Carols By Candlelight

Catch, catch up, catch up!

Today I have my festively green and red Christmas nails! I already posted about the base polish of this mani, Sinful Colour, Mint Tropics, and have used two glitters as toppers... can you guess which ones?

The bottle you see in the photos is Oopsie Daisy, Carols By Candlelight. I used one light coat of this as my first layer over Mint Tropics. Next I used my new favourite Christmasy glitter, Sinful Color, Holiday Rebel (bottle not pictured). The difference between the two glitters are shiny verses matte glitter. Carols by Candelight has a mix of matte red, green and white glitters (with a few sneaky holo green glitters) while Holiday Rebel has a mix of shiny red and green glitter with some silver holo glitter as well.

I absolutely love this combination, its so bright and festive and glittery! And I have been all about glitter the last few months! This mani wore fantastically and I did not want to remove it.

Next year I will have to try this same glitter combo over white or as a white jelly sandwich :)

Tropical Christmas

Merry (belated) Christmas!!

I always tend to get sidetracked around this time, my how time flies! I can't believe it has been a week since I have posted. Oh well, time for a little catch up! Below is a green I just could not get enough of, Sinful Colour, Mint Tropics.

This is probably not a shade of green you would typically associate with Christmas time and winter holidays, its light and bright... and it's from a summer collection.. But I just purchased it (haul post to come soon) and loved it. The formula was perfect and if I remember correctly, what you see is two thin coats.

The shade of green was difficult to photograph correctly, however I did digitally edit the colour for as much accuracy as I could. I found that my camera (and other swatches I have seen online) tend to wash the colour out, making it appear as a mint green, which it is not. As you can see from my photos it does have yellow undertones.

Longevity and wear of this polish was fantastic, I loved every bit of wearing it, just ask my boyfriend! lol. The only downside to this polish is it stains, a lot :( My nails have been stain free for a long time so this was really disappointing. 

I will post more on what I am wearing on my ring finger in my next post.

Merry Christmas Eve!

Wow, December has just flown by, before you know it, it will be 2015!

Today I have a very festive nail polish combo with Orly, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe and Tinsel. You can see more information on Meet Me Under The Mistletoe here and here. Tinsel is a glitter topper made up of red hex glitter and thin, green bar glitter with a holo flash.

It's only fitting that an evergreen shade of polish be paired with Tinsel, the thin bar glitters remind me of pine needles! And the small red hex glitters also remind me of holly berries!

I love the mix of red glitter I the green base and the flash of the green holo bar glitter in certain lighting.

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

I am feeling my green polishes lately! Glitters and greens! Today I have a holiday polish from a few years back, Orly, Meet Me Under The Mistletoe. This Gorgeous shimmer has been featured on my blog before, so I will keep this post short. It is a deep evergreen shade with duochromatic shimmer flakes. So great or the holidays!

lamp light

I only needed two coats for opacity, the first coat was thin, but the second evened everything out. Such a beautiful shade on it's own, but I have bigger plans for this as a base...

camera flash

natural light

More to follow soon on a mani refresh!

I Was Frozen Today!

Hardly... All the snow we received last week is partially melting. I am still hopeful for a white Christmas, can you believe it's less than a week away?

Happy Friday by the way! Today I have a mani refresh with Essie, Blue Rhapsody, a frosty baby blue chrome polish. I decided to make it extra blingy with a coat of Essie, Stroke of Brilliance, a medium blue glitter topper with various sized hex glitter. In person my nails look positively frozen! 

The glitter also helped to cover up any tiny imperfections in the chrome base. I know now to use a good, thick base coat the next time I wear this, or any other chrome polish for a smooth and even application. I really liked this chrome and glitter paring and the look overall.

Christmas count down, only 5 days left!

Blue Rhrapsody

Today I have an icy blue chrome to share with you, Essie's Blue Rhapsody. I'm usually not a fan of chromes on their own but decided to give it a try, I mean the shade of blue is freakin' gorgeous. I was inspired by the falling temperature and snow for this one!

