This year for Christmas my husband gave me a number of goodies from my wish list, but he also surprised me with some fun nail stuff. I recently organized my nail polish and labeled items that were “swatched,” “untried,” etc. He checked my nail polish bins and blog to determine what I didn’t already have, so he could decided what to get. He was right I didn’t have them, and I was so touched. I loved the research and thought that went into the gift! I managed to break my thumbnail pretty badly yesterday (and attempted a repair), so hopefully I will still have have length to my nails. However even if I end up trimming my nails all the way down, my sappy self is cheered by my sweet husband. I still wish I was a bit less clumsy though!

I am hoping to try my hand at a bit of frankening in the coming year. It seems like the glitter is going to make a huge mess, but it sounds like fun!

My Christmas nail goodies

On Wednesday evening my husband and I had planned to go to Whole Foods and get an eco-friendly Christmas Tree. Of course getting the tree calls for a classic holiday red! Knees Up is apparently British slang for drunken dancing at a party. That sounds pretty festive! Knees Up is a lovely, glowing metallic red. Yummy! Although with my red mani I was now in a holiday mood, our tree finding mission was not a success. All of the trees that were left were either  too dry, crooked or too short and fat for the space by our fireplace. We will have to try again this weekend. On the plus side, I would say the polish was a success It reminds me of those shiny glass tree ornaments (we don’t have any to compare to though as we need to ensure that everything on our tree is fairly cat-proof or at least unbreakable). It is a beautiful color, and what says “Christmas” better than a really great red??

Butter London Knees Up in sunlight

Application was excellent. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Butter London Knees Up

Emberstone is another awesome polish from Orly’s Mineral FX collection. I am not usually into orange polish on me, but this is a really cool color! It is a bright reddish orange with multi-colored orange, gold, purple and pink shimmer. I love it! I was hoping that the sun would peek out for some photos, but the cloud cover was persistant. It seems that the shimmer colors showed up more strongly in diffuse light, so that might be a good thing. You can especially see the shimmer colors if you click on the photo to enlarge.

Orly Emberstone in natural light

Application was excellent. Two coats and atop coat shown.

Orly Emberstone

Color Club’s Untamed Luxury Indulgence Collection is another set that I think would make a fun stocking stuffer. I grabbed this one at Ross for only $7.99! What a steal, seven colors for only eight bucks!

Wild Orchid

Wild Orchid is a lovely cool toned grey with a bluish-silver shimmer. It is a beautiful, elegant color

Application was very good. Although the formula seemed a bit thin, it covered in two coats. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Color Club Wild Orchid in Sunlight

Color Club Soft as Cashmere, Color Club Jewel of a Girl, Color Club Wild Orchid, Color Club Snakeskin, Color Club Red Velvet, Color Club Untamed Luxury, Color Club Ready to Royal

Overall if you don’t already own this set, I think it is a great find at $7.99! It would be a great gift, or a fun gift for yourself!

Priced at only $13, Urban Decay’s Apocalyptic Nail Kit is a fun holiday gift or stocking stuffer for the nail polish lover in your life (or maybe a holiday goodie  for yourself )! It looks like the kit is a Beauty.com exclusive. It contains 7 mini polishes: White Widow, Gunmetal, Apocalypse, Grunge, Meltdown, Big Bang and Fbomb.

Big Bang

Big Bang is a bright raspberry pink foil. It looks more red in photographs than it did in real life. IThis bring pop of shimmery color is just what I need for dreary overcast days! I have been wearing this one for three days, and it is holding-up quite well. I often find that foils do not wear well on me, but this one is a wear winner.

Application was good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Urban Decay Big Bang in natural light

I will try to get swatches of the other colors soon. I also have some other well-priced kits to review as I think they would make great holiday gifts!

Urban Decay Apocalyptic Nail Kit

I am celebrating 100 Followers on Google Friend Connect! Thank you for reading my blog! To celebrate I am giving away:

- OPI Burlesque Red Shimmers minis set (includes 0.125 oz. bottles of The Show Must Go On!, Let Me Entertain You, Ali’s Big Break and Tease-y Does It)

- MAC Bad Fairy

- Nailtini’s Mad Men inspired “You Call It” Mini Bar set (includes 0.25 oz. bottles of French 75,  Burbon Satin,  Stinger and Deauville)

OPI Burlesque minis set, MAC Bad Fairy, Nailtini You Call it set

Nailtini French 75, Nailtini Burbon Satin, Nailtini Stinger, Nailtini Deauville

The sun is proving elusive today, so I only have one quick shot of the Nailtini set. These beauties deserve full swatches, so time and sun willing I will add them later this week. Stinger is especially stunning. It is a blackened teal green/purple shimmer duochrome. YUM!

Each polish/set is new in box.

To Enter:

There are several ways to enter.

