My Holiday Polish Picks for 2015

I have my first holiday party of 2014 tonight, so exciting! I love this time of the year. While trying to figure out what polish to wear, I've decided to compile my holiday polish picks for 2014. See my picks from some of my favorite brands below.

China Glaze Twinkle Collection
China Glaze usually produces my favorite holiday collections each year, whether it be for Halloween or winter holidays. This year was just meh for me, however, I love how the collections are always huge so there is usually something for everyone.

December to Remember - A colour shifting light blue duochome. I love when China Glaze releases something like this! Most unique polish in the collection.

Meet Me Under the Stars - A blue leaning black jelly with silver glitter, the name describes this polish perfectly. Second most unique polish in the collection. I appreciate the darker shades amongst the brighter, glittery polishes in this collection.

De-light - Densely packed with various shapes and sizes of gold glitter and holographic bar glitter, great for New Years celebrations.

Honourable Mention: Dancing and Prancing - I purchased and returned this because I have a lot of glitters that are similar, what I do like is the softer hues used in the multi-sized and shaped glitter. This would look great sandwiched between a nude jelly... I may have to go back for this one *face palm*

Dishonorable Mention: Chillin' With My Snomies - This was originally at the top of my list from the promo photos, however, it seems to be the disappointment of the collection... A part of me still wants this glitter, however every single review I have seen on this polish has been negative. The glitter to base ratio is way off.

OPI Holiday, Gwen Stefani Collection
OPI also tends to release huge collections during the holidays, and the Gwen Stefani collections this year is no exception. My picks are listed below.

Comet in the Sky - Matte black and iridescent glitter in a clear base. In the bottle it looks like outer space.

Snow Globetrotter - The reverse of Comet in the Sky, white matte and iridescent glitter in a clear base. The bottle looks like a snow globe!

First Class Desires - A deep grape base with golden shimmer, very holiday without being the standard red, green, gold or silver. An easily acquirable dupe for me (Zoya Sansa) as well.

Honorable Mention: I'll Tinsel You In - Both for the name and the use of square glitter! This may not make it in my collection due to the fact that I already own enough black and white glitter combos.

Orly Sparkle Collection
Orly's collections this year is small and glittery! My faves are listed below.

Tinsel - Holly leaves and evergreen needles in a bottle, various shapes and sizes of red glitter with long, thin holographic bars of green glitter.

Mirrorball - I am drooling over this one, a dense silver glitter and linear holo? Yes please!

Honorable Mention: Bling - similar to Mirrorball in a yellow toned gold, however from what I read it is not as linear and opaque.

Finger Paints Winter Wishes Collection
Last years collection blue me away! Awesome glitter toppers and fantastic textured shades. This year, not so much. As toppers, no thanks. However, on their own and built up to opacity, my pick is:

Winter Wishes - The namesake, go figure. Silver and light blue glitter, so frosty!

Honorable Mention: Glisten Here - Only because it is eerily similar to China Glaze Dancing and Prancing.

Overall the collection is pretty, but not very unique, to my collection anyways. I was unable to find bottle shots for these polishes, however, you can head over to this awesome blog; Lavish Layerings, to see some great swatches of the whole collection.

ANNDDD Color Club gets the award for most uninspired holiday collection EVER!

                                      

So disappointed, usually they have some great glittery offerings for winter, this years Made in NY collection just left me confused. What do you think?

Glitter, Glitter Everywhere

Blinding glitter ahead!

 I have been in a glittery mood for the most part in the month of November. Today is no exception, I have a fall OPI shade to share with you, My Voice is a Little Norse. This is a very interesting glitter polish, it can be used as a topper or on its own and can be worn matte/textured or with a high gloss.

The formula was alright, nothing outstanding and nothing horrible. I chose to try it out on it's own and build the glitter up to full opacity in three coats. The base in this polish is unique, it has a slight graphite hue that makes the holo glitter appear grey and helps with opacity.

I wish now I was a bit more careful with application so that it looked neater at the cuticle line and was more even. I added a clear coat of Seche Clear over top the glitter, waited for that to dry a bit then proceeded to add a final coat of Seche Vite on top. I figured adding a double clear coat on top would make for a glossy finish. When I finished applying the topcoat to my nails, and in the photos, it was super glossy and perfect! The next morning, however, although still shiny it was not at glossy as before and was not smooth to the touch.