Blue Rhapsody is a light blue chrome polish that looks smooth and metallic in the bottle. On the nail it requires some effort in order to get it to smooth out to a perfect finish. I found that if I went over the same spot on the nail more than once i got some pulling. The application reminded me much of an true holo shade. I used a regular basecoat, but I know now for next time to use my Nfu Oh Aqua Base instead. I am wearing a fake nail on my right middle finger due to a painful break (not pictured) and it applied flawlessly to that nail only!

The second coat went on a lot smoother but it was difficult to get perfect application (on every nail but the falsey!). The polish was fully opaque in two coats and what you see is the polish on it's own with no base. I have plans to add a glitter topper to reduce the teeny tiny imperfections, although in my photos they appear a lot less.

My Picks for Festive Christmas Glitters!

I love Christmasy festive glitters! After going through my collection to pick out some polishes to rock through December, I came across some awesome red and green glitters, check out my favourites below!

Orly, Tinsel
The latest red and green polish for me this year is made up of multiple sized red glitter and thin holo green bar glitter in a clear base.

Sinful Colors, Holiday Rebel
I picked up this glitter last year (2013) while in the States. It is made up of red and silver holo hex glitter and various sizes/shapes of red glitter in a clear base.

Oopsie Daisies, Carols by Candlelight
I was lucky enough to win this polish from the indy seller in 2012. It is a mix of matte red, green and white glitters of various sizes and green holo hex glitters. What sets this apart from the others in my list are the matte glitters (in true indy fashion) and use of white glitter. Unfortunately I don't this this polish is available anymore, looks like Oppsie Daises has been on a break since late spring.

OPI, Fresh Frog of Bell Air + Gettin' Miss Piggy With It 
Both of these glitters are apart of the 2011 Muppets collection (not to be confused with the Most Wanted collection released this year). I decided to group these together because I always planned on wearing them together but haven't yet.

Fresh Frog of Bell Air is a green based glitter with larger silver hex glitters scattered throughout, where as Gettin' Miss Piggy With It is mostly the same while having larger red hex glitter as well.

China Glaze, Party Hearty

This is THE ultimate go to Christmas polish for me. Since it was released in 2010, it has been on my nails almost every single Christmas! It is made up of multiple shapes/sizes of green glitter, small hex glitter and white gold glitter in a clear base.

So there you have it, unintentionally my fave red and green glitters though the years, in order from 2014 to 2010. What is you favourite red and green glitter to wear around the holidays?

November Favourites

This is an ongoing monthly post I have incorporated in to the blog which highlights some of my favorite things for the month past. 

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

Favourite Polish: Everything Glitter!
This has been passed on to December as well. All I want to wear is glitter! In November I wore mostly Glitter polishes, for a recap of my November polishes, click here.

Favourite Breakfast: Double Chocolate Peppermint Smoothie
I have been feeling the Christmas spirit early this year and have created a fantastic vegan recipe for the perfect double chocolate peppermint smoothie. Not only is it completely all natural and raw, but it is healthy and tastes delicious! The double chocolate is made up of high quality cocoa powder and raw cacao nibs. Let me know what you think of it if you try it out!

Favourite Skin Soother: The Body Shop Hemp Hand Protector
I impulsively purchased this hand moisturizer earlier in the year with a bunch of other hemp products during a promo through The Body Shop. I only started using it now that the months are getting colder and my hands are getting dryer. I have noticed a HUGE difference in my skin this year by using this product. It is very rich and a little goes a long way. I have been applying it to my hands and cuticles at night and my hands have never been softer. My nails usually crack and snap at the first sign of cold weather, however, I have found that I have not had this issue this year! *Fingers crossed*

Favorite Suds : Dr. Bronner Magic Soap
I have recently purchased multiple variations of Dr. Bronner's castile soaps. These are all natural soaps scented with essential oils. The great thing about these is that you can use them to clean everything! Your house, your body, your teeth, e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g! This is a great natural product and I love to use it as a body lotion and face wash. The rose scent is so fresh and not overpowering. A little of this product goes a long way, their blog provides exact measurements for dilutions to use as you like.

