China Glaze - It's a Trap-eze! (Cirque du Soliel World's Apart)

I'm soooo behind on posting.  I have so many great polishes to share, but never seem to have enough time to get my pics edited and posted expeditiously.  I have some Jessica polishes, Zoya, Color Club holos, AEngland, American Apparel and even a couple of Urban Outfitters polishes that need blog love asap!  Sometimes I wish I had an assistant, or a maid, or was independently wealthy.  Hmmm....
I had some vacation time over the holidays, but spent the majority of time in El Paso, TX with my family, so no blogging was done.  It's back to work on Monday and I still have to get all my stuff unpacked and put away and straightened out, but I thought I would at least sneak in a quick post of a nail polish I love love LOVE.

It's A Trap-eze is from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil World's Away collection.  It's the only one I thought was interesting enough to buy and so I did.  I love these types of glitter polishes - with the colored base instead of boring old clear.  They look so eye-catching and cool.  This collection was to coincide with the release of the movie World's Away.  I haven't seen it, but am kind of curious about it.  I'll likely wait for the DVD release if I decide to take a peek.  I have seen 2 Cirque du Soleil shows in Vegas - Zumanity and Love and both were excellent and so fun to experience.

For this manicure I used my go to Orly Bonder base coat and 3 coats of Trap-eze and then topped with a thick and even coat of SV.  No issues with application whatsoever and dry time was totally normal.

Please excuse my overly oily fingers, I was having dry cuticle issues.  Grrr.

What do you think?  Have you bought any polishes from this collection?  Have you even heard of it?!  How about Cirque du Soliel?  Ever been to one of their shows?

I hope your holidays were happy!

Until next time ☺

Color Club Ho Ho Holly & X-mas Dot Mani

Christmas is bearing down on us with a fury as the days are just flying by faster than ever, it seems.  I haven't even started my Christmas shopping yet.  Fortunately for me, I don't have too many people to shop for.  Is it awful for me to say that I'm waiting for December 21st to come and go before I start my shopping?  Yup, call me crazy, but it's true.

To get us in the holiday mood, I did my nails up in Color Club's Ho Ho Holly and then when I grew tired of it added a little dot magic for fun.  Ho Ho Holly is part of the Winter Affair Collection and to me, is the prettiest one of the bunch.  I picked it up at Sally's last month for under $5.  It really is a stunning green with lots of shimmer, shine and sparkle.  Very Christmas-y, indeed.

For this mani, I used Orly Bonder base, with 3 coats of Ho Ho Holly and topped with SV.  This polish went on very smoothly, no streakies - not too thick and not too thin.  Perfection in a bottle. I have to also add that it is wearing very well.  I'm on day four and am hardly showing any wear at all.  

After 2 days of Ho Ho Holly all by its lonesome, I decided to dot it out with some red and gold dots.  I'm not going to bother listing the colors I used for the dots, because you get the gist of it.  I have learned that laying out your dot pattern using a white dot base before layering on the color to the dot is best when using a darker base color or polish.  That way, the contrasting color dot can be sure to stand out as it's supposed to.  

I really like the way the dots came out on this one.  They're raised and look like little buttons or candy dots.  And I love how easy dot manicures are to do and yet they can have so much impact.  What do you think?  Are you going to X-mas decorate your nails this season?

Well that's about it from me, for now.  Happy Holidays!!!

Cleopatra in New York by Deborah Lippmann

There's not much to say about Deborah Lippman's Cleopatra in New York except when I saw it I immediately said "gotta have it!!".  Deborah Lippmann's website describes this polish as: gold studded black (glitter) new - limited edition!

Deborah Lippman really needs to start taking it easy on me.  I can't keep buying her polish because it will surely break me...but it's all soooo preeetty!!!  Ack!! What's a girl to do?  I always justify it by telling myself that at least I don't have a shoe obsession.  Shoes are waaay more expensive.  Fortunately for me, I don't currently have any other DL's on my "want" list or pinned so I can take a breather and so can my wallet.  For now.

Here's Cleopatra for you.  This manicure consists of the usual Bonder base coat, several coats of Cleo.  DL glitters seems to always be a cinch to apply, no need to use the glitter "splat" method (it's so glitter packed!) and dry time is no worry.  After drying, I topped it off with a generous coat of SV.

Is it just me or does DL have the lotsa-gorgeous glitter suspended in a colored base thing down to perfection? 

I purchased Cleopatra in New York on sale via Amazon.com for $16.00 which included free shipping.  What a deal!

Do you have any DL in your collection?  If not, do you think you will ever give her a try?  

Until next time.  ☺