Next time I will use two layers of top coat, one right after application of the glitter, and another coat the next day (since I polish my nails at night) after the polish has set.

Pink and Girly

The most basic, neutral manis always seem to me my favorite, and this was no exception. Every time I look at my nails I am mesmerized!

I started off with a layer of OPI, I Theadora You which is a pink leaning crelly nude polish. I had worn this polish when I first got it with horrible results. Judging by the ease if use this time around, it is clear that it was due to my own error the previously (oily hands) and not the polish its self.

 I Theadora You applied fantastically, sheer yet buildable, I decided to go with one coat so a hint of my white nail tips were visible. I then layered a previously untried OPI, Pink Yet Lavender apart of their 2012 holiday collection and collaboration with Mariah Carry. I really dislike the name for this polish, Pink Yet Lavender is made up of pink hex and small holo glitter. It is not very dense, only one coat was used over the base. I had considered adding another coat of each but was happy with the look of the mani as-is. 

Fall Haulin'

I haven't done too much hauling during the last few months, however I do have a few polishes I picked up more recently that are definitely with mentioning. First I'll start off with a random in the collection, Revlon, I'm Electro - Spiderman collection.

I'm Electro is a teal leaning blue with a medium duochrome effect. The duochrome effect is likely to be stronger when this polish is layered over a darker base. Two coats are shown in the swatch below, however, on the nail this would probably need three coats to reach full opacity.

Next are my picks from China Glaze's Apocalypse 2014 Halloween collection. Usually I wait until after Halloween to purchase these, but this year they seemed to be disappearing fast! I picked up these pretties the last week of October, Rest In Pieces, But of Corpse and Don't Let the Dead Bite. Love these names by the way!

Rest in Pieces is a multi-glitter topper. It it made up of various sized and shaped holo copper glitter and matte black hex glitter in a clear base. The formula is awesome, similar to the last few China Glaze glitters I have worn recently. Another blogger ( I can't recall who) reffered to this polish as "glittery hay", and I have to agree! Two coats are shown in my swatches below.

But of Corpse is such a unique polish, it's a yellow based green with tiny black matter glitter pieces that give the final look a textured polish. When dry, this has a satin/matte finish. This one reminds me of zombie flesh. Two coats are shown in the swatch bellow.

Don't Let the Dead Bite is another unique polish. It is a sheer nude crelly (creme based jelly) with muti-sized and shaped red glitter. This is super awesome, it looks as though vampires have literally bitten you to death! Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

So enough of Halloween already, right!? As you can see during my photoshoot we got our first real snow in Toronto! The first few snows are always nice in November and December. It's in January to March where I am sooooo over it! That being said, I'll move on to my holiday picks for 2014. 

Next I have some holiday China Glaze polishes from the new Twinkle collection. Left to right, December to Remember and De-Light.

December to Remember is an interesting shade of blue. It's a beautiful shade on it's own, however the duochrome shift is was makes it special. Two coats are shown in the swatches below.

De-light is a gold glitter topper made up of various sized gold and holo glitter. Two coats are shown in my swatch below.

Orly surprised me this year with their winter Sparkle collection. I was only able to pick up one during my last trip to Sally's, however, I have hoping to pick up at least one more (Mirrorball... Droool) 

Below I have Tinsel, plus a travel size Orly remover which is free with any Orly purchase during the month of November.

Tinsel is made up of long thin green holo bar glitters and red hex and micro glitter. This is a Christmas tree in a bottle! Two coats are shown in my swatch below. Not sure if you'd be able to get this opaque on it's own, but it is an awesome topper.

That is all for now! I have my eye on a few of OPI's from their latest collaboration with Gwen Stefani that I may want to get soon, and of course, if I come across Orly, Mirorball it will be mine!

October Favorites

This is an ongoing monthly post I will be incorporating in to the blog which mentions some of my favorite things. 

Today I have my most favorite things from last month. Check it out below.

Favorite. Period. Pumpkin EVERYTHING!

I'm talking pumpkin smoothies, pumpkin spiced tea, actual pumpkins! Although summer is my favorite season, October is a favorite month of mine, I love Halloween and all the colours and favours of fall. If I saw anything this month (even in late September!) That had anything to do with pumpkins (healthy options if packaged goods, mind you), I was buying it! I almost purchased pumpkin shaped pasta... I hardly even eat pasta!

