Literary Lacquers - A Thousand Christmas Trees (Custom Polish) Swatches and Review

Today's post is super exciting for me. The featured polish was a custom order made for me by the awesome Amy from Literary Lacquers, and it's stunning! She makes the most amazing holos; they have a deep 3D effect due to the jelly-esque formula that suspends micro glitter nicely, and I knew it would be perfect for my dream polish. I asked for a Christmas tree green with little holo glitters to make it look like sparkling colorful lights, and it couldn't fit the description better. Check this out!!

Literary Lacquers - A Thousand Christmas Trees

This is truly a sparkle bomb in the sun. It's the perfect neutral green (not too teal, not too yellow) with strong smooth holo that's accented with multiple sizes of silver holo micro glitter. So gorgeous. So rich. So festive.   I love how the glitter sparkles separately from the rest of the holo, giving it the "Christmas tree lights" glow.

The glitter lays within the layers, not on top, so the finish isn't bumpy or chunky and it's glassy smooth with a coat of Glisten & Glow HK Girl top coat (my favorite).  Although it has a jelly-like formula, it is completely opaque in two coats, though I did three to add a tiny bit more depth (also, I may have dented a nail or two and wanted to smooth it out ;o). It's even beautiful in dimmer lighting as you can see in the photos below (indirect daylight) - I think it shows the "lights" more prominently:

Amy really hit it out of the park, that's for sure.  It's even better than I imagined, and I want to say thank you, thank you, thank you to Amy for making this beauty for me.  It's beyond perfect.  I love it so much.

Now for the best part.

Although this was a custom made for me, Amy came up with a great idea for Black Friday: it's available as a gift with purchase for the next week (11/25/2013 - 12/2/2013) in the Literary Lacquers Etsy shop! All orders between $20 and $49 will receive a mini bottle. All orders $50 and above will receive a full size bottle. There's no code needed; it will be added to your package as it ships! As far as I know, it will not be available at any time after this, so if you want it be sure to get your order in! I highly recommend If It Pleases You (a sultry reddish plum - elegant and classy with an edge) and Jack Rose (a unique caramel), or Pan Galactic Gargle Blaster if you love bright sparkles!

The 12 Days of Christmas: Day 9 - Night Snow

This is a variation of some nails I did a while ago, for the first snow.

Night Snow: China Glaze Up All Night with Nubar White Polka Dot

I liked it so much over grey that I had to try White Polka Dot over a navy blue. China Glaze Up All Night is one of my FAVORITE dark blue polishes because it always looks blue and not black, but it's nice and deep and dark. This reminded me of when it snows at night and you can see all the snowflakes against the dark night sky. I prefer it with only one coat of glitter (shown), but two looks nice as well.

I know a lot of nail bloggers are obsessed with black glitter, and I wanted to be too (as it turns out, I don't really like it much... but I love the new charcoal grey glitter from Deborah Lippmann... i think that's what I always WANT black glitter to look like). Instead, I'm so in love with white glitter. All of the white glitter I've seen is a silvery pearl white, and it's SO pretty. This one and Lynnderella's Snow Angel are perfect examples of awesome white glitters!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 8 - Christmas Glitter

So I decided to go crazy and combine my two favorite Christmas glitters: China Glaze Twinkle Lights and Party Hearty!

China Glaze Twinkle Lights w/ Party Hearty

I LOVE this combination so much. It is SO blingy and blinding! It's not quite as yellow as it shows in the pictures, because they were taken in very low lighting. It's more of a soft gold color in person, and super shiny and sparkly. Needless to say, this was the biggest pain in the butt to take off... glitter EVERYWHERE!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 7 - Golden Snow

I really wanted to do some type of snowflake nails, and here they are!  I was going to do silver snowflakes right up until the last minute when I switched it to gold.  And I'm glad I did.

