POLISHED: Forever 21 Hello Kitty Forever Nail Polish Set

hello!
so today i have a really cute nail polish set to share with you. i actually picked this up about two weeks ago in store but ever since Forever 21 announced the arrival of their Hello Kitty Forever collection on Friday, i was able to find this item on their website.

this was definitely an impulse buy; it was located RIGHT in front of the registers and it was just so cute. my mind registered the words Hello Kitty and nail polish and i knew i had to get it. i didn't even think twice about the quality or the colors, i just knew i had to own the:

cutest nail paint!

anyways, this Hello Kitty Forever Collection Exclusive Nail Polish Set consists of 5 colors: "Black", "Neon Green", "Neon Coral", "Neon Pink" and "Aqua". i am not sure why only three are neons... i guess you can't really have a Neon Black.
each nail polish is 7 mL and the set costs only $6.80.
and yes i know, it's the box that is really cute - there is nothing special on the polishes itself... guess i will just store them in the box!

i love Chococat in glasses (and the big bow)!

who is this new Hangyodon character??

i did some quick swatching today, racing against time as the sun starts to set at like 4 pm these days :(. so yes, nails are a bit messy but you get the picture!

first of all, the brush:

"Black":

"Neon Green":

"Neon Coral":

"Neon Pink":

bad camera, bad!

a better picture of "Neon Pink" - less orange, more pink!

"Aqua":

* 2 coats for all except "Neon Green" (3 coats).
* all the polishes dried quickly and did not stain my nails.
* "Black", "Neon Green" and "Neon Pink" applied very thinly. "Aqua" was slightly thicker and "Neon Coral" was the thickest.
* since "Black" is, well black, you can see how patchy the first coat was - definitely need more than 1 coat to cover up the nail!
* "Neon Green" was the most sheer. it is also quite unflattering on me since it looks like i put highlighter on my nails (which i have done before)...
* "Neon Coral" was the most opaque - and the messiest as well. it was the only one that dried matte even though there are two others that are supposedly neons (i have learned previously that neons usually dry matte). "Neon Green" and "Neon Pink" aren't really neons.
* i found "Black" also a bit hard to control - probably because it was also my first time using a black... all the flaws were so visible!!
* other than "Neon Coral" and "Black", i felt it was pretty easy to control the nail brush with the rest.

my favorite? well it will have to be...

Aqua in natural light; artificial light

these polishes are the first that i've seen that has an expiry date: 10/2014. apparently, they are good for about 24 months after you open them. i knew nothing about nail polish expiring so i did a quick Google search and found this blog: Sam, the owner of the The Polished Medic blog, contacted OPI about this and OPI pretty much said they are required by the European Union to list a "Period-After-Opening" number even though nail polish will never go bad. and the only reason they chose 24 months is because the European Union is wary of anything that exceeds that number. click on the link to read more - it's a very interesting read!
the Wikipedia page for period-after-opening symbol only mentions the European Union... so i am assuming it is not yet required of other countries (however, this nail polish set is made in China and distributed by Forever 21 which is based in California).

the Hello Kitty Forever Collection at Forever 21 also spans from leggings to necklaces to flip flops to pillows. the range is huge! i think i am going to go again tomorrow to see what they have in store :)

are you going to be buying anything from this collection?