Monday, November 17, 2014

Fall into Holiday Displays

With Halloween now past, I am embracing all the winter holiday displays that are showing in up stores by me. There are still some autumn stragglers I want to share, too.

The latest collection from Butter London is Steampunk Ball, which near as I can tell is only available in a six-piece mini set (Butter calls minis calls "fashion size", which cracks me up; they're always trying to be so fancy). I saw this at Ulta, not on the end with the polishes but around the corner in the adjacent aisle section. Colors are: Barkers, Pinkies Up, Baroness, Bric-a-Brac, Full Steam Ahead, and Brass Goggles. Bric-a-Brac is a holdover from the Brick Lane collection from earlier this year; the others are new. If you look on the Steampunk Ball page on Butter's website, there's a whole bunch of stuff besides this set, which I believe they did to simultaneously confuse and tempt me.



China Glaze has given us Twinkle a their holiday collection. The way they're arranged in this display at Ulta it's hard to tell how many shades there are at a glance; I counted twelve when I studied closely: Dancing & Prancing, No Peeking, Chillin' with my Snow-mies, De-light, Define Good, Tip Your Hat, Pine-ing for Glitter, Feeling Twinkly, I'd Melt for You, December to Remember, Meet Me Under the Stars, Out Like a Light. I later saw a smaller but not a whole lot less confusing display at Sally Beauty.



In the core display section for China Glaze at one of my Ulta stores, I saw what I believe are (some of) this year's Ulta exclusive shades: Be Bright Back, Ulta-Violet, and Golden Seal. I've read that there are supposed to be three more besides these, but if they're going to hide them like this I might miss them.



I don't remember exactly at which mass market retailer I saw the Essie display with the Fall Trend + Encrusted Accents pairings (I think probably it was Bed Bath & Beyond). This has three creme shades from this fall's Dress to Kilt collection—Style Cartel, Dress to Kilt, and The Perfect Coverup—matched with three from 2013's Encrusted Treasures collection—On a Silver Platter, Hors d'Oeuvres, and Ignite the Night.



Ulta had a different Essie mash up display, this one with Good as Gold, Penny Talk, and No Place Like Chrome from the 2012 Mirror Metallics collection, plus three Luxeffects: Rock at the Top (new), Summit of Style (new), and Set in Stones (2011).



CVS had yet another Essie mashup (on a high shelf where it was hard to get a good shot). This had the two new Luxeffects, Rock at the Top and Summit of Style, with four cremes: Bobbing for Baubles (2011), Recessionista (2012), Jazz (core), and Pouf Daddy (core).



Essie's Winter 2014 collection is Jiggle Hi Jiggle Low. I saw the full six-shade display at Ulta: Jiggle Hi Jiggle Low, Tuck It in My Tux, Back in the Limo, Bump Up the Pumps, Double Breasted Jacket, and Jump in My Jumpsuit. I've also seen a four-color version of this at Rite Aid; that one is missing Back in the Limo and Bump Up the Pumps.



The latest from FingerPaints is Winter Wishes. I'm not sure if the display I saw at my Sally Beauty was complete or if they'd had to leave off the backing card to fit it in on the shelf, but regardless, all the colors seemed to be there: Ho Ho Happy Holidays, Wrapped in Ribbon, Silver Bells, Glisten Here, and Sugar & Spice.



The FingerPaints Color of the Month (which month is not specified, but I saw it first in November) is Santa's Little Topper.



Fresh Paint In the Flash (only at Five Below) has three colors: Dream Catcher, Arrowhead, and In the Flash. These all look like foil/metallic finish.



Funky Fingers (also available only at Five Below) has a Christmas collection called A Glitter Story: Red Ryder, Triple Dog Dare Ya, and Fra-gee-lay.



I bought my selections from Deborah Lippmann's New York Marquee collection for Fall 2014 online before I came across these shades displayed in one of my Ulta stores: I'll Take Manhattan, Harlem Nocturne, 12th Street Rag, Lullaby of Broadway, Autumn in New York, and Take the A Train. (Having now seen them in person, I'm still happy with my two choices, swatched in this post.)



Rite Aid was the first place I saw L'Oreal Sparkling Soirée, which has four base colors and four glitters: Almost Midnight, Midnight Fireworks, Hit the Slopes, Snow Ball, Bring the Rubies, Pink Party Dress, Tuxedo Noir, and 24 Carat. I like the way the display encourages layering and show most of the glitters over two different bases.



