China Glaze Twinkle Holiday 2014 Preview

We've already seen what Essie, OPI, Orly and Zoya have in store for the holidays, so that leaves China Glaze! CG is bringing the bling this year with their Holiday 2014 collection, Twinkle.

Feeling Twinkly

 

Chillin' With My Snowmies

Dancing and Prancing

 

De-light

Tip Your Hat

 

December To Remember

Define Good

 

Pine-ing For Glitter

Out Like A Light

 

No Peeking

I'd Melt For You

 

Meet Me Under The Stars

The holiday collections this year seem especially heavy on reds (even more so than usual), so I gotta applaud China Glaze for taking a more diverse approach here. There's a nice variety of colors and finishes that still suit the holiday vibe. 

I'm already seeing a lot of holiday polish collections in stores so far (OPI, Zoya and Essie are on my sightings list), so I'm betting it won't be too long 'til the Twinkle collection is on shelves. Which holiday collection are YOU most excited for? I've got some of the OPI Gwen glitters and the new Zoya Magic PixieDusts on my wishlist!

Born Pretty Rose Stripe Nail Wraps: Review & Swatches

 As someone who's, shall we say, artistically impaired, I love me some nail wraps! And I've got some lovely rose-themed nail wraps from Born Pretty Store to show off today. These red, white and seafoam green wraps have a pretty mix of designs from stripes to polka dots to rosebuds. So cute!

The wraps apply just as good as they look. They're very easy to use and have a nice, sturdy feel to them. They're thick enough that you don't have to worry about ripping them but not so thick that they're difficult to mold onto the nail or tough to file the excess off of. Top coat is completely optional with these wraps, but I opted to put some on anyways, to seal the tips and extend the wear time even further.

If you would like to order anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: Lumina Lacquer Seven Year Witch

With Halloween just around the corner, we're showcasing some manis dedicated to the holiday this week! I originally planned on doing some mummy nails, but when I got some awesome nail mail over the weekend, I couldn't resist taking this opportunity to show off one of the newest additions to my collection: one of Lumina Lacquer's new Halloween polishes, Seven Year Witch!

Seven Year Witch is a matte glitterbomb filled with black and neon glitters in a bevvy of shapes, sizes and colors. Also included with Seven Year Witch is a baggie of skull-shaped glitters in a staggering amount of colors (including a few holo pieces!), for you to place on your nails however you like. Thoughtful, creative touches like this are one of the many reasons I love Lumina Lacquer so much!

The formula here is wonderful--very easy to spread across the nails. This is one coat over Illamasqua Scorch, a white creme. I thought a clean white base would be a great way to show off the huge variety of glitters you get with this polish. As I've come to expect from Lumina, the glitters themselves are well-mixed, so you don't have to fish a ton to get some of the bigger pieces.

I definitely went with something more fun and colorful for my Halloween mani rather than something spooky. While I focused more on "treat" than "trick," I can't wait to see what direction my Twinsies took this theme!

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Essie Summit of Style (Lux Effects 2014) Preview

Summit of Style, a part of Essie's 2014 holiday offerings (see the rest HERE), is a metallics-heavy mix of re-promotes and two new Lux Effects polishes. I don't mind re-promotes much so long as it's nothing from the too-recent past, but I know the new Lux Effects will be the most interesting part of this collection for most of us.

 L to R: No Place Like Chrome, Set In Stones, Penny Talk, Summit Of Style (NEW), Good As Gold, Rock At The Top (NEW)

Source

No Place Like Chrome, Penny Talk and Good As Gold all originally debuted with Essie's Mirror Metallics Collection and Set In Stones is one of the original Lux Effects. I gotta admit, these new ones don't look all that interesting to me. The first Lux Effects were a mix of different layering effect polishes--flakies, pearls, glitters, etc.--and the later incarnations have all just been color-swapped versions of the same hex glitterbombs. Don't get me wrong; they're still pretty and you can create some cool layerings with them. (If you need proof, then just check out this amazing glitter mani my girl Elizabeth at Did My Nails created with a bunch of the Lux Effects!) But they don't seem as unique or special as the first Lux Effects were.

I've already seen these on store shelves, so if you've got your eye on any of these, they may already be out at your favorite polish shop! Are you excited for the new Lux Effects are you kinda over them like me? Let me know in the comments! :)

Zoya Wishes Preview

The holiday marketing seems to come earlier each year, doesn't it? I'm already seeing Christmas merch in stores! But hey, it also means new polish is coming out, so I can't complain too much!

One of the holiday collections we'll be seeing soon is Zoya Wishes! The collection features another installment of the Magical PixieDust polishes, as well as three other new shades. Let's take a peek!

