Essie Winter 2014 Collection Swatches

Hello everyone! I have the Essie Winter 2014 Collection to show you today from HB Beauty Bar - I've got 5 out of the 6 winter shades for you guys! This collection is a wintry mix of pink cremes with a gorgeous champagne gold foil as well. (PS: notice anything different about my blog?!)

One thing I love about Essie collections is that they are always so cohesive - don't these colors look so beautiful together? Most of them were practically opaque in one coat, and the formulas were fabulous! Let's take a look at them individually:

Let's start with my absolute favorite polish in the collection, Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low, a beautiful champagne gold foil that's actually packed with gold flecks. I absolutely love shades like this, especially in the winter - this particular shade feels perfect for a New Year's manicure! It was almost opaque in one coat - shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

Jump in My Jumpsuit is a beautiful berry creme that's almost opaque in just one coat! I think this is a classic shade for winter, especially around the holidays. This color reminds me of the fall shade Dress to Kilt. Holding them side by side, this new shade definitely has a more berry tone. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

Double Breasted Jacket is a cool toned medium pink creme. Another gorgeous color! Although it does just seem like a regular pink, I actually don't have any colors like this in my collection, so I really like it. This is another shade that was almost opaque in one coat, but shown above is two coats with top coat.

Bump Up the Pumps is a gorgeous coral pink creme. This color is just so pretty! It feels very classic of Essie to have a shade like this, and I think it's a great go-to color year round. I know I keep repeating myself, but this shade was almost opaque in one coat too! With short nails, any of the above polishes could probably be applied in one coat. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

And finally we have Tuck it in My Tux, a sheer creamy white crelly. A plain color, but I just can't get enough of delicate colors like these - it's perfect for a special occasion or formal affair. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

There is one other polish in this collection that I don't have, Back in the Limo, which is a sheer light coral pink creme. Overall, I think this collection is really nice - must haves include Jiggle Hi, Jiggle Low and Double Breasted Jacket.

The whole collection is available from HB Beauty Bar for $7.50 USD per bottle. Don't forget to use the discount code POLISHCHALLENGE at checkout for 15% off your entire order! (PS: shipping is free for orders over $25 USD!)

* These products were provided for my honest review.

KBShimmer Winter 2014 Full Collection Swatches and Review

Hi everyone! I am so excited about today's blog post - it's finally time to show you the KBShimmer Winter 2014 collection! Every year, KBShimmer comes out with an amazing set of winter polishes, and this year's are better than ever.

This is also probably my longest blog post ever, because I didn't want to split up the polishes into multiple posts! So you've been warned, it's going to be photo heavy :)

This collection consists of 17 polishes, including five returning holiday favorites! With all swatches below, I have used KBShimmer Basic Training base coat and one coat of KBShimmer Clearly On Top quick dry top coat, unless otherwise noted. Alright, let's take a look:

White Here, White Now is a pure white textured polish packed with matte glitters. This polish is aiming to look like snow on the nails, and I do think it succeeds. Personally, I didn't think I would like this until I tried it on my nails, but when I saw the effect, I decided it would be pretty cool as an accent nail or for nail art with a textured finish! I am curious to find out what people think of this one - it's similar to last year's China Glaze white textured polish, and that had mixed reviews. Shown above is two careful coats, with no top coat.

Let's Sleigh Together is a soft gray crelly filled with pale yellow, holographic green, and navy blue hex glitters, as well as some blue circle glitters. This is a classic KBShimmer crelly! Perfect formula, as usual, and I think the color combination is lovely. Shown above is three thin coats with top coat.

Snow Way! is a returning holiday favorite. It's a beautiful light blue filled with white hex glitters in various sizes, with just a slight dusting of holographic microglitters for a lovely sparkle. This polish is beautiful, and definitely reminds me of winter. I'm glad they brought this polish back! Formula was slightly thick, but easily managed. Shown above is three coats plus top coat.

Too Cold To Hold is a rich blue textured polish that's positively packed with holographic blue, silver, and green glitters! This polish is super sparkly and holographic, and it looks awesome in the light. Shown above is two careful coats without top coat.

Fallen Angle is a royal blue jelly filled with holographic blue triangles, as well as various holographic blue and silver hex glitters. This color is very elegant, and I love the vibrant shade of blue! Definitely very winter appropriate. The triangles were easily picked up by the brush, and I didn't have to place them, so that was nice! Shown is three thin coats plus top coat.

Sugar Plum Faerie is a returning holiday favorite, a warm violet jelly packed with metallic purple, lime green, and hot pink glitters in various sizes. This color was pretty sheer, but I love how it looks on the nail! It reminds me of candy. Shown above is three thin coats with top coat.

Mauve On Over is a pale purple crelly with a unique mix of glitters in navy blue, turquoise, and orange. I really like this color, but I would expect it to be a spring release, not a winter polish. I think the mix of colors in this polish is really interesting! Shown above is two thin coats with top coat.

Merry Pinkmas is a returning holiday favorite, a super bright pale pink packed with lime, green, red, pink, and silver glitters in various sizes - including circles, squares, and mini bars. This is definitely another unique color, and I think I love it! Even with these larger glitters, I didn't have to fish around to get them on my brush, so application was a breeze. Shown above is three coats with top coat.

