Showing posts with label green. Show all posts
Showing posts with label green. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 6, 2011

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent their Beyond the Mistletoe Collection for review, and I'm wearing the namesake of the collection today.

Beyond the Mistletoe is a very pale, barely green medium-fine glitter that's loaded up with some really exceptional holographic glitter.  The base is clear and the glitter provides full coverage in just two coats.  I applied it late last night, and since the glitter's pretty fine I'd hoped the one coat of Essie Good to Go I'd used to dry it would be enough, but this morning it was totally dull and felt like sand.  I kept adding one coat of top coat as I sat here doing other things, and at five coats of top coat, it's smooth.  That's a lot, but not terribly high maintenance since adding each coat to a dry manicure takes about one minute and dries really fast, and the finished manicure is totally worth it.

It's cloudy (and snowing!) here today, so the pictures are just a hint at the glitter - it's really blazing, and I have yet to see a picture of it that really shows just how cool the polish is.  I'll toss my own inadequate representations onto the pile and give you my cloudy-day pics of Beyond the Mistletoe.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe
Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this picture because the middle of the polish bottle gives you a glimpse of how this really looks on all nails - the bright colors reflected show up well even in indoor lighting.  Here is a closer look at part of one nail so you can see the glitter a little better.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish Glitter
Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Closer Look at Two Coats

A polish that looks like this under a cloudy, snowy sky is a winner in my book.  I've already chosen another from this collection to wear when I present this project I'm working on - I figure even if I completely bomb, I have a solid shot at mesmerizing them all with my mani and no one will notice!

That's Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe and the first of the collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Color Club sent their Beyond the Mistletoe Collection for review, and I'm wearing the namesake of the collection today.

Beyond the Mistletoe is a very pale, barely green medium-fine glitter that's loaded up with some really exceptional holographic glitter.  The base is clear and the glitter provides full coverage in just two coats.  I applied it late last night, and since the glitter's pretty fine I'd hoped the one coat of Essie Good to Go I'd used to dry it would be enough, but this morning it was totally dull and felt like sand.  I kept adding one coat of top coat as I sat here doing other things, and at five coats of top coat, it's smooth.  That's a lot, but not terribly high maintenance since adding each coat to a dry manicure takes about one minute and dries really fast, and the finished manicure is totally worth it.

It's cloudy (and snowing!) here today, so the pictures are just a hint at the glitter - it's really blazing, and I have yet to see a picture of it that really shows just how cool the polish is.  I'll toss my own inadequate representations onto the pile and give you my cloudy-day pics of Beyond the Mistletoe.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe
Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

I chose this picture because the middle of the polish bottle gives you a glimpse of how this really looks on all nails - the bright colors reflected show up well even in indoor lighting.  Here is a closer look at part of one nail so you can see the glitter a little better.

Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish Glitter
Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe Nail Polish, Closer Look at Two Coats

A polish that looks like this under a cloudy, snowy sky is a winner in my book.  I've already chosen another from this collection to wear when I present this project I'm working on - I figure even if I completely bomb, I have a solid shot at mesmerizing them all with my mani and no one will notice!

That's Color Club Beyond the Mistletoe and the first of the collection, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Wednesday, November 30, 2011

Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Last night I had to do a quickie gel and color change, and the polish I used was Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection.  It's a light green foil, very well pigmented (two coats was plenty), and it smells like a mistletoe scented candle.  I've had it on for close to twenty-four hours, and it's worth noting that the fragrance is pretty much gone while the others I've tried from this collection have stayed pleasantly scented for a couple of days.

I was dreading changing the soak-off gel base I've had for a little over a week because I initially applied it to repair two cracks, and I really hate doing repairs.  I took a short nap yesterday and in that weird half-asleep state waking up, saw a teeny edge of gel lifted from a nail, decided I'd change it when I got home late, and peeled off a big piece.  I have no idea why it would make sense to do the last part, but evidently it did.  On this gel application, I violated all manufacturers' suggestions and didn't do any of the prep (buffing, primer, bonder) to see if it would hold and make the removal easier.  It turned out to be a good but inconvenient decision - when I was washing my hair to go out last night, I kept feeling that peeled edge snag, so once I was done with my hair I peeled it again, and the soak off gel and polish peeled off just like a regular manicure will in the pool after you've been swimming for a couple of hours.