L to R: Nori, Thea, Imogen, Prim, Haven, Willa

Obligatory: STILL no Chelsea! When, Zoya, WHEN?! 

Anyways, here's hoping the Magical PixieDust polishes from this collection are closer to the uber-sparkly, full-coverage beauties from the first batch of Magical PixieDusts than their more sheer counterparts we saw this summer. They look like some gorgeous shades, so if the formulas are on-point, there could be some real homeruns here!

The Wishes Collection is already up for pre-order on Zoya's website, with the official launch on November 1.

Shimmer Trisha

Here's another one from the Amanda files: Shimmer Trisha! Trisha is a predominantly orange glitterbomb, with splashes of gold, blue and magenta thrown in for good measure. I think half the fun of Shimmer polishes is experimenting with different bases. Normally my instinct would be to pair orange glitter with a blue base, but I thought it'd be cool to try something a little different this time, so I paired Trisha with Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna, a periwinkle shimmer.

I did have to do a little dabbling to get the glitter where I wanted it to go, but Trisha has a nice formula overall.

I'm not sure these two polishes go together perfectly--maybe a deeper purple would have been a better match--but I do think it's an interesting pairing and it was fun to try a color combo that I wouldn't normally go for. What would YOU use as a base for Trisha?

Twinsie Tuesday: Unusual Inspiration

No Twinsie Tuesday post from me this week. :( Sorry, guys! Time got away from me (recurring theme in my life lately), plus I was really stumped about this theme for some reason, so I didn't have a back-up idea I could default to. But I'll be back on the TT bandwagon next week! In the meantime, please do stop by the other Twinsie Tuesday blogs and check out what the girls did for their manis!

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Deborah Lippmann Shoshanna

I haven't seen a single episode of "Girls" (although I've been meaning to check it out), but I gotta say, I am all about the Deborah Lippmann polishes inspired by the show! Shoshanna is a dusty periwinkle with silver shimmer. When I first looked at Shoshanna in the bottle, I didn't notice the shimmer right away. It's soft, but not so much that it's invisible, and it brings a nice bit of visible interest and dimension to the polish.

Pastel formulas can be iffy, but Shoshanna is on-point. She goes on in three coats, without a hint of streakiness.

Orly Sparkle Holiday 2014 Preview

Orly's Holiday 2014 collection cuts right to the chase. As soon as you hear the name, Sparkle, you know just what to expect from this glitter-tastic collection! I love me some glitter, especially around the holidays, so sign me up! Let's take a look at what Sparkle has in store for us, shall we?

Mirrorball

 

Tinsel

Bling

 

Explosion Of Fun

Steal The Spotlight

 

Glitterbomb

Maybe it's all the sparklies, but this looks like the most exciting Orly collection in a while! There's a nice variety of colors and even though glitter and, well, sparkle are obviously the overriding themes, it's not all just the same type of glitter. So there's sure to be something here to please every glitter lover! I'm looking forward to Steal The Spotlight and Explosion Of Fun, myself.

I couldn't find any info on an exact release date, but typically we start seeing the holiday collections pop up in stores around later October or early November, so I imagine we won't have to wait too much longer to get our hands on these. Which ones will you be waiting for?

Barielle Me Couture Collection: Review & Swatches

Hey guys! I hope your Friday is off to a good start. :) To help kick off the weekend, I've got some swatches of Barielle's fall collection, Me Couture, to share with you today! Let's get started, shall we?

Moda Bleu is a navy creme with a beautiful high-gloss shine, even without topcoat. There's a little bit of purple in there at first, but it goes away as you layer the coats. It's a very deep, inky shade that's dark without appearing black. This is three coats.

Taupe Notch is a cool-toned taupe creme. It's almost grey, actually, but I'd still call it taupe. This is a wonderful neutral that would flatter any skin tone. If you're a taupe lover, definitely check this one out, 'cause it's pretty darn perfect. This is two coats.

Berry Posh is a glossy magenta creme. This is another one that, like Moda Bleu, is nice and shiny! I used two coats here.

Vintage Gown is a creamy milk chocolate with a bit of a pink undertone to it. There's some delicious-looking bronze shimmer visible in the bottle, but it's really subtle on the nail, which is a bummer. The base color is pretty enough (reminds me of hot cocoa!) that I still like this polish, but I would looooooveee it if that shimmer came through more!

 Here's the shimmer in the bottle:

Soho At Night is a dusty eggplant purple. Ya gotta get a little grimey with a fall collection! I absolutely love this color; so perfect for fall. The first coat is a little watery, but it everything comes together nicely by the second coat.

