Today nail of the day reminds me of wreaths and Christmas trees. I'll be combining China Glaze's "Glittering Garland" (though any dark green base will do) and China Glaze's "Winter Holly," the star of today's notd.
China Glaze's "Glittering Garland" is a deep emerald green with small, brighter green shimmers, and tiny (barely noticeable) gold glitters. The polish Revlon "Spanish Moss" from Revlon's newer Colorstay line is very similar. If you have any dark green polish, that will do for this manicure as well. (If I could do this manicure again, I would have picked a more opaque base so I could minimize the amount of coats of "Winter Holly." Alone, "Glittering Garland" takes about 2-3 thin coats for opacity.)
"Winter Holly" is the star of this manicure. It is a full glitter polish with predominantly forest green glitters and some yellow glitters. The glitters are a fairly fine grade, blending the green and yellow together nicely. WARNING: If you don't put a THICK layer of top coat on this polish, it will look like your nails are growing moss on them. I originally thought I would like the matte affect because it would resemble wreaths more, but it really does look like ugly moss. Alone, this polish is very sheer and requires 3 coats for opacity.
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| (photographed: China Glaze "Winter Holly") |
Unlike most of the other 25 Days of Christmas Manicures, this was my first time trying this combination. I was very pleasantly surprised! "Winter Holly" is definitely my favorite polish from China Glaze's 2012 Holiday collection! I was very disappointed with this year's collection overall, but "Winter Holly" somewhat makes up for it.
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| (1 coat China Glaze "Glittering Garland," 2 coats China Glaze "Winter Holly") |
This manicure reminds me of Christmas trees and holiday wreaths, but luckily the top coat keeps the finish nice and glossy. (Excuse the lobster hands. Right before I took these photos I went on a 1.5 hour long run in 35 degree weather without gloves. My hands get very red when they are in the process of defrosting. It's not the polish, I promise.)
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| (1 coat China Glaze "Glittering Garland," 2 coats China Glaze "Winter Holly") |
As I wear this combination, I continue to feel pleasantly surprised at the small yellow glitters amongst the green. It really adds some complexity to it. Enlarge the photos if you need to. I wouldn't want you to miss the beauty of this polish. Though I love holiday colors of red, golds, and greens, I have always viewed green as the least festive and fun to wear for celebratory purposes, but "Winter Holly" is really changing my opinion of that!
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| (1 coat China Glaze "Glittering Garland," 2 coats China Glaze "Winter Holly") |
I really recommend to take my warning about the necessity of a thick layer of top coat with this polish. The change is like day and night.
Nail of the days like today are why I love doing this series. 25 manicures leaves me room to re-wear old favorites, and discover new favorite combinations like this one!
this really seems like a dynamic green polish :D
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