When the that one came off completely, I started trying to get the others to do the same while still under the super hot shower, and it worked surprisingly easily - I scraped a corner of each nail with the opposite thumbnail to get an edge to come up, and once the edge lifted I could peel it right off with ease.  So that made for one of the easiest removals of anything I've ever had, but had to be somewhere shortly and suddenly had bare nails.  With the cold, they'd break right away while bare, so I went with drip-dry hair and no makeup in order to at least get some gel on them.  I felt like I was in one of those Lee nail repair kit commercials from the 80's.

Re-doing the glue on the cracks then applying and curing the Gelicure base and sealer took only twenty minutes, so I figured I'd get the polish on and be done with it.  I used two coats of Kiss Me Mistletoe and one of Essie Good to Go, and it dried fast and smelled really good.  I'm a little sad that the smell is gone, because I kept finding myself sniffing it!  I took a picture just a bit ago in the last afternoon sunlight.

Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe
Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

Even without the fragrance, Kiss Me Mistletoe is a pretty polish - I'd wear this one even if it were not scented.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

Last night I had to do a quickie gel and color change, and the polish I used was Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe from their Scent-suous Holiday Collection.  It's a light green foil, very well pigmented (two coats was plenty), and it smells like a mistletoe scented candle.  I've had it on for close to twenty-four hours, and it's worth noting that the fragrance is pretty much gone while the others I've tried from this collection have stayed pleasantly scented for a couple of days.

I was dreading changing the soak-off gel base I've had for a little over a week because I initially applied it to repair two cracks, and I really hate doing repairs.  I took a short nap yesterday and in that weird half-asleep state waking up, saw a teeny edge of gel lifted from a nail, decided I'd change it when I got home late, and peeled off a big piece.  I have no idea why it would make sense to do the last part, but evidently it did.  On this gel application, I violated all manufacturers' suggestions and didn't do any of the prep (buffing, primer, bonder) to see if it would hold and make the removal easier.  It turned out to be a good but inconvenient decision - when I was washing my hair to go out last night, I kept feeling that peeled edge snag, so once I was done with my hair I peeled it again, and the soak off gel and polish peeled off just like a regular manicure will in the pool after you've been swimming for a couple of hours.

When the that one came off completely, I started trying to get the others to do the same while still under the super hot shower, and it worked surprisingly easily - I scraped a corner of each nail with the opposite thumbnail to get an edge to come up, and once the edge lifted I could peel it right off with ease.  So that made for one of the easiest removals of anything I've ever had, but had to be somewhere shortly and suddenly had bare nails.  With the cold, they'd break right away while bare, so I went with drip-dry hair and no makeup in order to at least get some gel on them.  I felt like I was in one of those Lee nail repair kit commercials from the 80's.

Re-doing the glue on the cracks then applying and curing the Gelicure base and sealer took only twenty minutes, so I figured I'd get the polish on and be done with it.  I used two coats of Kiss Me Mistletoe and one of Essie Good to Go, and it dried fast and smelled really good.  I'm a little sad that the smell is gone, because I kept finding myself sniffing it!  I took a picture just a bit ago in the last afternoon sunlight.

Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe
Color Club Kiss Me Mistletoe Nail Polish, Two Coats

Even without the fragrance, Kiss Me Mistletoe is a pretty polish - I'd wear this one even if it were not scented.

That's what I have for you today, Dear Reader, so until next time, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Saturday, November 12, 2011

In the Army...

I'm going to a birthday tonight and there is a dress up theme - 'army'. I'm not one for spending money on fancy dress costumes that I'll never wear again so I'm going in khaki clothing and mud/face paint, hopefully I'll look convincing! 

Fancy dress is always such a great opportunity for me to create some fun and original nail art so I painted my nails in a camouflage pattern to match the theme!


I used MUA Shade 23 as a base. To get the camo effect, I painted on random patches using BYS Fern, Barry M Mushroom and W7 Black. The insignia was created with black acrylic paint and Barry M Gold Foil.




