China Glaze Party Hearty

Hey readers! Did you get up to anything interesting over the holidays…or perhaps get any beauty treats? I got some great new nail polishes that I’ll be sharing with you, but let me show you what I wore this week!

Orly Luxe Nail Polish with China Glaze Party Hearty Glitter Topcoat

For those of you who celebrated Christmas this week, I have to admit that this manicure was too festive to keep me from wearing it just once. You may remember the lovely Orly Luxe from a recent post, but the glitter topcoat, China Glaze‘s Party Hearty, is from last year’s holiday collection, and I prefer it much more to this year’s similarly-colored glitter holiday offering from China Glaze, Twinkle Lights. TL is tightly packed red, green and gold microglitter – but Party Hearty is more of a true topcoat, and far more unique. The bottle contains primarily green glitter, with gold microglitter and large red hex glitter mixed in. To me, the large red glitter pieces look like holly berries (too adorable)!

Pros: Unique for a glitter topcoat, definitely, and long-lasting. Cornerstone on festive!

Cons: Seriously gritty without heavy coats of Seche – I found myself picking off flakes of glitter because I didn’t apply enough topcoat. I’m sure it’s very hard to find now, too…

Come on guys, what’d you get for the holidays?! I need to know! Any NYE plans?

China Glaze Frosty and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure

Happy holidays, readers! This week marked the start of Hanukkah and Christmas is just around the bend – so, of course, I have another holiday manicure for you.

Flake glitter nail polishes are booming in popularity right now, including Essie‘s Shine of the Times from their Holiday 2011 Luxeffects Collection. It looks like there’s even going to be a flake topcoat in the upcoming China Glaze/Hunger Games collaboration, and that shade will be called Luxe and Lush. The great thing about flakies is their transformative power – they totally change the look of whatever shade you happen to be wearing beneath. I saw tons of looks floating around the internet with flake polishes over frosty white, so what better colors to use than China Glaze Frosty and Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure?

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Hidden Treasure over China Glaze Frosty nail polish

This is one of my favorite combos that I’ve applied in a while! It’s extremely glimmery – to me, it looks like snow that’s frozen over. It’s hard to capture in a photograph, but the iridescence of the flakes add a lovely dimension to the white shimmer polish. And for some reason, this manicure has been pretty much bulletproof. I’ve worn it for over a week with no tipwear or chips.

I have to say, however, that the manicure was tedious to apply, and the blame goes to Frosty – it took six thick coats to reach opacity. There are two coats of Hidden Treasure on here and my only complaint about its application is that it dried a little bit gritty (which is nothing a little Seche Vite can’t fix).

Both of these shades were limited edition, but you can find Hidden Treasure‘s twin in Essie‘s Shine of the Times. It’s available here at Image Beauty, or try an Ulta near you.

What do you think, readers? Does this look make you hope someone will surprise you with a bottle of flake glitter topcoat this holiday season?

Orly Luxe and Color Club Orna-Minted

‘Tis the season for holiday parties, gang! I know I said that Warm and Fozzie was a great choice for all your winter social events, but I’ve got to show you this baby. After all, it’s one of my favorite nail polishes of all time. With an intro like that, how can you resist?

Orly Luxe nail polish

Meet Orly Luxe! You may remember that I wrote about her rose gold sister, Rage, a little while back. Along with their third sister, silver Shine, they are all totally stunning – and my (not-so-secret) easy way to jazz up an outfit. Just like your jewelry, these shades go with everything. Like greige, they’re the perfect neutral polish, but way more fab. They’re equally amazing with jeans and a blazer as they are with your holiday Little Black Dress. Plus, unless you work in finance or something equally suffocating (sorry?), I can see you getting away with these bad boys in the workplace.

Orly Luxe nail polish

I try not to pick favorites, but Luxe is actually my go-to of the three shades. Surprising, as I never wear gold jewelry – but the polish looks so clean and bright, does it not? It doesn’t even need a topcoat, and in fact, I prefer the finish without one – it gives more of a realistic “brushed metal” jewelry effect.

But I kind of wanted to take it to the next level.