I saved the best for last! Boho Chic is a deep emerald green. It's a true dark green--not near-black--that is so rich and creamy. I can totally see myself rocking this with an animal print dress and some tights! This is two coats.

So all and all, there are some awesome fall colors here! My personal favorities are Soho At Night, Taupe Notch and Boho Chic. Out of all six polishes in the collection, there's not a dud formula in the bunch. Every one has a very workable consistency that's a breeze to apply. I'm impressed!

You can purchase Barielle from their website. Do you see anything you like from this collection? What are your favorite fall polish colors?


Disclosure: These polishes were sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Born Pretty Superhero Nail Stickers: Review & Swatches

I love comic books. I love nail polish. So I'm bound to a fan of anything that effectively marries those two passions. As soon as I saw these superhero nail decals on Born Pretty Store's website, I had to have them, no question!

I had waaayyyy too much fun with these! First, I did some Flash nails...

 Base: Pure Ice Crimson

 ...then some Batman ones...

 Base: Dermelect Heirloom

...then Superman!

Base: Essie Bouncer It's Me

I really love the idea of these decals, but application was a little tricky. I couldn't get them to quite adhere to the nail and then they kinda crinkle up if you brush over them too much with topcoat, so it was tricky to get them to stay exactly where I wanted them to on the nail. This has been an issue with a couple metallic decals I've used in the past. You have to be very careful with how you apply the topcoat. Interestingly enough, the Superman ones were easier to work with than the other decals. I did soak them for quite a bit longer (I put them in the water then got distracted for a few minutes) so maybe that had something to do with it? I dunno...

Still, I had a really good time with these and for just two bucks and some change, you can make a ton of different manicures with just this one decal set! I do wish they were a bit more forgiving to work with, but overall I enjoyed these and I think they're worth a look if you're a superhero fan.

If you would like to purchase anything from Born Pretty, they offer 10% off for Nailed readers:

Disclosure: This product was provided to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Essie Bouncer It's Me

The formula on Essie's neons tend to get a lot of hate. Heck, when I was buying Bouncer It's Me, the girl ringing me up even warned me that the bottle she owned had a terrible formula that made her not want to wear the polish again. But it's bright and it's blue, so...I had to have it. I slapped on a white base (OPI Put A Coat On!) and prepared myself for the worst.

The color itself is undeniably awesome, but sadly, it's true that the formula is all kinds of not-good. Where to begin? First off, this polish is extremely sheer and less-than vibrant on its own. A white base is essential if you want Bouncer It's Me to pop at all. But even with a white base, there's lots of streaking going on. I used four coats of Bouncer It's Me over Put A Coat On! and I still had visible streaks on my nails. The streaks are more visible in photographs than in real life, but either way, they're there. To top it off, the formula is also quite thin and runny. Blargh.

Still, I love the way Bouncer It's Me looks (minus the streaks). The color is a beautifully bright cobalt blue that has a shiny, squishy finish when coupled with a good topcoat. It really is an eye-catcher...but giiirrrlll, she is a hot mess underneath the pretty. While I don't regret buying it and I will still wear it again, terrible formula and all, there are other colors out there like this one that are much easier to apply.

Twinsie Tuesday: OPI Muppets World Tour

EDIT: So I accidentally posted this last Tuesday, before it was time. So now that we're actually on the right week, let's give this another try!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huge procrastinator. So this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme, "I've been meaning to...", was difficult for me because I had too freakin' much to choose from. I've always got about a thousand things I want to put on my nails, whether it's design ideas or making a dent in my shamefully huge amount of untrieds.

But when I sat down and really thought about what I've been meaning to wear on my nails lately, one thing jumped out at me: "Dammit, Chelsea, you need to wear OPI Muppets World Tour already!" You see, I keep most of my untrieds in their own drawer but I do have a smaller group of untrieds I store in a little bin on my polish table. These are usually newer polishes or ones that I'm especially excited to wear soon. Muppets World Tour has been in this bin forever. Whenever I see it, I always think, "Oh yeah, I'll wear that next time" and then put on some other polish that's captured my attention at the moment.

So now here we are, months after both the Muppets collection and movie have come and gone and I still haven't tried on this poor polish. It's really a shame, because she's a stunner: a white quartz glitter with a rainbow of hexes and sprinklings of silver throughout. Here's two coats over a few layers of Barielle's Natural Nail Camouflage.

Isn't it gorgeous? I love that it's very delicate and soft-looking, but still has plenty of color and whimsy to it. I absolutely adore this glitter and I'm bummed I didn't wear it sooner!

What's something you've been meaning to try with your nails? I know I can't be the only procrastinator out there! ;)

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Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​