I included Essie Bikini So Teeny in the comp as a reference point for the other two.

Essie Bikini So Teeny, Butter London Sprog, Essie Lapis of Luxury

While the shades are similar, Sprog is more pigmented and brighter than Lapis of Luxury. Lapis has almost a dusty quality in comparison to Sprog. In terms of finish, Lapis of Luxury is a crelly, while Sprog is a true creme.



If I had to choose, I'd pick Lapis over Sprog, but I don't mind owning both.



I believe Essie Lapis of Luxury is core now, so it should be readily available.

Butter London Sprog is exclusive to Ulta and butterlondon.com.

China Glaze has recently released nail appliques (along the same vein of Sally Hansen's) in several different styles. I had the opportunity to try some, and I chose Cherry Blossom.







If you've had any experience with nail apps, there's nothing new here. Each pack comes with 16 nail apps, an orange wood stick, and a small file.



Applying these was fine. I have weird nails, so only three sizes fit my nails without manipulation. Luckily, they stretch pretty well, and they are long enough to cover two nails for every nail app.



The wear was great. I wore these for a full week and didn't experience any chips until day 5. I used Barielle Manicure Extender as a topcoat. China Glaze's estimate of a 7 day wear is very realistic - much better than Sally's 10 day estimate.



While I wouldn't wear nail apps on a regular basis, they are great for travel and special occasions. If I had a set for my recent vacation, I definitely would have worn them.



I received my China Glaze nail apps from Nail Polish Canada.

2 coats

Givenchy Acoustic Purple is a navy shimmer base with bright, slightly duo fuchsia flecks. The purple flecks are what gives the blue polish its overall purple hue. In normal lighting, it looks like a glowy blurple. In the sunlight, the depth of this polish is unmistakable.








Acoustic Purple does have a slight case of amazing in the bottle, less amazing on the nails. It's that gorgeous shimmer that sticks to the sides of the bottles. I wouldn't call the shimmer in this hidden though. It's present without being ostentatious.








The formula is amazing as well. It's like, Dior amazing. Acoustic Purple is also pigmented enough to be a thick one coater, but I prefer two thin coats. On day three of wearing this, I have no tip wear or chipping.



One final note: the price. It's $17 for .17 fl oz or 5.5 ml. If I tried to fill up an OPI bottle with Acoustic Purple, I'd have to spend $50. In my opinion, the color is special enough to own, but it's not at all cost effective. I've never used up a bottle of polish (full sized or mini), so I don't really mind.



Givenchy Acoustic Purple retails for $17 and is available at Sephora.com

2 coats

2 coats

Here's part one, in case you missed it.

2 coats

Color Club Ho-Ho-Holly is an evergreen foil packed with gold shimmer. I like that the base color is not overwhelmed by the gold. It's the perfect balance. Definitely one of my favorites from the collection.



The formula was just okay for this one. It's not great at self-leveling, but a careful application should yield pretty good results.

2 coats

Color Club Berry and Bright is a pink toned red with silver shimmer and red glitter. I'm not usually a fan of any red that isn't creme or jelly, but I don't mind this one.



I had some serious application issues with this. The consistency was quite thick and the glitter applied in small clumps. I had to take it off, thin it, and swatch again. Thinning helped, but it still isn't perfect.

3 coats

Color Club Gift of Sparkle is a warm purple with holo glitter. This is actually more sheer than I thought it would be, but it still builds nicely up to full opacity.



Gift of Sparkle is so pretty, but it is extremely thick and goopy...probably the worst polish I've ever encountered. Thinning it didn't really do anything, so I'm going to try a few more things to try to get this to work.


The Color Club Winter Affair collection is available for purchase at Head2ToeBeauty.com 

I've heard a lot of great things about A-England, and I finally got around to ordering a few. I was most excited to try Tristam.