NYC Fashion Queen Collection

Normally I'm mostly a pick-up-a-polish-or-three-here-and-there kind of girl, but when I saw the NYC Fashion Queen collection, I got a little crazy...and bought the entire collection. Nine polishes. At about $2 a bottle, this brand is very affordable, and the lure of a brand new collection suckered me in. I have a few NYC polishes, and, with the exception of their matte topcoat, I have been supremely underwhelmed. The gorgeous colors call you, but the formula has been blah, and they're almost always too sheer. I don't know what came over me, but I'm glad it did, because this time, NYC delivered big time! Get ready, there are about to be swatches everywhere.

The NYC Fashion Queen collection is a set of six 'Crystal Couture' glitters in tinted jelly bases and three cremes (for a closer look at them in bottle, check out this post from The Polished Mommy). The cremes were brilliant, but the glitters were a leap of faith, since I don't buy a ton of glitter toppers. First, let's look at the glitters.

Queen's Jewels

All of the glitters in this collection are in a jelly base that builds easily packed with small glitters (the photos for the glitters here all show one, two, and three coats left to right). Most of them could easily be built to opaque  on their own or layered. Queen's Jewels is a grasshopper green with green glitter that will make a great transition between seasons.

Blue Majesty

Blue Majesty is the most sheer, least glitter packed, and least cooperative of the bunch, but still quite pretty. It's a blueberry with blue glitter.

Ruby Queen

Ruby Queen is the most complex of the glitter toppers. It's a deep pink base with pink and red glitters. When worn as a topper, it skews red, but on its own, it's a brighter tone. This is the "summeriest" of the bunch.

NY Princess

NY Princess is also a little more poorly behaved, and the one of the set that I'm least likely to wear in its own. It's a purple base with purple and blue glitters. I would potentially wear this as a one coat sheer or in a jelly sandwich with a topcoat with bigger glitters.

Rule the City

Rule the City is the glitter in this collection that's most "me," and it's also the most unusual polish in this collection. It's a smoky base with red and grey glitters. One coat is too streaky to wear alone, but two or three becomes an opaque gunmetal with red sparkles. I really like this polish.

Fashion Queen

Finally, Fashion Queen, the namesake of the collection and possibly my favorite of all of them. Fashion Queen is a dense gold glitter in a gold tinted base. One coat is subtly shimmery and three coats is almost blingy.

Now the colors that drew me to this collection in the first place: the cremes.

Crown Gold

Crown Gold with Fashion Queen 

Crown Gold is a buttery yellowish gold. It's not overly brassy, and I didn't have much streakiness at all. This is two coats. I have to be in the mood for metallics, but I can definitely see myself wearing this one.

Queen of the City

Queen of the City with NY Princess (left) and Ruby Queen (right)

Queen of the City is a gorgeous, rich burgundy with subtle shimmer. I love how the glitter toppers change the vibe of this one; NY Princess brings out the purple, while Ruby Queen highlights the red. Two coats here.

Royal Chic

Royal Chic with Fashion Queen accents

Royal Chic is a warm walnut brown that screams fall. It's kind of hard to photograph, but I assure you, it's noticeably brown. It plays super well with Fashion Queen, I love these two together. The accents in these photos were both done with no tools-the NYC brush is flexible, but firm enough for simple nail art. This one is a touch thin; here I used three coats.

I'm so glad I got these. They restored my faith in NYC Color and are all polishes I'm sure to wear over and over. The finishes are beautiful (no topcoat on any of these!), and the colors are so versatile. For what it's worth, I think Fashion Queen is a must have, Queen of the City is an instant classic, and Crown Gold is a metallic for people who don't care for metallics. They're all so great that now I can't decide which one to actually wear! What do you think? Will you be picking up any colors from this collection?