Hey guys!

Today I have three gorgeous thermals to share with you! These shades are Polished by KPT's Anniversary Trio to celebrate their 3-year birthday! If you are looking for bottle shots (or cute canine friends), those can be found here.

If you're curious about some of the inspiration behind these polishes, head on over to the to read all about it!


Well, let's take a look!

First, here is Polished by KPT- Swimming with Mermaids:

brush shot shows cool color

Swimming with Mermaids is a warm sensitive thermal polish. The cool color is a pretty, slightly blue-toned medium green, and the warm transition is a lovely blue-leaning teal. There are chunky holo microglitters as well as holo shimmer. 

Artificial light, three coats:




Here is a shot to show clearly the separate color states:

Again, the green is the cool state, and the blue-teal is the warm state! (I just used hot and cold water to achieve the photo.)

I've only tried a couple of thermal polishes ever, and I was concerned I wouldn't have enough free-edge to show the transition properly, but it actually was apparent most of the time- especially for this particular shade! So I think these are very sensitive thermals!

Formula: It's a bit sheer, but smooooth. The base is very self-leveling, being jellyish, and everything goes right where you want it. It dries down very quickly, and builds well. Opaque in three coats, but each coat is perfectly even and non-streaky, so you could wear it with a little VNL if you wanted.
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Next, Polished by KPT- Calypso:
 
brush shot shows cool state


Calypso is a warm sensitive thermal with a cool-toned purple starting (cool) color which transitions to a pink-magenta in the warm state. It has the same smattering of holo microglitter as Swimming with Mermaids, but with the addition of beautiful purple/indigo shimmer.

Artificial light, three coats:




With the thermal states separated using water:


This one also displayed its transitional state most of the time while I wore it. It's like having a natural gradient- very cool! (Cool cool cool!)

Formula: It's very nice! Similar to Swimming with Mermaids, except slightly more pigmented. It's basically opaque in two coats, but I used three to make the tips perfectly opaque for macro photos.
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Finally, this is Polished by KPT- Penelope:
 
brush shot shows semi-transitioned cold state


Penelope is a cold sensitive thermal (transitions to alternate color when cold instead of warm.) with a jelly base. The starting color is a bright warm pink with blue shimmer and small pink flecks. The cold transition color is a bright blue-toned fuchsia (much more purple than starting warm color).

Artificial light, four coats:




Very pretty with that blue glassfleck shimmer!!  Unlike the warm thermals above, this polish did not show the transition as readily on my nails. It could be that the ambient temperature is just too warm right now (~72 in the house when I took these photos), I'm not sure.

And here are the separate thermal states:


It has a very gorgeous thermal cool state, though!

Formula: It's very smooth like a true jelly and goes on so easily. It is very sheer, though- sheerer than the other two. I used four coats to bring down visible nail line, but I'm not sure this one can be built to full coverage on its own- at least not on my nails with short nailbeds. Really superb texture though!
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Overall, I was super impressed with these! Just aesthetically, they all appeal to me. But more importantly, their thermal shift was pretty strong in my experience, especially the warm sensitives: Calypso and Swimming with Mermaids.

I don't have super long nails, as you know (just about 3mm of free-edge at the longest point when these photos were taken), so I was thinking that I would never see a transitioned look on my nails, but I did! Very happy about that! Penelope, the cold sensitive thermal, I saw the least shift with. It mostly stayed in it's warm state with subtle change towards the tips- but it is Summer here.

Formula-wise, all have excellent textures. I mean, just buttery and easy to apply! Penelope is quite sheer, so that could bug some people, but it is a jelly, and it could always be layered!



Polished by KPT | $12 /ea | $36 for Trio






*Disclosure: polishes in this post were provided to me as press samples for honest review, and all opinions are my own.