OPI Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 Collection Liquid Sands

Don't forget to enter the Hobby Polish Bloggers' Winter Giveaway! 

As you probably know, OPI released a massive holiday collection this year. 18 polishes! Yikes! I purchased these myself so I couldn't justify buying all 18. A large portion of my polish collection is red so I definitely couldn't justify getting all of the reds as tempting as they were. As I stood in Ulta drooling over the display, I had to keep telling myself that I probably had a dupe of most of the reds at home. It was not easy but I kept myself under control. Sort of...

I couldn't stop myself from buying all six of the Liquid Sand shades. I am obsessed with textured polish (as long as they have glitter) and there was no way I could pass these up. I thought I'd show you my swatches of the Liquid Sands first. Then I'll show you what I picked from the rest of the collection. Are you ready for some glitter?

OPI Baby Please Come Home

 

Baby Please Come Home is my favorite from the bunch. It's a dusty metallic purple that can lean more silver in certain lights. Two coats.

I thought this was a really cool picture. It doesn't look like this in real life but for some reason my camera had trouble separating (or blending) the purple and silver. 

OPI Emotions

Emotions is a black polish with black glitter. Three coats. 

 OPI It's Frosty Outside

It's Frosty Outside is a silver polish with silver glitter. Two coats.

 OPI Kiss Me At Midnight

Kiss Me At Midnight is a bright blue polish with glitter. Another favorite from the collection. Two coats.

OPI Make Him Mine

Make Him Mine is a dusty rosy pink polish with silver glitter. Two coats.

OPI Silent Stars Go By

Silent Stars Go By is a lighter version of Make Him Mine. They are so close, I'm not sure why they're in the same collection. I still like them both but I have polish issues. Two coats. 

I hope the textured polish trend sticks around because I can't get enough! OPI and Zoya make the best textured polishes in my opinion. Have I already said that? 

I hope you enjoyed my swatches! 

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-Mira

NOPI Gumdrops

My obsession with textured nail polish is still going strong and I've recently added Nicole by OPI's Gumdrops Collection to my stash. I almost didn't get it because of how many textured polishes I already have but then I walked into Ulta and you can figure out the rest.

My Cherry Amour

Let's start with my favorite from the collection. A beautiful pinkish red, this polish is full of micro holographic glitter making it extra special. This is two thin coats.

Here is it is with a coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat.

Cinna-Man of My Dreams

This shade is so unique, it looks like a deepened rose with brown tones. This is two thin coats.

With one coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat, the rich rosey tone is more enhanced.

Candy is Dandy

A bubble gum pink with silver glitter, Candy is Dandy is girlish and playful. This is two thin coats.

I love it even more with top coat.

Blueberry Sweet On You

 This is a fun light blue that only needs two thin coats.

With top coat, the blue deepens and becomes more rich and beautiful.

I Lilac Gumdrops

This beautiful lavender is a little more sheer than the others. I used three thin coats making sure to give plenty of time for each coat to dry.

It's beautiful with and without top coat. I can't decide which way I love it the most.

A-nise Treat

A basic black textured polish, it lightens a bit when it dries making it look like a dark grey. I used two thin coats.

Here it is with one coat of Cult Nails Wicked Fast top coat. 

As you can see, I have been having a hard time with my nails breaking lately. They just don't know if they want to be long or short. They definitely don't want to be squared but that's a battle I'm willing to fight for now. 

Have any favorites?

Thanks for reading!

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

-Mira

Julie G Frosted Gumdrops Collection

A while back there was a Groupon deal on the Julie G Frosted Gumdrops collection. I can't remember the exact price but it was really cheap. Despite the fact that I already have plenty of textured nail polishes, I couldn't resist the great deal. These are my first Julie G polishes and I was impressed with the quality. I'm curious about how the regular polishes are from this line now. Have you tried Julie G, what do you think about this brand? Any must haves? 

The Frosted Gumdrops Collection has six textured nail polishes. They all have glitter but three have a fine glitter and the other three have larger pieces of glitter mixed in. The formulas were all very easy to work with. I used two regular coats of polish for each color. I took pictures with and without top coat. The top coat I used was Cult Nails Wicked Fast (two coats). It's very important that you allow each coat to dry. Textured polishes take a little more time to dry than regular polish. 

Julie G Hot Cinnamon

Hot Cinnamon is a bright red polish with orange shimmer. 

Top Coat 

Julie G Sugar Rush 

Sugar Rush is a red/orange polish with golden shimmer. 

