Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hey guys!  Today's post is just a quickie to wish everyone a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!  Whatever holiday you celebrate or don't, I wish you peace, happiness and love!  PJ's and Polish will be taking a two week break from posting and will return on Tuesday, January 6th.  I want to thank everyone who takes the time to visit or comment on my reviews or nail art.  I wish you all the best!

HPB Presents Winter Nail Art

Hey guys!  I'm part of an amazing Facebook group called Hobby Polish Bloggers.  I have learned so much from there about lighting, social media and how to label and tag my pictures.  There are always interesting and thought provoking topics that come up on a variety of subjects and it's by far one of the best groups I've found.  If you're a newbie polish blogger, or are seriously considering blogging about nail polish/nail art I highly recommend checking it out.  This month's theme is "Holiday, Festive or Winter themed".  I actually did the perfect mani for this a little while ago, and thought this would be a great way to showcase it.

HPB Presents Winter Nail Art

HPB Presents Winter Nail Art

  Okay, so I totally had to show you this both glossy and matte.  I have never tried mattifying polish before and I've seen some really pretty matte nail art.  Normally I'm 100% a glossy girl, but I think in this case, I actually really prefer this matte.  Look at that glow!  I don't think I'll be all "matte all the things", but in this case I really like how it turned out.  I messed up my stamping a bit, but I still love the overall look.  It screams "Frozen" to me, what do you think?

Products used:
Base: Nicole by OPI Poised in Turquoise
Stamping plate: BP-01 from the BornPrettyStore
Stamping Polish: Mundo de Unas White
Glossy Topcoat - Seche Vite
Matte Topcoat - NYC Matte Me Crazy

Don't forget to check out all the other Holiday, Festive or Winter themed manis from the other HBP members below.

An InLinkz Link-up

China Glaze - Strike Up a Cosmo

Hey guys!  Today's polish is China Glaze Strike Up a Cosmo from their Autumn Nights collection.  I got the whole collection for my birthday last year and I haven't tried a lot of them yet.  Strike Up A Cosmo called to me recently to try it.  The description in italics below is directly from China Glaze.

China Glaze - Strike Up a Cosmo

China Glaze - Strike Up a Cosmo

Strike Up a Cosmo is sparkling rose gold shimmer.

This is two coats of Strike Up a Cosmo with one coat of Seche Vite.  The formula is thick, but easy to work with.  I prefer polishes with a little bit of a thicker consistency and this one was great.  It went on easily with only very few brushtrokes that were smoothed out with topcoat.  I'd classify Strike Up a Cosmo as foil rather than a shimmer polish.  It shows my ridges a bit, but I don't mind.  Are you a fan of foils?

After putting it on, it seemed like I already reviewed something super familiar.  I'll have a comparison post for you soon, but first I'll let Strike Up a Cosmo take the spotlight today.

Canadians can purchase China Glaze online at Nail Polish Canada starting at $8.75 - $12.75 depending on finish.  At the time of this blog post shipping is free within Canada on orders over $25.00.

Nail Polish Canada: Store, Facebook, and Twitter

Nicole by OPI - Poised in Turquoise

Hey guys!  Today's polish is Nicole by OPI Poised in Turquoise.  I don't own very many NOPI as personally I don't really care for the bottle, but the polish inside looked so pretty and it was only $3.00 at Dollarama, so I couldn't pass it up.

Nicole by OPI - Poised in Turquoise

This is four thin coats of Poised in Turquoise with one coat of Seche Vite.  When I first started getting into polish, I didn't have patience for anything that was more than two coats really.  I've since come to learn that sometimes for a polish I may need three or four.  The formula on this is very thin, and I found even after waiting a few minutes between coats that it tended to drag at the cuticle a bit.  It's so darn pretty though that the four coats were worth it.

Nicole by OPI - Poised in Turquoise

 While it isn't a duochrome, in some lights it leans more green, and in others more blue.  In low lighting, the shine/flash that appears on the nails is an emerald green.  Unfortunately I couldn't properly capture this in photos.  It did stain the sides of my nails a little bit upon removal, so you might want to double up on basecoat.

Since this was at Dollarama, I'm not sure if it's still available in stores, but I'm glad I didn't ignore it just because of the bottle shape.  Are you a NOPI fan?