Them Some Nails

China Glaze Mrs. Claus (3 coats, artificial light)

Yes, I am still on with the Christmas tips—not for too much longer, but I love the holidays! This is China Glaze Mrs. Claus, another new kid from the 2010 Holiday collection. I own about two-thirds of it, and this is sort of the pinky-red sister to Mistletoe Kisses. It’s a pink jelly with pink and red glitter…sort of unusual, but ultra-Christmassy (at least to me).

Application was not fantastic here; I felt like it dried on the nail super fast (in a not-so-good way) and was gloppy out of the bottle. Even though they’re probably the same formula, MK was much easier to work with. Also, it seemed to take forever to set—I actually screwed up my right thumb nearly 15 minutes after applying my quick dry and had to do it over. Boo!

However, who cares, because this color is beautiful. It’s much pinker in real life and is very foily-blingy on my pale skin. It’s not the most traditional Christmas color, not being a green or red creme, but it feels very holiday appropriate. Love it!

Always be polishing,

China Glaze Jolly Holly + Party Hearty (2 coats, artificial light)

Christmas has officially exploded all over my nails! This mani features Party Hearty, the multicolored, glittery star of China Glaze’s 2010 Holiday collection, layered over Jolly Holly, a gorgeous evergreen shimmer from the same collection. This is so tacky and obnoxious, and I love it so much.

Party Hearty is a holiday glitter bomb. It features tiny gold glitter, medium green glitter, and large hexagonal red glitter. I overdid it a bit with two coats, but I didn’t feel like one coat stood out enough against such a dark green. I might throw it over a silver polish next, or perhaps even pink (which looks sort of like peppermint bark). Either way, it’s uber-Christmassy.

Always be polishing,

China Glaze Mistletoe Kisses (3 coats, artificial light)

It’s been easier to find Jimmy Hoffa than sunlight here in the DC area in the last few days, so I present the first usage of my JANSJÖ lamp from IKEA. I might need to futz with the white balance on my camera a little more—I do not, in fact, have lobster hands from this lovely, cool green holiday glitter.

Mistletoe Kisses is part of the Holiday 2010 collection from China Glaze (‘Tis the Season to be Naughty and Nice) and is a silvery green jelly with lots of bright silver glitter. Actually, it reminds me quite a lot of Dorothy Who?—like her wintery green cousin. Although it’s a green jelly with glitter, it’s way more like Dorothy Who? to me than Emerald Sparkle, which is much darker.

Application was sort of a pain, just like DW, but I’m pleased to report that the wear is much, much better on me. I’m on day 3 with no chips or tipwear, even after a marathon gift-wrapping session last night. I own most of the rest of this holiday collection, so I hope it wears as well.

Always be polishing,

China Glaze Dorothy Who? (3 coats, cloudy sunlight)

Um, yeah. This is on a cloudy day! Enough said?

Dorothy Who? is consistently described on the MUA Nail Board as a HG blue glitter, and I can totally understand why. I think it was originally released in the early 2000s and spawned some rabid lemmings until, by popular demand, China Glaze re-released the Wizard of Ooh Ahz collection in 2009. I have Dorothy Who? and Ruby Pumps from that collection, and both of them are favorites of mine—and are, thankfully, both now core.

This girl is a bright blue jelly infused with tons of silver glitter. I didn’t have the best application (I’m still trying to master jellies), but WHOA those were some attention-getting tips I had. I don’t normally get tons of comments on my nails, but I did for those two days. Unfortunately, like most glitters on me, Dorothy Who? chipped like it was her full-time job, so I might try layering over another blue next time.

Always be polishing,

China Glaze Cherry Pie (2 coats, sunlight)

I’ve said before that I’m not a huge fan of traditional polish colors, but I will totally make an exception for this beautiful, bright, almost-coralish red. This is Cherry Pie, from China Glaze’s Summer 2009 Summer Days collection—one of my favorite collections ever. Six beautiful, summery colors, with the glass-flecked effect that China Glaze does so well. It’s a lot more flattering on me than it probably should have been, and I am so in love with glass-flecked polishes that it probably wouldn’t have mattered.

As y’all can see, I do have some slight VNL after 2 coats and probably could have used a third, but I was in a hurry that day and didn’t mind sporting non-opaque tips. Application was wonderful and smooth; I hardly needed to do any cleanup afterward. Also, I miss my nails at this length! I have really shitty nails, unfortunately, and that’s about as long as they get before starting to peel off. :/

China Glaze Cherry Pie (2 coats, sunlight)

Phew! This is just too gorgeous for words.

Always be polishing,