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Saturday, November 5, 2011

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Color Club Sugar Plum Yum from the Sally Beauty Supply exclusive Color Club Scent-suous Holiday Collection I showed you bottle pictures of.  It's the purple and green glitter, and I did find the glitter hard to work worth but well worth the effort.

I didn't want to load up on tons of coats of glitter, so for the manicure I started with a Nutra Nail base coat and two coats of OPI Grape Set Match as a base color.   I gave each coat a couple of minutes to set, then added two coats of Sugar Plum Yum.  It's really gloppy andI found the best way for me to cover each nail was to scoop out a big blob with the brush, plop it down in the middle of a nail, then spread it from there.  The glitter is pretty dang big, so I knew I'd need a good bit of top coat.  I use SpaRitual Tout de Suite to dry it, and after about 15 minutes added a second coat of it.  I switched to Sally Hansen Speed Shine after that and have added a total of three additional coats of top coat.  It's still not perfectly smooth, but since I'll probably have to rent a sandblaster to remove it at this point, it's as smooth as it's getting.  What's cool is that the sugar plum fragrance is still there - it has a really nice scent, like a sugar plum scented candle rather than an artificial flavoring smell.  Like with the Color Club scented  neons, it's not overpowering at all, I just catch the occasional whiff (well, and I keep sniffing it, too!). Aside from the smell of it, I love the finished mani just for how it looks.

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum
Color Club Sugar Plum Yum Scented Nail Polish, Two Coats over Purple

I'll likely wear this until at least tomorrow night because I'm still working on the arduous project I mentioned, so it works out well that I like it so much.  It's a high maintenance polish, but the payoff definitely makes it worth the extra effort for me.

That's my tale of Color Club Sugar Plum Yum, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a note on removal: I knew this one would have to soak off.  Six minutes with acetone-soaked felt held on with plastic baggies and rubber bands made it painless, like completely not a hassle, and it contained all the glitter so there wasn't a mess.  It's now officially two well-manicured thumbs up for Sugar Plum Yum!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Today I'm wearing Color Club Sugar Plum Yum from the Sally Beauty Supply exclusive Color Club Scent-suous Holiday Collection I showed you bottle pictures of.  It's the purple and green glitter, and I did find the glitter hard to work worth but well worth the effort.

I didn't want to load up on tons of coats of glitter, so for the manicure I started with a Nutra Nail base coat and two coats of OPI Grape Set Match as a base color.   I gave each coat a couple of minutes to set, then added two coats of Sugar Plum Yum.  It's really gloppy andI found the best way for me to cover each nail was to scoop out a big blob with the brush, plop it down in the middle of a nail, then spread it from there.  The glitter is pretty dang big, so I knew I'd need a good bit of top coat.  I use SpaRitual Tout de Suite to dry it, and after about 15 minutes added a second coat of it.  I switched to Sally Hansen Speed Shine after that and have added a total of three additional coats of top coat.  It's still not perfectly smooth, but since I'll probably have to rent a sandblaster to remove it at this point, it's as smooth as it's getting.  What's cool is that the sugar plum fragrance is still there - it has a really nice scent, like a sugar plum scented candle rather than an artificial flavoring smell.  Like with the Color Club scented  neons, it's not overpowering at all, I just catch the occasional whiff (well, and I keep sniffing it, too!). Aside from the smell of it, I love the finished mani just for how it looks.

Color Club Sugar Plum Yum
Color Club Sugar Plum Yum Scented Nail Polish, Two Coats over Purple

I'll likely wear this until at least tomorrow night because I'm still working on the arduous project I mentioned, so it works out well that I like it so much.  It's a high maintenance polish, but the payoff definitely makes it worth the extra effort for me.

That's my tale of Color Club Sugar Plum Yum, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a note on removal: I knew this one would have to soak off.  Six minutes with acetone-soaked felt held on with plastic baggies and rubber bands made it painless, like completely not a hassle, and it contained all the glitter so there wasn't a mess.  It's now officially two well-manicured thumbs up for Sugar Plum Yum!

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Thursday, October 27, 2011

Day 18: Half Moons

Sorry today's post is a little later than usual, it's been a very busy and fun few days for me. 
I'm loving this blue/green polish that I picked up in the pharmacy for 99p! It's one of those shades that's stuck right between blue and green so it's been a hot topic of debate today. What do you think?

