Hi guys! I had to post this right away, since I love this mani and couldn't wait to share. So let's just get right to it!
For this mani I started with a base of 10's Pinky Promise (thanks to Erika at Chloe's Nails for sharing this polish! It is a great base for a french mani!). After that dried, I taped off my tips and added Sally Hansen's Red Carpet and a coat of SV. Then I freehanded the holly and berries using Confetti Green With Envy (is it just me or does every polish line have a Green With Envy?) and Red Carpet again. Topped it all with another coat of SV and voila! Quick and simple Holiday Mani!
I adore this mani! I very rarely do any kind of french tips, but I wanted something that stood out but was also a bit simple. So far this is a win (according to friends and family anyway!).
Sally Hansen Red Carpet reminds me of Milani Ruby Jewels in so many ways. Ruby Jewels is actually a bit darker and almost looks as if it has some black glitter in low light, whereas Red Carpet is red red red in any light. I do love how bright and happy this one is, and I am a sucker for any color that contains glitter. Application was, however, a pain in my hiney. This polish became gloppy as hell on the very first couple of nails, and no amount of shaking, rolling, or whacking it with a ball peen hammer changed that. It even glopped right back up after adding some thinner. I don't know if I ended up with the reject bottle or it every bottle is like this, but I detest glop in a big way. If I use this polish again I will be thinning the ever loving hell out of it! My base color, 10's Pinky Promise was a dream to work with. It flowed perfectly, and I love the sheer pink. If my nails weren't stained right now, and I didn't have a fiberglass wrap on one of them, I would be tempted to wear this on its own. I don't usually use a sheer base for french mani's since they always look either too pink or too ivory for my taste, but this color is perfection. I haven't had a chance to try out Confetti's Green With Envy other than the holly leaves on this mani and a quick swatch on a nail wheel, but it such a beautiful green. And it's glittery! Green is one of those colors that I never really loved until recently, and this is such a funky bright green that I had to have it! The green microglitter adds some oomph, and I can't wait to use this for a full mani. It looks a bit darker here just because I piled it on to make the leaves stand out, otherwise it's a little lighter. If you have a CVS near you, you should pick this baby up! (Not to mention if your CVS is like mine, they're doing a huge reset and a mega ton of their polishes are 75% off! Woot! Score!! I picked up 10 polishes for a few bucks yesterday, including some Revlon matte suedes, scented polishes, and top speed.)
I have a bunch of Holiday Manis that I want to do, but there aren't enough days left until Xmas to squeeze them all in. Not to mention the fabulous Cristina over at Let Them Have Polish beat me to the gold and glitter mani! (I'm ok with that...I'm not complaining! I love her manis and her blog and trust me, she did it way better than I ever could. That woman is one of my nail idols. Seriously. Go give her some love.) I know I'll have at least 2 more coming up this week, since I am bound and determined to play with white and red - especially since 2 of the Revlon Matte Suedes I picked up are red and white.
Hope you all are finding some fab polish deals and enjoying this holiday season! And BTW? A big hello and thanks to all my new followers and people that are dropping in to check out my blog. You guys rock and I read and appreciate every single comment. I may not always respond (the best way to get me is via twitter), but I love hearing from you all!!
Happy Polishing!
-Kimber
