OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 - My Picks

Hello everyone! I hope you have been enjoying the holidays. My husband took the week off at the last minute and my Mom has been in town so I've been away from my blog. In fact, I still have on my manicure from Christmas Eve. I know, that doesn't sound like a big deal but it is for me. With how much I swatch, my nail polish changes daily. 

The last blog post I did, I showed you the Liquid Sands from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection (that's a mouthful). I couldn't control myself and bought all six. For the rest of the collection, I only purchased four. I'm very proud of myself. ;)

I also have the holiday collection from China Glaze and quite a few polishes from KBShimmer's Holiday collection to show you. I really wanted to get them swatched and posted before Christmas but my body did not allow me to get them finished. Then my nails broke. Woh is me. For those of you who are new and aren't aware, I have chronic pain due to a genetic issue with my spine. I have eight different diagnoses for my L-spine alone. So, I'm at the mercy of my body when it comes to getting anything done.  I'm not telling you this for pity, I just want to explain why I post inconsistently and why my darn holiday polishes aren't up yet. Grrrr. Enough about that business, let's look at the glitter. 

Oh how I love the glitter. *swoon*

OPI All Sparkly and Gold

 All Sparkly and Gold is exactly what this polish is. It's a darker shade of yellow gold which I find to be flattering on my skin tone. The formula was just right, no complaints from me! Two coats. 

 OPI My Favorite Ornament

 My Favorite Ornament is a lighter shade of yellow gold. I also like this shade with my skin tone. Gold doesn't always look good on me so I'm always happy to find one that works for me. Fabulous formula. Two coats. 

OPI Underneath the Mistletoe

There were SO many reds in this collection. If you know me personally, you're probably shocked by that complaint. I love red, it's my favorite color. My wedding colors were red and black. I have red couches and a red wall in my kitchen. There is red everywhere in my house, including in my polish collection. I try to take it easy on buying red polish because I have SO many reds! 

With that said (if you read all of that, you're awesome), Underneath the Mistletoe had to come home with me. It's a beautiful, slightly deepened shade of red with glitter. Love it. Perfect formula. Two coats. 

OPI I Snow You Love Me over Underneath the Mistletoe

I Snow You Love Me has mixed reviews on the interwebs. If you want to use this with regular brush strokes and expect nice coverage, you'll be disappointed. I use this by picking up the glitters with a toothpick (or dotting tool) and placing the pieces one by one. You can come up with a lot of designs with this polish so I happen to love it. This polish has a clear base and round holographic glitter. 

Macro of the bottle.  

I'd love to know if you picked up anything from this collection and what you think of them. Let me know in the comments below. Seriously, the comment section has been really dead lately. Drop me a comment and make me happy. =) 

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-Mira

Smokey Mountain Lacquers Holiday 2013 Collection

My favorite holiday is Christmas and I'm so excited to start showing holiday polishes this year. This collection is from Smokey Mountain Lacquers and it will be available starting Friday, November 15 from their Etsy store. 

The Smokey Mountain Lacquers Holiday 2013 Collection consists of five beautiful polishes. Three are metallics, one is a glitter topper, and one is a colorful glitter polish in a white base. The three metallic polishes (24 Karat, Silver Bells, and Holiday Pine) have a very similar formula. I'll describe the formula here to avoid repetition. They are super sheer on the first coat (I used thin coats) but they build up nicely. 24 Karat needed three coats and Silver Bells and Holiday Pine needed two coats for full coverage. Another tip is to give them a little extra time to dry in between coats and apply quickly to avoid dragging. 

I used Duri Rejuvacote for my base coat and Seche Vite top coat with all of the polishes. All pictures were taken inside under a lamp with daylight bulbs. 

Alright, let's get to the good stuff!

24 Karat

 24 Karat is a yellow gold metallic/foil polish. 

Silver Bells

Silver Bells is a silver metallic/foil polish.

Holiday Pine

Holiday Pine is a medium green metallic/foil polish. It looks like it has a touch of blue to it. It's a very beautiful shade of green that's unique to my collection.

Holiday Glitz over Holiday Pine

 

 Holiday Glitz is my favorite from the collection. It's a glitter topper with a clear base and red, green, silver, and gold square and circle glitter in various sizes. It has a pretty good glitter payoff. I needed to wipe off a little bit of clear base from the brush inside the neck of the bottle which isn't a big deal to me at all. I dabbed on two coats over Holiday Pine. Love this glitter, it's very beautiful and perfect for Christmas. 

 It's a Wrap

 It's a Wrap is a really fun and adorable glitter polish with a white creme base and red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and purple glitter in a variety of shapes and sizes. Yes, I needed to list those colors in rainbow order. I can't help myself. =) I used three thick coats to get full coverage. You can also use a white creme polish and one coat of It's a Wrap on top. I personally love the depth just using this polish by itself gives. The white base doesn't completely swallow up the glitter so you can see the glitter from different layers peeking through. Most whites are a little tricky to work with. They are notorious for not self leveling very well but my top coat smoothed this polish completely out. If you like glitter polishes in a white base, you'll love this. I think it's adorable and love that it can be worn any time of the year.

Don't you think these polishes are perfect for the holiday season? This collection will be available starting tomorrow (Friday, November 15) at Smokey Mountain Lacquers' Etsy store. To stay up to date with this brand, like their Facebook page!

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe or visit me on my Facebook page.
I'm also on Instagram, Twitter, and Pinterest.

-Mira

*The products in this post were provided for my honest review.