Zoya Magical Pixie - PixieDust for Spring 2014

Hi, you guys! Is it spring yet? I can't wait for sunshine and warmer temperatures. I'm pretty much over all the rain and the cold lol. Thankfully in the polish world, spring has arrived!

When I first heard about the new spring Zoya Magical Pixie Collection—a trio of polishes promising to have the pixiedust's traditional gritty texture plus plenty of bigger sparkly glitters—I admit I was totally intrigued. And Zoya really kept us in suspense this time, with the weather unavoidably delaying the shipment of these polishes for a few extra weeks. But the wait is over. I've finally got my paws on these and I'm so excited to show them to you. :)

China Glaze Bells Will Be Blinging

Hi, you guys! Hope you're having a fantastic week! :)

Today, I've got another interesting glitter from the China Glaze Happy HoliGlaze Collection to share with you. Bells Will Be Blinging is a mix of blue and silver holographic round and short bar glitters all in a sheer base.

This is such a fun and unique combination of glitters. I'm usually not a fan of bar glitters, but I really like the ones in here. I think it's because the bars are wider and shorter, so they don't look hairy lol. And the holographic nature of the silver makes it look like little rainbows slices. Application for this is super easy. The glitter density is great, so I just did one coat over So Blue Without You for the swatches.

You can find Bells Will Be Blinging at your local nail salons and at beauty stores such as Ulta and Sally Beauty for a retail price of $7.50 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI Baby Please Come Home

Hi, you guys! Yay for it being the weekend! Gosh, this past week has just been absolutely crazy. I'm so thankful and relieved that the weekend is finally here. Hope yours is off to a fun and relaxing start! :-)

Today, I've got another beautiful liquid sand from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. Baby Please Come Home is a subtly purplish silver with lots of shimmers and larger silver glitters that all dries down to a textured matte glitter finish.

This is another lovely liquid sand, scattered with the larger silver glitters that I've really come to love from OPI. While it appears to have a good amount of purple in the bottle, I feel like once it's on the nails, the purple seems more subtle and the overall polish leans more silver, probably due to its large amount of silver shimmers and glitters. The formula is everything you can ask for, making application super easy. Each coat comes out smoothly and with even distribution of the glitters and sand particles, and two coats is all you need for full coverage. :-)

You can find Baby Please Come Home at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI It's Frosty Outside

Hi, you guys! :-)

I'm really excited to be getting into my selection of polishes from the liquid sand portion of the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection. OPI is one of my favorite brands for textured polishes, so I had really high expectations for what we would see in this holiday collection. First up is It's Frosty Outside, a silver with tons of shimmers and glitters that dries down to a textured matte glitter finish.

This is such a gorgeous and sparkly silver, made all the more so by a sprinkling of larger-sized reflective silver glitters, a signature of OPI's for their liquid sands. The larger glitters do such a good job of catching the light as you move your hand, adding an extra dimension to this textured polish. The formula is fantastic, with all the glitters and gritty particles spreading out evenly across the nails. And you just need two standard coats for total coverage. :-)

You can find It's Frosty Outside at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI Wonderous Star

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well! I've been feeling so tired for the last few days, and I think it's the time change. It's getting dark so early now... by 4pm! I wish we could be on daylight savings all year round, or I just need to move to a more southern locale lol. :)

Today, I've got the last of my picks from the regular (non-texture) portion of the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. Wonderous Star is a champagne-colored shimmer scattered with medium-sized black hexagon glitters.

The application is pretty easy. You do need to be conscious of the black glitters due to their size, but the wide flat OPI brush helps a lot with that. The formula is a little on the thinner side, so I did three coats for the swatches. The black glitters aren't too gritty, so it feels almost smooth to me on the nails, which is a nice bonus.

This polish is so interesting to me. I don't think I have another one quite like it in my stash. At first I thought I wouldn't like the contrast between the black glitter and the light shimmery base, but it actually looks quite striking once on the nails and it won me over. It's so unusual, I'd love to know what you think of it. :)

You can find Wonderous Star at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI I Snow You Love Me

Happy Monday, you guys! :-)

Today, I've got a really interesting polish from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. I Snow You Love Me is a clear polish with large round silver holographic glitters.