Favorite Polish Remover: Sephora Instant Nail Polish Remover for Glitter

I definitely needed this product this month to remove the lovely Halloween glitters quick and effortlessly from my nails. The cool thing about this product I noticed other didn't have was a super scrubby brush which helps to remove glitter more easily than a cotton bad and remover alone. I'm not sure how much this goes for, my sister gave it to me, but I am sure I would not have purchased it on my own. I am glad to have it on hand for easy removal of glitter manis.

Favorite Pedi : OPI Lincoln Park After Dark

I got a pedicure the first week in October, and I probably won't get another one again until sometime next summer! Seeing how we are at the end of the month, my pedi of OPI's Lincoln Park After Dark has held up quite well! I have been doing straight yoga and a lot of walking almost every day as well.

Although a dark vampy purple, it appears black almost always. My favorite part about this polish is its shine, I just love dark shades of polish on my toes. Especially in the fall.

Favorite Halloween Treat: Raw/Vegan Caramel Apples

As a child I loved candy apples, sugar on sugar, right? As I got older I started to prefer caramel apples and actually made them myself. I found this awesome recipe that is 100% raw and vegan and it is just as good if not better than your average caramel apple! I topped it with some raw pecans and pepitas (pumpkinseeds). They were awesome!

Fang-tastic Violet!

Another mani with polishes that have been accumulating dust on my desk... for over a month! I don't know how OPI Don't Violet Me Down and China Glaze Fang-tasic ended up side by side, but the combo looked too cool, I just had to try it. I finally tidied up my desk area and layered these two polishes on my nails ASAP!

Don't Violet Me Down is a sheer purple jelly, like a true jelly! It is super sheer, but buildable to a certain degree. I applied one coat over my base and let it dry a bit before proceeding to add a single layer of Fang-tastic. This polish is seriously fantastic in application. China Glaze has some pretty spectacular glitters. but they can be hit or miss like their recent snow-like glitter, Chilling with My Snomies...

I digress... After a dabbing of the glitter over my first jelly layer I added an additional two layers of Don't Violet Me Down. My bottle was a little on the thick side and my brush was kind of wonky, but I made it work. The formula, although thick, did apply well. After I applied a few drops of thinner to the bottle it applied flawlessly and self leveled for even coverage.

I had envisioned the jelly building up slightly darker, but I do love the sheer jelly look. The glitter sparkles through and the gloss is just insane. I finished everything off with a thin layer of Seche Vite (which equals a grand total of SIX layers if you are counting! Including base and top coats, of course). It doesn't feel like six layers of polish and I love the jelly look, so shiny and sparkly. The glitter is extra reflective within the jelly layers of polish.

Immortal

Today I have a neutral shade. I feel kind of in-between seasons at the moment. During the month of Halloween I was all over my Halloween polishes, pretty much anything goes! Right now it is still technically fall, but I feel the cold of winter quickly approaching. Polish wise I feel somewhat in a rut but not in a bad way, more in the way I can't decide what I want to wear because of all the options! I still have a few Halloween polishes in my desk, so I decided to try China Glaze, Immortal.

This is another one of those "Halloween" shades that doesn't really scream Halloween to me. I almost didn't purchase it originally because of that, however, swatches and reviews of this polish online made me want to try it.

Immortal is a medium grey creme polish with a faint shimmer of small iridescent flakies. The shimmer reflects mostly pink and blue. The formula was great, a little on the thin side but not too liquidy. It was easy to apply and only two coats were required for full opacity. 

Overall, I'm not really super impressed with this shade, it's a nice neutral but doesn't really have the "wow" factor I was hoping for. The longer I wear it the more it has been growing on me.

From Halloween to Christmas?

Not quite... I still can't believe how quickly October came and went, already November! You what that means for the rest of the year its all about Christmas.... then, of course, Valentines lol.

Okay, I'm getting WAY ahead of myself here. I do have a China Glaze holiday shade from 2011, Tinsel Town. I'm not getting in to the whole Christmas thing early, I actually just wanted to match my nails to my dress for a wedding and wanted to be all glitzy with this gorgeous glitter.