1. Follow me on Twitter and retweet the following: Follow @PlayWithPolish and RT to win OPI, MAC and Nailtini nail polish!  http://tiny.cc/wubs8

2. Follow my blog using Google Friend Connect

3. Follow my blog using NetworkedBlogs (at the bottom right side)

4. Be a friend on Facebook (Playing W. Polish)

5. Blog about my giveaway, or put in on your blog’s sidebar

6. Put www.PlayingWithPolish on your blogroll

Each counts as one entry, with a total of six possible entries per person. Please comment and tell me which method(s) you used, and the name(s) you follow under. I also need an email address to contact you if you are the winner.

The deadline is October 11, 2010 at 5:00 PM Pacific.

I will choose one randomly selected winner on October 12, 2010 and notify them via email. Please respond within 72 hours, or I will select another winner. My contest is open to anyone (except my family of course).

Good luck!

Magic Elf

A green and gold glass fleck type finish, with a glowing from within look. Very pretty!!!

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Color Club Magic Elf in natural light with decals on the accent nail

Wish List Red

Bright red jelly infused with red glitter. This is a great red. My husband remarked that he really  liked it.

This polish was a bit thick, but I was able to control it fairly well. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Color Club Wish List Red in sunlight with Magic Elf & decal on accent nail

Enchanted Holiday

A dense gold glitter polish. Not very unique. It reminds me of a gold glitter polish I had when I was a kid (that my little brother spilled on the carpet). It might be fun for a holiday party, but I can’t see myself wearing this one.

Application was good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Color Club Enchanted Holiday in natural light

Snowflakes

A multi-colored glitter (blue and violet were two of the most prominent colors) in a milky base. This polish was really sheer, and I hate it by itself! It does make a decent top coat though.

Three coats and a top coat shown.

Color Club Snowflakes in natural light

Two coats of Magic Elf and one coat of Snowflakes with a top coat.

Color Club Magic Elf and Snowflakes in natural light with decal on accent nail

Color Club Enchanted Holiday set

This set had some hits and misses for me. I love Magic Elf and Wish List  Red.  The decals are also a lot of fun. Enchanted Holiday and Snowflakes really aren’t my cup of tea. Overall for the price I paid ($8.50) I think this set is worthwhile addition to my collection.

It has been a busy week for me, and I haven’t had time to swatch while the sun was out. I just got some new holiday themed polishes that I can’t wait to share! I should  have some time to write and take pictures tomorrow, so hopefully the sun will cooperate with me! Until then, here is a preview

Bewitching

Color Club Bewitching set

Enchanted Holiday

Color Club Enchanted Holiday set

Here are two beauties from Orly’s holiday collection Tis’ the Season. It seems way too early to be thinking about Christmas though!

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

Meet Me Under the Mistletoe is a blue leaning forest green shimmer.

This polish was pretty opaque. I almost had full coverage in one coat. Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe in sunlight

Rockin’ Rocket

Rockin’ Rocket is wine colored with a gold shimmer. It is very festive! I am a bit confused about the name on this one. Rocket does not have any Christmas/holiday association for me. Rockin’ Rockette would make more sense! I double checked and my bottle says Rockin’ Rocket. Oh well, it’s still a beautiful color!

This polish was also pretty opaque, and I probably could have gotten away with one coat. Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

Orly Rockin' Rocket in sunlight

Overall these are fun holiday colors with great application. I am glad I added these two to my collection!

Orly Rockin' Rocket and Orly Meet Me Under the Mistletoe

I love fall! The crisp cooler weather, apple and pumpkin pies, and holidays like Thanksgiving and Halloween! I was excited when I saw this set, and knew I had to have it!

Obscurity

Obscurity is a matte black. It is kind of cool for Halloween, but not really my thing.

Application was uneven, and the results were so-so. From farther away it looked pretty cool, but upon close examination it was quite uneven. Two coats shown without a top coat.

OPI Obscurity in natural light

Unripened

Unripened is a black base with fine teal glitter. In the bottle it looked like the glitter had a duochrome effect, but I didn’t really see this on the nail. I had hoped for more duochrome, but this is still a yummy color!

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

OPI Unripened in sunlight

Nevermore

Nevermore is a lovely shimmery purple! I have other shimmery purples for sure, but I don’t know how you could have too many!

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

OPI Nevermore in sunlight

Suzanne asked how Nevermore compared to OPI’s Ink, so I took a comparison picture. I think the shimmer in Ink might be a tad bit more vibrant, but essentially they look the same to me.

OPI Nevermore on pointer and ring fingers, OPI Ink on middle and pinky fingers

Sanguine

Sanguine is a shimmery blackened red. I LOVE it! This polish looks like glowing embers!!!

Application was very good. Two coats and a top coat shown.

OPI Sanguine in sunshine

The polish also came with a lace cuff bracelet that I gave to a friend. She regularly frequents a Goth club, so I figure she would get more use out of it! Overall I really like this set! I would absolutely love to have full-sized bottles of Sanguine and Unripened If you love Halloween and lovely dark colors then Go Goth! is a must buy!

OPI Go Goth! OPI Obscurity, OPI Unripened, OPI Nevermore, OPI Sanguine