Turnip The Beet is another textured polish, this time a vibrant cranberry packed with holographic red, purple, and magenta glitters for a super sparkly finish. I found that this textured polish didn't feature as many of the larger hex glitters (like Too Cold To Hold), but I loved the textured effect just the same (if not more!) This was a nice, more subtle texture, and I think it would be great to wear for the holiday season. Shown above is two coats without top coat.

Deja Brew is a warm, chocolatey brown linear holographic polish with red undertones. As you can expect with KBShimmer, the formula was buttery and perfect and the linear holo finish was beautiful. Shown above is two easy coats with top coat.

All Decked Out is a returning holiday favorite, a dark forest green jelly packed with a rainbow of hex glitters in various sizes, as well as gold star glitters! This polish looks just like a Christmas tree, with all the lights and ornaments! I did fish around a little for the star glitters, because I wanted one on each nail - you might want to store this one upside down to keep the stars from sinking! Shown above is three thin coats with top coat.

Dressed to Guild is a gold textured polish (the sister to Hexy Bikini!) that's packed with gold holographic glitters, as well as some lavender and lime holo glitters for extra depth. This is another polish that demands attention - it's got an insane sparkle! Shown above is two coats without top coat.

Kringle All The Way is a returning holiday favorite, a glitter topper packed with red, green, and silver circle glitters in various sizes. These glitters remind me of ornaments! I absolutely love the way this looks over green. I did place most of the circle glitters for this swatch, as they were slightly difficult to paint on normally. Shown above is one placed coat over KBShimmer Honeydew List, with top coat.

Pine-ing For Yule is a glitter topper that features holographic green triangles (like little Christmas trees!) and metallic red stars, with tiny holographic glitters. I love the idea of this polish! To apply, I placed a bunch of the glitters, and then I painted a thin coat over that so I would get the holographic dust (and a few extra glitters). Shown above over KBShimmer A Touch Of Glass, with top coat.

This glitter topper is the KBShimmer 2014 Toys For Tots® charity polish - for every bottle sold between 11/01 and 12/15, $4 USD will be donated to Toys For Tots®, a charity for giving toys to less fortunate children.

Spot Sign is the highly anticipated leopard spot glitter topper! This polish features black leopard print shaped glitters, as well as various black circle glitters and holographic microglitter. In the last few weeks, we have seen a ton of leopard print glitters popping up. This one is definitely my favorite, because of the simple color scheme and the added circle glitters to complete the look; it seems like more thought was put into this glitter topper, whereas other brands seemed like they just dumped the new glitter shape into a bottle and slapped a label on it in an attempt to be ahead of the market (but that's just my opinion!). However, I'm not sure how I feel about the leopard glitters themselves - they are pretty thick, so they don't lay flat on the nail, even with top coat. I did place almost all of the glitters, since they didn't want to come off the brush. Shown above over KBShimmer Hugs & Wishes, with top coat. I'm curious to know, what do you think of this glitter shape?

And finally, we have Flake Dance, a super sparkly glitter bomb with a ton of silver holographic hexes, as well as some silver holographic snowflakes! I just love this topper, it looks like sparkly falling snow! I didn't have to place the glitters for this swatch, but I did dab the glitter on rather than paint as normal. Shown above is two dabbed coats over KBShimmer Eclipse, with top coat.

There are also a few new cuticle oil pens this season:

As you may remember, I am pretty obsessed with KBShimmer Pink Sugar cuticle oil pens. Well, now there are three new holiday scents to choose from: Chai Tea, Raspberry Vanilla, and Peppermint! (You will also be able to purchase an unscented cuticle oil pen, with the release of these new ones.) I tried out Chai Tea and Raspberry Vanilla, and they both smell incredible! I used them before taking all of my photos above, and by the end of my swatching, my room smelled deliciously of chai tea and raspberries.


Overall, I think I am, in love with this collection. KBShimmer always knocks it out of the park with their incredible winter collections! And as much as I love warm weather, these polishes are getting me excited for the holiday season. My top picks for the season are Too Cold To Hold, Fallen Angle, All Decked Out, Kringle All The Way, and of course, Flake Dance!

This collection will be available starting on November 1st on the KBShimmer online shop, and each polish will retail for $8.75 USD. The cuticle oil pens will retail for $6 USD each. 

As with every winter, KBShimmer is offering a ton of special promotions:

-Free shipping for all orders over $40 USD! No code necessary. (11/01-12/31)
-Free with a $70+ USD purchase, you can get the limited edition Christmas crelly Holly Back Girl. (You can see my swatch of it here.) Use the code HBGFREE to get your free polish (as well as free shipping!) on your $70+ USD order. (11/01-12/31)
-Free samples! While supplies last, KBShimmer will be sending out a sample in each order. Samples may include scrubs, lotions, vinyl nail decals, soaps, etc.  Orders will also include a branded emery board.
-Free snowman glitter! The first 400 orders will receive a bag of 1000 snowmen glitters perfect for winter nail art.

Whew! That was a long post, so thanks for sticking with me! Which polishes are YOU most excited about? Let me know your thoughts below!

These products were provided for my honest review.