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?

Periwinkle Comparisons

After a reader comment wondering about how Sail la Vie compared to China Glaze Secret Periwinkle, I decided to do a quick comparison post about some polishes in the periwinkle family. Despite the fact that I don’t like purple, I do like periwinkle. It reminds me of lilacs and springtime!

Sail La Vie is a lot more blue than Secret Periwinkle; it’s also quite a bit brighter. These are all quite different from each other even though the swatches may seem similar. MAC Bleu Velvet has a lot more gray than the photo appears to have. OPI You’re Such a Budapest is definitely lavender over periwinkle.

As you can see, Secret Periwinkle is the darkest of the bunch. My favorite periwinkle shades are Bikini So Teeny, Cameo, and Sail La Vie, which all lean toward the blue side of the spectrum.

I hope this post is helpful to you! What is your favorite periwinkle shade?

Rose Gold Polish Swatches and Comparisons!

Ah, rose gold! Such a lovely and popular color, isn’t it? I have many rose golds and they are all pretty different from each other, so I thought I’d show some comparisons of them!

Left to right:

Sally Hansen Nude Shimmer- This is probably my least favorite of the bunch. I just don’t really care for it, as it’s very sheer and watery. Luckily, this was a dollar store find so I’m not out much money!

Pantone Rose Dawn– I have reviewed this before. It’s pretty, but chips easily!

Butter London Champers– Not surprising, but this is definitely a favorite. It is a lot more complex than it looks in the photos here, as it is very shimmery.
Deborah Lippmann Sugar Daddy– Another polish I’ve reviewed before; this one is a duochrome so there is a color shift to a sort of warm yellow gold shade.

Orly Rose Pixel- This is amazing. It’s textured, which I love. Plus, it’s a little cooler in tone compared to the rest.

Essie Penny Talk– Another favorite; I love the metallic finish and the color is very rich.

Orly Rage– Quite possibly the most famous rose gold, and the most popular. Very pretty and great application!

Hard Candy Pink Crush– This is more pink than coppery, and it’s very sparkly. I love polish like this one!

Kure Bazaar Or Rose– This is an eco-friendly polish, made of “85% natural origin based on wood pulp, wheat, cotton, potatoes and corn.” I love this polish. It is probably my favorite in this bunch!

Zoya Tinsley– This is another very pink rose gold shade rather than champagne.

My picks of the bunch: Both Orly shades, Champers, and Kure Bazaar! Definitely skip the Sally Hansen shade; Penny Talk is good for a more coppery finish. Hard Candy wins for the budget pick at just $4.

Do you have any of these colors, or favorite rose gold polishes?

Urban Decay Naked Nail Polish Swatches

Just before the new year, Urban Decay released the Naked nail polish set, riding on the success of the rest of the Naked line, which I just adore! The set includes six different shades that correspond to the eyeshadows in the original Naked eyeshadow palette: Naked, Sidecar, Toasted, Smog, Hustle, and Creep.

Naked is a warm beige color; I thought this would be similar to Deborah Lippmann’s Naked polish, but the DL Naked is much more neutral.

Sidecar is a pink nude shade with silver glitter. I love this color.

Toasted is a pinkish brown shade; a little frosty but very pretty.

Smog is amazing! It’s a rich burgundy/copper/gold leaning shade.

Hustle is a deep purple shade…my least favorite since I do not like purple.

Creep is grayish black with silver glitter.

I think this is a gorgeous set of colors and is very wearable. My favorite shades are Sidecar and Smog. The polish itself is very smooth and applies nicely; sometimes Sidecar gets a little tricky with the glitter, which also happens with Creep.

One thing I love about this set is that it is perfect for people who need neutrals for the office (not my case, but I still love neutrals), and it’s also great for people with short nails who love nail polish but don’t want a lot of attention drawn to just how short their nails are (definitely my case sometimes).

What do you think of this set? Is it something you might pick up?

 

China Glaze Secret Periwinkle + American Apparel Light Year

Here’s a combination my grandma would REALLY hate! Good thing I won’t be seeing her this week, since she would probably have plenty to say about this combination…a lot more than just “horrendous.” 🙂

China Glaze Secret Periwinkle seems to be a pretty popular color due to its true-to-the-name shade and application. I like this color because it is unique, and falls just right with blue and purple to make me not think “yuck, purple!” It also has a 4.8 out of 5 on the Makeup Alley reviews page, so I’m not alone in thinking this polish is fab. I paired with American Apparel’s Light Year glitter, which is SO pretty!

I love how big the glitter is, and I like how many colors happen here. This glitter could go with practically any color. I am completely obsessed with glitter right now, even though it is such a pain to remove. Actually, compared to most glitters, Light Year was pretty easy to take off.

Here’s an indoors, natural light shot. You can see how opaque Secret Periwinkle is. I only used two coats, plus Light Year and a top coat.