Unlisted Brand • Honeybee Gardens - Nail Polishes • Polishes

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PrettyPaintedNails on 6/14/2012 12:02:00 AM more reviews by PrettyPaintedNails

Age: 25-29   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Blue    

I was disappointed with Honeybee Gardens water based nail polish. It chips way too easily! There are other brands of water based nail polish that last much longer on my nails. If you are going to try this polish, make sure to also get the clear polish and use it as a base and top coat. It helps the polish last a little bit longer.

The formula does have very little odor, but that advantage can be found in most water based nail polishes. I also did not care for the remover, since it dried out my skin. It is almost the same as regular non-acetone remover. It is extremely flammable and harmful if ingested. I will stick with other water based brands and skip Honeybee Gardens nail polish next time around.

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MissK4012 on 6/8/2012 5:00:00 PM more reviews by MissK4012

Age: 25-29   Skin: Combination, Fair, Cool   Hair: Blond, Straight, Fine   Eyes: Green    

*** in all of my reviews, my rating is based on product performance and value. however, I do discuss company ethics/customer service/etc. where applicable as this does effect whether I would buy the product again. ***

I had been wanting to try Honeybee Gardens nail polishes for a long time and I LOVE their polish remover, but due to so many mixed reviews didn't pull the trigger until I found them 75% off. I purchased the clear base/top coat, hippie chick, and san francisco (all non-peel-off). I am not impressed.

These polishes get one lippie for no scent, healthy ingredients, and easy application. This is where I started disliking this polish.

Within one day, all of my nails had very noticeable chips. I polished at night as recommended, with the clear base, 2 coats of polish, and clear top coat. If this extended the staying power at all, I imagine without all that the color would have lasted only hours. I didn't have a chance to remove it for a few days so I let it just chip off rapidly until my nails looks ridiculous enough that I HAD to take the time to remove the polish. This is where it gets really weird...

The polish that had not chipped off already was nearly impossible to remove. I spent ages trying to rub it off with Honeybee Gardens nail polish remover (which is wonderful for removing other polishes, FYI) and finally resorted to a sample I had of a super-strong acetone remover. Neither really worked. I eventually got it off my fingers (about 40 minutes later) by continually rubbing as hard as I could with Honeybee remover. It's still on my toes as I just can't bring myself to go through that again. Hopefully my toenails will grow out quickly!

BOTTOM LINE: I wanted to like this polish, but it's just useless. It looks really pretty for a few hours, but I don't have the time to polish and then spend the better part of an hour removing said polish just to have nice nails for a less than one day. Will not buy again. Ever.

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slitherydee on 12/13/2011 10:11:00 PM more reviews by slitherydee

Age: 25-29   Skin: Dry, Fair   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

I'm not going to bother with a pros and cons list because I wouldn't buy this product again due to the fact that it does not last. I wore it for less than a day and it had already chipped badly on almost every nail even though I followed the instructions and painted them in the evening to give time for the polish to fully harden before I did anything with my hands. In the morning, one of my nails was missing half its polish and the rest were all chipped around the edges.

I bought this in the color Desire, which is a metallic red. Maybe the other colors have better longevity but I don't care to find out at this point. The upside is it doesn't smell (except very faintly of craft paint) and is VERY easy to remove.

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baskinrobbins on 11/16/2010 6:27:00 PM more reviews by baskinrobbins

Age: 25-29   Skin: Sensitive, Fair, Neutral   Hair: Brown, Wavy, Fine   Eyes: Hazel    

I love that the formula is non-toxic, but I wish it were not so watery. For the darker colors, it takes several coats to make it look right, and then it takes a while to dry.

I tried both Risque and Fairy Dust. You can get away with one coat of Fairy Dust, but Risque demands several.

Doesn't smell at all, and lasts a relatively long time. I love that you don't need an acetone remover to take it off!

