Happy New Year’s Eve! This year has been full of absolutely amazing new polishes, so today I have a total of ten polishes that came out during 2018 to share. The first five shades will be polishes that released in regular collections. The last five shades will be polishes that were only available for an exclusive period of time, such as polishes of the month or polishes from Polish Pickup and Hella Handmade Creations.
I came a long way as far as my swatching and blogging in 2018. My first blog post was on December 21, 2017; in just over a year I have had an amazing amount of growth! This is all thanks to those who read and liked my blog posts, and to all of the fabulous makers in the indie polish community who asked me to swatch for them! To all of you, I am so grateful! I also began my Instagram account in summer of 2018 and have absolutely loved getting to share my swatches on a different social media platform. If you’re not already following me on Instagram, you can find me @rachelaughsnails, where I will be hosting a giveaway when I reach 1,500 followers! In my personal life, 2018 was also a huge year for me. I graduated with my Bachelor’s degree, began my Master’s degree program, and took my first trip to Europe.
To start out, here are my top five polishes of 2018! First up is “Riddikulus” from LynB Designs. We all know I love Harry Potter, so it’s no surprise to see a Harry Potter inspired shade on my list! This shade is absolutely gorgeous: the bronze flakies are beautiful against the mint blue base, and this shade also has an intense shimmer. You can find even more swatches of this shade in my original blog post here.
Next up on my list of top five favorites is “Regenerate” from 1850 Artisan Polish. This thermal is absolutely phenomenal: if you don’t have it already, add it to your wishlist! You can find many more swatches of this shade in its warm and cold states on my original blog post here!
“Chrome Buttons” from Emily de Molly is a gorgeous rose gold metallic, and for me is a staple for anyone’s polish collection! You can pair this with almost any polish to make a gorgeous accent nail, or wear it by itself for a full-glam nail look. You can find more swatches of Chrome Buttons on my original blog post here.
Next up I have… another Harry Potter inspired polish! “Horcrux” from Glam Polish is a recent release that absolutely blew me away. This intricate polish has stunning shimmer, gorgeous flakies, and a beautiful base color. Every Harry Potter fan needs this beauty in their collection!
Finally, I have another recent release that absolutely blew me away in 2018! “Veil of Ice” is a stunning shimmer polish from Ethereal Lacquer. While I was obsessed with holographic polishes in 2017, I really fell in love with intense shimmer shades such as this one in 2018. You can find my original blog post for this shade right here!
Next up are my top five favorite “exclusive” polishes from 2018. Like I mentioned previously, these five were limited shades such as polishes of the month, or polishes from Polish Pickup or Hella Handmade Creations. First up is “There is a Doll in My Pocket” from Fancy Gloss. This gorgeous thermal was part of Polish Pickup in May. You can find more of my original swatches here!
Okay, okay. I have one last Harry Potter inspired polish for this list! Girly Bits created an absolutely stunning shade for the November Hella Handmade Creations release called “Priori Incantatem”. Fans of Harry Potter will be able to tell just how perfectly this polish encapsulates the spell it was named after! You can find my original post for this shade here!
“Another Glorious Morning” was another gorgeous Polish Pickup shade from Quixotic in September. This was one of the very first magnetic polishes I ever used, and the magnetic effect in this shade is absolutely outstanding. You can find more swatches of this shade in my original blog post here!
Colors by Llarowe created “Ack! It’s an Alien!” for their October polish of the month shade. Like I mentioned previously, 2018 was all about the intense shimmers for me! The gorgeous shimmer in this shade is to die for, and the color combination is so unique. You can find more swatches of this shade in my original blog post here.
The final shade I have to share in this list is “1984” from Femme Fatale. This shade was exclusive to the December Hella Handmade Creations pre-order. The tri-thermal effect in this polish was subtle, but stunning! I loved the intense shimmer in this shade as well as the gorgeous neon warm tones in the thermal transition. You can find many more swatches of this shade in my original blog post here.
Thank you so much for reading! Please share with me in the comments what YOUR favorite polishes of 2018 were! If you’d like to keep up with my blog, take a peek at the right-hand sidebar where you can follow with your email address or WordPress account. You can also find me and my swatches on Instagram @rachelaughsnails.
Rachelaughs Nails 