Review & Swatches | Pony X Memebox Pony Nails Pastels Set

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This will probably sound obvious to most of you, but spring is the perfect time of year to wear pastels. Delicate, muted shades that coordinate with the lovely flowers that are finally starting to bloom. What's an easy (and affordable) way to pastel yourself up? Nail polish! I recently picked up the Pony X Memebox Pastels Set, which is a cheap (only $3 per bottle!) and cheerful way to add a little color to your fingers. But are they any good? Read on to find out!

For those who aren't familiar, Pony is a well-known Korean makeup artist/YouTuber who has collaborated on a number of products with Memebox (check out my reviews of the first two Memebox X Pony eyeshadow palettes here and here). The Pony Nails collection has nine shades so far: Four glitters and five pastels (the latter of which I'll be swatching today). Each polish sells for $3 individually, or you can purchase them in discounted sets. Behold the pastel glory:

The shades are as follows (listed from left to right):

• Pony Nails #06 Vintage Rose
• Pony Nails #08 Blooming Bouquet
• Pony Nails #05 Mellow Daisy
• Pony Nails #07 Love Mint
• Pony Nails #09 Sweetly Floral

Let's take a look at each shade individually. All of the swatch sticks pictured have two coats.

Pony Nails #06 Vintage Rose
Vintage Rose is a pastel rose hue, shockingly enough. It looks vaguely purple on the fingers... not as cool a purple as lilac, more of a purple-ish pink.

Pony Nails #08 Blooming Bouquet
When you think of the phrase "blooming bouquet", is blue the first color that comes to mind? Hmm. I don't necessarily think of flowers, but this is a very pretty sky blue color.

Pony Nails #05 Mellow Daisy
This polish doesn't remind me of any real-life daisy that I've ever seen (mellow or otherwise), but it is a sophisticated (and versatile) nude color with slightly pink undertones.

Pony Nails #07 Love Mint
Hey look, a shade name that sort of makes sense! Love Mint is indeed a lovely pastel mint color, or as my boyfriend calls it, "hospital green." He's a real romantic.

Pony Nails #09 Sweetly Floral
Sweetly Floral reminds me of lilacs, which are both sweet and floral. Seems legit.

Thoughts on the formula/collection as a whole:
I found the formula of these polishes to be sort of average. As can often be the case with pastel polishes, they tend to go on a bit streaky with the first coat, so you'll definitely need 2-3 coats to make them look their best. I thought that Vintage Rose was the most opaque of the bunch with just one coat, while Sweetly Floral was the least opaque. I've painted all of these on my actual fingers (not just swatch sticks) and even with three coats, Sweetly Floral needed a little help. All of them have a slightly shiny finish, by the way.

The good news is that they dry pretty quickly and don't seem to be egregious chippers. I wore all of them without topcoat just for the sake of testing, and none of them chipped until day three. Not bad.

I really love this collection of colors and think they're perfect for spring, but I will say that Vintage Rose, Mellow Daisy and Sweetly Floral look sort of similar when applied over bare fingers (as opposed to a white base). Not so similar that it would be ridiculous to get all three, but if you're only planning on picking up one or two polishes from this collection, it's something to consider. Mellow Daisy is my personal favorite of the three, despite the weird name. I also really like Blooming Bouquet (AKA blue).

Overall, I think the Pony X Memebox pastels are a decent buy at $3 apiece. They're not the best polishes I've ever used, but with a little finesse it's possible to combat the streakiness, and the price is certainly right for colors that most people would probably only wear for a couple months out of the year. If nothing else, they make good filler items.

Shopping links:

• Pony Nails #06 Vintage Rose ($3)
• Pony Nails #08 Blooming Bouquet ($3)
• Pony Nails #05 Mellow Daisy ($3)
• Pony Nails #07 Love Mint ($3)
• Pony Nails #09 Sweetly Floral ($3)
• Value set of all 5 shades ($12)

Use coupon code MAKEUPLOVE to get 15% off all Memebox makeup orders (which includes nail polish) or WELCOME to get 15% off your first Memebox order of any kind. Don't forget that all orders over $30 ship free without a coupon code! You can also check out my Memebox Deals & Coupons page for other discount options that might apply.


What do you think of the Memebox X Pony Nails pastels collection? Which of these shades would you reach for first?


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