TDOCNAS 2014: Day 11: Glittery Reindeer Nail Art

Happy Christmas Eve everyone! I hope you have all of your affairs in order and are all having a wonderful day. I'm working until 1 o'clock and then heading over to our annual family Christmas Eve party later tonight and I can't wait! This is my absolute favorite time of the year. Anyway, these nails were inspired by my obsession with glittery reindeer this season. I know it's weird, but I can't help it! I'm hoping to pick up a couple on sale after Christmas. ;)

I used Zoya Godiva on my pointer and ring nails and plain black on my pinky and middle nails. I wish Godiva had photographed the way it looks in real life; it's so sparkly but it doesn't translate at all in the photos! I used Godiva to paint my little reindeer as well and finished him off with a China Glaze Just BeClaws nose. I also did some Just BeClaws dots on the rest of my nails to tie the look together.

See you tomorrow for the last day of the Twelve Days of Christmas nail art series!!

China Glaze Twinkle Collection Swatches & Review

Good morning! I have an absolutely lovely winter collection to share with you today, the Twinkle collection from China Glaze. Winter collections are often hit or miss for me and I'm glad to report that this one is a hit!

I'd Melt for You is a beautiful silver chrome. Be careful with brush strokes on this one, but two coats covers well if you're careful. This is also great for stamping!

Tip Your Hat is a bright festive red. I'm wearing two coats.

Chillin' With My Snow-mies has different sizes of white hexagon glitter in a clear base. Too much base, not enough glitter. I love how this looks but I had to pretty much dig out each of these glitters and place it on the nails. I'm wearing it over Tip Your Hat.

A December to Remember is a turquoise-leaning blue metallic with pink micro glitter. This is two coats.

Define Good... is a rich red shimmer with a hint of pink. I know I normally hate reds, but I do love this type. It just glows! This is two coats.

Dancing & Prancing is a beautiful confetti glitter. I'm wearing one coat over Define Good... and I love this combination.

Out Like a Light is a muted deep teal. I absolutely love this shade! This is two coats and the formula was great.

De-Light is a golden glitter topper with silver bar glitter. This is two coat over Out Like a Light.

Feeling Twinkly is an icy blue glitter topper. I'm wearing two coats with no base; this would probably cover pretty well in three or four coats.

Meet Me Under the Stars is so stunning! This is a super dark blackish blue with tons of glitter. I'm wearing two coats.

Pine-ing for Glitter is a glitter topper in a unique green shade. This is two coats over no base.

No Peeking! is a silvery purple almost metallic shade. I had a little bit of an issue with brush strokes here, so be careful. This is two coats.

There's a lot of winners in this group, but I have to say my favorites are Meet Me Under the Stars and Define Good... How about you? Are any of these shades on your wish list? You can get yourself this collection anywhere that China Glaze is sold.

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

China Glaze All Aboard Collection Swatches & Review

Hello! This morning I have the China Glaze All Aboard collection from fall to share. I'm going to go ahead and spoil it, but this collection is so awesome! I feel like I do usually like fall collections, but this one is so diverse and excellent that I absolutely love it!

Nice Caboose! is a warm magenta with lovely shimmer. I'm wearing two coats and the formula was fabulous.

Conduct Yourself is a burgundy shade with almost non-existent hidden shimmer. I love this color, but this would have been a knock out if the shimmer was more noticeable on the nail! This is two coats.

What Are You A-Freight Of? is one of my favorite types of colors, a grungy grayed out purple. This is two easy coats.

Well Trained is a fabulous muted teal that covered great in two coats.

All Aboard is a medium purple with a slight bit of gray in it to make it more muted and wearable for fall. I'm wearing two coats.

Stop That Train! is a stunning orangey red metallic with golden shimmer. I have two coats on here, but I didn't let that middle nail dry long enough before I applied top coat, so ignore that!

One Track Mind is a beautiful navy blue shade. It had a great formula as well and covered well in two coats.

Loco-Motive is a glitter topper with silvery shimmer and light pink glitter. This is one coat over One Track Mind.

Mind the Gap is easily my least favorite of the bunch, although it is unique so it gets some points for that. This icky olive green has some pretty shimmer, but the formula is lacking a bit and I needed three coats for what you see here.

Choo-Choo Choose You is a very pretty shade with gold to green duochrome shimmer in a navyish base. This one has a slightly sheer formula as well; I went with two coats here but would do a third if I was going to wear this as a full mani since I like my polishes opaque.

Lug Your Designer Baggage is such an interesting shade! This slightly-grayed brown has golden flakes and shimmer in it and was perfectly opaque in two coats.

Don't Get Derailed is an awesome muted olivey army green shade. I love greens like this and I feel like we don't see them that much so it's great to have this in my collection! This is two easy coats.

The All Aboard collection is available wherever China Glaze is sold and should still be available now. My top picks are Don't Get Derailed, Stop That Train!, and What Are You A-Freight Of?. Which ones are you loving? Did you pick any up already?

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

China Glaze Sea Goddess Collection Swatches/Review

Good morning and happy Friday everyone! Today I have some awesome spring textures from China Glaze. These six polishes are part of the Sea Goddess collection and are such a unique group of colors!

Tail Me Something is a beautiful lilac with darker purple textured pieces. The formula was good on this one and I used two coats.

