Sensationail At Home Gel Polish kit

I got the full kit, with LED light, base & top coat, nail prep, cleanser and lint-free pads when it was on sale at CVS for $45.  I split the cost with Mom, and did her nails in the color that came with the kit, Rose Chiffon.  For myself, I bought a second color when they were on sale at Walgreens and I had a coupon, so the polish was $9 instead of $13.  I picked Purple Orchid, which is a greyed indigo.  It's similar to China Glaze First Class Ticket, although slightly more grey.  My application the first time left much to be desired, so please forgive the lumps and missing spots.  All swatches are one coat of the base/top coat, two coats of polish and another coat of base/top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Thanks to a typical spell of NEO November weather, I wore this polish for a week before seeing it in the sun and realizing that it has blue and pink micro-glitter!

In the sun:

So far, there is no discernable wear, and I love the color and the way the gel polish makes my nails feel thicker and stronger.  Mom loves the way her nails feel too, but she's not crazy about the pink and she wouldn't let me take pictures of her manicure because she doesn't want anyone to see her hands.  I'm about to try a regular glitter polish over the gel polish to see if I can change up the look.  I saw that Siobhan of The Nail Phile did that once, but her blog is gone, so I can't look and see if she used cured polish or the kind that doesn't require curing.

I will update this post with my opinion of the removal process when I do it.

Anyway, if you have a drugstore or Sensationail coupon and don't have severe polish OCD, I can recommend this system.

China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection: Blue Bells Ring and Winter Holly

The last two polishes of the Holiday Joy collection are Blue Bells Ring, a royal blue foil, and Winter Holly, a hunter green and gold glitter.  Both applied well, were opaque in two coats, and are good but not at all unique.

Blue Bells Ring

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Winter Holly, like most glitters, is matte without top coat.  The first pic is without top coat, the others have one coat of Zoya Armor.  The addition of the gold glitter does make the polish shift from a hunter green to more of a yellow green depending on the lighting.

Indoors with flash (no top coat):

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

 In the sun:

*sigh*  I'm still disappointed that the company that brought us Safari, Bohemian Chrome and other lovely collections gave us a 3/4 boring and dupe-able holiday collection.

The Holiday Joy collection is available now at etailers and brick and mortar stores.

China Glaze Holiday Joy collection: Glistening Snow, Angel Wings and Champagne Kisses

Now that we're past the reds, which make up almost half of the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection, I'll be posting the metallic glitters today and the tail end of the collection tomorrow.  All of today's polishes are gorgeous metallic holo micro-glitters suspended in a clear base.  All three were opaque in three coats, dried quickly and quite matte and were very easy to work with and somewhat more difficult to remove.  I think these three are the real stars of the collection, and I wish China Glaze had done twelve different colors in this finish.  All swatches are three coats without top coat, because I like the way they look like sanding sugar, but they gloss up quite nicely with top coat.

Glistening Snow is a silver holo micro-glitter.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

More pics after the jump!

China Glaze Holiday Joy collection: Pure Joy and Cranberry Splash

Today I have the other two reds from the China Glaze Holiday Joy collection.  Pure Joy is a red and gold glitter and Cranberry Splash is a medium red shimmer.

Although it looks orange in the pictures, Pure Joy is a mix of red and gold glitters.  This one is probably best as a layering polish, because it took three full coats to be opaque.  It wasn't overly thick, and I got a good amount of glitter in each stroke.  It dried matte, and very thirsty--you can see some lumps and bumps on my nails after just one coat of Nubar Diamont.  If I were wearing this on its own, I'd use a coat of Gelous first.  All pictures are three coats of polish with one coat of top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

In the sun:

Cranberry Splash is a medium red shimmer which was opaque in two coats.  It's shows a few brush strokes, but that might be as much my application as the polish.  It's quite pretty and shiny, but very ordinary.  All swatches are two coats without top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Again, I'm confused as to why China Glaze reverted to a holiday collection that is almost half reds.  It's as if they used up all their creative ideas earlier this year!

The Holiday Joy collection is available now at etailers and brick and mortar stores.

China Glaze Holiday Joy collection: The Red Crèmes

China Glaze's Holiday 2012 collection, Holiday Joy, consists of twelve polishes.  This includes three red crèmes, which I think is a lot, especially when there's also a red glitter and a red shimmer, but hey, I'm an English major, not a Marketing major, so on with the swatches!

Merry Berry is my favorite of these three, because it's a medium blue-based red.  The formula was flawless, no running, dripping, dragging or pooling.  All swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

 Red Satin and With Love after the jump!

Jessica Glamorama: Glitterati; Hot, Hot, Hot; and Magic Spell

The post in which I am disappointed four times. :(

First, that the Glamorama Posh Petites kit didn't have six polishes in it, which the text suggests, but three.  The next three disappointments were with the polishes themselves.  Pics and reviews after the jump.

Color Club Winter Affair Collection: Ho Ho Holly

Unlike the rest of the Winter Affair collection, which I got at Head2Toe Beauty, I grabbed Ho Ho Holly from my local Sally Beauty store.  I did this because I loved last year's Color Club/Sally collaboration, Scent-sual, and was bummed to find out that the scented versions of the Winter Affair polishes were Sally-only exclusives.  Ho Ho Holly was one I hadn't gotten online, because it looked pretty similar to Zoya Logan.  In fact, it is very similar--they're both green foils with yellow-gold highlights.  The only differences are that Logan is slightly darker, slightly sparklier and Ho Ho Holly is pine-scented.  For me, that means I'm keeping Ho Ho Holly, because I love me some pine scents!  All swatches are two coats with no top coat.

Indoors with flash:

Indoors without flash:

Ho Ho Holly on index, middle and pinkie, 

Zoya Logan on ring,

two coats of each polish:

The unscented versions of the Winter Affair collection are now available at various etailers and the scented polishes are available now at Sally Beauty brick and mortar stores.

Logan was sent to me for review.  Ho Ho Holly was purchased by me.