OPI Holiday Wishes 2009: Shim-Merry Chic, Holiday Glow and Sapphire in the Snow

 OPI brought out a great holiday collection in 2009, and I'm so sad I missed out since I wasn't into collecting nail polish at that time. I have only been able to acquire three of them so far, but I'm glad to at least have these in my collection. I found Shim-Merry Chic and Holiday Glow at aveyou.com for 8.50 each, but I have no idea if they are still available there. I think Sapphire in the Snow was 7.00, but I found it on a blog sale.

Shim-Merry Chic has flakes and holographic glitter in a light brown base. It's a bit similar to Sephora-212, but this is lighter and the holographic glitter is smaller. I used three coats to get full coverage.

Holiday Glow seriously glows with all the gold microglitter it has. The base is a shimmery almost chocolate brown color. I really, really loved this one. I used three coats with a coat of topcoat to bring out the glitter.

Sapphire in the Snow is almost as multi-faceted as a gem can be. Sometimes you see this color and it's a dusty navy blue and other times it comes off as a dusty dark purple. I have heard this is similar to OPI Roadhouse Blues, but I haven't compared them. I used two coats on the swatches below.

 There a few more polishes I want from this collection, but I doubt I'll ever find them as cheap as I found these three. Merry Midnight alone goes for over $20 on blogsales. Oh well, like I said I am happy to at least have these in my collection. ^_^

Orly 2011 Holiday Soiree Collection: Oui, Au Champagne and Androgynie

 Orly's Holiday Soiree Collection has six colors in the collection, but I was only interested in three of them. I passed on Le Chateau which is a navy blue creme, Ma Cherie which is a bright red jelly and Ingenue which is a mauve, shimmery, metallic duochrome. The only three I picked up are Oui, Au Champagne and Oui.

Oui is pretty much the same as Ingenue. The only difference is that Oui is purple rather than mauve. I used two coats on the pictures below. 

Au Champagne is a white polish with shimmer throughout the base. It almost reminds of me of China Glaze Frosty, but this is not as glittery. I used three coats on this one and a top coat, since it dried to a satin finish I wanted to bring out the shimmer a bit more.

Androgynie is a black jelly base with small and large holographic glitters. Many people have been underwhelmed by this polish, but I LOVE it. What's not to love here? Jelly? Goood. Holographic glitter? Gooood! Haha that's a line by Joey from Friends, except he was talking about food. I used two coats and a coat of top coat.

 If you turn the polish bottle upside down a few minutes right before you apply Androgynie, you will get more of the larger holographic glitters on your nails. That's a tip I use for all my glitters though, since glitters are heavy and tend to sink to the bottom. The collection is still out at Sally's and is $5.49 usd if you use a Sally's card. ^_^

Sally Hansen Gem Crush in Big Money and Lady Luck

 I thought I was going to end up buying all the colors in this collection that Sally Hansen just came out with, but it was a bit of a let down when I actually saw them in stores. It's just that they are sooo similar to China Glaze's Eye Candy polishes that it was difficult to get excited. There were a couple of colors that immediately caught my attention, though. Big Money and Lady Luck seemed to have the most unique colors, so I just picked those two up. Oh, and the price was also a bit steep on these at 6.99 each.

Big Money has small gold glitter with large lavender glitter in a clear base. The combination of colors give this polish a very subtle yet elegant look. I used three coats of Big Money and a coat of top coat for pictures below.

Lady Luck has burgundy glitter and holographic glitter in a clear base. This one was less dense than Big Money and had to use four coats. I loved the colors on this one, but I think it would be best layered.

 I know Sally Hansen has several collections now that are about the same price as salon brands, but in my mind they will always be a drugstore brand. Sometimes I hesitate on purchasing their polishes because of this reason, but I have to admit they do have some great colors. ^_^

Sephora-212

 I had heard many good things about Sephora-212, but I never was able to pull the trigger on this polish. Part of the reason for that is because I only order online when purchasing something from Sephora. I have actually never been inside a Sephora store, since I tend to avoid brick and mortar stores as much as possible. It's just so much easier to go overboard inside a store than online, at least that's the case for me. I know that it would be a lot harder to put something I really liked down in the store than just removing it from my online cart. The other reason is because if I do order from Sephora I have to order more than fifty dollars to get free shipping. It's a pet peeve of mine to pay for shipping. It seems like a waste of money when so many stores offer free shipping online now. Yea, I know I've become spoiled.

 Sephora-212 is jam packed with so much goodness. It has flakes and holo glitter all in a brown shimmery base. The first coat went on a bit sheer and watery, but it became opaque with the second coat. Any polish with glitter in the base needs top coat to even things up and to make it nice and shiny.  Sephora-212 was no exception.

 This is such a beautiful and unique polish. I don't have anything like it in my stash of... Well let's just say it's gotten to be rather large in the past few months. My only regret is not having bought this polish sooner.