Don't forget to check out Cristina and Rie's half-moons too!


Rimmel Purple Reign
Kriston 52
Gosh Metallic Blue




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Wednesday, October 26, 2011

Zoya Gems and Jewels Swatches

Good evening, Dear Reader!

What I have on tap for you tonight is swatches of Zoya's Holiday 2011 release, the Gems and Jewels Collection, which Zoya sent for review.  It's six polishes total, three shimmers and three glitters (which they call "glitter glazes"), and although Zoya suggests various layering options, I figured I'd show you swatches of each of the six at two coats so you have an idea of what each looks like before getting into any layering.  I used artificial light for today's pictures because there's no sunlight, which is never my favorite but sometimes shows glitters a little better by not washing them out.

I'll start with glitters, and with generalities about all three in the collection.  They're all a clear base with colored glitter of two types, powdery-fine regular glitter and particularly small bar (stringy) glitter.  I'm really picky about bar glitter, and this is a good one because it is so small - there are no giant stringy bits anywhere.  All three provided good coverage at two coats, and with glitters like this I use slow brush strokes on the first coat to avoid essentially wiping off all the glitter as I go.  Since these are swatches and I have not worn any as a full manicure, I don't know how much top coat they'll need, but it doesn't seem like it would be a lot with how fine the glitter is.  The dry time looks promising as well, and I'll let you know for sure when I wear them.

Kissy might be my favorite of all here.  It's a kind of fuchsia bright pink glitter with holo-y bar glitter.

Zoya Kissy Nail Polish
Zoya Kissy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Twila is a striking vivid blue glitter with matching bar glitter.

Zoya Twila
Zoya Twila Nail Polish, Two Coats

Rina is a bright evergreen glitter with matching-but-reflective bar glitter.

Zoya Rina
Zoya Rina Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think these are great holiday glitters - they bring to mind throwing glitter and streamers at a party.  I don't think they'll be of the sandblaster removal variety either, because of how fine the glitter is - I find that the size of glitter tends to make a pretty big difference in how tough it is to take off, but again, I'll confirm that after I wear one for real.

That brings us to the three shimmers, which are also quite good.  All three were completely opaque and even in two coats, were super easy to apply, and they're full of the kind of shimmer I expect Zoyas to have, where it's strong but not too out there.

Noel is a good kind of silvery blue.

Zoya Noel
Zoya Noel Nail Polish, Two Coats

Holly is the epitome of a holiday green.

Zoya Holly
Zoya Holly Nail Polish, Two Coats

Izzy is a hot pink glowy shimmer.  I'm kind of hoping bright pink takes off as a permanent holiday color (in general, not just for nail polish!).

Zoya Izzy
Zoya Izzy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like each one of these quite a bit individually, and all together I think they make a very cool holiday collection.  If there's only one in your budget, my vote goes for Kissy - it's a New Year's Eve party in a bottle!

Those are my Zoya Gems and Jewels swatches and all I have for you today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Zoya Gems and Jewels Swatches

Good evening, Dear Reader!

What I have on tap for you tonight is swatches of Zoya's Holiday 2011 release, the Gems and Jewels Collection, which Zoya sent for review.  It's six polishes total, three shimmers and three glitters (which they call "glitter glazes"), and although Zoya suggests various layering options, I figured I'd show you swatches of each of the six at two coats so you have an idea of what each looks like before getting into any layering.  I used artificial light for today's pictures because there's no sunlight, which is never my favorite but sometimes shows glitters a little better by not washing them out.

I'll start with glitters, and with generalities about all three in the collection.  They're all a clear base with colored glitter of two types, powdery-fine regular glitter and particularly small bar (stringy) glitter.  I'm really picky about bar glitter, and this is a good one because it is so small - there are no giant stringy bits anywhere.  All three provided good coverage at two coats, and with glitters like this I use slow brush strokes on the first coat to avoid essentially wiping off all the glitter as I go.  Since these are swatches and I have not worn any as a full manicure, I don't know how much top coat they'll need, but it doesn't seem like it would be a lot with how fine the glitter is.  The dry time looks promising as well, and I'll let you know for sure when I wear them.

Kissy might be my favorite of all here.  It's a kind of fuchsia bright pink glitter with holo-y bar glitter.

