Christmas Manis and Top Polishes of the Year

First, an end of the year recap:

One of my favorite new polishes this year was Zoya Rebel, a sky blue shimmer that I only got to wear for a single day because I suddenly had a job interview scheduled the next day. This color made me sooo happy to look at, and it was a pleasure to apply. Other favorite blues was the not-new Zoya Blu (powder blue, dream formula!!! unbelievable for such a pale pastel), Essie In the Cab-Ana (bright pool liner blue, super summery), and China Glaze So Blue Without You (bright blue foil, gorgeous, but stains like a mutha).

I loved funky greens this year: Urban Outfitters Gotta Have It (you really do gotta have it), China Glaze Highlight of My Summer, China Glaze Be More Pacific, Finger Paints Margarita Mambo, and China Glaze It's Alive! I believe I was also a fan of China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener and China Glaze I'm With the Lifeguard.

My favorite collections were China Glaze's Spring Flourish and Crinkled Chrome. I may very well be the only person in the world to say either. I got all the Crinkled Chromes I saw on clearance (use two coats and apply a top coat to prevent chips; the aluminum foil texture will stay intact). I eventually got almost all of the Spring Flourishes besides the ones that weren't ultra bright. My favorite was Lotus Begin; I went nuts over it. I was also a huge fan of Spring in My Step, a peachy-pink I believe China Glaze will come very close to replicating a few times during their 2015 spring collection.

And assorted: OPI Do You Have this Color in Stock-holm? and Snow Globetrotter.

Other older ones: China Glaze High Hopes (electric guava, perfect formula), OPI Mrs. O'Leary's BBQ (finally I swatched this! my new favorite vamp, and it doesn't require 2 coats, praise), and Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Rubies (easy and opaque, perfect retro red).

And dun-dun-dun, favorite indies: KBShimmer Pine-ing for Yule (sure to be a Christmas favorite for years to come) and Sand in My Stocking (a summer fave, despite being a Christmas glitter). Speaking of...

Christmas manis:

China Glaze Phat Santa
I know you love my indoor, nighttime, flash-lighting photo. This is pretty color-accurate. A much darker red than SH Diamonds & Rubies, but still glamorous. I was very frustrated to find that it requires 3 coats, but the application wasn't difficult, and now I find the 3 coats tolerable.
 

  
OPI Christmas Gone Plaid topped with Urban Outfitters Champagne Toast
 Christmas Gone Plaid is a very dark cool green, I daresay a bit too dark for me. Champagne Toast is a glitter topper with white in varying sizes and large gold. The gold sometimes sticks out, so I would use two layers of top coat next time. I was going through a "evergreen with popcorn garland" look, and I believe I accomplished that.

Jindie Nails Candy Cane
Sheer white with red and green glitter.  I used 3 coats on most nails, but my right middle and ring have 4. You may notice that those look the most white. Next time I would layer this over a white polish. A white polish may require as many coats to get looking decent, but I would rather have that than covering up the glitter. I would prefer a glitter topper in a clear base, but overall it was a really cute peppermint bark look, even though some of the nails looked more pink up close.

Jindie Nails Noel over China Glaze Holly-Day
Noel is micro glitter in red, white, and sparkly light green, easy to apply. Holly-Day is a comfortably dark green creme that needed 2-3 coats. Together they were a subtle, but suitable Christmas look. I associate this manicure with a failed attempt to have an ultra-Christmasy night out. Nothing went my way! I missed out on the hours that the Willard Hotel sold their amazing mulled wine (it is pure heaven that cannot be explained), the White House Christmas tree was fricking turned off by the time I got there (what the frick!), and the Four Seasons hotel bar did NOT stud the orange peel in my drink with cloves. Those cloves were the reason I ordered it! None of the drinks I ordered that night were worth the luxury-level prices, but the one my friend got at the Four Seasons was. Of course now I can't remember what the name of it was, but it was a dessert, and it was luxurious.

Wet 'n' Wild 2% Milk
Another gorgeous nighttime indoor photo. This was for another job interview. Whether or not I got it is still up in the air.  3 coats, and the streaks were pretty minimal for a sheer. My bottle leans towards beige, I believe, and it comes out as lighter and brighter than my natural nail color, though conservatively so.

My go-to Christmas manicure! OPI In My Santa Suit with silver stripes (Sally Hansen striper), China Glaze Jolly Holly and Mingle with the Kringle topped with Party Hearty. The OPI and the gold are among my favorite polishes, Party Hearty is something I use every single year, I love the wrapping paper look it has over the gold here, I love the candy cane look, aaaaand I need to use Jolly Holly way more this season because it is a wintry green that does NOT look black under any light.