In The Monet

Another mani, another glitter. I am obsessed lately! There was a point in time this year where I wanted nothing to do with glitters, mostly because I was fearing the time it would take to remove! Now that the holidays are quickly approaching I have been all about my holiday glitter shades. Although Finger Paints, In The Monet is not a holiday polish (as far as I know, I cannot locate information on this polish anywhere!) I can see it easily fitting in with any holiday shades.

In The Monet is a blue based glitter with some green pieces scattered throughout in a blue jelly base. The first coat was a tad streaky but the second evened out nicely. I used two layers of topcoat for this one to get a nice, smooth surface. I applied one coat of Seche Vite after application of the polish (at night), and a second layer of Seche Vite the next day. Since this glitter is thirsty for topcoat, the two layers spaced out gave me a perfectly shiny finish.

I almost wish I have layered a creme based blue under the glitter so help with wear. I find glitters tend to chip quickly on me. With a creme base I think the glitter would adhere better and last longer. Something I will try soon with another glitter polish.

Overall this is a great glitter, I picked it up on clearance at Sally's and with I knew more information on it. Do you know what collection this was apart of?

Blazin' Hot!

Happy Friday!

I have been drawn to my winter and holiday themed collections as soon as December came! I think I will try to stick to this theme, like I did with Halloween polishes in October. Today I have a beauty from Zoya's 2012 holiday Ornate collection, Blaze. I originally passed on it because I don't usually buy reds and the holo particles looked no way near as saturated as the others in the collection (Aurora and Storm). I finally decided to purchase from a blog sale and scored this beauty for only $4!

Blaze is this amazing rich burgundy jelly that is so much more awesome than I could imagine! Not only is it a fabulous colour, but holo shimmer flecks are scattered throughout. It is so beautiful and fully opaque in one generous coat. I used two thinner coats to get even coverage and lengthen wear. 

I am very picky with my red polishes. I find that I can love a red in the bottle, but won't be tempted to buy it. Maybe it's because it's such a classic hue and I like to choose polishes that are more unique. If I choose a red it usually is glitter based. Blaze, however has redeemed my love for red polish! The deep red was hard to capture on camera, so it is not exactly colour accurate, the photo below is probably the closest, just a tad darker IRL.

Another thing I love about this polish is the subtle change in low to bright light settings. In direct lighting you get this awesome scattered holo glitter sprinkled throughout the deep base. In low lighting it is so deliciously vampy. With minimal light to reflect off of the holo shimmer, it appears to be subtle, pieces of red microshimmer. So awesome! If I wasn't wearing this right now it would be a polish I'd consider for Christmas! That says a lot since my go to polish combo is usually China Glaze Party Hearty!

Luxy

What a glamorous polish I have been wearing this week and NOT getting bored of! Lots of Lux was released least year in Essie's Encrusted Treasures collection, a very interesting collection. I own half of it which was comprised of sparkling glitters and 3D textures, Lots of Lux falls in to the textured category.

This deep indigo polish is super saturated with colour. It applied fantastically and was a one coater! Since I was trying my best to apply thin coats, I went back to a few nails and filled in any spots that needed it. I find that textured polishes are most beautiful when less coats are used. The formula for these types of polishes can be a little thicker than regular ones, however,  I didn't want to mess around with thinner and the finish so I left it be and applied coats as thin as I could while still being opaque.

At first glance the polish appeared gritty and not too sparkly but as it dries, super quick BTW, it had this matte, sparkly almost velvet look to it. The texture is like sparkling blue sand and I see a slight reflection of green in there too.

My main concern with not adding topcoat to a mani is wear, due to the fact that I love to eat and thereby have to use my hands to cook a lot! I got some slight chips hear and there after the first few days, but the best part about this polish is that you can fill it in with a stippling motion of the brush and it looks brand new again! The texture blends in seamlessly!

I have already filled in some tiny chips here and there  but am hoping to wear this for at least a few extra days before changing it. Such a great polish for the holidays!