Golden Snowflakes - Essie Marshmallow stamped with China Glaze 2030

Heehee, the name is supposed to be somewhat funny - just remember, seriously, to never eat golden (yellow) snow!! Now, I'm not very good at stamping, but I don't even care if the snowflakes didn't come out perfect. I call this a success. It just makes me smile and think of a beautiful winter.

For good measure, here is a picture of Essie Marshmallow on it's own, because this is how I wore it for two days before stamping it (it was taken in low lighting so it's a tiny bit blurry):

Essie - Marshmallow

KKcenterHK Foil Nail Decals Review

After trying out their French tip water decals, KKcenterHK sent me a couple more of their nail decals to review. These here are some of their foil decals:

I liked this design because it looked very "holiday" to me. It even kinda looks Dr. Seuss-ish - like wrapping paper you'd see in How the Grinch Stole Christmas. I'm not sure why it's listed under "flags," but it is. Here is the link to the product itself: M032

These applied like most other nail patches, except with these I had a bit of trouble with wrinkling. For the most part they look nice, and it's only up very close that you can even see the wrinkles. The photos show the gold parts as being a bit lime green, and they do show that color at some angles, but for the most part, the "ribbons" just look like a soft gold.

So here's the deal: they went on perfectly on some fingers (like my ring and pinky) and not so well on the others.  The difference is that my ring and pinky are "flatter" from cuticle to tip, like this:

My other fingers (middle, pointer, and thumb) are all more curved and that caused the foils to wrinkle up a bit.  See the curve?

The bottom line is, if your nails are nice and straight from cuticle to tip, then these will probably work very well for you.  However, if your nails are curved like some of mine are, then they'll most likely end up with a few little wrinkles on each nail.

That said, if you can handle the wrinkles, these would be pretty awesome for a Christmas party or a night out.  The package claims 11 days of wear (I don't know if I believe that, because the wrinkles keep them from sticking down tightly), but I don't know if I could handle them for everyday wear anyway.  The thing that bothered me the most was the feel of the tips when I put my hands in my pocket - it was kind of a weird scratchy feeling. 

Also a note:  Once I realized they were wrinkling, I tried using heat from a hair dryer to make them a little more elastic, and it seemed to help if I held the heat on right after applying it, before pushing all the edges down.  But it didn't help entirely.

Overall, I think these are pretty cool, but only really for a special occasion, not for everyday wear.  For pretty designs on my nails all the time, I'll go for Incoco or Sally Hansen Salon Effects (I have GREAT success with the 100% nail polish strips).

If you want to try these or any other nail decals, they can be found at KKcenterHK's website.

(These were sent to me for review.)

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 6 - Gold Gradient

This is one of my favorites so far from my 12 Days of Christmas Nails. It's a simple French gradient made with OPI's Bring on the Bling.

10 - Pinky Promise sponged with OPI Bring on the Bling

Bring on the Bling has always been one of my most favorite polishes. It's an awesome gold glitter with tons of multicolor glitter as well, and we all know how I love gold glitter. I feel like I've done this before, but I don't think I have - I've only gone it over red or just straight gold French tips (both shown here).  I actually did put a simple French tip in Orly Luxe underneath the glitter so I didn't have any bald spots, but I don't really know if it was necessary.  However, Liquid Palisade helps ENORMOUSLY on cleanup if you put it on the edges of your finger under the tip (since it's easy to accidentally sponge some glitter there).

So I have a confession. Some of these "12 Days of Christmas Nails" manicures are really only "swatches" (only four of my fingers are actually painted), like the present one yesterday. And I started this one off the same way. When I was sponging on the gold, it looked really dull and not very, so I figured "eh, another dud... I'll just take some pictures then move on to the next thing." Well, in this case I ended up putting on the top coat and my whole opinion changed and I put it on all the rest of my fingers for a full manicure!

Oh, I also wanted to share something with you. I got an email from a skin care company in Canada called ASK Cosmetics that's hosting a huge giveaway (their entire line!). If you want, you can check out all of the details and guidelines for entering on their facebook page here: www.facebook.com/askcosmetics. It runs until Dec 22nd.

