Happy St. Patrick's Day! (Zoya Holly & Julep Oscar)

 Happy St. Patty's Day! As mentioned previously, I'm on a pastels-only kick until my nails regain a healthy pink glow, but what kind of polish junkie passes up a holiday? Especially a holiday where bright, awesome green is encouraged and even required? Not this girl. No way. Throw in some glitz, and I'm good to go.

 For my St. Patty's Day fun, I started with a coat of Essie Grow Faster base coat, then two coats of Zoya Holly. Holly was released as part of the Gems & Jewels Holiday 2011 Collection, and as the name indicates, is a lovely green the color of holly. Holly is well-pigmented and goes on like buttah. The shimmer is gorgeous, and I barely noticed when I put the top coat on. It took me an hour before I decided my nails really were dry. It's that glossy.

 If the photos look a little awkward, it's because my Holly is a mini bottle, courtesy of my December Birchbox. If you don't know about Birchbox, you should. I blogged about my January Birchbox here.

 The accent nail is one of my favorite trends in nail polish, so having received a new glitter last month, I figured this would be the time to bust it out. For the accent nail, I used Julep Oscar. Julep's Maven subscription is another great service. I've blogged about their polish quite a bit. More info here.

 There are two things you need to know about me: 1. I do not wear yellow gold. Like, ever. 2. Glitter polish usually requires 8,000 coats of topcoat to feel smooth.

I was actually a little bummed when I got my February Maven box. Red carpet glam: a red shimmer and a yellow gold glitter. Meh. Put 'em in the drawer and didn't even swatch. I thought Oscar might be an okay accent nail, so I put it on. SO sparkly. I wish it was a little softer, as I can't say the color is incredibly flattering, but it's really glittery. Oscar also goes on really smooth, and could probably be opaque in 2-3 coats. One coat of top coat, and I the nail was pretty smooth. I took some closeups of Oscar to give you a better idea of the color and shine. I would love, LOVE a pewter or gunmetal glitter like this.

 And there you have it: My St. Patrick's Day manicure! Not too fancy, but nice and festive.

What shade of green did YOU choose for St. Patty's Day?

January Birchbox

Hey, all! Many of you may have heard of Birchbox. It's a fantastic service that offers samples of beauty products for a $10 monthly fee. If you live in an area like mine, where most consider Bath & Body Works the be all end all of amazing bath products. Nothing against Bath & Body Works, but there are alternatives, and Birchbox delivers them to your door. I just got mine, so I haven't had a chance to use any of this month's products, but in the past, I've gotten mini bottles of Zoya polish, Philosophy face wash, lip glosses, eye shadow samples, pretty soaps and the like.

Birchbox includes a cute little card describing the goods. Rather than retype the information, I figured I'd just let you read firsthand.

I unwrapped everything so I didn't have to post as many pictures, but some items are usually loose in the box, and a few things are usually wrapped up in a little tissue paper package. A+ on the packaging.

 

You'll get more updates as I have a chance to enjoy my new treats. In the meantime, you can enjoy for yourself by checking about the Birchbox website. Disclaimer: That's my referral link. You, too, can share and get additional points towards purchases by joining.