NOTD: OPI "Cuckoo For This Color" + Glitter

I hope everyone who celebrated had a very happy Christmas. I had a great day, and thought I'd share with you the manicure I sported on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. It's not my usual sparkly greens and reds, but I had been wearing sparkly reds all month I had had enough.

Believe it or not, I haven't completely given up on nail polish. I don't post weekly NOTDs like I used to, but I still paint my nails at least twice a week. The manicures have just gotten too repetitive for the internet.

But here I am, with the last NOTD for 2013. I thought it'd be a treat for those of you who like this stuff. And they're too pretty to not let you look at. ;)

The base color I used was OPI "Cuckoo For This Color." Though I've had this color for a couple years now, it hasn't gotten a lot of wear. 2 coats.

The glitter combo is one I've used in past NOTDs.
The first coat of glitter I used was OPI's "Pirouette My Whistle."
The second coat is of China Glaze's "Techno."

And now, the parade of photos.

Polish Comparison: Collective Mint Polishes

Mint nail polishes are one of my weaknesses. When Butter London's "Fiver" was released, I told myself that 6 mint polishes were enough. I did not need a 7th mint polish that retailed for $16. However, I splurged anyway. To make my addiction somewhat useful, I decided to do a collective comparison of all my mint polishes. No two are dupes for one another, though you may find that some are fairly close.
Enjoy!

NOTD: Girl On Fire Nails (The Hunger Games Inspired)

I'm very anxious for the release of Catching Fire and on a whim decided to do a Hunger Games inspired manicure. This look is inspired by how Katniss's nails supposedly resembled burning flames and is very, very simple. I've seen some crazy flame nail art out there, but that's far too advanced for me. So, instead, I just did a simple glittered tip that, in itself, resembles the look of rising flames.

NOTD: China Glaze "Peachy Keen"

Today's notd is for an older China Glaze polish "Peachy Keen." Peaches are one of my favorite colors to wear for spring. It's the color that's most hard for me to resist from new collection.

Polish Comparison: OPI "Tickle My France-y," Essie "Lady Like," China Glaze "Dress Me Up"

Though I promised a comparison with Zoya's "Neely" with other mint polishes, I seem to not be able to find my Essie's "Absolutely Shore" (the one polish that I really want to compare it to), so I'll have to put that off for now.

Instead, I have another comparison you with a selection of mauve polishes: OPI's "Tickle My France-y," Essie's "Lady Like," and China Glaze's "Dress Me Up."

NOTD: China Glaze "Re-fresh Mint"

Today I have another mint notd for China Glaze's "Re-fresh Mint." I would say that out of all the mints that I own, this one is the truest mint green polish. It's not too bright, too green, too blue, too grey, too anything. It is simply mint.

Polish Comparison: China Glaze "Tinsel Town" vs. OPI "Metallic 4 Life"

Another polish comparison!
I do these at a fairly slow rate. But I figure there are so many nail bloggers serving as amazing polish comparing resources that my promptness on this matter isn't an utmost necessity.

For today's comparison I have two glitters, China Glaze's "Tinsel Town" from their 2012 Holiday collection and OPI's "Metallic 4 Life" from their Nicki Minaj collection. I'm mostly doing this comparison to debunk the claim my friend, dafinepolish, made that these two polishes are a lot a like. Hopefully it will be helpful to others who think the same as well. 

NOTD: Hard Candy "Sugar Rush"

Today's notd is for Hard Candy's "Sugar Rush."
I've never purchased any Hard Candy polishes before this line came out, but when I saw the Deborah Lippmann Staccato line, I knew my wallet would be happier if I just went with the Hard Candy look-alikes.

Polish Comparison: Revlon "Heavenly" vs. China Glaze "Snow Globe"

I have another polish comparison post for you; this time with glitters.
I will be comparing two iridescent glitters, China Glaze's "Snow Globe" from China Glaze's 2011 Holiday Collection and Revlon "Heavenly" a newer polish from Revlon that is supposedly a dupe for Deborah Lippman's "Stairway to Heaven" (a claim I can neither prove nor refute since I don't own it).

NOTD: China Glaze "Secret Periwinkle"

Today's notd is for one of my first China Glaze purchases many years ago, "Secret Periwinkle." I loved the periwinkle blue, but hated how it looked on my hands. I ended up letting my sister borrow it for an extended period of time, and when she gave it back I simply threw it in the back of my collection.

