A coffee break with Yankee: Vanilla Chai candles...

As you can see, the fragrance of the new for autumn 2013 Vanilla Chai candle is described as "the perfect accompaniment to "me" time - a supremely satisfyingly rich and spicy recipe of ginger, cinnamon and vanilla." There's nothing that I can add to that - thee fragrance fits the description exactly.

NOTD: Bump In The Night by China Glaze...

 

Bump In The Night is one of the five new shades for the Halloween 2013 [Monsters Ball] range, and is the sole texture polish in the collection. A plain black texture polish. Wow, right? Well this polish is a bit different to the rest - it dries to a wet look finish, that looks as though I've just dribbled tar over my nails. All of my other texture polishes are matt, so Bump In The Night stands out for me.

 

It does take a little bit longer to dry than China Glaze's regular polishes, but it is hard wearing, so protective top coats aren't necessary. I use a self-powered wheelchair, so I'm thrilled by how well it holds up - this polish is more resistant to chipping than their regular polishes on me, so this is something that I'll happily wear all year round.

 

OPI's Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 @ Amazon UK: All I Want For Christmas Is...the full range.

There's not much to say here, other than buy, buy, buy. The formula for OPI is unrivalled; so smooth, streak and bubble free, fast to dry, and long lasting. This set in particular is ridiculously good value; OPI polishes have a RRP of £11.50 each, so you are buying two and getting another two free here. With the price in mind, I did suspect that Faith Cosmetics would be bundling four of the least appealing colours together and selling them, but as the festive is fast approaching and I don't own any red creme polishes, I decided to risk the purchase in the hope of getting at least one wearable shade...

NOTD: China Glaze Fang-tastic, over OPI Candlelight...

Fang-tastic is one of the five new shades for the Halloween 2013 [Monsters Ball] range, and is one of the four glitter shades. It is one of the two scattered polishes in a clear base, so is made for layering over other polishes.

 

Fang-tastic is filled with small green, pink and purple hex glitters and some larger blue hex glitters. I've worn this shade when I had every finger painted a different colour, and think that all of the 'Halloweeny' colour combinations I wore Fang-tastic over [black, dark grey, navy, blood red and orange] looked great. Beige or pastel blues, pinks, yellows and greens also made for pretty combinations, so I think that you can wear this shade the whole year round too.

 

Despite the glitter this polish is easy to apply, leaving no bubbles or streaks and I was impressed with the drying time. Being a glitter polish means that it does take a little bit more effort to remove, but it seems easier than my other glitter polishes.

 

I got my mini bottle of Candlelight in OPI's  Halloween 2012 So So Skullicious polish set, and think that it was a repackaged version of the OPI Brights shade Need Sunglasses?, but I don't own that shade so can't be sure.

I have found this polish to be the most disappointing OPI shade I've used, as the formula is so streaky and watery. After three coats of it and a topcoat that is good for erasing steaks and bumps in polish [China Glaze Fast Forward], it's about passable for wearing underneath a glitter or crackle, but I'd never wear this polish alone as it just looks messy.

NOTD: OPI Can't Let Go, with Deborah Lippmann Boom Boom pow...

 

 

Get Your Number isn't what I expected; it is meant to be the purple shade that Mariah Carey wore in the ads for this polish range, and before I applied it I swatched it onto card to make sure I'd picked up the right mini and the shade was definitely purple, but once it's on my nail it is blue. The shade looks great on my shorter nails and is a all-seasons shade, so I still like it.

 

 

What the colour should be like...

 

 

This polish takes at least two coats for the effects of the textured finish; sometimes two coats doesn't look fully opaque, but I don't mind the semi-sheer look.

 

 

I love the look and feel of the matt texture and light spattering of glitter, that is the formula of the OPI 'liquid sand' finish. It is made to be worn without a topcoat for the gritty, matt finish, but as there are glitter articles in the polish it looks good with topcoat too. I prefer the matt look of this polish, so I do fin it will chip faster then normal OPI polishes, but as it has a textured finish touch ups are easy to do and are largely seamless.

 

 

 

I found a trio of Deborah Lippmann polishes in TK Maxx the other week, so was testing the glitter shade in the trio, Boom Boom Pow, to see what the formula is like and layered it over Can't Let Go. I was playing around so the results aren't neat, but I love the combination of the two polishes, so I took a few snaps...