Zoya Kissy Nail Polish
Zoya Kissy Nail Polish, Two Coats

Twila is a striking vivid blue glitter with matching bar glitter.

Zoya Twila
Zoya Twila Nail Polish, Two Coats

Rina is a bright evergreen glitter with matching-but-reflective bar glitter.

Zoya Rina
Zoya Rina Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think these are great holiday glitters - they bring to mind throwing glitter and streamers at a party.  I don't think they'll be of the sandblaster removal variety either, because of how fine the glitter is - I find that the size of glitter tends to make a pretty big difference in how tough it is to take off, but again, I'll confirm that after I wear one for real.

That brings us to the three shimmers, which are also quite good.  All three were completely opaque and even in two coats, were super easy to apply, and they're full of the kind of shimmer I expect Zoyas to have, where it's strong but not too out there.

Noel is a good kind of silvery blue.

Zoya Noel
Zoya Noel Nail Polish, Two Coats

Holly is the epitome of a holiday green.

Zoya Holly
Zoya Holly Nail Polish, Two Coats

Izzy is a hot pink glowy shimmer.  I'm kind of hoping bright pink takes off as a permanent holiday color (in general, not just for nail polish!).

Zoya Izzy
Zoya Izzy Nail Polish, Two Coats

I really like each one of these quite a bit individually, and all together I think they make a very cool holiday collection.  If there's only one in your budget, my vote goes for Kissy - it's a New Year's Eve party in a bottle!

Those are my Zoya Gems and Jewels swatches and all I have for you today, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Day 16: Tribal Print

I've been dreading this day for a while. I love tribal nail art but had no idea how to come up with a decent design myself, however, once I forced myself to sit down and actually do it, the ideas just kept coming and I am completely in love with this design!

The black detail is all created with acrylic paint which has allowed me to get the crisp lines that I know I couldn't have achieved by using black nail polish. At the moment I only have black and white acrylic paint but I think I'm going to have to look out for some more cheap pots in a better range of colours.

You should go and see what Rie and Cristina came up with today too!



Base colour: MUA Shade 23
Black acrylic paint
Barry M Cyan Blue
Barry M Limited Edition Red for Buzz
Top Coat of NYC






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Friday, October 21, 2011

FingerPaints Holiday 2011 Swatches

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This afternoon I have swatches of the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Collection, their Holiday 2011 release.  The collection consists of six polishes, three glitters and three shimmers, and the pictures of all six are in sunlight and without top coat on the first five (the last one is the post-swatching manicure).  I'll start with the glitters...

Each of these is super fine glitter in a clear base, the powdery fine kind of glitter.  I used three coats in each of the swatches for complete coverage, and since they are swatches rather than dried manicures, I don't know how much top coat they require.  However, since the glitter is unusually fine, I doubt more than two could be necessary.  I'll tell you for sure when I wear one as a manicure.

Drummer Boy is a bright blue glitter, a really nice holiday shade of blue. Three coats gives the completely encrusted in glitter look.

FingerPaints Drummer Boy
FingerPaints Drummer Boy Nail Polish, Three Coats

Santa Kisses is the red of those metallic looking overly fragile glass ball tree ornaments, the good ones from long ago that would shatter into a zillion shards if someone looked in their general direction.  It screams Christmas to me.

FingerPaints Santa Kisses
FingerPaints Santa Kisses Nail Polish, Three Coats

The last is a tinsel-y silver, Frosty Night, and it could likely use a fourth coat to be totally opaque.

FingerPaints Frosty Night
FingerPaints Frosty Night Nail Polish, Three Coats

Those are the three glitters.  For the three shimmers, I used only two coats each.  Yule Be Merry is a pinkish red with a really interesting glowy shimmer.  The color strikes me as a happy one that's still good for winter.

FingerPaints Yule Be Merry
FingerPaints Yule Be Merry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Comet's Collar is the green, and it has my favorite name.  The shade of green is kind of a pale holly shade, but the really cool element of Comet's Collar is the shimmer - there are multicolored sparkle bits in it that just make it really fun to look at.