I did one coat of I Snow You Love Me over In My Santa Suit, but with how large the glitters are, you do have to do some finagling here. Unless you really dollop the polish on, the glitters are too sparse and too big to just show up. I think the best way is probably to use toothpicks and place them as you like on the nails. It ended up reminding me of dominoes lol. It's definitely an interesting and fun polish, but I wish there were also some smaller glitters in there to fill in in-between the big glitters.

You can find I Snow You Love Me at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI My Favorite Ornament

All right, Wednesday! That means half the week is over! :D

Today, I've got another of my picks from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection to share with you. My Favorite Ornament is a light, sparkly, champagne-colored glitter.

This twinkles like crazy, especially under direct lighting! :-) There are glitter pieces in here that are a little bigger than average, so it gives a slightly chunky effect to the polish. It has an easy application, with each coat coming out smoothly and with good coverage. And two quick coats is all you need for opacity. It does dry gritty, so you will need to add top coat if you want that glossy shine and smooth surface.

You can find My Favorite Ornament at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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OPI This Gown Needs a Crown

Happy weekend, friends! Hope you're all having a wonderful one! I'm enjoying my long weekend. One of my plans is to catch up on sleep, but I'm so excited to have time off from work that I've been waking up hours earlier than I wanted to each day haha.

Today, I've got the last of the OPI Miss Universe 2013 trio to share with you. This Gown Needs a Crown is a light shimmery silver that dries to a satiny matte foil finish.

The bottles come with a little crown trinket wrapped around the neck, which is quite cute. :-) This is a very pretty and festive silver, not too soft or too harsh, just a very flattering shade. The application is smooth and easy. The first coat is a little sparse with the shimmers, but it builds up nicely with subsequent coats. I ended up doing three coats for the swatches, but if I were wearing this instead of taking close macro shots, I'd probably stop at two.

You can find This Gown Needs a Crown at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $9 for 0.5 fl oz.

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Zoya Cassedy

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is off to a great start! :-)

Today I've got another festive shade from the Zoya Zenith Collection to share with you. Cassedy is a green-tinged dark steel silver with a shimmery foil finish.

The green tint in here is so interesting; it makes the silver look unique and edgy. And you guys know I'm a big fan of Zoya's foil finishes. I loved that finish in the summer colors, and I'm really loving it in this winter color too. Cassedy has a great formula that makes for an effortless application. Each coat goes on smoothly and easily, and two quick coats is all you need for opacity.

You can find Cassedy on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5 fl oz. If you are new to Zoya, you can get your first two bottles of Zoya for $8 - $9 total and free shipping! More info HERE.

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Zoya Seraphina

Happy Saturday, gentle readers! Hope your weekend is off to a great start. I'm pretty happy that the sun is actually out this weekend, so I hope to have time to head out and enjoy it. :-)

Today I wanted to kick off the new Zoya Zenith Collection for Holiday 2013. First up is Seraphina, a light silver with a shimmery foil finish.

This is such a soft and delicate silver, not at all harsh. I really love it! It reminds me of snow on a cold winter's night with the moonlight shining on it. It's probably one of my favs from this collection. It goes on smoothly and evenly without any application issues. The first coat is a little sheer, but it builds up nicely to total coverage in three coats.

You can find Seraphina on Zoya.com for $8 for 0.5 fl oz. If you are new to Zoya, you can get your first two bottles of Zoya for $8 - $9 total and free shipping! More info HERE.

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OPI DS Pewter

Hi, you guys! Hope your week is going well! :-)

Today, I've got the second of the two new OPI Designer Series Raw Granite polishes to show you. DS Pewter is a dark pewter gray loaded with tons of small and slightly larger silver glitters that dries down to a sparkling, matte textured finish.

The formula is a little thinner than Lapis's, so it's much easier to control. The glitters build up nicely on the nails with each stroke. From a distance, the density of the silver glitters makes the overall polish look a little lighter than you may expect from the dark gray base. For the swatches, I did one thin coat to mark my edges and then one medium coat to fill everything in. This is another swoon-worthy beauty, reminding me of a galaxy full of twinkling stars. :-)

You can find DS Pewter at your local nail salons and beauty stores such as Ulta and Dillard's for a retail price of $12.50 for 0.5 fl oz.

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