Bees Knees Lacquer: Buzzmas Mysteries

*Disclosure: Press samples – I received these polishes for free with additional compensation in exchange for swatch photography. All reviews and opinions are my own.*

Note: Spoilers ahead!

Hello! I have swatches of a few of the Bees Knees Lacquer Buzzmas mystery polishes that were available during last month’s Buzzmas sale. Sarah, the Maker, mentioned that some of these polishes would be available for respawn if requested in the future, so I figured I’d compile my swatches into this post for easy viewing.

Not all of the polishes available as part of Buzzmas are included here – I only have a handful of the polishes that were part of the sale. I don’t have official descriptions, but I’ll include my usual thoughts on the formula and number of coats used.

The top coat I’m using in all of my swatches is Bees Knees Lacquer’s Fast, I’m Very Fast QDTC.

Let’s get into it! If you don’t want any spoilers, you’ll want to click out now.

Bryaxis

*Contains UP

Bryaxis had a smooth and even formula that was self-leveling. The shade is very vampily gorgeous and opaque.

Shown is two coats plus glossy top coat.

Chrysalis

Chrysalis had a smooth and even formula. I had a slight shadow of visible nail line at two coats, so I went for three. This is probably one of my top pics from this set!

Shown is three coats plus glossy top coat.

Kanej

*Part of Ships 2.0

Kanej had a smooth and even formula. The flakes in the polish are dense and lie flat. Kanej was another top pic for me – the mix of flakies is absolutely stunning.

Shown is two coats plus glossy top coat.

Romajuliette

*Part of Ships 2.0

Romajuliette had a smooth and even formula. It builds up to decent opacity on its own, but I thought it was much better when paired with a blurring base (I used Polished for Days’s Snow base coat) as my nail line was more visible in light where the shimmer couldn’t hide the nail line as well. It would have been fine at two thicker coats with a blurring base coat rather than the three thinner/medium coats that I went for.

Shown is three coats over a blurring base coat (index and middle) and on its own (ring and pinky) plus glossy top coat.

Rowaelin

*Part of Ships 2.0

Rowaelin was sheer enough to be a topper, and its formula was smooth and even. The polish almost looks like it’s a glitter but is definitely a shimmer, and I think the polish is quite flattering in shaded light. I didn’t quite reach full opacity at three coats on its own, and needed a blurring base coat (again, Polished for Days’s Snow base coat) for full opacity.

Shown is three coats over a blurring base coat (index and middle) and on its own (ring and pinky) plus glossy top coat.

The Iron Triangle

*Part of Ships 2.0

The Iron Triangle had a sheer base with flakes not coming out as much in the first coat. Overall the flakes build up well and are more apparent on the nail than in my photos, but they’re not that densely packed when applied.

Hot take: To be honest, I’m not much of a fan of this jelly + lighter flake density formula from BKL (Wolven, a previous mystery also had a similar formula) because it doesn’t build up to opacity that easily unless you have a darker base color and the flakes don’t always layer in a flattering way. The final result generally does look fine, but I think I’m always a bit disappointed when I apply the polish because I expected more flakes based on what I saw in the bottle (Kanej, shown above, is a good and pretty example of what I’d expect instead from a flakie polish).

Shown is three coats plus glossy top coat.

The Suriel

The Suriel had a sheer but really smooth and even formula. It applies a lot like Your Mom (a previous HHC polish) because the shimmer particle is very fine and glowy. You do need a blurring base coat for full opacity.

Shown is three coats plus glossy top coat.

Wesper

*Part of Ships 2.0

Wesper had a smooth and even formula, and I thought this was a gorgeous one. The polish is a bit sheer like the other shimmers in this set, and I did see some visible nail line at three coats for nails without a blurring base. Like Romajuliette and Rowaelin, I used Polished for Days’s Snow base coat on my first two nails to get full opacity.

Shown is three coats over a blurring base coat (index and middle) and on its own (ring and pinky) plus glossy top coat.

If you’re out to find any of these polishes, submit a respawn request on the BKL site! Thanks for reading.

XOXO,

Lauren