Loaded Honey Holiday Duo

Greetings, nail babes! I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas, and is gearing up for their New Year's celebrations (and manis!) Today I have an awesome holiday duo to share with you from Nail Honey and Loaded Lacquer.

Polish provided for review.

The collaboration set comes with two lovingly hand-made polishes that complement each other perfectly, but can also stand alone. Also, the set isn't exclusively "Christmas-y," making it appropriate for year-round wear!

Nail Honey's contribution to the duo is Sleigh of Steel, a rich, slate gray with lots of silvery, cool toned shimmer. It's no secret that I'm a HUGE supporter of Nail Honey and adore her formulas; this was no exception. This one could definitely be a one-coater if applied carefully, but the photo above shows two coats without topcoat. On its own, the polish dries to a satin, semi-matte finish. This is a perfect winter neutral!

Loaded Lacquer's half of the duo is this gorgeous glitter topper, Giddy Up Jingle Horse. The topper is comprised of metallic magenta and silver hex glitters in various sizes. The photo above shows two coats on my ring finger with minimal placement of some of the larger glitters, and one sponged coat on the rest of my tips. Though I did choose to place a few glitters because I'm crazy and a control freak, it is absolutely not necessary for achieving a dynamic look. Each brush stroke had a good variety of glitters, and applied evenly. I've topped this entire look with Seche Vite topcoat to even out the glitter and add glossy shine.

Of course, I also HAD to mattefy this mani! I used one coat of OPI Matte Top Coat. I love matte glitter, and I think the muted shimmer in Sleigh of Steel is really apparent once I added the matte topper. Just beautiful!

The Loaded Honey Holiday Duo is still available in Nail Honey's online shop, so pick it up while you still can! You can also follow both Nail Honey and Loaded Lacquer on Instagram for future releases and updates.

NOTD: Color Club - Holiday Splendor

Like any other red blooded, vaguely Christian American lady, I absolutely LOVE Christmas. The time with family, the food, the crafting (!!!)...it just takes me to my happy place. However, as much as I love Christmas, I have absolutely NO tolerance for pre-emptive Christmas spirit. If I hear Christmas music anytime before the day after Thanksgiving, someone is going to get it. When I was a counselor at a boarding school, I gave students who sang Christmas songs too early extra chores. (They called me a Grinch, obviously. But whatever)

Today, I am breaking my own rule, because I've had a revelation in the form of a polish from a past holiday themed collection. What kind of epicness is required for me to break this long standing personal rule? See below:

Color Club - Holiday Splendor

This polish is from their 2011 Beyond the Mistletoe collection, and I found it just sitting on a polish rack filled with other more recent releases. I had no idea it was a holiday polish, (obviously didn't read the name before throwing it into my basket) or that it was from so long ago. All I knew was that it was green, sparkly, and holo-y. I've had it for a few weeks now, and just got around to trying it...I have NO idea why I waited so long!

Holiday Splendor is an emerald green jelly polish filled with green and holo glitters. All of these photos show three thin coats over one coat of black polish, all topped with Seche Vite. Formula was easy to apply, and the glitter spread evenly, making it easy to achieve full coverage. 

I think this photo comes the closest to capturing the true emerald of this shade in real life. No filter, but I realize the lighting makes my skin look pretty lobster-y. 

Check out the holoooo! Even though the polish is described as having "scattered" holo, I find the holo effect to be quite strong and visible on the nail (and in the bottle). I see way more holo than I've seen in swatches of the China Glaze or Color Show "holos."

One more, just because. I took so many photos of this polish, because it look different (and beautiful!) in every possible light. I love the shade of green, and though it could easily be incorporated into a Chirstmas-themed mani, it doesn't immediately scream "holiday" to me (which is good--means I didn't break my rule too badly!)

As this polish is from 2011, I have no idea how available it is. I found it on a Color Club rack in a local nail supply shop. Happy searching, polish addicts!