places not available in our smaller town, and, sometimes, to go to Costco. (We are living the dream, y’all!) The last time we were there, we visited a mall and a Hot Topic. I needed to do a return, and, of course, we always want to browse the available t-shirts and anime merchandise. The store was having BOGO on nail polish. Y’all know I was all in for that!

I had a couple of BHB polishes at one time, but I ended up passing both of them along to friends. So this little haul opens up a whole new area in my nail polish stash. The closet hoarder inside of me is jumping for joy right now.

BOTTLE AND BRUSH:

The most distinctive thing about Black Heart Beauty (other than the name, which I think is be-awesome!) is the bottle. They are shaped like little skulls. I’m not usually one for skulls everywhere or anything like that, but I really like the bottle shape. It is kind of a pain to store, but it’s fun and creative. The bottles contain around .4 fluid ounces of polish, which (if I did my “google” correctly) translates to around 11 mls.

The brush handle is rather long, but I find it easy to hold when applying polish. The stem of the brush is average in length. I tend to dislike brushes with super long stems, as I feel the polish drips off the stem too quickly. The BHB brush stem is easy to clean off on the sides of the bottle, for minimum drippage. The brush is squared off at the end. I consider the brush to be pretty average. It’s not that thick or wide, but it is also not super thin. I find it a fairly easy brush to use. It doesn’t fit perfectly with my cuticle and nail shape, but I don’t have to struggle with it, either.

THE POLISH!

This is Black Base Red Splatter. I know what you’re thinking right now: Ooooh, Black Heart Beauty, you are so clever with the naming thing! And yep. You would be right. This company tends to give their polishes very descriptive and literal names.

Anyhow, as the name suggests … this polish has a slightly black base with a mix of different sizes of red and black matte hex glitters. This polish has a good formula. It’s not too base-heavy, and it applies easily with the brush. I swatched it on its own at 3 coats and over a white at 1-2 coats.

I would say this one is definitely a topper. I don’t feel like this would be opaque on its own, no matter how many coats I applied. Plus, trying to get it opaque on its own would be a tedious and time-consuming process. I’m not angry over this in the least. I really like this one. I love that black and red color combination. I love the different sizes of the glitters. They make for a nicely detailed manicure with lots of depth.

As you can see from looking at this topper over white, the base is only slightly tinted. It’s barely black at all. I felt like the slight tint muted down the white polish just a little. But it wasn’t enough to me for it to look gray or even dingy. I think this topper would work fantastically over a taupe or a silver or a light gray.

Blue Skies is a sheer and shimmery sky blue base with a lilac or pink shimmer running throughout. This polish has a decent formula. It is easy to apply, and it does build up on the nail. It needs at least 3 coats for opacity, and I feel like I will see VNL with this polish no matter how many coats I use.

My macro for this polish didn’t turn out, so I don’t have one to share in here. I think this is a pretty and delicate polish. It has an airy and ethereal look on the nail, which I like. It is super, super sheer. As I mentioned above, I feel there will always be VNL with this polish. I don’t look at that as a drawback. I think it is a pretty look with a polish of this type. This one will also work nicely as a topper over a darker color.

This is Muted Lime Green. It is a yellow-toned, tangy green creme. (Dare I say it? Yep! It’s Lime.) This polish has a good formula. I found it easy to apply and build on the nail, and it was opaque in 2-3 coats.

There ain’t nothing muted about this polish! And I freaking LOVE it. I am a complete sucker for tangy, yellow-toned greens. And this one is right up my alley. It was pretty much the first polish I pulled out of the big bin at the Hot Topic store. I’ve already worn this one in a full manicure. It is bright and so much fun.

This is Peri Shimmer. It is a periwinkle or cornflower blue base with pink and blue shimmer throughout. This polish has a good formula. It can be opaque on its own in 3-4 coats, and it works nicely as a topper over a darker base.

This polish is very, very, very sheer. I think it is this way by design, so I’m not counting it against it. If you apply it alone, it gives an airy and fairy-tale look on the nail. It is very similar to Blue Skies, both in the bottle and alone on the nail, so I may not end up keeping both polishes. I feel this one has a touch more purple in the base color. And the pink-purple shimmers show up beautifully on the nail. This one is really pretty!

This is Plum Vamp Satin Matte. It is a deep, dark, and velvety plum with a slight shimmer. As the name suggests, it dries matte. This polish has a fabulous formula. It is rich and creamy going onto the nail, and I found it could easily be opaque in 1 coat. I’m calling it a 1-2 coater, since I pretty much always do that second coat.

I swatched this one matte, since it is supposed to look that way. Realistically, I will wear this one with a glossy top coat. Because I love all things slick and glossy and shiny. I’m a total magpie.

I love this polish. When it dries down matte, the shimmer, which you can see in the bottle, doesn’t show on the nail. I am not sure if the shimmer will show once it’s under a glossy top coat, but I hope it will. Even without the shimmer, I love this polish. It really is dark and vampy. It makes my inner goth very, very happy.

This is Violet with Blue Glitter. I’m not sure I would consider this base a true purple or violet color. It has a lot of pink. The blue glitters are different sizes, hex-shaped, and have a pearly-metallic look. This polish has a good formula. It was easy to apply and build for full opacity in 2-3 coats.

Somehow, I don’t have a macro shot for this polish, either. I shall have to remedy that one of these days. Of course, the first thing I thought when I saw this was: “It looks like Flying Dragon!” Y’all remember my love affair with the OG China Glaze Flying Dragon? I lost my original bottle in the move. When I saw this one in the store, I thought it looked exactly like the original, darker purple color.  Once I got it home, I realized it has a lot more pink, and it looks more like the later versions. That was disappointing. I still love this polish, though. It is fun and funky and kind of weird. I think I will enjoy wearing it.

THE WRAP-UP:

So there you have it, folks! A small Black Heart Beauty haul that opens up yet another chapter in my constantly growing and changing nail polish journey. I’m glad I decided to take another chance on this brand. I don’t know if I will add a lot more from it to my stash, but I hope I get some fun wear out of these few. And who knows? The next time I visit Hot Topic, you know I will be eyeing up the nail polish bins!

What about you guys? Are you familiar with this brand? Have you tried any polishes from it? I would love to hear your thoughts and experiences.

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