4th of July Nails

Happy 4th of July!

Right now I'm missing my family in Michigan because we usually have a huge party that lasts all day/night with tons of beer, food, and fireworks. I LOVE family parties!

These are the nails I did to celebrate (I DO get to go over to my grandparent's and have a little party with them and my aunt and uncle). I used Revlon Royal for my left ring finger, China Glaze Phat Santa for my right finger and OPI You Callin' Me a Lyre? for the base on the rest. Then I layered All That Glitters Glitter Glory over the ring fingers and sponged it on in a gradient French over the others. It is very easy to apply with the brush, but I had a little trouble sponging it. I do love the result, though!

I bought Revlon Royal in a drugstore a few months ago, so I think it's readily available. Phat Santa was part of the China Glaze 2010 Christmas collection, but there are a lot of red creme/jellies like it. Glitter Glory was purchased from the All That Glitters Etsy shop, but it doesn't seem to be in stock at the moment. Hopefully it will return!

Revlon Rain Forest & China Glaze Glittering Garland Comparison

When I saw Revlon Rain Forest in the new displays at Walgreens, my first thought was "Ooooh!" but my second thought was "I bet it's a dupe for Glittering Garland." I was kinda right. They ARE very similar, but have a couple little differences:

Revlon Rain Forest (index and ring) and China Glaze Glittering Garland (middle and pinkie)

First off, both have very nice formulas and cover very well in two coats, so I suggest getting whichever looks better to you. They both have slightly duochrome gold glass fleck glitter, but the base color is where they differ the most. Rain Forest has a darker, more yellow-toned base than Glittering Garland's emerald green. For this reason, the glitter seems to "pop" just a tad more in Rain Forest, but it shows up more densely in Glittering Garland.

Overall, I say they are similar but not dupes, and it's up to you whether you want both. I like different aspects of each of them, so I don't think I have a favorite of the two.

Revlon Rain Forest is now available in most places that carry Revlon like Walgreens, Walmart, Target, and Ulta.  Glittering Garland was part of the China Glaze Holiday 2011 collection and is still available on some sites like Trans Design.

On a side note, I was super excited when I realized that the sparkles in these appeared to be duochrome in the bottle (I can even see blue and purple!), but sadly, it really doesn't translate at all on the nail.  Oh well.

The 12 Days of Christmas Nails: Day 3 - Spice Drops

This was a manicure I had in mind since Mrs. Claus and Mistletoe Kisses came out last year in China Glaze's holiday collection. I wanted them to look like various flavors of spice drops (you know, the ones you decorate gingerbread houses with?). So here they are!

Spice Drops - CND Sugar Sparkle over various bases

For the bases, I used CG Grape Juice, CG Mistletoe Kisses, CG Mrs. Claus, Ulta Sun-sational, and Revlon Powder Puff, then I topped each with two coats of CND Sugar Sparkle.  This is what I was going for:

I love these candies, but only the ones that are flavored like spices (not fruits).  If you haven't had them, you should try them!  Some of the flavors are anise (purple), spearmint (green), peppermint (white), and cinnamon (red).  I can't remember what the orange and yellow ones are...  ginger might be one?


Do you have any favorite Christmas candies?