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collina on 6/5/2010 2:02:00 AM more reviews by collina

Age: 30-35   Skin: Very Oily, Fair-Medium, Warm   Hair: Red, Wavy, Fine   Eyes: Blue    

I've always found nail polish smells repulsive, so I've been trying 'natural' ones. I ordered San Francisco (peach frost) and Cherokee (warm brown matte). And the clear coat. I *love* that it removes with rubbing alcohol! So easy! The colors weren't quite what I expected, though. The peach frost is more of a pink, less orange than I hoped, and for some reason I thought Cherokee would be a more reddish brown. I've been layering and mixing them together to get colors I like better.

Be careful about contact with other substances while it's curing, though. I touched my toenails with lotion accidentally and it removed a spot of polish.

I do wish I could buy them on-ground so I could see the colors in person & not have to pay shipping.

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birdiecat on 1/29/2010 10:03:00 PM more reviews by birdiecat

Age: 19-24   Skin: Combination, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette, Medium   Eyes: Green    

I really love this polish!!! After reading about how toxic nail polishes are I just stopped wearing them all together for about a year. I decided to try HoneyBee because it rates only a 2 out 10 on Skin Deep's cosmetic safety review, which is amazingly low for polish!!! I love the colors and they go on nicely, I didn't even have to apply 2 coats. I've only had it on 2 days and haven't had any chipping (usually I start to get chipping after the first time I wash my hands lol). I highly recommend giving it a try!!!

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shanaralls on 6/7/2009 9:33:00 AM more reviews by shanaralls

Age: 25-29   Skin: Oily   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Green    

I can't add a review for the polish remover, so am putting it in here: the remover works on REGULAR nail polish. Like a dream. Smells like nothing. Am peeved that I didn't find this out sooner, so maybe this will save someone else some unnecessary fumes. For reference, I use Orly Bonder basecoat, two coats of OPI, and Seche Vite, and it takes everything off.

As for the Honeybee Gardens polishes, I haven't tried them, because the color selection has not even a single color I've been able to talk myself into, and I try every time I'm at the HFS.

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*TOP REVIEWER* mtycer on 3/30/2009 10:10:00 PM more reviews by mtycer

Age: 19-24   Skin: Other, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Brown    

I really really wanted to like this product, because I like painting my nails but wanted something healthier for myself and the environment. Also, Honeybee Gardens is one of the few water-based polishes that has a nice dark color in their line, so I really wanted to like it! Unfortunately, this product did not work out for me :(
PROS: No odor (if you really really try smelling it, it smells faintly like acrylic craft paint). Human and earth friendly. Nice 'vampy' color (Vintage Merlot). Didn't take toooo long to dry when applied in reeally thin coats.
CONS: A little streaky. Chipped within 24 hours EVEN after buffing nails, cleaning nails, allowing it to 'cure' all night, etc. Difficult to remove with soy-based or regular remover.
Not something I'll be buying again.

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victoria52 on 1/9/2009 4:59:00 PM more reviews by victoria52

Age: 44-55   Skin: Combination   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Blue    

I just finished reviewing the Suncoat water-based nail polish. I can't wear regular nail polish and tried both Honeybee Gardens (non-peel off) and Suncoat polishes.

I'm really baffled since the reviews show the majority like Honeybee Gardens. But HB stayed on my nails less than 24 hours. Honestly, I've never had polish chip off so easily. I do wash my hands a lot so I tried what they recommended - to polish at night so it can cure AND I used rubber gloves when working in the kitchen sink with water. Still, it chipped through normal hand washing during the day.

I purchased 3 non-peel off and 1 peel-off polish (separates before it drys) in light shades after reading the reviews and only one Suncoat polish. Yet, I have to say Suncoat has much better staying power for me and I don't need to wear rubber gloves at the kitchen sink.

2 out of 3 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* Frenchmix on 11/3/2008 10:37:00 PM more reviews by Frenchmix

Age: Unknown   Skin: Oily, Olive   Hair: Black, Wavy, Medium   Eyes: Black    

This is the only nail polish I wear these days, I got tired of the toxic smell of regular nail polish. This polish has no scent at all which is shocking. My favorite color is Fearless, it's a pretty sorta frosty darker pink(It's the peel off polish). This isn't real long lasting on my nails, but it last for weeks on my toenails. I like how easy it is to remove this by just peeling it off in the bath, no remover is needed.


