Nail of the Week: Holiday Royale

I love this glamorous half moon design for Christmas—L'Oreal's Caught Red-Handed is the ultimate holiday red with a subtle gold shimmer.

Nail of the Week: Nails Inc. Magnetic Nail Polish

I've been waiting for ages to try magnetic nail polish. When I saw the Nails Inc. version at Sephora last week, I snapped it up. The price is a little steep ($16), but I've been waiting so long I would have bought it even if I didn't get to use my 20% VIB discount.

I bought the shade House of Parliament which looks bright purple on the Sephora website but in reality is a brownish plum. Still pretty, as the magnetic stripes give it an animal print effect, but I kind of wish I'd gotten the teal shade. There was also a silver.

Application was easy and the instructions were simple to follow (I didn't bother to buy the “base coat”.) The magnet is on the cap which is detachable from the applicator. Apply a thick coat and immediately hold the magnet over the nail. Within 15 seconds, a striped pattern appears as the magnet causes metallic particles in the polish to separate.

I had a few do-overs from getting the magnet too close, causing a nick in the coat, but all in all this was a fun, unique manicure experience. These would make a great stocking stuffer for anyone who likes to trick out their nails.

I'm hoping these will trickle down into lower-priced drugstore brands (like OPI's shatter did) so I can experiment with different shades and patterns. Meanwhile I recommend buying this in Sephora stores rather than online if you want to see an exact representation of the shades—the swatches on the Sephora site are a little off. Also make sure to use a top coat as this polish has a tendency to chip very quickly.

Christmas Nails: Candy Cane Stripe

For this design I used a silver glitter nail art polish to add a unique twist. The other shades are:

• Sinful Colors Snow Me White
• Maybelline Express Finish Crimson (discontinued, but any bright red will work)
• Color Club Nail Art Lilac

Nail of the Week: Snow Bunny

It's not officially winter yet, but we've already had a snowstorm in New England. This is a cute alternative to all the dark shades so many of us wear in the fall and winter. To create this look I wanted a very specific shade of light pink, but everything I had was too sheer, too light or too dark. Here's what I finally came up with:

• 1 thin layer of Sinful Colors Beautiful Girl
• 2 thick layers of Sinful Colors Glass Pink
• 1 layer of Sally Hansen Disco Ball

3000 Visits! Time to Celebrate: Enter to win an Ulta Gift Certificate

I'm thrilled that the number of visits to my blog has hit 3000 since I went live in June. I'm celebrating this milestone by offering a giveaway of a $25 gift card to Ulta. To enter you must complete one of the following:

Become a follower of Great Lashing via Google Friend Connect and leave a comment on 2 separate blog posts. If you are already following, simply leave 2 comments.

Send Jen Monopoli (jenmonopoli@gmail.com) a friend request on Facebook and, once you've been accepted, share 2 Great Lashing blog posts to your wall. If you're already my friend on FB, simply share 2 posts to your wall.

Once you've entered the contest please let me know by emailing me at jenmonopoli@gmail.com or sending me a message on my Facebook page.

Terms and Conditions:

NO PURCHASE NECESSARY. Only legal residents of the US age eighteen (18) or older are eligible to win. No family members or personal friends (you know who you are!) of Jen Monopoli are eligible.

Deadline to enter is Monday, November 21, 2011 at 11:59 EST.

A maximum of two (2) entries per person is allowed—one by each method of entry. Comments made to blog posts must be deemed relevant and appropriate by Jen Monopoli.

Winner will be chosen at random within 48 hours of the close of the contest. Winner will be announced at greatlashing.blogspot.com and notified by Jen Monopoli via Gmail or Facebook message.

Prize is non-transferable. No substitutions or cash redemptions. Other conditions and restrictions apply.

My OPI Nail of the Week: More Muppetry

My nails are lit up like an early Christmas tree with these two shades from OPI's Muppets collection. If you're a regular reader of my blog, you may remember that I complained that the metallic gold shade Designer, De Better was a little boring. Well I fixed that by layering 3 coats of Rainbow Connection over it. I love the result—this is just the first of many winter holiday and Christmas inspired manicures I'll be posting.