A Grand Blue Christmas

Here's something I got for Christmas...

Fresh, new-fallen snow. Living in Orlando, this was a wonderful Christmas gift. I went to Denver to see my family over Christmas and it snowed the evening I got in.

Before I left, I happened to pick up a new Sally's Girl polish. Alas, it has no name, but I think it is pretty...

Just a cute silvery, dusty blue that has a shimmer. But, I didn't stop there.
Here's what Sally's Girl polish looks like all by itself...

The second photo isn't as good as the first, but I wanted to show that the first one has a glare on it; not a ding.

However, I wanted to play with my new Finger Paint flakies some more and I thought this dusty blue was just the right pairing.

First, on my left hand, I used 'Flashy'...

 

Even though I did 3 coats of Sally's Girl, I only did one of 'Flashy.' I think another coat would have made the flakes show more.

On my right hand, I used 'Twisted'...

Remember, it is my ring finger, here, that has no flakies on it. Again, just one coat of 'Twisted.' I do wish I would have remembered to apply two coats.

Sally's Girl dusty blue is pretty. But if you have ever purchased one of these, you know the bottle is puny, the brush is sub par, and the top sometimes doesn't stay attached to the brush. If you know these things going in, then you'll know you get what you pay for, most of the time. I was, most definitely, wanting it for the color.

Tomorrow, I'll show you Sally's Girl with a different top coat and see how that strikes your fancy.

I had a grand time with my family this Christmas. My brother and his family live in Denver. My sister and her husband, my dad and step-mom, and my sister's daughter and family all came in. We had a house full. A lot of things happened during that week and one of the best things to come out of it...I realized that my sister-in-law is one of my best friends.

Did you have a grand Holiday too?

Nubar Has Great Glitter Just Not Great Names

When I started blogging, almost 18 months ago, I learned about Nubar nail polish. What I read was it was held in high regard. So, in June of this year, I went to the Orlando Premiere and when I visited the Nubar booth, I dropped some bucks.

Now, I don't read about Nubar so much. I don't know why. However, here is one that I bought and it works sort of nicely for the Holidays...

Nubar's 'Green/Silver Glitter' isn't a bold glitter. And I'm liking that after swatching a lot of SCREAMING glitter.

This polish has micro-glitter, and though it looks like there is so much in there that it would apply opaque...let me set you straight. Nope.

I have on 4 coats. Yet, I'm happy with this lighter look. I can still appreciate the softer looks of glitter as well. The silver seems to be more iridescent than just plain silver. It casts off many different colors in the sunshine. I can somewhat see that happening on my ring finger.

Take a closer look, I want to show you something...

This is what 4 coats looks like. Not bad. And, yes, it is gritty. It's hungry like Santa is for cookies. But, there is something else I want you to see. A nail and its cuticle in DAMN GOOD shape!!! WORD!!!!!

After a super easy work day, I came home excited to swatch a new polish. But a light bulb went off...how would it look matted?

I gave it a try. It dulled it some, but not like I thought it would. That glitter is determined to sparkle!!!

I used China Glaze's 'Matte Magic'. I don't think it changed it enough to bother.

Is 'Green/Sliver Glitter' something you like too?

Copy Cats, Round Deux(P)

Thanks so much for the feedback letting me know you like dupe posts as much as I do.

Here are a couple more for you to check out...

These twins, separated at birth, are China Glaze's 'Lorelei's Tiara' and Sally Hansen's 'ShowGirl Chic.' 'Lorelei's Tiara' comes from the 3-D Glitter collection. 'ShowGirl Chic' is from the Gem Crush collection. I have acquired all of the polishes, in this post, in the last 2 weeks; brand new stuff.

Here's a side by side. Cameras do weird things with contrasting sparkles, like here. If you look at the top photo, of the Sally Hansen polish, that is a totally accurate color representation. The bottom photo, even though they still look the same, it looks as if they are smoky or grey. They are not.

On the nails...I used SH's 'ShowGirl Chic' on the thumb, middle and pinky. China Glaze is on the index and ring finger. These polishes are stuffed with silver glitter. Then for a playful splash, there is a bit of deep teal glitter added.

Very hard to see a difference...

The index and the middle finger look so close. I'm not sure why the ring finger looks more pigmented. I did 2 coats on all nails and I didn't use any top coat. I didn't figure I needed to because, well, just look at all that sparkle!!

That was the left hand, and here is what I did on the right hand...and yes, I wore these to work just like you see here...

