NOTD: SpaRitual Solstice

I recently order a couple of SpaRitual polishes from Apothica and couldn't wait to try them. I have only tried one other SpaRitual polish, and it was a sheer pink, so you know I never wore it. The ones I picked up this time are going to get tons of use! The first one I decided to wear was SpaRitual Solstice, a gorgeous yellow gold foil shimmer from the SpaRitual Twinkle holiday 2011 collection. In person, I think this is a very true yellow gold color, but it looks a bit more coppery in my pictures. I have been looking for a good bright yellow gold for awhile and this fits the bill!

Solstice has those large shimmer particles that are really cool to look at up close (see macro shot below)! I really love this finish and also this nice bright gold color.

This is three coats of Solstice, and I found that I needed to wrap the tips as well. The polish didn't want to build up opaquely on my tips, but wrapping them solved the problem. With three coats, Solstice is completely opaque and awesome. The formula is pretty good, other than needing to pay a little extra attention to your tips. My bottle of Solstice is the mini bottle, and I found the brush to be easy to work with, despite being a mini.

Now the AWESOME part is that the mini bottle of SpaRitual Solstice is on sale on Apothica right now for only $4!!! And the full size is only $8!! Woohoo!!! I love this polish, and the sale price only sweetens the deal for me. In case you're wondering, I also ordered Running With Wolves and Sacred Ground from the fall Wilde collection, and you'll be seeing them shortly. I think I need more SpaRitual in my life!!

This polish was purchased with funds from my sponsor, Apothica.com. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy.

Possible New Year's Eve Look with Sephora by OPI

We still have some time to decide what we'll be wearing on our nails when 2012 rolls in. What do you have in mind, anything special? I am thinking of a rich blue and copper combo, like these two polishes from Sephora by OPI. The gorgeous blue with teal shimmer is Sephora by OPI Countdown to the Kiss. So, by the name alone, this polish is ideal for New Year's Eve!!

In certain lights, Countdown to the Kiss has a violet hint to it as well. I LOVE this color. This is two coats and the polish applied flawlessly and opaquely.

For this look, I did an accent nail with Sephora by OPI Don't Be Eggnogious. Large copper hex glitter and medium round copper glitter in a clear base says "Party!" to me!! I like the combination of blue and copper, but for New Year's Eve, I might do something like sponge Don't Be Eggnogious over Countdown to the Kiss. I haven't decided yet!

Don't Be Eggnogious is a great glitter. This is three coats and it's more opaque looking in person that in pictures. I would sport three coats of this polish as a full mani, no problem. It would also look fabulous over silver!!

Sephora by OPI Countdown to the Kiss and Don't Be Eggnogious are both available on sephora.com. Don't Be Eggnogious is Limited Edition and it is currently only $5!!!! They must be clearing out LE Holiday items. So if you have your eye on this polish, you should order it now, as I'm sure it will disappear.

Have a Merry Christmas Eve with the China Glaze Ulta Exclusives!!

Wow, I can't believe it's Christmas Eve already!! I haven't done any wrapping yet, and I really need to start! I did make my chocolate chip cherry cookies yesterday though, so at least that's done! Today I have the China Glaze Ulta holiday exclusives for your viewing pleasure. China Glaze Fireside Glow and Ultamate Holiday are my two favorite polishes that China Glaze released ALL YEAR. I hope China Glaze and Ulta collaborate again next year, because DANG, these are amazing!!

China Glaze Fireside Glow is a gorgeous copper holo glitter polish in a clear base. I don't own anything remotely like this at all. I love copper colored nail polish and make-up, so Fireside Glow was destined to be a favorite of mine.

Fireside Glow is pretty easy to apply, so problems. It dries super fast since it is just glitter in a clear base. This is three coats and it's perfectly opaque. I think I could have used a second coat of top coat to make this really smooth, but it's not too chunky feeling. These glitter pieces are relatively small and fine, so it doesn't feel too gritty.

My pictures of Ultamate Holiday by itself came out strange. I was moving my hand around because I was afraid I wasn't capturing the holo effect. There was also a LOT of sun when I took these (surprising weather for CT in the winter). The sun really washed out the polish. I think my pictures of Ultamate Holiday atop Glittering Garland are more color-accurate. But I did capture the holo!!

This is also three coats and it's more opaque in person than in these pictures. Again, easy to apply and fast drying. I really love this polish and I'm actually wearing it as a full mani right now!

I have never purchased an Ulta exclusive OPI or China Glaze polish before. I usually find them to be kind of uninspired and/or dupes of existing polishes. China Glaze and Ulta REALLY knocked it out of the park with these two though!! They have changed my mind about these exclusives, and I'm already looking forward to next year's. Holo glitter polishes that I don't already own/have dupes for? YES!!! I am pumped that I found these two, and I encourage you to go to Ulta stat to find them.