Sand Dolla Make You Holla is a pretty shade with an idiotic name. The pinkish white base is filled with pink and blue glitter. The formula here was also good; two coats were needed for opacity.

Shell We Dance is a gorgeous hot pink texture. I used two coats here as well.

Seahorsin' Around is a fabulous teal blue texture, seriously, this photo does not do it justice! It's like mermaid scales! The formula here is great and what you're looking at is one coat.

Teal the Tides Turn is a temperamental mint green shade. This one gave me the most trouble of the bunch; I used two coats but it dragged quite a bit and didn't cover as nicely as the others.

Wish on a Starfish is a baby pink shade with beautiful golden shimmer throughout. I didn't notice the gold shimmer at first in the bottle and was pleasantly surprised when I went to photograph this swatch. No formula issues here; this is two coats.

These are definitely a great, fresh take on textures and I'm excited to work them into some nail art for the summer! I'm curious to know what you guys think about textures though... are you over them? Are you impatiently waiting for more to be released? These shades are available now and can be purchased anywhere that China Glaze polish is sold!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

China Glaze Surprise Collection Swatches/Review

In April 2014, China Glaze is releasing this special six-piece limited edition collection called Surprise! The six polishes are all glitter toppers with different color combinations but the same general size/shape of glitter.

Don't Be a Flake contains matte black and turquoise and metallic pink glitter. I layered it here over ChG Metro Pollen-tin.

Shine-nanigans is a mix of metallic pink and purple glitter and matte lime glitter. I'm wearing it over ChG At Vase Value.

Glimmer More has matte orange and yellow glitter with metallic pink glitter. It's layered here over ChG What a Pansy.

Glitter Up contains matte turquoise and peach glitters and metallic purple glitter. I'm wearing it over ChG Peonies & Park Ave.

I'm a Go Glitter consists of matte lime and turquoise glitter and metallic pink glitter. I layered it over ChG Spring In My Step. This combination is really spring-y!

Create a Spark has pink, purple, and black glitters. It's worn here over ChG Grass is Lime Greener.

Now on to the formula. I hate to say it, but these are just not very good. I had to do a lot of scraping along the sides of the bottles to get what you see here. When you dip the brush in the bottle, the majority of what you get is the clear base with just a sprinkling of glitter. What ends up happening then is that you have thick layers of the clear base on your nails that needs lots of extra time to dry. I love how these glitter toppers look, but I just don't have enough patience for them.

What are your thoughts?

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.

China Glaze Flourish Collection Swatches/Review

I don't know about you, but I am so completely totally 100% over winter. I'm sick of it being below freezing outside every single day and I'm not so patiently waiting for it to finally warm up to the 50s and 60s. One thing that really gets me in the mood for spring is all these bright and cheerful collections that have been coming to my doorstep! The China Glaze Flourish collection might just be my favorite of them all... the mix of neon and pastel is fantastic!

At Vase Value is a gorgeous pale blue, almost a pastel robin's egg blue, but it has a brightness to it that keeps it from really being a pastel.

What a Pansy is a medium blue-leaning shade of purple. I love purple, but this isn't really my favorite shade. It just doesn't do much for me.

Peonies & Park Ave is a beautiful blue-based neon Barbie pink. Reminds me of the neons from the Poolside collection long ago.

Spring In My Step is one of my favorites! I've been craving soft, baby pinks for some reason and this really hits the mark. It seems to be a warmer shade of pink and I think that's why it works for me.

Metro Pollen-tin is a weird color. I left this photo kind of dark because I think the color of the polish is more accurate this way. It reminds me of a certain neon-colored mac and cheese in a blue box.

Thistle Do Nicely is an awesome pink neon! It seems to lean a little bit towards coral-pink (which I love). This will be on my toes A LOT this summer!

Grass is Lime Greener is similar to At Vase Value in that it's almost like a pastel neon. I'm normally not a fan of greens, but this one is so unique and I just love it!

Petal to the Metal is a fabulous creamy coral. I love corals that lean more towards the pink side rather than the orange side and this one is great. It's bright and cheerful without be neon, which makes it much more wearable for most people.

In A Lily Bit is a very, very pale lavender. Most pale purples that I've seen are dusty or faded, whereas this one is clean and bright.

Don't Honk Your Thorn was a pleasant surprise for me. I didn't see the beautiful silver shimmer in the bottle, but it came out on the nail and it's just gorgeous. I think this is the type of neutral that would flatter many skintones as well.

Strike a Rose has my favorite type of finish! This bright, warm pink is complemented by a gorgeous silver shimmer throughout.

Lotus Begin is a light purple, but not nearly as light as In a Lily Bit. It's the middle of the three purple shades in this collection.

As far as the formulas for this collection, I was very surprised. I expected to have big issues with the pastels and the neons but they were all pretty good for the most part. They do require a little more care than normal, but it's really no hassle. I'm wearing two coats for all of these swatches. The Flourish collection should be available now at stores like Ulta and Sally Beauty, as well as online retailers.

Which shade is your favorite? It's really hard for me to choose, but if I absolutely had to, I think I would pick Grass is Lime Greener because it's so unique!

The products in this post were provided for my honest review. All opinions are my own.