SWATCH & REVIEW: heroine.nyc Winter Wishes Collection

by - January 27, 2021


Admittedly, my list of nail polish brands that I want to try seems to get longer rather than shorter, regardless of how many new-to-me brands that I try out. heroine.nyc has definitely been on that list for quite a while now because every time I see someone using their polishes, the formula just looks absolutely flawless. Anyway, because my list is so long, I didn't get around to trying out their polishes until I was lucky enough to win the heroine.nyc Winter Wishes Collection in a nail art contest from @lesstalkmorepolish. I was super, super excited to get my hands on these and had a hard time waiting until they warmed up after I brought them in from the mail to open them and start trying them out on my nails. 

Keep reading for more!


I think it would be pretty easy to just assume "heroine" is just a name and never really think about it, but it actually does have meaning when it comes to this brand. Whenever I'm about to review a new brand, I try to look into their story and brand identity, and when I did that with heroine.nyc, I was really impressed to find that their business model includes taking a portion of the net profits of every sale and donating them to the Beagle Freedom Project. The BFG is an organization that facilitates "retired" lab animals finding forever homes so that they can experience life outside the lab. On top of doing that year 'round, they also participate in Pink October and raise money for breast cancer research. For me, personally, this kind of business model is a really, really solid incentive to give my consumer dollars to a brand, especially when the organizations they work with are doing something that I really find important.

Anyway, let's talk about these polishes, shall we?
 

The Winter Wishes consist of four stunning fall/winter shades that will get you in the mood for the cozy months and the best thing is, there's something for everyone!

What immediately jumped out at me about the shades in this collection is that they manage to be distinctly wintery without being necessarily what you think of when you think of winter collection. I think it's because they don't feel "holiday" in nature. For me, especially right now as I'm trying to negotiate winter nails after being completely burned out by holiday nails, that makes this collection really, really exciting for me. I'm a bit of a nerd for curation of shades in collections, I like to sort of dissect and examine them, and I think the curation here was really smart and well thought out. But what's really important is how they apply and perform, am I right?


Lovesick
heroine.nyc | Winter Wishes Collection | 2020
Lovesick is a really rich berry shade that pulls a little bit deeper in person than in the swatch photo (I just couldn't quite capture the depth.) It's a stunning, stunning shade and sort of a really perfect winter berry, in my opinion, in that it has that richness and doesn't skew too much towards the red side. The formula is pretty much a dream. It applies smooth and with incredible pigmentation that could easily give one coat opacity, though I did prefer two thin coats to make sure that I got full opacity at the tips of my longer nails. Gorgeous polish, probably my current favorite pink polish of life.


London Fog
heroine.nyc | Winter Wishes Collection | 2020
London Fog really rides that line between being purple and being grey and I would probably describe it as a very ashy lavender type of shade. And, I mean, it's gorgeous and I think will be a really beautiful transition from being a perfect winter shade to a really modern spring shade, if that makes sense. Personally, I can absolutely see it working perfectly for both seasons. Again, the application was really beautiful, smooth and self levelling, and incredibly pigmented. With this type of shade, there can sometimes be some chalkiness to the formula, but this was just super creamy and lovely for me. Again, two thin coats worked best for my nails, but you could easily get one coat opacity with this one. 


In The Deep
heroine.nyc | Winter Wishes Collection | 2020
I would describe In The Deep as a rich, vibrant navy blue shade. As I was swatching this, I was noting that the formula reminded me of a few similar shades of rich, deep-but-still-vibrant blues I've tried recently. Like the other shades in this collection, this applied really, really beautifully but there was a little bit more a crelly edge to it - super pigmented, but a little bit more see through. I almost feel like that's necessary with this type of shade if you want it to maintain that distinct blue colour and not end up getting muddy and blackened. Know what I mean? This was still a gorgeous shade to work with and I got the opacity that I was looking for in two coats, but I think this is the one shade in this collection that's going to require those two coats for most people. Still, beautiful and I love this colour. 


Poison Ivy
heroine.nyc | Winter Wishes Collection | 2020
I am OBSESSED with this shade - and no one who knows of me and my love for green polish will be the least bit surprised by that, I would assume. I would describe this as a rich, mossy green with a balance of yellow undertones and ashiness that makes it feel really unique. Again, the application of this polish was an absolute dream, smooth and even with really strong pigmentation and an even dry down. I would say, again, that this could easily be a one coater on a lot of people. Again, I went for two thin coats because that's what tends to work best for my nail length and it gave a really beautiful look. 


When it comes to the formula of these, I was just immediately blown away. As I said, I did end up doing two coats for full opacity, but I really do think that even I could probably easily get away with just one coat of these. The flat brush that they come with is a really good size, large enough to give easy coverage but not so large as to apply too much polish on smaller nails, and it fits really nicely at the cuticles for a crisp line. I apply a lot of créme polishes (obviously) and there are a couple of brands that just stand head and shoulders above the rest for me when it comes to formula, and heroine.nyc has definitely joined those ranks.


Honestly, these polishes are just a massive win for me across the board. I love the shade selection they went with, which I find unique enough to stand out while also really suiting the winter theme really well. I don't have to go on more about the formula - I'm obsessed, clearly - and I can't wait to get more of their polishes into my collection. Honestly, it's been a while since I've been this immediately impressed with a nail polish collection and I can't say enough good things.

heroine.nyc nail polishes are available online and they offer free international shipping with orders over $50USD!

Thanks for reading!

You May Also Like

0 comments