This is the first time I'm wearing it in at least 2 years and I'm surprised that my opinion on this color has completely changed.  I love it!

NOTD: Blue Ombre Nails

When ombre nails became a trend (last spring?), like most trends (shatter, matte, those weird outlined ones, even the simple, yet very popular, "accent" fingers), I didn't really go for it. I like my crazy brights and I enjoy doing special manicures for holidays, but on a day-to-day basis I'm very traditional with my manicures. However, when I couldn't decide which blue to wear, I thought it'd be a chance to go out of my comfort zone and do something more fun.

NOTD: China Glaze "Glittering Garland"

Today's notd for China Glaze "Glittering Garland" from China Glaze's 2011 Holiday collection, I picked out because I am going to see the new Oz release today. [If I had passed up China Glaze "Emerald Sparkle" long ago (one of my polish regrets) I would have worn that.] But this polish isn't far off.

NOTD: China Glaze "Re-fresh Mint" + China Glaze "It's a Trap-eze!"

For today's notd I will be combining China Glaze's "Re-fresh Mint" with China Glaze's "It's a Trap-eze!" for a fun Spring manicure.

NOTD: China Glaze "Fast Track"

Today's notd is one from China Glaze's Capitol Colors (Hunger Games) collection last year. This polish, "Fast Track," is a tan, with a slightly purple tint, with gold shimmers. It's a fairly unique color. However, I mostly picked it up because I loved The Hunger Games Trilogy and wanted more from this collection.

(China Glaze "Fast Track")

NOTD: Blue Glitter Jelly Sandwich

Today's nail of the day is another new experimentation for me.

If you haven't heard of a jelly sandwich manicure, it is commonly comprised of painting a layer of glitter polish in between two other polishes. The top layer is typically a jelly finish so the glitter layer can remain visible once it's painted. 

I was inspired to try doing a jelly sandwich manicure, specifically by the one I saw by PackAPunch Polish. You can find her original post here. I was incredibly happy when I saw her post because I had bought China Glaze's "Ride the Waves" last summer and was immensely disappointed in the formula. I could not get that polish to be opaque even when I did 5 coats. It was my biggest polish purchase regret. So when I saw her use this polish in a glitter jelly sandwich, my reaction was "FINALLY! I can get some use out of this polish!"

I switched up the base polish but kept the rest consistent with what PackAPunch polish did.

NOTD: Green Gradient Nails for St. Patty's Day

In today's nail post, I will tell the story of my messy, nearly-failed attempt at doing gradient nails. I went with a basic white to green gradient in the spirit of Saint Patty's Day. Enjoy!

There are many ways to achieve gradient nails, most methods you can find on youtube. I watched several of these youtube videos (long ago, so I can't remember which ones exactly) and just did what I felt would work best.

NOTD: Essie "Absolutely Shore"

Today's notd is for Essie's "Absolutely Shore," one that I believe was originally released back in summer of 2011. "Absolutely Shore" is a pale sea-foam green that I find to be the green equivalent of Essie's "Borrowed and Blue." Even though this polish was released as part of a summer collection, I really enjoy wearing this color during winter. I find that the polish has nice hints of grey that make a great choice if you enjoy lighter colors during the colder seasons.

(Essie "Absolutely Shore")

25th Day of Christmas: OPI "Goldeneye" + China Glaze "Party Hearty"

Here I present you the last manicure in my 25 Days of Christmas Manicure Series. I knew that for the last manicure I had to do something that just screamed Christmas, and nothing does that more than an incredible gold polish, and an eye-catching holiday glitter!

24th Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Manhunt" + OPI "Pirouette My Whistle" + China Glaze "Techno"

Today's manicure is a dark blue with some shimmer and matches my pajamas. It involves China Glaze's "Manhunt" with two glitters, OPI's "Pirouette My Whistle" and China Glaze's "Techno."

23rd Day of Christmas: China Glaze "Phat Santa" + Sephora by OPI "Be-Claus I Said So"

I'm actually surprised by the small amount of red holiday manicures I have done. So for the 23rd Day of Christmas I have a red manicure utilizing China Glaze's "Phat Santa," and Sephora by OPI "Be-Claus I Said So."