Glam Polish: Holos from the December 2014 collection

Winter is here to stay! For most of the year! Well for me anyways, being in Canada and all, summer is like the shortest season ever to actually see the sidewalks. Whatever, new seasons mean new nail polish collections to me, so there's that. Especially holo ones like Glam Polish's limited edition Mid-Winters Dream Collection, inspired by icy winter at its finest! This December 2014 collection boasts whimsical holo-day hues galore. I've got 5 of the 9 total polishes in the collection here for review. The whole collection will be available for purchase on December 4th directly from Glam Polish (based in Australia), or one of their international stockists. If you're in Canada or the US be sure to check Harlow & Co.'s website first, they will be stocking them soon!

 

VIDEO TUTORIAL AT THE END OF THE POST!

You will recall that I swatched some of Glam Polish's November 2014 Broadway collection - and they were definitely worth drooling over. This time around three of the five I have for you here are the same rich luxe holo crelly-with-glitters formulas as I've swatched previously, plus two formulas new to me from Glam Polish, crelly-shimmering holos with delicate silver glass flecks.

Check it out, my backgrounds be gettin' fancy! Courtesy of Michael's craft stores.

Is that snow below?! Nope, it's just an accidental awesome reflection photo of the baby blue glitter paper against my black glass desk top. I'd take credit for this awesome photography but... I have no idea how this magic sorcery happened.

Swatch conditions:

• All shots were photographed indoors under 2x 5200k compact fluorescent bulbs, never with camera flash. 
• I used OPI's peel off base coat for easy removal after each swatch, and kept my cuticles nice and supple with my favourite cuticle and nail oil.
• I applied two coats of polish for each swatch nail.
• I used Cult Nails white creme 'Tempest' and striping tape (you can get some from eBay, Amazon, or Born Pretty Store) to create the accent nails.
• One top coat of HK Girl glossy top coat by Glisten & Glow on all nails.

First up, Polar Lights! An aqua-green jelly holo with ultra holo glitter and silver holo microglitter. Gah, what! Amazing! It's like dancing winter garden fairies on my nails. This is just two coats, levelling out perfectly on the second one. 

Click to enlarge!

Pink isn't really my thing if you haven't noticed, I'm kind of atraditionally feminine like that, despite the irony of loving nails and nail polish, I know. In any case, this is two coats of Frost Flower, a peach crelly holo with silver glass flecks and shimmer. It reminds me of a pink-leaning coral, with a very soft dusting of pixie powder, fairy dust, or something equally girly and enchanting. Cute for sure, however I feel I'm too badass for this pink, but that's just me. The formula was a bit streaky on the first coat but it levelled out just right on the second.

Ooh, purple! Now this is a colour I love. Here is Whirlwind, a lavender jelly holo with ultra holo glitter and silver holo microglitter. It's a very cool-toned purple, and it actually pairs really nicely with the soft pink from this collection. This is two coats of the same perfect multi-faceted formula as many other signature Glam Polishes!

As I once learned in geography class, tundra is what happens when the climate is so cold that plants and grass freeze over and the land turns into permafrost. I have since forgotten anything else about geography, but I immediately associated Arctic Freeze with what I thought tundra would look like. Frozen-over greens! This mint crelly holo with silver glass flecks and shimmer is so delicate and perfectly suited for the winter season. Mint has been a trending nail colour for some time, but this baby brings it to another level with its icy finish! Two coats to achieve full opacity. The polish actually looks a tad darker on the nail than in the bottle - you can see this in the collage pic below.

I saved my favourite for last: Below Zero, a blue jelly holo with ultra holo glitter and silver holo microglitter. It's the definition of an icy blue, like a holo skating rink! Brrr, it's cold in here! Who cares, we got nail polish! Two coats and paired with Arctic Freeze on my accent nail.

That concludes the 5 of 9 polishes I have for you today from the Glam Polish limited-edition Mid-Winters Dream 2014 collection. You can check out swatches of the rest of the collection on Glam Polish's Facebook page.

Now for some accent nail fun! I created five easy accent nail ideas (or full mani ideas of course!), all with just striping tape. I'd say these are great ideas for beginners, but what they also do is show you just how creative you can get with striping tape patterns. You can easily adapt and alter any of the five I show you here into a pattern sprung from your imagination! You can buy striping tape from eBay, Amazon, or Born Pretty Store.

APROX 2MIN VIDEO TUTORIAL:

(had to break my 1min rule to show you all 5 looks :)
(see also 15sec teaser on Instagram)

In the video I used Cult Nails' white creme 'Tempest' for the base (my fav white creme polish - almost a one coater!) and HK Girl top coat by Glisten & Glow to seal the base and quickly dry it. After 15 mins or so you are free to go ahead and start applying striping tape without running the risk of it pulling off the polish upon removal!

One thing I want to note about what you see in this video is that the striping tape actually bleeds its colour as it sits on the nail soaked in polish while you're working. This is one major disadvantage of working with striping tape - it is usually metallic and its colour is not 'all-the-way-through', but rather a coloured film coating on top of a silver tape. This is why if you look closely in the accent nail collage above, you can see fine pink lines around where the tape was. To avoid this, you could use super skinny straights from NailVinyls.com - they are 100% vinyl throughout and do not bleed! I just don't have any :( For more on the difference between striping tape and nail vinyls, visit my Gradient Guide.

Ready to get glam? Set your calendars because this limited edition winter collection will be available on December 4th from the following places:

• Directly from Glam Polish (best option Australian - customers)
• From Harlow & Co. (best option for US and Canadian customers)
• Other international stockists (check the list and see what suits you!)

Happy soon-to-be holidays!

*Polishes provided by Glam Polish for my impartial review.