Merry Christmas Eve!!

Today is my family's day to celebrate Christmas, so we're spending time watching movies, opening gifts, and eating tasty foods.  I'm taking a break from gluten free eating today, so I can partake in some tasty cheese cake and amazing (aged) beer.  Our holiday traditions are a bit crazy.  First, we have "Little Santa Claus" who comes to fill our stockings on Christmas Eve Eve.  We get together early Christmas Eve morning and tear into our stockings.  Then, we open one gift every hour until we run out of time and have to open them more frequently.  The person who screams "Christmas Eve Gift" first to every member of the family gets to open the first gift and choose which one it will be.  We eat tasty food that's usually homemade finger foods and then a super tasty steak dinner.  We watch movies that are either our Christmas favorites, like National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation, or we'll watch movies that we received as gifts.  We'll play board games.  We just spend the day having a great time with one another.  Then, Santa Claus comes Christmas Eve night.  We wake up early and check out what Santa has brought us.  Even though we're all adults, Santa still comes to visit.  It's truly special to be able to spend such quality time with my family.  We're a very tight knit crew, so it's one of my favorite times of year!

I'm going to attempt to do something a little different starting from today.  I'm going to try to tweak my reviews a bit so you can get the best bang for your buck.  Usually, I just give it a brief overview, but since I show so many indies, I want you to know exactly what you're getting into with these before you commit.  If you don't like the way I set this up, PLEASE let me know.  I don't mind and welcome constructive criticism.  Also, if there's something you ever want me to add in to my reviews, just leave it in the comments, and I'll endeavor to add it to my little template.

In honor of Christmas, today, I'm going to show you my candy cane manicure. I have three polishes to show you today, so we'll briefly talk about each one in turn.  

OPI Don't Touch my Tutu, Dollish I Can't Put My Arms Down, Dollish 1-Up 

OPI Don't Touch My Tutu

(I'm missing a shot of this one, sorry!!)

Color: White
Finish: Jelly - a squishy and translucent finish that reminds me of jelly shoes.
Bottle / Brush: OPI bottle with the new wide brush - if you have small nail beds, this brush may be too large for you.  The wide brush tends to cause the polish to flood your cuticles, so you have to be very careful when applying.  Don't get too much polish on the brush when you're ready to apply it to the nail.  The brush length and cap are both the standard that OPI uses, and has a pretty average application.
Opacity: Low - it requires several coats for opacity, but you'll never really get rid of visible nail line.
Glitter: N/A

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: It's the perfect white jelly for me.  It isn't streaky like Essie Marshmallow.  It's bright enough that you can tell it's white, but it's also transparent enough that you can still see through it if you decide to use it in a jelly sandwich.

Dollish Polish 1-Up

Color: Green and white

Finish: Glitter Top Coat – glitter in a clear base to be worn as a top coat.

Bottle / Brush: Tall skinny round bottle brush – long cap with standard size wand.  Some of these brushes come bent.  Average application with standard non-bent brush.  Picks up glitter decently, but it isn't the best.

Opacity: Glitter topcoat – not designed for full opacity.

Glitter Application: Hard – difficult to dig the glitters out of the bottle, spreads well with the dab method, but pools at the cuticles and bubbles when dry.

Overall Ease of Application: Difficult – applies with some pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well with manipulation.

Stampability: N/A

Dry Time: Long – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in over 8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: 1-Up is a unique polish, but it's a bit of a pain to apply.  To get the amount of glitter I wanted, it required quite a bit of polish.  I wanted to only apply one coat, but it pooled on the sides making the polish uneven.  I would've done better had I applied two thin coats instead.  Further, it took a very long time to dry.  It worked alright in a jelly sandwich, but I'm still not a huge fan.  This is definitely one that will end up on my blog sale at the end of the month.

Dollish Polish I Can't Put My Arms Down

Color: Red

Finish: Shimmer – shimmers in the light from micro glitters.

Brush: Round bottle with average brush – standard width and length.  Easy to control and manipulate.

Opacity: Medium – achieves opacity at three to four coats.

Glitter Application: Easy – Spreads evenly without much manipulation.

Overall Ease of Application: Medium – applies well with minimal pooling, dragging, streaking, or balding.  Spreads well without much manipulation.

Stampability: Not designed for stamping.

Dry Time: Medium – dry to the touch with minimal smudging in 3-8 minutes.

Overall Thoughts: It's a beautiful orange-y red with gorgeous micro shimmer.  It applies really well, but it's not very unique.  It didn't stain when I removed it like so many reds, so that's definitely one thing going in it's favor.  While it's a very pretty color, I'll probably sell it simply because I have way too many polishes, especially too many reds.

For my candy cane mani, I did a jelly sandwich with Don't Touch my Tutu and 1-Up.  Then, I striped on I Can't Put My Arms Down with my thin art brush.  I topped it with two coats of Seche Vite.

You can purchase Dollish at her store (which is down for maintenance right now), Llarowe, and Overall Beauty.  You can purchase OPI where OPI's are sold (salons and supply stores like Ulta).  Unfortunately, all of these polishes are limited editions, so they're a bit harder to find.

What's your favorite Christmas / Hanukkah / Festivus / Kwanzaa / Long Weekend in December tradition?