OPI Warm Me Up

I went a little crazy with the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection. I love Mariah Carey and back in the day, I had a Barbie doll named after her. The holiday collection is absolutely incredible and it is also half off at Ulta right now, just as a side note. Anyway, today I have Warm Me Up to show you, which is an amazing dark brown with some silver shimmer running through it.

I’m very particular about brown nail polish. It just isn’t a color I like on nails, at least not on mine. While it didn’t catch my eye in the promo images, when I saw this swatched, I had to have it! It reminds me of a cooler toned My Private Jet without the holographic glitter.

The formula is amazing; opaque in two coats and very smooth. I definitely recommend this one if you want something that isn’t a chocolate brown. This is more of a charcoal/blackened brown shade and a nice alternative to straight up black.

Rescue Beauty Lounge Faraway

Rescue Beauty Lounge is a brand of polish that I’ve been dying to get my hands on, but have never been able to pull the trigger due to the price plus shipping. When RBL had a 50% off sale, I finally took the plunge and purchased two shades from the GOMM collection inspired by Georgia O’Keeffe. One of those shades is Faraway, a light turquoise with some blue-green shimmer that is VERY subtle.

I had really high expectations for this polish due to the hype around this brand. That isn’t to say that I am let down by it or anything; I’m not quite sure what I was expecting with it. The polish applied nicely and was a little thin on the first coat, but opaque with two. It went on the nail smoothly. I love the color and think it is gorgeous!

Overall, I’m happy with this polish and would purchase more from the brand in the future. 🙂

Dior Rouge #999

Hello! I hope everyone had a nice holiday! I was hoping to have some more posts up by the end of this month, but I just ran out of time. My husband and I hosted Christmas this year, so the past week was a whirlwind! Anyway, I’m back with a mini Dior polish that I got during Sephora’s Cyber Monday sale in November: Rouge #999.

This is a bright, sexy red shade. It reminds me a bit of OPI Vodka & Caviar, but more creamy. The formula on this is amazing! I’m wearing one coat in the photos above. It went on smoothly and it is SO glossy! The shine in the photos is just the polish, no top coat at all.

Though I got the mini as a freebie, I would purchase the large size if I run out of this one. It is definitely an iconic red in the likes of Chanel Dragon, or as already mentioned, Vodka & Caviar. It also appears to be part of Dior’s permanent polish collection.

If you’re wondering where my index finger is, these swatches are from earlier in the month when I had the worst paper cut of my entire life on my index finger. It was way too gross to show, so I’ll be missing a digit in some upcoming posts. 🙂

Seven Reds for the Holidays!

Red is so classic for the holidays. It’s definitely not a color that is going out of style any time soon, especially with nail polish. Even though there are so many amazing colors out there now, red is one that I come back to time after time. It’s kind of like red lipstick: tried and true! Here are some of my favorites for the holidays!

Nails, Inc. Soho Street– This is a full coverage red glitter polish. Look at that sparkle, and without top coat! The glitter is all one type, very fine and small.

MAC Sparks On Screen– Another full coverage glitter, this one has a little more variety with shape and is a deeper color.

Essie Twin Sweater Set- This is a cool-toned red creme. I don’t know what it is about this color, but I am really drawn to it. The formula is fantastic. This is from Essie’s “For the Twill of It” collection.

 

Taylor Morgan Rare as Rubies– This polish has a red jelly base with red hex glitters. I used two coats here. I have no idea where to buy this polish in person, but found mine on Amazon after reading about it on another blog. It is gorgeous!

OPI All I Want For Christmas (is OPI)– I knew I would buy this polish JUST for the name. For the dog lovers out there, I had a golden retriever who I would sing this song to and replace “you” with her name, Wembley. Every time I hear that song, I think of her! Anyway, this is another classic, Christmas red. I think this would be great on a variety of skin tones, because it is neutral.

Deborah Lippmann Ruby Red Pumps – Though this doesn’t look festive, I think this is a good party polish. It’s a black base with red glitter throughout, and it looks incredible on the nails. This polish only needs two coats. There’s also a Fergie for Wet ‘n’ Wild dupe of this shade!

Butter London Knees Up– This is a metallic red. This polish must be seen in person. No brush strokes and it is just “hot”- that’s the only word to describe it!

What are your must-have holiday reds?

Eight Gold Polishes for the Holidays!

It’s time to check out some gold polish picks for the holidays!  Most of these involve some kind of glitter and sparkle. I think gold is my favorite polish to wear during the holiday season.

Butter London The Full Monty– This is a really nice metallic gold. It’s pretty neutral, so a wide variety of skin tones can wear this shade. The polish goes on smoothly and doesn’t have visible brush strokes.

American Apparel Meteor Shower– This is one of my favorite glitter toppers. It has jagged shards of gold foil. This polish is really versatile and it just looks amazing over so many colors.

Nuance Goldstone– This looks silver compared to the rest of these golds, but in reality it is a very cool-toned pale gold. In person this is more visible. Nuance is Salma Hayek’s brand from CVS. I thought this shade looked interesting, and I was impressed with the quality of it.

Orly Halo– This polish came out last holiday season. It is a mix of pale and yellow gold glitters, but it can be built to opacity.