Zoya Ginessa (silver shimmer that is a lovely sheer at 1 coat, and completely opaque at 2) topped with KB Shimmer Pine-ing for Yule. PfY, which was a Christmas gift, has smaller red stars, holographic green triangles, and holo silver glitter in various sizes. Two layers of top coat made the pointy edges not stick out off of the nail. This was worn post-Christmas during NYE, because guess what? That's still the Christmas season. I loved it. Another KBShimmer I received for Christmas and wore the weekend after the holiday was All Decked Out; next time I would layer that over another green, because it requires many coats for an even, opaque color, and use two layers of top coat.

China Glaze Peace on Earth topped with Urban Outfitters Midnight KissPeace on Earth, a Christmas gift, is a metallic shimmer that varies between bronze and olive. Easy formula. It feels very similar to the base color of all those Chanel Peridot types from recent times. Midnight Kiss is glitter topper with gold hexes and holographic silver shards. The mixed metal was a good combo with the warm tone of Peace on Earth, and the two together are carrying on a holiday festiveness (both are holiday polishes) without being too overt.

Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Diamonds and Rubies

Only one photo because the bottle shot color was inaccurate

I figured I had enough red cremes, and only purchased Diamonds and Rubies on clearance at Ulta as a Christmas present for a friend last year. A few days later, she complained to me about how a monthly subscribed cosmetics box had sent her "another red", which she was tired of. I thought, "Oh?" and went back to Ulta and bought her some snazzy Zoyas and kept Diamonds and Rubies for myself.

It's a nice red! A classic retro shade with a very easy formula. One coat for a bright and almost completely opaque color, two for deeper (but not deep) and full coverage. This is my first time using the Diamond Strength line, and I love the firm, skinny (that's what she said) brush. Normally while applying a red creme, the polish would run everywhere and stain my skin, but not so with this brush. It led to a very easy application.

The most similar red in my collection is Zoya Sooki; Diamonds and Rubies is darker, though perhaps not substantially. I may be the only person in the nail cult world who isn't a fan of Sooki despite its cool cherry tone, because my bottle has a jelly formula requiring three coats for an even color, and 2 coats versus 3 leads a very different shade, so god help you if you get your polish amount uneven nail to nail.

Diamonds and Rubies chipped during my second day of wear after two hours of book-handling at work. That job is often hard on nails (I make sure I keep them painted partially to protect them), though the OPI manicure featured in the last post held up strong against it. OPI is tuff.

In addition to this, my other favorite retro red creme is Zoya America, which is lighter and brighter.

OPI Do You Have This Color in Stockholm? and OPI Snow Globetrotter

 OPI Do You Have This Color in Stockholm? is one of those indigo "blurples" that you are never going to get a color-accurate photo of. Under indoor lights, it can appear to be a darker blue. Then you take it outside, and WABLAM, you have a bright-ass indigo. When I took this photo, I actually had overcast outdoor lighting that made it look like the radioactive indigo it is, a neon purple compared to the Sinful Colors Endless Blue-esque shade in this photo. I literally had the camera view screen up in front of my hand and could see the radically different color being portrayed on the digital screen. And that is what you see before you.

I used two coats on most fingers and three on one of my thumbs. It has the kind of thin formula where you think you have it completely opaque until you look at the sides of your nails and see the thin coverage along the edges. It's almost jelly-ish, but not, drying without the shine. I felt that OPI Eurso Euro was similar, but I think Stockholm has a superior formula, and the color is exactly what I wanted Eurso Euro to be.

Yes! The color is gorgeous. Get it. That bright indigo was actually my favorite color in high school; my old Livejournal theme was an exact match.

I purchased Snow Globetrotter as the same time, and it is the perfect winter wonderland combination. Snow Globetrotter has white and iridescent glitter of varying sizes. The iridescent also varies in shades. When applying, you swish the brush around in the bottle to collect a lot of glitter, wipe only a little bit off, then place it on your nail and smush. It is so pretty!

SHABLAM!

Truly shocking!

This article illustrates an all too common problem plaguing our community!

Summer Swatchez pt. 1

Hey, I have a bunch of swatches! Starting off is Essie Playa Del Platinum with KbShimmer Sand in My Stocking. This is the exactly glitzy sand look I'd been going for. I thought it was pretty blingy, but not one commented, so maybe not.

Playa Del Platinum is considered to be a "weird" putty color, but it looked very neutral and safe on me. I found it to be a flattering shade. It was 3 easy coats.

Sand in My Stocking is a completely unique glitter that captures the beachy feel so accurately with exactly the right combination of colors and matte and shine. The glitter looks intimidatingly dense in the bottle, but went on with a moderate amount. I easily glitzed it up with one or two swishes.

Hey, thurr's my foot.

