My first SquareHue subscription box!

Since I had received the shipping notice for my very first monthly subscription box from SquareHue, I only checked to see if the mail had arrived about ten times today.  I am not exaggerating.

In case you missed my previous posts about SquareHue, it’s a polish-of-the month (POTM) subscription club.  There are several things that attracted me to this offer.   First, it’s all nail polish, no dime-a-dozen shampoo samples or other things I have no interest in either paying for or owning.  Second, each month’s box contains three full-sized 0.5 oz./15 ml bottles, not just one bottle like one POTM club and not skimpy 0.27 oz. bottles like another certain company.  The bottles are square for easy display and storage.

Also, the polish is 4-free (free of DBP, toluene, formaldehyde, and camphor) and is not tested on animals.  You can suspend or pause your account at any time without cancelling, or you can cancel at any time.  The cost is IMHO reasonable — $21 a month which includes shipping, and a portion of the proceeds are donated to charity.  Read all about it at SquareHue’s “How It Works” page.

The compact box arrived without superfluous, wasteful packaging.  The SquareHue Crew says hello!

Each bottle looks very stylish and has the name of the color on the bottom along with the date, in this case 01.13.  January’s set is called the Arctic Collection and includes Glacier Skies, Arctic Frost, and Midnight Flurries.

OK, all that doesn’t mean squat if the polish is no good.  How was it?

First I tried Glacier Skies, a sky blue creme.  The bottle is square which means no weird top-heavy or tall narrow thing that threatens to tip over.  The handle and brush were good, and the smell wasn’t very strong.  The polish went on smoothly and while the first coat was streaky, the second and third coats self-leveled well.  Two coats probably would have been enough but I wanted to use three just in case.

At the risk of sounding corny, it does look like beautiful mountain skies.  I live in Montana and not far from Glacier National Park, truly one of the most breathtaking spots on earth.

Here’s Glacier Skies, three coats, no top coat, under indirect snowy outdoor light and then with the flash:

I don’t have a sky blue exactly like this one.  It’s not as dark as Zoya’s Yummy or Robyn, and it’s not really as neon-bright as it looks in the second photo.

Arctic Frost is a sheer, clear base with fine silver flakes.  I’d use this one as a top coat to give any color a subtle sparkly look, probably wouldn’t wear it on its own.  One coat of Arctic Frost over Glacier Skies in outdoor light:

Finally, Midnight Flurries is my favorite of the three.  It’s a medium blue shimmer with ultrafine silver, blue, and holo glitter.  Gorgeous on its own but one of these days I want to try layering it over a dark navy blue.  Two coats gave excellent coverage.  It dried to a slightly gritty finish so I added a clear shiny top coat.

SquareHue received such a huge following in December that the January boxes had to go out in two separate shipments.  From now on everyone should be receiving them around the first of each month.  I’m already looking forward to February’s box, which will be called “Vintage Love.”  You won’t know what the actual colors are until you receive them, but I would have gladly bought all three of the January colors, and in the future I hope SquareHue encourages me to try colors I wouldn’t otherwise choose.

Other polish-of-the-month clubs, you’re officially on notice: there’s a new sheriff in town!

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