SquareHue March Box: Review & Swatches

Today I have my second month of the SquareHue nail polish subscription service. To find out the basics of how it works, you can check out my original post here. The March collection in homage to St. Patrick's Day is called the O'Hue Collection. Once again it comes with 3 polishes that are meant to be on trend for the month of March.  This time around all the shades were metallic/shimmer, and there were no creams.

To continue with the review and see swatches, click the link.

I think it's apt that this month's polishes are named after the main activity that seems to be done on St. Patty's Day- drinking. As such, the colors and names of the polishes reflect the drink of choice. As a whole, this month's offerings were consistently better than last month's.  This might be because there were no cream polishes, and last month I had issues with them.  There are two shimmer shades and one metallic.  Although I understand the concept of this month's theme (and it does work), when you look at the colors themselves I was slightly surprised.  I would have expected more spring friendly colors, not what would traditionally be considered fall colors.  In any case, I generally wear whatever color nail polish I am in the mood for irregardless of the season, so that's not too big of an issue. The colors were just an unexpected surprise.

Swatches

So first off on the list of shades is Amber Lager, a warm copper metal with slight hint of gold undertones.  This is a very pretty color and a true metallic.  As such when painted on the nails, the brush strokes are noticeable although not too much. I've had experience with other metallic polishes that showed such stark brush strokes that I couldn't use it.  Luckily, this isn't as bad as those, and you wouldn't really notice unless you were looking closely.  This shade was the only one that would be slightly marked off in this collection.

Next up is Blond Ale, a light champagne/ale color with gold shimmery flecks in it. These shimmer particles can be seen faintly once painted on the nail.  It's a very daytime/work appropriate color. It applied evenly with out any streaks.

The last shade is Patty's Pint, a forest green with brighter green shimmers.  I was the most surprised with this shade. Of course I was expecting a green, but I was expecting a brighter shamrock-green.  I like this color, and I think it would be great for Christmas time.  This applied very smoothly and was nearly opaque in one coat.  The green shimmer flecks come out nicely on the nail as well.

The following nail swatches are with 2 layers and top coat. You can see the lighter shimmer particles of both Patty's Pint and Blond Ale. Also the flash picture below hints at the slight streaking of Amber Lager.

Sunlight Pic: index finger- Patty's Pint, middle finger- Blond Ale, ring finger- Amber Lager

Flash Pic: index finger- Patty's Pint, middle finger- Blond Ale, ring finger- Amber Lager

Bottom Line: This box has pushed me more into the "I want to continue this subscription" column.  The quality of the polishes were consistently good. The only downside is the lack of finish variety, but that's not a deal breaker for me since things vary from month to month. I'll try it out for another month or two before I make my final decision on whether or not to continue.