Christmas Mani 2 with Zoya

This morning I did my second Christmas manicure (technically my 3rd, but I didn’t get pictures of the last one.)  I did a red and gold ruffian manicure for this one, something I have always wanted to do but considered a bit too far into the realm of nail art for my patience.  It was actually much easier than I thought, and I think I’m going to have to get more creative with my polish more often!

I used Zoya Ziv for the gold, and this was actually a lot prettier than I expected.  I just bought it because I don’t really have a good gold in my collection.  Ziv is a glittery gold that ends up with a foil-like finish, I used 2 coats and the formula was perfect.

On top of that is Rekha, a deep red jelly.  I used 2 coats, and could still see a bit of the gold shining through, which I liked since it gave the red a bit of a shimmer.  On it’s own, I think I would have needed 3 coats for full coverage.  The formula was good on this one too, just a tad thicker than Ziv.

This is my favorite holiday look so far, I can’t stop looking at my nails!  Tomorrow I’m picking up some hole reinforcers to recreate a mani I saw while browsing nail blogs.

Pahlish Ghost of Christmas Present

One of my Black Friday purchases was from Pahlish, a brand that I’ve been admiring for a while now but had never tried.  I picked up 2 polishes from the winter collection, plus Ghost of Christmas Present.  I didn’t realize it at the time, but after doing some research, it  looks like this one was a Black Friday exclusive, and it is not currently available on the website.

Ghost of Christmas Present is a beautiful plum red jelly with gold and purple/blue flecks.  This is exactly what I would think of as “sugar plum.”  The formula was good and I used 2 coats here plus HK Girl top coat.

You can find Pahlish polish here, a 15 mL bottle is $9.  You can also follow Pahlish on Facebook for updates.

Essie Toggle to the Top

I recently came across the Essie Winter 2013 collection, but only one of the polishes caught my eye.  All of the other colors were too similar to polishes I already have, but Toggle to the Top is pretty unique.

Toggle to the Top is a beautiful cranberry jelly (no pun intended!) with red glitter throughout.  This was 2 thin coats, the first coat was a bit streaky but the second smoothed everything out.  I used 2 coats of Out the Door for a smooth finish.

Depending on the lighting, this polish can lean more red or more purple.

I am loving this color, it is the perfect color for Thanksgiving, and it also makes a great Christmas red.