I won't be around tomorrow, as I'll be with family all day! I hope you all have a

  Merry Christmas 

and I'll return Monday with a New Year's Eve Sephora by OPI look!

China Glaze Fireside Glow and Ultamate Holiday are available at an Ulta near you for a limited time!

China Glaze Twinkle Lights

The last polish I have to review from the China Glaze Let It Snow holiday 2011 collection is Twinkle Lights. Twinkle Lights is China Glaze's glitter bomb of the 2011 holiday collection. As you know, I am a sucker for glitterbombs and holiday glitterbombs are probably even more tempting. 

Twinkle Lights is a clear base filled with small hex glitter in gold, red, and green. Very holiday appropriate and festive! It isn't really full coverage, but I wanted to show it alone first.

This is about three coats. Twinkle Lights will look great layered over the obvious white or black, but I'd also like to try it over silver for a really festive look.

I have really enjoyed swatching and wearing the China Glaze holiday polishes! I can't wait to see what they come up with in the new year!

China Glaze Twinkle Lights is available now online at Nailsupplies.us

SinfulColors Holiday Continues to Surprise Me!

Today I have the last two polishes in the SinfulColors Wish Collection, and I must say I am impressed. Neither of these colors really grabbed my attention in the bottle, but on the nail, it's a different story. SinfulColors Daddy's Girl looked like a pretty vampy purple with pink/iridescent glitter. Pretty, but something I already own. On my nail however, it's a lighter purple jelly with pink/iridescent glitter!! I was so not expecting this and I love it!

This is three coats of Daddy's Girl and there is still VNL, but I think it's part of the look of the polish. This particular shade of purple is magical, it reminds me of unicorns and winged ponies LOL. I think you could do a nice jelly sandwich with this polish too! It was pretty sheer at one coat, so it should make good "bread" for your sandwiches. The formula was nice and smooth and not streaky.

I love a good surprise like this! The polish on my nails is so unique, just ignore how it looks in the bottle!

Last Chance is another winner for the SinfulColors Holiday collection. Last Chance is a deliciously dark green with a squishy texture. Not quite a jelly, but squishier than a creme finish. Last Chance is a perfect holiday green and a great base for nail art using either SinfulColors Fashionista or Flower Girl.

The formula on this polish was great again. This is two coats and it's perfectly opaque. I continue to be impressed with SinfulColors' formula!

Overall, the SinfulColors Wish collection is full of winners. My top picks would be Midnight Blue, Daddy's Girl, Sugar, Sugar, and Flower Girl nail art polish. Any of these polishes would make fabulous stocking stuffers for your friends or family. Or, you could just stuff your own stocking!!

SinfulColors polishes are available at a Walgreens near you.

These polishes were sent to me for review by a PR agent for SinfulColors. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

The Ultamate Holiday Polish Look!!

EK (former co-author of this blog) and I wandered into Ulta "on our way home" yesterday, and lo and behold, they had the China Glaze Ulta Exclusives!! They were also having a Buy 2, Get One Free on all China Glaze polish, so naturally, we knew what had to be done. We each bought both of the Ulta exclusives. I couldn't wait to try them out! I also had yet to try China Glaze Glittering Garland, and so, an idea was born!!

The drool-worthy combination you see here is two coats of China Glaze Glittering Garland with China Glaze Ultamate Holiday sponged on the tips. Ultamate Holiday is AMAZING!!! It's a very fine glitter polish with gold holographic glitter! It is easily full-coverage and the glitter is that super fine sugary texture that I love. Ultamate Holiday kind of reminds me of my favorite China Glaze Medallion, if the large pieces of glitter in Medallion were crushed up into tiny bits.

Any self-respecting nail polish/glitter/China Glaze lover NEEDS Ultamate Holiday. I am declaring it a Never Enough Nails Necessity. It is a gorgeous shade of yellow gold and is also holographic. The holo is not as strong as some polishes, but it is definitely there, and eye-catchingly gorgeous.

I took a blurry picture so you could see the holo-ness better! Not too shabby, right? Ugh, I love this combination and I REALLY love Ultamate Holiday. Ek and I actually debated buying this in the store, can you believe that? It didn't look as awesome in the bottle as it does on the nail.

China Glaze Glittering Garland is pretty cool by itself too. A green jelly-ish polish filled with small uneven sized glitter pieces. I can't tell what color the glitter is. Light green? Gold? I don't know, but it looks fabulous on the nail.

This is two coats and the formula was fabulous. I am really impressed with all of the China Glaze Let It Snow polishes I have. I've gotten away from CG lately, but I think they are back with a bang now!!

If you want to see China Glaze Ultamate Holiday alone (who doesn't?), I will have swatches of it and the other Ulta Exclusive, Fireside Glow, very soon.