Top Coat

Julie G Tangerine Dream

Tangerine Dream is an orange polish with golden shimmer.

Top Coat

Julie G Blueberry Fizz

 Blueberry Fizz is a light blue polish with small silver glitter. 

Top Coat

Julie G Rock Candy

Rock Candy is a teal polish with small silver glitter.

Top Coat

Julie G Crushed Candy

Crushed Candy is a light purple/pink polish with small silver glitter. 

Top Coat

It's so hard to pick a favorite from this collection! If I had to it would be Hot Cinnamon or Crushed Candy. Which polishes are your favorite? Did you get this set with the Groupon deal, too? Let me know what you think in the comment section below. Your comments make my day! 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page.

I'm also on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

-Mira

Zoya Chyna

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Zoya Aurora, Blaze, and Storm!

Zoya Chyna was made just for me just in case you weren't aware. They already had a Mira so they picked a different name. J/k I saved Chyna for last because it's my favorite. I was very lucky to have swatched this on a sunny day so I was able to take pictures outside. I want to take all of my pictures outside but there is this thing called Winter that makes it miserable to do so. 

I took 97 pictures of this polish. I love red, glitter, and Zoya what can I say!?

Without Top Coat (Outside/Direct Sunlight)

Chyna is a deep red that's full of silver shimmery goodness and Zoya's magical texture particles. 

 I thought that this didn't have the silver glitter because I couldn't see it in the bottle or on the nail. When I removed it, I saw it. 

The formula was the best out of the whole collection. I almost only needed one coat. One coat!! I had a tiny bit of patchiness that required a second coat. It applied smoothly but still needed extra dry time. 

Without Top Coat (Inside/Light Box)

 

I love how the bottle looks in this picture. 

With Top Coat (Outside/Direct Sunlight)

I can't decide if I like Chyna better with or without top coat. What do you think?

I used two coats of Seche Vite to make it smooth and glossy. 

 I love this picture.

 *drool*

That concludes Zoya PixieDust Week! Which polish is your favorite? 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Products provided for review. 

Zoya Godiva

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Zoya Aurora, Blaze, and Storm!

I have a hard time finding neutral or nude polishes that look good with my skin tone. I'm just so darn pale! I know, I know I should go outside more or go to a tanning bed. Even if I did, it wouldn't help. I'm either super pale or super red. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that I like how Zoya Godiva looks against my skin tone. You're probably looking at my pictures and thinking, "girl you have lobster hands" or something close to that. =) Someday I'll master my camera but that day just hasn't come yet. I took almost 100 pictures with different settings and lighting and Godiva just wanted to photograph more brown and yellowy than it really is. 

 It's much lighter than this picture shows. 

This picture is the closest one to it's real color. 

It's more like this. =) 

 

Here it is in the wrong color with two coats of Cult Nails Wicked Fast Top Coat.

Godiva is a beautiful, creamy, and sparkly polish. 

I adore it.

Let's talk formula. Godiva is a bit thin and sheer so wipe off your brush to avoid flooding your cuticles. I used four thin coats. I really only needed three but for my macro lens I used three to avoid having VNL (visible nail line) in my pictures. 

Just like the other PixieDusts, it needs extra dry time and is very easy to remove.

Tomorrow, I'm showing you the last polish from this collection. It's also my favorite. 

Thanks for reading!

-Mira

Zoya Vespa

Don't forget to enter my giveaway for Zoya Aurora, Blaze, and Storm! 

Welcome back to Zoya PixieDust week! Have you tried these yet? I'm curious about how many of you are into the textured nail polish trend. I've said before that I thought I'd hate textured polish but was pleasantly surprised once I put them on my nails. They aren't too gritty or rough, I'm digging it! 

Today, I have Zoya Vespa to show you. I can't decide if it's a minty green or sage. I think it's somewhere in between. It has beautiful silver glitter and the sugary texture just like the others. I wish my pictures showed how much these sparkle in person. I was pretty surprised with how sparkly they are. Just trust me, they are fabulous! 

Without Top Coat

Like Nyx, Vespa's formula is on the sheer side. Wipe your brush off before applying to avoid flooding your cuticles. I used three thin coats giving plenty of dry time in between to avoid dragging.

 Vespa brought out the redness in my skin a little. I love the color I just wish it got along with my skin tone. Maybe I should just get a little sun. =)

With Top Coat

It's just as gorgeous with top coat. I used two coats of Seche Vite to make it glossy and smooth. 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!

-Mira

*Products provided for review.