I've purchased some of the non-peel off polish now and I prefer the peel off. I find that the non-peel off polish chips way worse than the peel off. Kinda weird. It is rich looking and lasts on my toenails. They said this is easily removed with vodka or rubbing alchol. I tired the vodka since I found some in the kitchen and it was pretty hard to remove. You may want to buy their remover. I may buy it again just for my feet in the future.


Honeybee gardens lipstick is really nice also. Their Deodorant powder works well, I will be buying this again.

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

Fud on 9/21/2008 4:38:00 PM more reviews by Fud

Age: 19-24   Skin: Normal, Fair   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Green    

I hate the smell of regular nail polish and this is the second company I have tried for water based nail polish. It applies beautifully, very smooth and just the right texture. The polish does separate a bit so remember to give it a small shake. Compared to the other company I tried this brand last much longer on the hand. Also the nail polish I tried from the other company required at least 3 coats to give a solid color, this brand hardly needs 2. The other company I tried was Suncoat

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virgy123 on 8/1/2007 10:42:00 AM more reviews by virgy123

Age: 36-43   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Brown   Eyes: Hazel    

I've been buffing my fingernails and going the "natural" look for the last 5 years since I'm paring down to more natural products. Not until I heard of HoneyBee Gardens, did I take the plunge to paint my fingernails again.

Rather than select any of the shades on their website, instead I purchased 2 bottles of clear base version of HoneyBee Gardens and added some mineral colors purchased from Monave Minerals - http://www.monave.com/
By the time I mixed up a bit of the pomegranate shade, I wound up with a light, shimmery reddish pink, very subtle.

I applied 2 light colored coats to clean, buffed nails, then one coat of the clear base. The base polish looks white in the bottle, but it dries clear.

It took quite a long time to dry, but once it did the polish seems to last about as long as standard toxic nail polish.
I took 1 lippie off my overall rating because this stuff is very, very, very hard to get off. I tried removing it with isopropyl alcohol and had to resort to using standard toxic nail polish remover.

I went back to the honeybee's website, found the FAQs section that mentioned if polish is difficult to remove, it could be result of dry nails and recommended applying jojoba oil to nails, allowing to penetrate for 20 minutes before applying polish. I dutifully followed these instructions after the FIRST time I removed the polish and encountered the same difficulty removing the polish as before.

BTW, they have a peel off polish, I'll probably try that one next and hope it's easier to remove

1 out of 1 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

rchickie on 6/27/2007 4:33:00 AM more reviews by rchickie

Age: 19-24   Skin: Sensitive, Fair-Medium   Hair: Other   Eyes: Other    

Got this in Fairy Dust.

It's so weird putting on nail polish and not having that chemical smell. It's like I'm in some alternate universe. While this was drying I almost forgot I had it on because there was no smell and I didn't have a headache...so if you're trying this, keep that in mind :D

-Immediately after applying: it looks like a drugstore nail polish. 3 min dry time, goes on nice and glittery. Color was true to the charts online.
-4 days later: chipping. No flakes I can see but noticable spots where the polish is gone.

It's a bit of a pain to remove but rubbing alcohol with a bit of elbow grease worked fine for me.

Other than the removal, there were no problems with this. And even that is a small price to pay when not having fumes swirling about my head.

2 out of 2 people found this review helpful.     Was this review helpful to you? Yes   No

*TOP REVIEWER* Daisycloud on 4/12/2007 3:16:00 AM more reviews by Daisycloud

Age: 25-29   Skin: Combination, Fair   Hair: Black, Straight, Coarse   Eyes: Brown    

I'm allergic to regular polish (nail beds and face swell up) so I got some advice from the NP Board. I tried Clear and Fairy Dust (very frosty lavender-pink) and had no reactions at all! It has no polish smell and feels really cool on the nails! The bad things are 1) Clear isn't very shiny 2) they don't last more than 3-4 days, which is when the color chips and wears off very badly 3) isopropyl (as recommended) won't do, you must use regular NP remover 4) funnily enough, you can easily scrape this stuff off! If there were no alternatives I'd still use these polishes because it's better than no polish at all. The Body Shop polishes last a bit longer and more accessible for me.

