Friday, December 5, 2014

Polish for the holidays

This is not really a stash post - well, it is part of my stash, but it's not part of my ongoing series of stash posts, because this is not everything I have in these colors. This is more an idea post about what to wear for the holidays, if you want to go for a holiday theme - and what to buy, if you need to buy something. (But this is just what I had already, I wasn't thinking about what was easily available when I picked these out!)

Reds (and golds) - Honestly, I think the lesson of this picture is that all reds tend to look pretty much alike from a distance. Some of these are very glittery and some are cremes, and on the nail they may look a little lighter or darker or more shimmery - and there's everything in here from $2 drugstore polishes to $20 high-end ones - but at arm's length, red is red. (Even Posh, the matte on the top row, looks pretty similar to the rest of these if you put top coat on it.) I didn't put any oxbloods or anything that leans really purple in here, those would look more different. As for the golds, oddly, they tend to look very different on the nail a lot of the time even if they look similar in the bottle. I guess it's the metallic component - some are mixed metals, some are brassy, etc. But still from a distance, people are just going to think, gold, unless you've done something very subtle with it like a glitter fade.
Top row: Square Hue Via Della Spiga (from the October Milan collection), Zoya Posh (matte) and Karina (microglitter), RBL Chinoise, OPI Big Apple Red (mini)
Second row: Sinful Colors Sugar Sugar (glittery), China Glaze Ruby Pumps (even more glittery), China Glaze Just Be-Claws (from last year's holiday collection), Butter London Knees Up (gorgeous foil), NYC Crystal Couture (which is LE, so snap it up if you see it) in Ruby Queen
Third row: Zoya Chyna (Pixie Dust) and Delilah (another glittery one), Milani Bet On Red, Serum No 5 Poppy Fields, Triple Shine Pearly Whites
Bottom row: LASplash Sparkling Fire (glitter), Dollish These Are Not The Droids You're Looking For (mixed glitters), Milani Gold Glitz, Sinful Colors All About You (brassy-looking small glitter), Aldo Gold Digger (chunkier glitter)

One great holiday red, if you can find it, that didn't make it into the picture is Glitterati, from Ilamasqua. I suspect it's discontinued but I'm not sure. Here's somebody's swatches - you can see that it's much darker than the ones above, with scattered glitter.

Greens (plus some glitters and a few blues):
Top row: Funky Fingers Unicorn Farts, Different Dimension Out Of Space Convertible (from the Santa Baby collection), Zoya Indigo (glitter), Sinful Colors Ice Dream (silver-blue small glitter)
Second row: LynB Blue Whale (from their QI collection), Pahlish Yuletide Treasures (with the one below, a duo from last year, a chunky red & green glitter), Serum No 5 Yule Light Up My Life (red & green mixed-size glitter)
Third row: Colorstay Rainforest (glass-fleck forest green, discontinued unless you can find it at Big Lots or somewhere), Pahlish Boughs of Holly (glittery dark green), Xtreme Wear Emerald City (a lovely shiny green which I'm also pretty sure is discontinued), Dear Rus Noblesse No 601 (green and gold and possibly discontinued, as well)
Fourth row: Zoya Veruschka (matte), OPI Here Today Aragon Tomorrow (suede-finish), RBL Meow Meow (green glitter)
Bottom row: LASplash Sparking Seaweed (green and silver glitter), Julie G Textured Mistletoe, Nyx Salon Enchanted Forest (at least I'm pretty sure that was the name of it, the bottle is completely illegible!), Zoya Chita (Pixie Dust), Layla CE61 (foil)

There's more noticeable differences between the greens. I was trying to pick "Christmas" greens, things in the emerald/forest range, but still, there's just more noticeable differences between these, to me. I think it's at least partially just the way I picked the reds, because to me a real holiday red means something within a very small range, where there's more leeway on the greens.

Here's some more things from my stash that are very "holiday" but didn't make it into these two pictures (most of the silver ones are in this post):
  • Holiday Spirit (Sation - fine multicolor glitter)
  • Dancer Is The Best Reindeer (WnW Fastdry - purple/blue) and Elderberry (Nail Pattern Boldness - purple/blue) (these two are quite similar, and another one that's pretty similar is LA Colors Jewel Tone, which last I looked was still a current color)
  • Is that Silva? (OPI - silver magnetic)
  • Celeb City (Xtreme Wear - bright silver)
  • Luna (Zoya - bright silver glitter - a great jelly sandwich center)
  • Glitz (Orly - bright gold)
  • Gold Gleam (Milani - gold with a "mixed metal" effect)
  • Fairy Dust (Khroma/Kardashian - gold topper)
  • Mingle With Kringle (China Glaze - gold metallic) (note to self: go heavy on the base coat due to staining issues the last time I used this!)
  • Sand & Stilettos (Funky Fingers - multi holo glitter)
  • Jordana Crystal Glitter - just what it says, a fine glitter that shimmers like crystal - very pretty!)
  • Disco Ball (Xtreme Wear - holo glitter)

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