China Glaze I’m Not Lion– This is one of my favorite polishes! It’s a matte gold holographic glitter from last fall’s On Safari collection. It can be worn alone or layered over other shades.

Zoya Ziv– This gold flakie polish from last winter’s holiday collection is beautiful. It’s a yellow gold with some deeper bronze flecks running throughout. The formula on this is excellent.

OPI Honey Ryder– This is a liquid sand polish from the Bond Girls collection. It’s a neutral, textured gold. I love this shade. Although it looks similar to I’m Not Lion, this is not holographic and just has some nice sparkle to it.

Deborah Lippmann Glitter and Be Gay– Do I need to say more? This is THE gold glitter of the year!

What are your favorite gold polishes?

Eight Silver Polishes for the Holidays!

It’s that time of year where silver, gold, red, and green are taking over the holidays! I thought it would be fun to share some of my picks in each shade. Some of these polishes are great toppers, others are fun for all over the nail. What they do have in common is some serious sparkle and shine! 🙂

Illamasqua Glory– I’ve written about this polish before. Received in a Glossy Box, I didn’t think it was anything special, but then I layered it with some glitter and it makes an amazing base. On the nails alone, it looks like molten metal. Lovely shade of silver!

Sephora X Whimsical– This shade is from “The Sparklers” collection within Sephora X polishes. It has a white microglitter base with small and large silver glitters throughout. Very wintery, this can be worn as a layer or alone. It would look great over Glory!

Revlon Rich– This is a shade from Revlon’s holiday collection that is in stores now. It is a deep neutral silvery taupe, similar to OPI Number One Nemesis. The formula is smooth, and with a $4 price tag, it is highly affordable!

Milani Gems in Silver– The Milani Gems line is full of BIG glitter. This is pretty self explanatory. Big silver glitter.

China Glaze Glistening Snow– This polish came out last holiday season. It is a fine silver holographic glitter that dries to a matte finish. This polish is so pretty! It really does look like glistening snow.

Zoya Electra– Another from last season, this is silver holographic bar glitter that you can actually achieve opacity with. I don’t usually like bar glitter, but I do like this one.

OPI Haven’t the Foggiest– This is an amazing polish! I love this color. It is one that you have to see in person because it is so striking. I would describe it as a blackened mirror type silver.

Essie Hors D’Oeuvres– This polish is from Essie’s Encrusted Treasures collection this holiday season. Though it seems similar to Whimsical in these swatches, it’s different in that it has more shimmer and sparkle, with a pinky/golden sheen.

What are your favorite silver polishes?

L’Oreal Gold Dust -Hidden Gems

The L’Oreal Gold Dust collection is a limited edition collection of textured polishes. Since I am a big fan of textured polish, I wanted to get at least one shade. The gold was really calling my name, but I have enough gold and instead picked up the most unique in my opinion: Hidden Gems.

Hidden Gems is a blackened teal polish with slight pink duochrome and some silver glitter. I really love this color because it is so interesting. With the right lighting, the pink is very subtle. This polish is opaque in two coats, though I did notice it took awhile to dry. This seems to be the case with many textured polishes, particularly Zoya’s Fairy Dust formula.

I purchased my bottle of Hidden Gems from Rite Aid and it is still available for $6.

Lime Crime Parfait Day

Lime Crime Parfait Day is a creamy, pastel pink that just barely borders on neon in my eyes. I’ve never met a pink color that I didn’t like, so of course I love this one!

The description states that this is “reminiscent of a strawberry milkshake” and “inspired by confectionery delights”, which is a perfect description.

The formula on this nail polish is quite good, especially since polish like this one tends to be streaky. This is opaque in two coats, which is impressive for a shade like this one. I find the Lime Crime formula smooth, but a little thick for my taste, so I just take it slowly and apply two thin coats.

Have you tried Lime Crime polish yet? What do you think of it?

Revlon Rich Raspberry

I love the Revlon Colorstay line of nail polish. If you get the entire system (base coat, top coat, and polish) the polish is very long lasting. It does take awhile to dry since the top coat is not of the “fast” variety like Seche Vite, but the shine is lovely. The claim is 11 days, but I haven’t tested it for that long.

Rich Raspberry is a classic fuchsia shade. It is opaque in two coats and very creamy. I love this color even though it is nothing unique.

As you can see my nails are WAY short. They were finally getting longer again and then I broke the index finger. That is my most broken fingernail for some reason!

Anyway, I’m glad I broke out this pink to wear. It’s so cheerful and bright; a nice change from the cloudy weather here!

Sephora X TNT

Hi Everyone! I hope you had a nice Thanksgiving if you’re in the US. I spent mine out of town with the in-laws. The manicure I have for today is from awhile ago. I wish the photos were better too, but we have reached the time of year with hardly any daylight and constant clouds! 😦 Usually I go crazy when the sun is out and take as many pictures as I can.

Sephora just revamped their polish line and when I saw swatches of TNT, I HAD to have it! This is a cobalt glue glitter in a clear base. I don’t have anything like it! I used it over Illamasqua Radium, which I liked, but I think I would like it more over white or maybe even pale pink, something like OPI Mod About You, perhaps?

The formula on here is great. It’s easy to get a lot of glitter in one swipe.

Have you tried the Sephora X revamp yet?