There are a few holographic gold star sequins in Sand in My Stocking, and they mostly came out on the nails on my right hand.

China Glaze Grass is Lime Greener topped with Urban Outfitters Yellow. The UO is a satin neon yellow glitter, a highlighter shade, not the warm, sunny color that's appearing in the photo. The effect in person was subtler, like scales on a reptile. Grass is Lime Greener appeared more of a neon spring green, slightly pistachio, before applying glitter and top coat. The neon glitter made it a look a little more lime. It's very bright! I'm looking at the bottle of it right now next to China Glaze Be More Pacific; they look nearly identical in this night time, indoor lighting, but they are NOT in reality. If I remember correctly, GiLG is more spring green, and BMP is more Shrek.

The formula for the UO glitter was very, very easy and smooth. Grass is Lime Greener took three coats, and more easily goes sloppy along the edges.

China Glaze Highlight of My Summer with Nicole By OPI Pitch Black Glimmer. Highlight of My Summer is a neon mint that I'd been craving since last summer. It sold out in Ulta right away! I think I used two coats. It was no problem at all. Of course it made me think of mint chocolate chip, so my beloved black (and silver) glitter was added. I wore Highlight of My Summer for a while as a pedicure, and it was pretty damn bright.

I heard someone online compare it with American Apparel Parakeet (which I just bought! still untried); Parakeet is much darker and more... tropical.

I believe this is a comparison with Be More Pacific. Nope, not alike.

Essie Splash of Grenadine is a myrtle purple-pink! It is the exact same color. The very first time I tried Splash of Grenadine, I wasn't a fan, but this time I really liked it. I chose it specifically because the flowers were in bloom. It may have used 3 coats, but the formula was easy. The first time I used it, I don't think I found it so easy.

Zoya Destiny, coral glitter texture. Classic!

I've seen comments wondering if it was too similar to Zoya Dhara. Nope! (Dhara is also a new purchase, untried. So pumpkin spice!)

Old China Glaze Flip-Flop Fantasy versus the new. The new is obviously much more peach, and less intensely bright. It's also much easier to apply.

On that note, if you want the old FFF, I highly recommend China Glaze Thistle Be the Day. It's more pink, but very, very similar. It's extremely bright, though not as "dear god, my eyes!" as FFF.

Oh yeah, and I'll upload a ton of photos soon.

http://mynailpolishobsession.blogspot.com/2014/07/cosmoprof-north-america-2014-american.html
http://ehmkaynails.blogspot.com/2014/07/cosmoprof-nalv-2014-china-glaze-2014.html?showComment=1405652914218#c7361176780957052839

omg

The Halloween collection looks AMAZING, and I'm loving the look for Christmas's. The dark glitters... The Halloween textures are driving me batshit wild. I CAN'T WAIT.

I've recently been window-shopping online for China Glaze, virtually all from past fall collections. It's funny how I'm not into a collection at all until two years after it comes out. I definitely need to get It's Alive, a past Halloween murky green glitter that I passed on because I thought it was too similar to one I already owned, Zombie Zest. Spoiler alert: IT ISN'T! I'm also feeling warm colors a lot more, so I think I need Desert Sun and Foxy, and maybe Loft-y Ambitions, Prey Tell, Purr-Fectly Plum, and others exactly like a billion I already own.

So basically what I'm saying here is that fall and Halloween are awesome. I love summer, and I think I'm having a great one so far (as I type this, I am soaking in the sounds of the katydids who have finally come out), but the month of October is IT, boys. It is IT!

Short update - Zoya Charisma

I haven't updated in a while because I lost my camera yet again; I have since found it, so there will be a spam post coming up. In the meanwhile, I put on Zoya Charisma last night. I had only worn it once on the toes during the summer I got it, maybe last year, and had thought it was too dark for the season. But based on how quickly neon purples degrade (the two Color Clubs I have are now non-neon berries), I decided I better use it while I can. So I finally used it last night, and the formula was a lot more difficult than I expected. It was streaky and didn't want to stick to the messed up parts of my nail tips. After 3 coats and a top coat, I thought it looked good until I went into another room, one with less clear light, even, and there I saw it was a patchy hot mess. It looked terrible! I had to add a fourth coat of color over the top coat, plus another layer of top coat. Contrast that with Color Club Mrs. Robinson, which iirc was easy to apply and looking good after coats. Then again, Mrs. Robinson went berry on me, so there you have it. Charisma could very well be going berry as well, but it's hard to tell.

I think Charisma got chips before the night had ended, along those bad tips on my nails. By 3 PM the next day, that manicure was full-on raggedy. Very, very rarely do I change a manicure after one day of wear, but it had to be done. The color of Charisma, I will say, was just fine. I would use it for toes in the future.