China Glaze Holiday 2013 HoliGlaze Collection Swatches "The Glitters": Be Merry, Be Bright and Your Present Required

China Glaze Be Merry, Be Bright (2 coats) over China Glaze Fade Into Hue (to be reviewed later)

China Glaze Your Present Required (2 coats) over Super Black Lacquers Guilty

You only have 10 hours before my giveaway ends! Definitely sign up because you still have a good chance of winning these 12 polishes. Good luck! 

I have the final 2 polishes from the HoliGlaze collection and they are both glitter toppers. They don't seem very "holiday-like" to me, so I guess they are supposed to be more for New Year's Eve. First is Be Merry, Be Bright which is a blue/purple and magenta glitter mix that doesn't seem very unique to me. It's fine, but nothing great. Your Present Required is much more exciting and is a multi-colored hexagonal glitter mix. I do wish they had other shapes in there, but beggars can't be choosers. Out of the 2, I would recommend Your Present Required. Both are fairly dense with glitter, but could be better. I used 2 coats so you could really get a sense of the glitters in the polishes. 

Overall, the collection was pretty good. I remember when China Glaze was the brand to go to for the holidays (remember Party Hearty which is still being duped?) and they seem to be going downhill a little bit. Their autumn collection was terrible, and now the holiday collection was "pretty good." I hope they revamp things in 2014 and really blow us away. 

China Glaze Holiday 2013 HoliGlaze Collection Swatches: Mingle With Kringle and There's Snow One Like You

Mingle With Kringle (2 coats)

China Glaze There's Snow One Like You (2 coats)

The HoliGlaze collection is coming to a close soon and up first is Mingle With Kringle (love the name) and it's a deep gold with dark gold flakes throughout. The flakes are a bit hard to see, but they're there. Since it is a darker gold color, I like it better than the lighter ones since the lighter ones can clash with my skintone. The formula was a bit on the thin side, but nothing too difficult in 2 coats. 

And now we're on to There's Snow One Like You. If you thought Essie's Belugaria was bad, then you hadn't seen There's Snow One Like You. I like Belugaria so much better than this one. Both were hard to apply, but there was some depth added with the holographic glitter in Belugaria. China Glaze's version is white glitter in an extremely thick textured base. I really couldn't control where the polish was going to be honest. The texture and glitter was also sharp to the touch, so I took it off right after I swatched it. I usually like to give every polish a full day to be able to review it, but there's no way I could stand this. It's too bad because a white textured polish is novel. I would definitely skip this one. 

China Glaze Holiday 2013 HoliGlaze Collection "The Microglitters": All Wrapped Up, Put a Bow On It, and This is Tree-mendous

Woot, it's the weekend! Anyone ramping up for a New Year's Eve party this year? I'm getting some glitter polishes ready to show, so get ready. We never do anything, so I'm getting my sparkling pear juice ready for a nice night in :) Anyway, I have the 3 microglitter polishes from the HoliGlaze collection to show today, and they all needed 3 heavy coats for full coverage. You may be able to use these as a glitter topcoat, but I think these are fine on their own. I'm also happy to report that they aren't too thick, and the glitter doesn't pull away from the ends of the nail. They are a hassle to remove, so the foil removal may be necessary. 

China Glaze All Wrapped Up (3 coats)

All Wrapped Up is a blurple microglitter in a clear base. All of these dry to a semi-matte finish, so topcoat is necessary. 

China Glaze Put a Bow On It (3 coats)

Put a Bow On It is a fuchsia microglitter. Some particles are pink and some are a darker purple, so it adds depth to the polish. I really like this one.

China Glaze This is Tree-mendous (3 coats)

Tree-mendous may be the least unique, but is a classic green and gold microglitter polish. Nothing goes better together than gold and green around the holiday times. 

Overall, I'm really impressed with these polishes. I thought they were going to be sheerer than they are, so I was happy to see they were opaque with 3 coats. Anything more than that, and you're asking for trouble with glitters (glooping up, etc.). 

China Glaze Holiday 2013 HoliGlaze Collection "The Reds": Elfin' Around, Just Be-Claws, and Santa Red My List

Don't forget, my giveaway is still going on for 4 days, and there are only 101 entries. In other words, you have a good chance of winning all 12 polishes. Please sign up now! Happy Belated Christmas to my American readers! I hope you had a great one; I ate a lot and was very spoiled with presents I don't deserve. It's nice to have my parents and mother-in-law here since they live so far away from each other. I did get some bad news on Christmas Eve though; my uncle died and my softball coach from when I was 6-10 years old died :-( One was surprising and one was sudden, but both are sad. 