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 5 - Presents!

First, a warning: I am NOT good at freehand nail art. But I REALLY wanted presents on my nails, so I bit the bullet and tried it. It actually turned out better than I thought it would, but still not perfect. I think I need to invest in some acrylic paints or something, because nail polish just doesn't work very well with a striping brush.

So here it is, the fifth day of the 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Presents!

I used quite a few polishes in this one because I wanted to give each present a subtle metallic wrapping-paper look. Unfortunately, it was TOO subtle and almost invisible on most nails. Oh well, next time I'll probably just use a simple metallic or creme base under the ribbons.

The base on the pinky is Rescue Beauty Lounge Dead Calm, with China Glaze Little Drummer Boy stamped on top.  The base for the ring finger is CG Urban Night stamped with New York Summer Poppies.  The base for the middle is American Apparel Hunter stamped with CG Gussied Up Green, and the pointer is Essie Berry Hard stamped with Rimmel Lava Red.  All of the ribbons are done with CG 2030.

Although I'd considered doing some present nails from the start, it was Sammy's design that really made me decide on it.  Remember, you can check out all of her designs here if you've missed any.

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 4 - Red and Green Matte

Time for the fourth holiday manicure of the season!  Remember to check out all of Sammy's here - she has more intricate nail art ones than I do, and they are AWESOME!

Some people say the "every other finger" type of manicure is one you'd do only as a kid, but I love the combination of red and green too much and had to try it with my Zoya Matte polishes.

 Zoya Veruschka and Zoya Posh

Simple, but pretty, I think.  I love these two matte colors, and together it's just the epitome of Christmas.  both are really rich and deep, and I think the matte finish tones down the tacky "alternating colors" manicure.

For a twist, I decided to put some shiny French tips on with my Zoya Armour top coat.  It's not quite as shiny as some of my quick dry polishes, so I would probably use one of those next time I tried this.  Also, I would have liked the tips to be skinnier.

Btw, I forgot to mention that the reason I hadn't posted in a week was because I was in Hawaii!  I'd never been there before, and it was a blast!  However, while we were there, it just didn't feel like the Christmas season, so I'm glad to be back and feeling the holidays once more.  Anyway, I'm going to be playing catch-up a little more to get my 12 holiday manicures by Christmas!

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 3 - Spice Drops

This was a manicure I had in mind since Mrs. Claus and Mistletoe Kisses came out last year in China Glaze's holiday collection. I wanted them to look like various flavors of spice drops (you know, the ones you decorate gingerbread houses with?). So here they are!

Spice Drops - CND Sugar Sparkle over various bases

For the bases, I used CG Grape Juice, CG Mistletoe Kisses, CG Mrs. Claus, Ulta Sun-sational, and Revlon Powder Puff, then I topped each with two coats of CND Sugar Sparkle.  This is what I was going for:

I love these candies, but only the ones that are flavored like spices (not fruits).  If you haven't had them, you should try them!  Some of the flavors are anise (purple), spearmint (green), peppermint (white), and cinnamon (red).  I can't remember what the orange and yellow ones are...  ginger might be one?


Do you have any favorite Christmas candies?

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 1 - Christmas Tree Nails

I'm borrowing an idea from Sammy over at The Nailasaurus called "The 12 Days of Christmas Nails" (hopefully she doesn't mind, but I just love it)! The idea is to create 12 different holiday themed manicures between now and Christmas. Since there are 24 days left 'til Christmas, that's about one manicure every other day, which seems pretty reasonable to me!

So here it is! Day 1: Christmas Tree Nails!

Christmas Tree V2.0 - China Glaze Emerald Sparkle and Milani Gems

I actually did a Christmas tree-inspired manicure a year ago (almost to the date!) which you can check out here. I loved that one, but this time I wanted more of a "shiny ornaments" look. I used China Glaze Emerald Sparkle as a base (2 coats), and put one coat of Milani Gems over it. This bottle of Gems has the purple glitter in it (I will actually have a comparison post tomorrow for you on the Milani Jewel FX polishes).

