Girly Bits Xmas and O's

Rounding off the week I have another Girly Bits polish to share with you-- this time one of the December COTM polishes! Today's polish is Xmas and O's (now I'm singing that Elle King song!). This is described as a "sparkling rose gold foil" which is spot on. I can't really add more to than that. Rose gold has been a big trend for what, at least the past year? I feel I'm pretty behind-- I honestly think this is the first rose gold polish I have! But, I think it was a good place to start!

I don't have any complaints to report about the formula! I used three coats, but two probably have been ok. This was smooth and generally pretty easy to apply, though the polish was maybe a bit on the thicker side. In any case, it definitely wasn't difficult to work with.

Here's a phone pic outside so you can revel in its beauty:

This is so gorgeous. I wore this for several days longer than I normally would have because it's just so stunning. All I wanted to do was look at my nails... so pretty. It was hard not to stare at my nails! This held up really well despite how hard I am on my hands; I can see myself reaching for this bottle again many times in the future! 

L'Oreal Feeling Kilty

Hey look, it's 2016!! I hope everyone had a merry Christmas (or whichever holiday you celebrate) and very happy New Year! Today I have a polish that's a little more current, though I'm still behind-- I have Feeling Kilty from L'Oreal's holiday collection. I initially planned to post this before Christmas, but we went out of town for almost two weeks and blogging took a back seat to all the packing and family time! So I got a little bit of a hiatus and got some down time and now I can get back to blogging more regularly. So let's talk about the polish! This was the only one that really caught my eye, though the whole collection was nice and colorful, this was the only one I really felt motivated to buy. Feeling Kilty is a gorgeous slightly rose-toned gold polish. It's really a bit of a chameleon-- in some lights it looks more good and in others a bit more platinum. Either way, very pretty!

The formula was pretty good-- it's a metallic and a bit on the thick side and also a bit prone to brushstrokes if you're not careful. It also dries pretty quickly, so you need to be careful when applying it. I didn't have any issues, though it did drag a bit towards the tips of my nails as I applied additional coats. I *think* I used three coats here, because I remember thinking I should have stopped one coat earlier, though really, it looked just fine.

Artificial light (flash):

I certainly don't feel guilty wearing Feeling Kilty! (I'll be here all week, hardy har har!) This is a gorgeous metallic-- perfect for the holiday season (and beyond)! I don't know if this is the most unique color in the world, but I like it a lot.

Julep Dakota

Yesterday I realized that it was almost the end of August and I hadn't even swatched the polishes from my August Maven box!! Whoops! Luckily I had a pretty productive couple of days with my swatching, and prioritized my Julep polishes so I could show them to you before the end of the month!

Tonight I have Julep Dakota for you, which Julep describes as a "rose gold metallic chrome" and there's a subtle multicolor shimmer in there as well. Rose gold is having a huge fashion moment right now-- very on trend and a lot of rose gold jewelry is prevalent right now. Several polish makers have also realized rose gold polishes (Deborah Lippman, for one) and chromes as a nail polish finish are also really big right now (Essie), so it's not surprising that Julep jumped on the trend.

My problem with these metallic chromes in general is that I find them difficult to apply nicely and Julep's in particular always seem to give me trouble. You have to be careful about applying them (or at least I do!). The polishes are nicely pigmented but a little on the thin side, so it's easy to overload your brush and end up too much on your nail, which then leads to a lot brushstrokes. I used three thin coats here and no top coat. You might be able to do two coats, but since I was using thin coats this was a little sheer with just two.

Artificial light with flash:

Artificial light:

Natural light - shade:

Natural light - sun:

I like this color a lot and think it's really pretty-- I just wish I could apply it better! I love the multicolor shimmer in this-- I think it's perfect for fall.