On a brighter note, China Glaze gave us 3 variations of red for their holiday collection (unlike OPI which released 6 reds, I believe) and they are actually pretty different. All of them had great formula, but you should be wary of staining, so be careful removing the polish around the cuticles and sides of the nails. 

China Glaze Elfin' Around (2 coats)

Elfin' Around is a red foil with hints of orange in it. It's hard to tell the orange when you put it against all the other reds I show here, but it's definitely there and is my favorite of the 3. 

China Glaze Just Be-Claws (2 coats)

Just Be-Claws is your usual Christmas red shimmer; it's pretty, but quite pedestrian. My apologies for the last picture. I didn't notice that it was a little blurry and only took 1 picture. Oops!

China Glaze Santa Red My List (2 coats)

Santa Red My List is a red metallic foil with lots of pink or burgundy undertones. As you can see, this one is distinctive and is second on my list.

Overall, I'm glad China Glaze only gave us 3 reds, and these reds are all different from each other. Reds are usually my least favorite color, but I can't hate them this time of year. This year's offerings were a bit more interesting, so kudos to China Glaze. Do you need all of them? No, but find your favorite and pick it up on sale (which it likely will be at Sally's Beauty Supply).

China Glaze Holiday 2013 HoliGlaze Collection: So Blue Without You and Bells Will Be Blinging

Happy Christmas Eve! I hope you are safe with your families, getting ready for Christmas Day and eating a ton of food. I thought it was appropriate to finally start swatching the China Glaze holiday collection called HoliGlaze since I have all of them to show. 

China Glaze So Blue Without You (2 coats)

Up first is So Blue Without You which is a beautiful blue foil shimmer. The formula was perfect in just 2 coats. 

China Glaze Bells Will Be Blinging (1 coat) over 2 coats So Blue Without You

Bells Will Be Blinging is in the same color family as So Blue Without You, so I decided to use it as a topcoat. It's a blue and gold glitter with holographic bar glitter. The bar glitter might not bother some of you because it's the thicker, shorter glitter instead of the long strings. The glitter density was really good, and I only needed to use 1 coat for what is shown here. I love these 2, and they may be my favorites of the collection. 

Mariah Carey Liquid Sands Holiday 2013 Collection Swatches: Make Him Mine, Baby Please Come Come and Silent Stars Go By

Happy almost Christmas Eve! Don't forget, my giveaway is still going on, and all you need to do is give me your e-mail address to enter and sign up for more entries. No worries, you still have a week to enter. 

I bought the 3 mini Mariah Carey Liquid Sand set for $10 from Ulta, and I thought it was a great way to try out some of the OPI's without spending much money (I used their $3.50 off $10 coupon you can always find on their website). I will start out with the formula and application since they were all the same. As always, I absolutely abhor the mini OPI bottles and brushes, and since they haven't changed them, it caused issues I'm sure I wouldn't normally have with these polishes. All of them only needed 2 coats which was great, and the dry time was medium (about 20 minutes at least) since you don't use topcoat (although you can).  

OPI Silent Make Him Mine (2 coats)

Make Him Mine is a dusty rose pink with lots of glitter. It also looks a little coppery in some lights. 

OPI Baby Please Come Home (2 coats)

Baby Please Come Home is a dusty lilac purple textured polish that is definitely my favorite of the 3. This will be worn all year round, for sure.

OPI Silent Stars Go By (2 coats)

Silent Stars Go By is a textured light pink color with champagne beige accents. 

Overall, this is a good deal for 3 OPI polishes. My only complaint is that Silent Stars Go By and Make Him Mine are a little too similar for this small set. I wish they would have included Kiss Me at Midnight instead. Oh well, I still think they are nice colors. 

HUGE End of the Year Giveaway! 12 Polishes!

Yes, the time has finally come for my end-of-the-year giveaway! Here's what 1 winner is gonna get:

1. Zoya Kissy (mini)
2. Morgan Taylor A-Muse Me
3. Julep Charlotte
4. Julep Jodie
5. China Glaze Scattered and Tattered
6. China Glaze Mosaic Madness
7. China Glaze Graffiti Glitter
8. China Glaze Glitz'N Pieces
9. China Glaze So Blue Without You
10. China Glaze Your Present Required
11. China Glaze Bells Will Be Blinging
12. China Glaze Tree-mendous

A-Muse Me was provided by the PR representative, and I won the whole China Glaze holiday collection from another giveaway, and I already bought those last 4, so that means you get them! I'm going to use Rafflecopter to make this easier on me. Unfortunately this is only open to US citizens since technically you can't send nail polish through the mail internationally. The winner will be contacted and must respond within 48 hours or they will forfeit their winnings and a new person will be drawn. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway