Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

I am going to be honest guys...most of the holiday polish collections I've seen from major brands this year are incredibly disappointing. I will concede that there are a few pretty ones in the O.P.I. Starlight (I think that's what it's called) collection, but nothing I'm desperate to get my hands on. 

If I'm honest, my tastes run towards the classics. Rich, decadent red cremes, sparkly silver and gold, emerald anything...that's what I like to see. And since I didn't get it, I'm looking at past polishes for my fix. 

In my humble opinion, Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is probably one of the most beautiful polishes ever made. Ever. And this is coming from someone who doesn't wear a lot of glass fleck. It's a beautiful, deep green that can look straight up emerald, or more teal (or blue spruce as I like to think of it) depending upon the lighting. On top of this, there are flashes of gold glimmer. It is just explosive in the sunlight. I come off as a vain idiot because I literally hold my nails to the light every chance I get. 

I took these pictures after about 5 days of wear. FIVE. I did this because I'm putting the new Essie Gel Setter top coat through its paces. And it's good. I love my European Secrets Rock Top Coat, but about a third of the way through the bottle I notice it shrinks my tips, which is incredibly annoying. However it does mask any and all bubbling and imperfections so I'm not eliminating it permanently from my top coat line up. 

3 coats of Christmas goodness, and Essie Gel Setter top coat. Y.U.M. 

China Glaze Ahoy!

This polish is out of my manicure comfort zone. I’d bought it to use on my toes, but I figured I ought to see if I like it as well on fingers. I don’t.

Ahoy! is a deep raspberry glass fleck with subtle microshimmer. I see gold, electric purple, and even some flashes of green in certain lights.

The formula was great, no problems with bubbling and it dried quickly, like most of my China Glazes.

Essie Rock the Boat

Woke up with a killer migraine today, so this’ll be quick. Rock the Boat is from an Essie 2013 summer collection (I’m honestly losing track, there are so many), and was the only one in the collection that really piqued my interest. The formula left a lot to be desired, but we’ll get to that later.

Rock the Boat is a cornflower/periwinkle blue with what seems to me to be predominantly silver glitter flecks, although there are flashes of multi-colored glitter flecks. I say glitter flecks because I really have no other name for them. I wouldn’t call it shimmer or glass-fleck, but it certainly isn’t your regular glitter-they’re incredibly small, but gritty and irregularly shaped at the same time.

In terms of formula, Rock the Boat fought me every step of the way. It just didn’t want to play nicely. It was goopy, runny, patchy, thick, bubbly, and it took about four coats to even everything out. I have another Essie, To Buy or Not to Buy, with similar glittery bits that is the same; streaky and uncooperative.

Still, it’s gorgeous, so I put up with it. Isn’t that always the way?

Sinful Colors Cinderella

Half an hour after I did this manicure, I realized it was St. Patrick’s Day. So likely as not, I’ll get pinched, but whatever, this color is gorgeous. Actually, when I look at it in the right light, the shimmer flashes greeny-gold, so does that count?

Anyway, when this polish came out last year, it gained a bit of a cult following. I was hesitant because it just looked so…girly. And it was blue. At one point, I refused to wear blue nail polish because I was convinced it looked horrible on me; and when I thought of blue polish, all I could conjure in my head were bottles of nasty frosty denim-blue. Needless to say, my blue prejudice has been overcome, but every time I see a frosty blue, I die a little inside.

Cinderella is a spectacular pale, milky blue-the base is in the same family as Rescue Beauty Lounge Bikini Bottom, and is chock full of the most exquisite glass-fleck. I’m going to categorize this polish as glass-fleck rather than shimmer, because if you look closely, the the shimmer is larger than normal, and more irregularly shaped. When looking head-on, the flecks are pink, and in different lights you see green, and gold.

It’s supposed to be inspired by Cinderella’s blue ball gown in the movie (I’m assuming? It looks a hell of a lot like it). My pictures don’t do the glass-fleck justice, it was really hard to capture the shimmery goodness.

This was 3 thick coats, and Seche Vite (which is why you can see it starting to shrink at the tips, I HATE Seche Vite with a passion, but my Out the Door is sadly running low). The formula was not the greatest, I had to do four coats on some nails to even everything out-it has the same issues as One Big Happy Fame-ily-thick, runny, and sheer. But so, so worth it.