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SGERBINE on 2/20/2007 11:04:00 PM more reviews by SGERBINE

Age: 19-24   Skin: Sensitive, Fair-Medium   Hair: Brunette   Eyes: Hazel    

Ok, I was a bit skeptical when I received my package in the mail b/c the samples of their other products weren't what I would have expected. Oh well...on to the reveiw. The color in the bottle is super-purple (I'm using vintage merlot), but it looks more like a deep red wine on my nails. So far, I'm in love. I just put it on a few hours ago though. I'll update as time goes on.
I will agree with one of the earlier comments about it not being shiny. The polish is very dull, but hey...this is what I'll deal with for a healthier nail polish.
One more thing...what an awesome price for a heathier nail polish. It is the best/least harmful nail polish according to EWG. The next is PeaceKeeper, but it is much more expensive. My next purchase will probably be the peel off nail polish, but I wish there were more color options.
http://www.ewg.org/reports/skindeep2/search.php?nperpage=10&main_cat=NAIL+CARE&category=Nail%20Polish

Ok, update. It has been a few days and I'm no longer super-excited, but I still like it. The morning after I applied the nail polish (not even 12 hrs later) I was showering and the polish was flaking off and going down the drain. This only happened on a few nails though. So, when I got to work I removed it with alcohol. It came off pretty easy though. I've painted my toenails too, and it seems to last a bit longer than on my nails but still flakes a bit.

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modegirl on 11/6/2006 2:13:00 PM more reviews by modegirl

Age: 36-43   Skin: Dry, Medium   Hair: Black   Eyes: Brown    

I love that this product is natural. And that it is actually long lasting - when I first usedit though, I didn't realize that it is similar to regular polish in that you should do a preliminary wipe before beginning with the remover to get rid of oils that will make this peel like crazy. since then, it has great lasting power.

main bummer is that it is not shiny. i am used to high brilliant glossy shine that lasts at least 2 days; then i reapply a top coat. honeybee starts off kind of shiny but goes matte immediately and they don't have a separate high gloss top coat or anything. they sell you clear as a top/base coat, and that is even less shiney than the polish. the color range they have is decent, but the color seems to vary alot form batch to batch- i guess that is how small companies are. they do have the color that i love, which is like chanel vamp, revlon vixen...it's called vintage merlot. but they don't have a true true red like a OPI i'm not a waitress, another favorite of mine.

but keep in mind, that it's not bad for a natural line. after all, if you want chemicals, there is sooo much more choice.

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*TOP REVIEWER* hadas on 10/14/2006 11:35:00 AM more reviews by hadas

Age: 30-35   Skin: Normal, Fair   Hair: Blond   Eyes: Blue    

Very nice nail polish. I use the shade "Tuscany" on my toes, which is a beautiful pearlescent lavender. Doesn't chip or flake off at all. Regarding removal, I use the Honeybee Gardens Odorless Polish Remover, which does work, but takes a bit longer than regular removers. I bought both the nail polish and remover at Whole Foods. FYI, this is from the Honeybee Gardens site:



"Removal

The film that is formed by the water-based system becomes more difficult to dissolve as time passes. For this reason, we recommend you remove the polish at or before one week of wear the first time you use our polish. Apply Honeybee Gardens Odorless Remover to a cotton ball or remover pad. Hold the wetted cotton ball on the nail for a few seconds, and then proceed to rub the polish off while applying gentle pressure. Do not scrape at the nail. It may take a few swipes longer than you're used to, but the product will come off. People with dry, ridgy or porous nails may need to work at it a bit longer. Acetone-based removers will not work because this is not a solvent-based system. Wash hands with soap and water thoroughly after removal. If you have naturally dry skin, you may also want to use a moisturizer."

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jelink on 5/20/2006 12:18:00 PM more reviews by jelink

Age: 25-29   Skin: Acne-prone   Hair: Red   Eyes: Hazel    

Water-based polishes - check them out!!! MUCH HEALTHIER!!! Highly recommended!!!
www.honeybeegardens.com

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