Ready to get your sparkle on? Whether you fancy treating yourself or someone else, here are a few of my favourite festive glitter nail polishes…
Nails Inc Festive Cracker includes 3 mini 5ml polishes in seasonal shades: York Row - red and gold glitter top coat, Buckingham Terrace - deep wine red and St Johns Avenue - nude. The wine + glitter combo looks SO Christmassy on, though the glitter looks just as pretty over the nude shade, so I think this set will work well all year around. Bonus!
I’ve posted some pics of these gorgeous new Kure Bazaar glitters on instagram recently (swatches and on my nails). The gold shade, Crazy is particularly stunning, with vivid gold shards that look like golden sprinkles in 1 coat and add complete coverage in 2-3. Strass is a sophisticated dark blue that looks great on tips, over white or silver. Kure Bazaar polishes are 85% natural and toxin-free. Rose gold glitter, Diva is next on my list!
A peel off base coat is also available, though I find that the cheaper NYC one works equally well. Both allow you to apply glitter polish as normal, then peel it off when you wish; no faffing with removal. In terms of lasting power, I find that they work best used alone with glitter, rather than with a layer of polish in between.
I think Essie Summit of Style is my favourite glitter ever, with large bronze flakies that can be stroked sparsely on tips for a gold leaf effect, or applied all over for a densely packed finish that’s as glittery as it gets, yet remains sophisticated. Not easy to find these days, it’s still available here, where I bought my bottle for the princely sum of £2.49! (Deep blue glitter, Stroke of Brilliance is the same price.)
I discovered Magic Effects Liquid Sequin polish when I was doing some work with Avon recently and fell head over heels with ‘Dazzle’ - bronze micro glitter with large fuchsia pieces in a sheer purple base - you can see pics of it on my nails here.
Jessica Phenom nail polish and top coat are impressively long lasting, shiny formulas and this little kit works out at great value (saving £10) if you fancy giving them a go. It includes base coat, a Phenom polish and Phenom Finale Shine top coat. Mine is the shade Caviar Dreams, a gorgeous blackened teal, which I swatched on my instagram. I think my next mani will be this with Essie Summit of Style glitter tips. Also available in 5 other shades here.
And finally, there’s no point in pretty nails without pretty cuticles and Margaret Dabbs Fabulous Cracker contains a bottle of her intensive Nail and Cuticle Treatment Serum to keep yours in tip top condition. Central heating and cold weather wreak havoc on mine at this time of year and I need to treat them twice a day to keep them looking semi acceptable.