Unfortunately, the Ulta exclusives are no longer available on Ulta.com, so you will have to go hunt Ultamate Holiday down at an Ulta near you. But really, I recommend getting the two Ulta exclusives and then getting Glittering Garland as your freebie, because they make a wonderful combination!!

What I'm Wearing: China Glaze Champagne Bubbles

 I'm in the stage of ONLY wearing holiday polish for my full manis at this point in the month. I have so many pretty holiday polishes that I want to wear while they're in season. Today, I'm wearing China Glaze Champagne Bubbles from this year's Let It Snow holiday collection. So far I adore every polish I've tried from Let It Snow, and Champagne Bubbles did not disappoint!

Champagne Bubbles is a lovely metallic gold polish with scattered silver glitter. I love that this is a metallic polish with silver glitter, not a metallic silver glitter polish, if you know what I mean. The glitter is an accent to the polish, not the whole polish itself. I own a lot of silver glitter polishes in a metallic base (usually silver), but I don't own anything like this. The glitter is a compliment to the gold, not the main feature.

Application was good, but not amazing. Champagne Bubbles was thinner than I was anticipating and needed three coats. I thought it would only need two. Thin polish sometimes needs a bit of control when you're applying to avoid pooling in the cuticles, but it wasn't too difficult to use. Champagne Bubbles did apply nice and evenly.

Overall, I really love this polish and can see myself wearing it at other times of the year, not just holidays. I love gold polish and I love silver glitter, so why not together?

China Glaze Champagne Bubbles is available now at an Ulta near you or online at the usual e-tailers.

Sinful Colors Holiday Continued: Out of This World

Continuing with my review of the SinfulColors Holiday 2011 Wish collection, today I have SinfulColors Out of This World.  In the bottle, Out of This World looks decidedly silver, but on the nail it is a bit of a mixture between silver and white. This was a good polish to include in a winter/holiday collection, as it reminds me of rain/snow and wintry skies.

Out of This World is definitely a pretty sparkling white/silver. I guess I would call it very pale silver. The finish is almost like glass fleck, but a bit less dense than most glass fleck polish. 

This was not the most pigmented polish of the collection. I did four coats for these pictures, and there is still a bit of VNL. It applied very evenly though, no bald spots or patchiness. I think one thin coat of this would be a pretty topper for a navy or black polish too.

If you're looking for an ultra-pale silver, or a pretty glass fleck-like topper, Out of This World is for you! Those looking for a pigmented silver polish may want to keep looking though.

This polish was sent to me for review by a PR agent for SinfulColors. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.

SinfulColors Holiday Wish Part Two: Sugar Sugar and Flower Girl!

SinfulColors Sugar Sugar from the Holiday 2011 Wish collection had me singing the Cake Boss theme song today. I love watching Cake Boss, so that was OK with me. (For international followers, Cake Boss is an American TV show that follows a baker and his family as they run a very successful bakery and make huge, awesome cakes).  Sugar Sugar is a gorgeous, festive red shimmer polish with subtle gold/orange shimmer pieces. It was really difficult to capture the gold shimmer, but I'll point it out in my pictures so you can find it.

At first glance, Sugar Sugar is another holiday red, although a pretty one. But the golden/orange shimmer really makes it different. The shimmer pieces were more visible in person when I looked at my nails up close. If you click on the picture below, you can see what the shimmer looked like. There's one piece near the top left of the picture that stands out- that's what the shimmer looked like! Cool, right?

Sugar Sugar applied nicely and only needed two coats for full opacity. The formula was really excellent. Like  Midnight Blue, Sugar Sugar showcases the best of SinfulColors and shows the expensive polish brands a thing or two.

Below, with flash.

Now, this look just gets more amazing!!! I added three diagonal lines using SinfulColors Flower Girl. Flower Girl is AWESOME!!!! Way better than Fashionista. The glitter is really fine, but really dense, so you only need to make one light line with the brush for maximum impact. The brush of my Flower Girl was also more stiff than the Fashionista brush, making it easier to use. I LOVE this look. I am planning on wearing this on Christmas day.

Look how dense the glitter is! This is perfect for any nail art fanatic, or even people like me, who stink at nail art but want to try. I am declaring SinfulColors Flower Girl a Never Enough Nails Necessity! If you like gold, glitter, nail art, or even just nail polish, you NEED Flower Girl. As most of you know, SinfulColors polishes are super inexpensive too ($1.99!!), so you can get this amazing holiday look on the cheap!

LOVE.

Overall, I am obsessing over this combination. Sugar Sugar is different enough from all of my other reds that I will be keeping it firmly in my collection, and I'll be sporting this combination of Sugar Sugar and Flower Girl on Christmas day this year!

SinfulColors polishes are available at your local Walgreens.

These polishes were sent to me for review by a PR agent for SinfulColors. For more information, please read my Disclosure Policy.