Happy Holidays and a Merry Christmas Manicure: Dior Apparat

Merry Christmas everybody! Did you all wake up early to open your presents?  My Christmas has been filled with cookie baking, decorating, and lots of  present wrapping. I love the holidays, getting together with family, making tons of fabulous food, and seeing friends. There's just something so heartwarming about being with the people who love you most.

Here's my Christmas mani, I've picked Dior Apparat this year to dress up my tips. Apparat was a holiday color from last year, and it's a beautiful, opulent red base with fine red and gold glitter.

I am in love with this color, it's perfect for the holidays, rich and luxurious. Fantastic for a Christmas party with friends or family.

This is two coats to make opaque coverage. I found this polish difficult to work with, as it was quite thick and became even more so as I continued painting my nails. I had a hard time keeing the manicure clean, and it definitely didn't apply evenly, but that was nothing a good coat of Seche Vite couldn't fix. 

 Overall, I'm happy with the result of the manicure, but the process could have been easier with a smoother formula. What have all of you been sporting on your nails this holiday season?

Chanel: Paradoxal

Today I have a fantastic color to share with you!  I have finally made it home and I admittedly don't really know what to do with myself.  No homework, no projects, no exams, and everyone has gone to work and school for the day at my house.  My plan is to do laundry and hopefully meet up with a friend for coffee before family comes over and preparations for the big feast begins. 

Anyways, on to the polish!  Chanel Paradoxal is a dark grey/mauve based color with finely milled purple shimmer.  The shimmer is most evident in the bottle, and becomes subtle once painted on the nails.  I find Paradoxal to be a bit of a chameleon, in sunlight the purple is more evident and looks very warm, yet in shade or artificial lighting it looks like a cool grey.  It's one of those colors that's a little hard to describe, but I think it would look great on any skin tone!

What do you guys think of this polish?  I personally like it a lot.  It's not a color that's in your face or that people will stop you in the streets to comment on, but it's oh so sophisticated and grown up.

Is anyone planning to do something for black Friday?  This year our mall opens at midnight, which means I am not getting any sleep that night. Are you shopping for anything specific? Any great deals you can't pass up? Let me know! Happy holidays!

NARS: Night Rider

How are all of you doing? I hope your weekends have been great! Only two more weeks until Thanksgiving and it can't come sooner! My up-coming week is full of presentations and exams, not so fun, but that's life isn't it? Anyways, I have a swatch to share with you today, NARS Night Rider. Night Rider is a glass-fleck polish that has a plum base with lighter, lilac/silver shimmer.

It has nice consistency, and was totally opaque in three coats. Unfortunately I don't think this polish looks very good on my skin tone, which is sad because I really do like the color in the bottle. This is three coats with one of Seche Vite over top.

I think this color would look really nice with as one coat or layered over something. What do you guys think? We're still having cloudy weather over here, but tomorrow is supposed to be sunny, so I'm planning on getting some good swatching in tomorrow! Have a fantastic Sunday guys, hope you enjoyed the swatches!

Dior: New World Purple / Aztec Chocolate 886

Fall is almost here! The coming season is my absolute favorite time of year. Chilly breezes, chai latés, and falling leaves make me so happy and excited for the coming winter months. I love winter, which is something that most people think is crazy, but who doesn't love to bundle up?

I decided to paint my nails to get myself in the mood for cooler days now that school is in full throttle. New World Purple is one of the first Dior lacquers I ever bought. This purchase was actually a total accident, as I meant to get another color, but this one ended up in my bag. They were really similar colors, and you know how department store lighting can be, so I pointed to the wrong bottle. Oops! As first I was like, no! But once I tried it on I was happy and I figured it must have been fate, so it stayed.

New World Purple is a raisin based lacquer with an abundance of golden brown shimmer.  This polish really shows it's true beauty in direct sunlight! Fantastic formula typical to Dior, this is two coats to make for complete opacity. This is such a warm beautiful color and has great lasting power on the nails.

I hope you liked these swatches! These are the first few pictures I've taken in my new apartment so I'm still getting used to the lighting in here. I think they turned out pretty well though. What do you guys think of this color? Love it or leave it?