 On the left is China Glaze's 'Love Marilyn'. The Sally Hansen is called 'Cha-Ching!' These both are from the same collections mentioned above. The photos put up a noticeable difference, not a huge one though. The dominant glitter color is, of course, red...lots of it. And then to spice it up, a pinch or two of regular size silver glitter. (I was thinking 'Rudolph Puke'....LOL!!)

In the direct sunlight, it seems that 'Love Marilyn' has denser glitter.

So, let's see how they play out on the nails...

 Again, just the slightest bit of difference. Not much. The SH is on the thumb, middle and pinky. China Glaze is on the index and ring finger.  I did experience some drag with 'Love Marilyn' and you can even see a bald spot on my thumb with 'Cha-Ching!'

However, these reds are blinged out sparkly. The SH applied OK, but, in both comparisons, the China Glaze went on smoother. Close up, it shows that 'Cha-Ching!' is not as dense in glitter as 'Love Marilyn.'

Here's my thoughts on these comparisons: you do not need both unless you are a hoarder polish blogger/lover like me. The differences are slight and, in person, only noticeable to a very discerning eye. But if you want a super-duper, sparkly Christmas look, both colors are going to do you right.

The China Glaze applied the easiest. All were gritty so if you don't like that feel, you will not like these. I don't mind it. Wear was good for the day I had it on. These colors made me feel festive and cheery. But they must have loved me just as much because they didn't want to leave me (aka...scrubbed to get them removed). I only used 2 coats and no top coat. That was a real winner as well.

Are they close enough for you that you wouldn't need both? Which color do you like best?

Three Polish Brands; One Big Holiday Polish Haul

These are my recent nail polish hauls. And it's a haulage!!

I got these at Sally's. I wanted to get 'Ingenue' as well, but it was gone!

These two polishes are from Orly's Holiday Soiree collection. On the left, the gawdawesome 'Androgynie'. The one on the right, that's 'Oui'.

Go ahead and take a closer look...

'Androgynie'...the final frontier. The baby lacey nail file is cute but utterly useles.

'Oui' to a gold and silvery-purple duochrome.

Lovely shades. Nothing terribly new, but these are the shades of polish I like. You can see some 'hot damn' swatches of this collection at I Drink Nail Polish's blog.

I was at the right place at the right time to get this collection from China Glaze...

This China Glaze collection is from the one called Eye Candy 3-D. I don't know what the 3-D part is because these polishes have no more or less depth to them than any other glitters. But, maybe I missed getting the free 3-D glasses that should have come with these.  I did get in on the sale at Ulta though. I bought 2 and got 1 free. At first, I was only going to get 5 but since that sixth one was free, I got them all.

The first one above is called 'Lorelei's Tiara.' That's the one that has silver glitter and then some teal glitter swirling around within. That is one of the more unique looks.

Next to that is 'Marry A Millionaire'. Great saying that goes with a medium purple glitter with holo bar glitter. Another rather new look to me.

And then the last one in this line up is a gold glitter; 'Blonde Bombshell.' This is the one I wasn't going to get at first. It's a gold glitter but has these larger sizes of gold glitter as well. I feel I have to get my nose right down into it to see the differences in the sizes, however.



Next set...

From left over to right; 'Material Girl'; 'Some Like it Haute (named after one of my favorite movies); and then 'Love Marilyn.'

 'Material Girl' is a dusty pink glitter with larger sized pink holo glitter.

Next is 'Some Like It Haute.' This one is another favorite. It's a dark, slate gray and has holo glitter suspended in it. Last is 'Love Marilyn' and this is a gorgeous red glitter sprinkled with silver glitter.

There's 'Androgenie' next to 'Some Like It Haute'...

 I know they are not the same and the only similarities can be they are both dark and have holo glitter. However, when you put them side by side, they actually bring out the unique flavor of each other.

Blurred for shimmer, you can see both are full of holographic glitter. 'Androgynie' has the larger hex shaped pieces.

And lastly, I found the Nicole By OPI's Holiday Glitter collection. I picked up just two...

 On the left, 'Orna-ment For Each Other'. Now that's a Santa suit red! It's got speckles of gold glitter within a sea of red glitter. Ho Ho Ho!

 And on the right, that's 'Glitter In My Stocking.' It's a bright gold glitter that has red and copper glitter thrown in for some major holiday awe-ness.

They look like glitter tree ornaments, don't they?

There were a total of 4 shades to this collection. One was a fuchsia glitter ('My Sleigh Is In The Shop) and the other was a bright blue with a rainbow assortment of colored micro-glitter called  'Snowman of My Dreams.' I hemmed and hawed over that one and I think I've convinced myself that I will have to go back and get it.


I better get busy and Holiday Swatch! Do you have any of these or, are there some here that you know you'll get?