You know what I think would make this even better?  A layer of Zoya Rina to look like pine needles!  Unfortunately, my Rina is at my parents' house right now, so I didn't have it for this.  I DO plan on doing a "snow and pine needles" look with it once I get it back though!

Milani Ruby Jewels (China Glaze Ruby Pumps dupe)

It may be hard to believe, but out of my hundreds of nail polishes I actually do NOT own China Glaze Ruby Pumps *gasp*! Instead, I had this one already, and it's a dupe for Ruby Pumps. This is Milani Ruby Jewels, and it is just as breathtaking as that "original red glitter."

Milani - Ruby Jewels

For some reason, I could not get my camera to pick up the depth in this polish, and it also shows as a slightly warmer red here than in person. But in my defense, I actually have never seen a picture that accurately depicts this polish (or any of its dupes). It is the epitome of Christmas red. This polish also applies very nicely, taking just two easy, thin coats to achieve this bright cherry red sparkle.

*EDIT:  I had it wrong... it's Ruby JEWELS, not Ruby Gems  :o)

Zoya Isla

I'm sorry, I just couldn't wait any longer to take off the Incoco and try more of my holiday polishes. Today I was in the mood for a nice rich glowy red, and Zoya Isla fit the bill perfectly.

Zoya Isla

This covered nice and easily in 2 coats. I'm head over heels for this color, and it's making me feel so Christmas-y! I absolutely cannot wait for Thanksgiving this Thursday, because that means it's officially the Christmas Season! While I'm not religious at all (I'm actually atheist/agnostic), the holidays are one of my favorite times of the year just because of the time spent with my family. I'm so very close to all of my family and our get-togethers are always lots of fun!

I started the morning with eggnog and the Muppet Christmas Carol while I crocheted some gifts for my family.  I can't wait to put up the Christmas tree and decorations on Friday!!

Emerald Sparkle and Christmas Tree Mani

First up is the beloved Emerald Sparkle from China Glaze. I know this is a favorite among nail polish bloggers, and I understand why. It is just STUNNING. Pictures just don't do this one justice. It is such a rich beautiful green glitter, and it makes the perfect holiday manicure. This could definitely have used a topcoat, but I wanted to try all sorts of stuff on top of it so I didn't use one for this pic.

China Glaze - Emerald Sparkle

Now I have a whole LIST of holiday manicures to try before Christmas, and today I was looking for a perfect "Christmas tree" manicure. I wanted it to look like a green Christmas tree with lights/ornaments on it. Here are the combinations I tried out. I originally had CG Nova on the ring finger, but it covered up the green WAY too much (that one is OPAQUE, let me tell you! Two coats would make a completely opaque mani, I'm sure!) so I redid the ring finger in just Emerald Sparkle so I could compare it with FingerPaints Evergreen Dream.



My favorite ended up being the Hot Topic stars (doesn't have a real name) minus the actual stars (haha) because it has just a smidge of iridescent glitter that doesn't "take over" like the Color Club Si Vous Please did. It's hard to see in the photo, but it adds just a bit of multi-color to the green. I thought the CC and Fairy Dust were just too much.

Notice that I did my thumb in FP Evergreen Dream. This is such a wonderful alternative to Emerald Sparkle when you don't want to have to deal with the painful glitter removal. It's actually a green shimmer, but looks SUPER sparkley in the daylight and sun. It's not quite as deep or rich as ES, but it's still freaking gorgeous. Anyway, I decided to save the glitter hassle of ES for when it is closer to Christmas, and opted for the easier Evergreen Dream this time.

FP Evergreen Dream w/ Orly Prisma Gloss Gold

And here is my Christmas Tree mani! I used Orly's Prisma Gloss Gold over Evergreen Dream, and HOLY GOOSES I love it! It has the perfect amount of "colorful lights" glitter!

Are you excited for the holidays? Have you been doing holiday manis? What do you think of the Christmas Tree mani?