I had a holiday party to attend last weekend and was in a crazy rush to get out of the house. And by that, I mean I had twenty minutes to get dressed, put on my makeup, switch purses, and leave. Oh, and I wanted to add a glitter topcoat to my nails. Color Club Orna-Minted handled the pressure well – and added a little surprise to the frenzy before the festivities.

Color Club Orna-Minted nail polish

As I applied a liberal coat of Orna-Minted glitter topcoat to my ring fingers, I smelled something. And it wasn’t nail polish. It was like Orbit Sweet Mint chewing gum…which has never happened to me while applying nail polish before. I was kind of afraid that I was having an olfactory hallucination, but I didn’t have time to worry about it. I did keep sniffing my nails like a weirdo. FOR TWO DAYS. (By then, I had checked and found out that Orna-Minted is a part of Color Club‘s Scent-suous Collection for this holiday season.) The scent was very strong – in a pleasant way – and lasted even under a thick coat of Seche Vite! I was impressed. The glitter is not typical, which is what drew me to purchasing it at all (I have enough silver glitter topcoats by now). The glitter shapes alternate between small glitter and large, emerald cut pieces – it looks like a bottle of diamonds!

Pros: This is, to be blunt, a bad ass manicure. Yeah, I said it. They’re total Beyoncé nails. They’re also pretty much like Kryptonite in terms of lasting power. Orly Luxe is opaque in two coats. If you’re into scented nail polish, Color Club Orna-Minted is a great one! Not only is the polish itself durable, it lasts a long time scent-wise, with a very pleasant smell to boot. Oh yeah, and this combo is super festive!

Cons: Not the most convenient removal process. Foils are definitely easier to remove than glitters, but I still use the glitter removal technique shown in this post to cut the time I’m chilling with the acetone. The glitter polish was not great to remove, especially the larger pieces. Still – worth it!

Interested in picking up Orly Luxe? You can find it here on Ulta‘s website. I got my bottle of Color Club Orna-Minted at Sally Beauty.

What do you think, readers? Is this not a great alternative to plain red or (shudder) a French manicure for the holidays? It’d look great holding a Champagne flute! Am I right?

OPI Warm and Fozzie

Hey gang! I hope you’ve been staying bundled up wherever you are – or maybe you haven’t had to. The weather has been truly bizarre here in New York – really cold in the morning and at night, and about 50 degrees during the day! – and yet I still managed to get sick. Typical.

Either way, I’m really excited to share this nail polish color with you guys. It’s another member of the OPI Muppets Collection, and it’s perfect for the holiday season. Meet OPI Warm and Fozzie!

OPI Warm and Fozzie nail polish

Honestly, if you only get one color from OPI‘s Muppets collaboration (though Excuse Moi! is fabulous!), make it this one. There’s much more to this shade than meets the eye. Sure, it may appear to be a simple bronze nail polish…

OPI Warm and Fozzie nail polish

Do you see that?! (Besides the tipwear, which is totally my fault – this is after a WEEK of wear with no chips, lots of abuse to my hands, and two days without topcoat!) Warm and Fozzie is totally shifty. And by that, I mean it has total duochrome tendencies. It shifts to a pinkish bronze and a greenish bronze depending on the light, both of which you can see here, but takes on an overall brownish-bronze shade. The appearance of the polish is that of a foil on the nail (but I didn’t find that it really applied like one).

OPI Warm and Fozzie nail polish

Pros: I don’t have any bronze colors in my collection that are as unique as Warm and Fozzie. It held up very, very well in terms of wear. Oh, by the way – did I not already mention it’s awesome?!

Cons: Minor con – took three coats, which is a little weird for a foil, at least in my experience. Don’t let that keep you from buying it – Warm and Fozzie is a-mazing.

I’ll be wearing this several times into the holiday season – it’s a way better alternative to red nail polish for parties! If you’re interested in cuddling up to OPI Warm and Fozzie, act fast, because it’s limited edition. Check OPI‘s website to find an OPI retailer near you.

Anyone pick up any beauty goodies during Black Friday or Cyber Monday that I need to hear about!? I actually reigned in my credit card and shopping addiction, and didn’t buy ANYTHING on either day, but I’d love to hear about your purchases! Let me know in the comments!