FingerPaints Comet's Collar
FingerPaints Comet's Collar Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Winter Sky, and it's the one I did a full manicure with.  It's a vivid deep sky blue with an almost-secret shimmer.  One coat of Winter Sky was totally opaque and even, I added a second because it's the one I'm wearing.

FingerPaints Winter Sky
FingerPaints Winter Sky Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think FingerPaints holiday collections are the ones I most anticipate, and this one did not disappoint me at all.  Each of the shimmers is really well done, and the super fine glitter in the glitters makes them apply and build well.  I think Comet's Collar is my top pick of this collection simply because its shimmer is so outstanding, but I couldn't wait to wear Winter Sky either.

Those are my FingerPaints Merry & Bright swatches, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a link to the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Promo Image & availability info and a removal note: When I took off Winter Sky, the skin on my hands stained teal (no nail staining, just the skin upon removal).  Tom's of Maine whitening toothpaste and an extra soft bristled toothbrush took all of it off easily.  I panicked at the sight of teal hands, you don't have to - just use toothpaste and it'll come right off.

Products were sent for independent review.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.

FingerPaints Holiday 2011 Swatches

Good afternoon, Dear Reader!

This afternoon I have swatches of the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Collection, their Holiday 2011 release.  The collection consists of six polishes, three glitters and three shimmers, and the pictures of all six are in sunlight and without top coat on the first five (the last one is the post-swatching manicure).  I'll start with the glitters...

Each of these is super fine glitter in a clear base, the powdery fine kind of glitter.  I used three coats in each of the swatches for complete coverage, and since they are swatches rather than dried manicures, I don't know how much top coat they require.  However, since the glitter is unusually fine, I doubt more than two could be necessary.  I'll tell you for sure when I wear one as a manicure.

Drummer Boy is a bright blue glitter, a really nice holiday shade of blue. Three coats gives the completely encrusted in glitter look.

FingerPaints Drummer Boy
FingerPaints Drummer Boy Nail Polish, Three Coats

Santa Kisses is the red of those metallic looking overly fragile glass ball tree ornaments, the good ones from long ago that would shatter into a zillion shards if someone looked in their general direction.  It screams Christmas to me.

FingerPaints Santa Kisses
FingerPaints Santa Kisses Nail Polish, Three Coats

The last is a tinsel-y silver, Frosty Night, and it could likely use a fourth coat to be totally opaque.

FingerPaints Frosty Night
FingerPaints Frosty Night Nail Polish, Three Coats

Those are the three glitters.  For the three shimmers, I used only two coats each.  Yule Be Merry is a pinkish red with a really interesting glowy shimmer.  The color strikes me as a happy one that's still good for winter.

FingerPaints Yule Be Merry
FingerPaints Yule Be Merry Nail Polish, Two Coats

Comet's Collar is the green, and it has my favorite name.  The shade of green is kind of a pale holly shade, but the really cool element of Comet's Collar is the shimmer - there are multicolored sparkle bits in it that just make it really fun to look at.

FingerPaints Comet's Collar
FingerPaints Comet's Collar Nail Polish, Two Coats

The last is Winter Sky, and it's the one I did a full manicure with.  It's a vivid deep sky blue with an almost-secret shimmer.  One coat of Winter Sky was totally opaque and even, I added a second because it's the one I'm wearing.

FingerPaints Winter Sky
FingerPaints Winter Sky Nail Polish, Two Coats

I think FingerPaints holiday collections are the ones I most anticipate, and this one did not disappoint me at all.  Each of the shimmers is really well done, and the super fine glitter in the glitters makes them apply and build well.  I think Comet's Collar is my top pick of this collection simply because its shimmer is so outstanding, but I couldn't wait to wear Winter Sky either.

Those are my FingerPaints Merry & Bright swatches, so until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!



Edited to add a link to the FingerPaints Merry & Bright Promo Image & availability info and a removal note: When I took off Winter Sky, the skin on my hands stained teal (no nail staining, just the skin upon removal).  Tom's of Maine whitening toothpaste and an extra soft bristled toothbrush took all of it off easily.  I panicked at the sight of teal hands, you don't have to - just use toothpaste and it'll come right off.

Products were sent for independent review.

All Rights Reserved, Siobhan@The Nailphile. If you're reading this elsewhere, it's stolen from a real nail polish blog.