Nubar Spring Garden – Swatches & Review

The polishes in Nubar’s Spring Garden collection were very difficult to photograph, partly because spring has not necessarily meant sunshine, but also because the first three are nearly white. Eventually, their hues came through on camera though.

Spring Garden includes eight cremes, plus one sheer glitter polish, Dewdrop. I layered one coat of Dewdrop over each polish on my ring finger.

Nubar White Peony

White Peony is a barely-off-white. I can’t decide if it looks soft or dirty. Application was horrendous. There was streaking and cuticle drag, and it didn’t melt into the nail the way I’m used to with Nubar polishes. Granted, white polishes are notoriously troublesome, but I did have hopes that White Peony would be an exception. It at least reached opacity in three coats.

Nubar Yellow Primrose

The pastel formula on Yellow Primrose was a bit fussy, but much better than White Peony. I had some cuticle drag, but if you’re patient between applying coats, you might be able to avoid that. Although I almost got by with just two, this is three coats in the picture. It has a satin finish, but it looks fresh, not chalky.

Nubar Baby Sprout

As an avid green collector, I was very excited to see Baby Sprout. It’s almost white, and I don’t have anything close to it. Ultra fine shimmer runs through it, giving it a nice, shiny finish. Application was smooth, and this is two coats. Dewdrop was the most subtle layered when over this one.

Nubar Earthen

Earthen is fantastic. This slightly green-tinged putty neutral brings a chic downbeat to an otherwise prim collection. However, from the promo pic I had expected something warmer, with a hint of purple. (Nubar’s promo are often way off from the actual color, so I don’t recommend relying on those.) Earthen has the same shining finish as Baby Sprout, and was nearly a one-coater.

Nubar Pink Lily

In person Pink Lily has more glow to it. It’s a lit up baby girl pink that looks particularly adorable on short nails. Two easy coats for this one.

Nubar Purple Aster

Purple Aster is a gorgeous lavender with that same shimmer Baby Sprout and Earthen have. But my oh my, doesn’t it look familiar?

thumb, middle & pinky: Purple Aster index & ring: Zoya Marley

Purple Aster is a near-dupe t0 Zoya Marley. Marley has just a bit more of that silver shimmer than Purple Aster, making it a little cooler toned. But the slight difference you see between the two in the photo is even less apparent in person. As far as formula, Marley goes on a little thicker than Purple Aster. Both apply really nicely though, so it’s just whichever you prefer to work with.

Nubar Blue Hydrangea

Blue Hydrangea has the most shimmer out of any in the collection, but it’s still quite subtle. It’s brighter than I expected it to be from the promo, and from how it looked inside the bottle. Blue Hydrangea made Dewdrop reflect more gold and warm tones than it did over other polishes.

Nubar Honeysuckle and Dewdrop

Lastly, Honeysuckle – Nubar’s attempt at Pantone’s 2011 Color of the Year. The polish is very deep and cool toned compared to Pantone’s pick though. Regardless, this vivid pink is a lot of fun and a jumps out at you amongst all the more muted colors in the collection. The formula is a perfection, and you could stick with one coat if you like some VNL.

As you can see, the light sparkles in Dewdrop are most obvious when layered over Honeysuckle. I included the Dewdrop bottle in this swatch so you could get a sense of it. It’s clear polish packed with glitter that has that iridescent AB finish. A nice standard for your layering needs. It goes on pretty thick, and there are larger than average mixing weights inside the bottle.

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Well that was a long post. Thanks for sticking with it! In summary, my top picks from Nubar Spring Garden are Earthen, Baby Sprout, and Yellow Primrose, which is just so cute. The others are take them as you need them, except White Peony – I wouldn’t waste your time.

Nubar polishes are vegan, big 4-free, and do not contain Camphor.

Nubar retails at $7.49 for .50 oz.
The full nine piece Spring Garden collection retails for $49.95.

Have you tried out any polishes from the Spring Garden collection? Any top picks?