*GIFTED* I have been an avid Polish Pickup fan for a couple years now, unfortunately for my bank account. It combines the fun themes of subscription boxes with total freedom of choice of products, your “box” can be as spendy or thrifty as you’re feeling that month! Kim from Aurora 5-Free Nail Lacquer reached out to me and asked if I could swatch their August contributions and I jumped at the chance. It’s exciting to get a polish before the rest of the world, okay? Anyway, Aurora is offering not just one but TWO polishes this month, one a regular polish and the other a special effects topper. I have been having a moment with toppers this year so I was super excited to see it in the lineup! This month’s theme for Polish Pickup is Weird Science, which some brands have taken very liberally for their inspiration. Aurora went right for it and based both their polishes on the film Weird Science (which I haven’t seen, is that a bad thing?). Kim provided me with descriptions so luckily you don’t have to read through me floundering about trying to describe all the elements in these!
Today’s swatches are over Deborah Lippmann Hard Rock base coat and topped with Holo Taco Glossy Taco where noted. My black polish of choice is One-Coat Black from Holo Taco.
Aurora A Nice, Greasy Pork Sandwich Served in a Dirty Ashtray, 2 coats plus top coat
First up, we have A Nice, Greasy Pork Sandwich Served in a Dirty Ashtray which is described as “a brown flakie bomb packed with bronze and gold metallic flakies and scattered metallic purple highlights.” You guys, she is not kidding when she calls this one a flakie bomb! It is jam-packed and so blingy that it totally wigged out my camera. If it looks pretty here to you, then trust me when I say it’s a thousand times better in person. If you’re wondering about the name, Kim says, “We couldn’t resist naming a polish after older brother Chet’s attempt to make Gary and Wyatt throw up when they come home drunk.”
Aurora A Nice, Greasy Pork Sandwich Served in a Dirty Ashtray, 1 coat
After just one coat, you get an amazing amount of flakies. My camera was actually able to capture them because we haven’t entered mirror levels of reflection yet, but that is coming. The purple elements are also super visible. After just one coat it is still a bit sheer and there are some lighter patches I need to cover up.
Aurora A Nice, Greasy Pork Sandwich Served in a Dirty Ashtray, 2 coats
The flakies build up enough in two coats to completely cover the nail and to start freaking cameras out! This is so blingy and that only intensifies once you slap a glossy top coat on there. It gives me major fall vibes with the color combinations here!
Aurora A Nice, Greasy Pork Sandwich Served in a Dirty Ashtray, 2 coats plus top coat
You all know I am terrible at taking macros, but hopefully you can see all the flakie goodness happening here!
Aurora Having a Good Time Being Catatonic in a Closet, 1 coat over black plus top coat in direct lighting
The special effects topper Aurora is offering this month is Having a Good Time Being Catatonic in a Closet, described as a “sheer effect topper that invokes the wonderfulness of Wyatt’s blue kitchen and the reds and browns from nanny and grampy’s frocks.” I tell you, this one has got me lying catatonic on the ground, it’s so insanely beautiful! First of all, just one coat gives such an intense effect. I see mostly red, brown/orange/copper/something like that, green, and blue. Because it is iridescent, it will look different depending on what base color you slap it over. I thought it best to show this one over black because that’s kind of a standard swatch thing for polishes like this, but I am itching to see it over dark grey, dark purple, and dark teal! Whew, it’s pretty!!! I actually decided to wear this as a full mani and not just swatch it. Probably still wearing as the post goes up :]
Aurora Having a Good Time Being Catatonic in a Closet, 1 coat over black plus top coat
Hopefully you can see all the colors here, but know that it is much more dynamic in person. I’m hoping you all are familiar with these iridescent type pigments and know what I’m talking about!
These polishes will be available on https://polishpickup.com/ from August 7-August 10. Remember, it works like a preorder so your polishes won’t be shipped out until a couple weeks after the orders are all in!
What polishes are you interested in picking up for August? I thought I would get just a couple, but my mental wishlist is already starting to scare me…
xx, Ashley
The polishes in this post were provided to me for swatching. All opinions are always my own!
short nail swatcher 
They are nice, love the topper 😀
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Thank you, the topper was definitely my favorite!
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