I first saw the Maybelline Rebel Red display for Winter 2014 at Bed Bath & Beyond, then shortly thereafter at Meijer. This has three limited edition Color Show polishes: Ravishing Red, Bold & Burgundy, and Gold Ignite.



OPI is having a Gwen Stefani extravaganza for Holiday 2014. Similar to last year's Mariah Carey collaboration, there are more polishes than seems reasonable for one collection; I guess OPI likes holiday excess. My Ulta had this arrayed in three parts; a small display with metallics and glitters, a large one with cremes and shimmers, and a topcoat all by itself on another shelf. The small display had (front to back): Unfrost My Heart, Comet in the Sky, So Elegant, Rollin' in Cashmere, I'll Tinsel You In, and Snow Globetrotter.



The big display was red-centric. Top row: Cinnamon Sweet (x3), What's Your Point-settia (x3), Just BeClaus (x2), Sleigh Parking Only, base coat. Middle row: In a Holidaze (x4), Christmas Gone Plaid, Red Fingers & Mistletoes (x4), matte top coat. Bottom row: Kiss Me or Elf (x3), I Carol About You (x2), First Class Desires (x2), top coat (x3). So much red. So much.



The Don't Speak 18K Gold Top Coat rounds out OPI's holiday offerings. Since I don't often wear my other real gold toppers, I don't see myself paying $30 to try this one, but I can't promise it won't make it's way into my collection eventually, like the silver one did when it went on clearance.



I never did see a full six-shade display of Orly's fall collection this year, but Sally Beauty had all the colors of Orly Sparkle, their Holiday 2014 offering: Glitterbomb, Bling, Explosion of Fun, Tinsel, Mirrorball, and Steal the Spotlight.





The snowmen polishes are back! Again they were at Rite Aid under the Ornaments name, and again like last year they have rhinestone bands around their hats, but this year, the labels on the bottoms of the bottles don't say Blue Cross but rather Cosmetics Industries (same as this year's pumpkin polishes). For all I know, it's the same company; the bottles look exactly as they did when they said Blue Cross. The assortment of colors seems pretty similar to last year, though there is a white/pink/turquoise glitter mix that looks new to me as well as a red/green/white one.



The snowmen at Meijer are, as is their wont, in a mosh pit in the stocking stuffer section. Their hats have no bling, but the color range seems the same as at Rite Aid, and they're priced at 2.29 versus 3.99, so I think I can live without the fancy caps.



Rite Aid had another Ornaments display with candy cane shaped lipglosses, Paint 'n' Shake polish/glitter combinations, crystal capped polishes with santa and tree designs, and scented ice cream cone polishes.



I spotted the newest Revlon colors at Bed Bath & Beyond; theredon't say limited edition so I assume they're new core shades. The left side of the display has cremes and shimmers (starting front left): Ravishing, Coy, Sultry, Sophisticated, Socialite, Wild, Tempting, Privileged, Provocative. (Why eight adjectives and a noun for the names, Revlon? Couldn't find a nice way to describe socialites?) The right side of the display has Transforming Effects topcoats: Matte Pearl Glaze, Pink Glaze, Nude Graffiti, Golden Confetti, Holographic Pearls, Gold Glaze, and Cosmic Flakies.



Sally Beauty had a four-piece Sally Girl scented collection: Pine Tree (which confusingly is red), Vanilla (silver), Sugar Cookie (gold with glitter, which is sort of close), and Peppermint (white/red, so spot on).



Sally Girl has snowman polishes, too (thought their caps lack bling); there's a scattered holo red microglitter called Red Shimmer and a silver holo hex glitter called Silver Glitter.



A display with new Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure shades appeared at Meijer. These look like colors I'd expect to be introduced for spring/summer, but maybe they were thinking "resort", which I guess is a fashion season. Front row: Brown Nose (really?), Hello Pretty, Orchid Me Not, Clean Slate, Blue Chip. Back row: Ginger Zinger, All Bark, Scarlet Lacquer, Mardi Grape, and Greenlight.



Also at Meijer, there was a display with a new line from Sally Hansen: Velvet Texture. Eight shades in this one: Crushed, Velveteen, Lush, Velour, Regal, Plush, Lavish, Deluxe.



Walgreens had the SinfulColors holiday sidekick. I'm not sure if this one has a name of its own; a lot of the colors overlap with the Holi-dazzled and Holiday Wishes displays that Rite Aid put out before Halloween, but there are a couple unique ones in here, too. Top row: Decadent, Galax-sea (new), Holiday Rebel, Midnight Blue, Twilight Twinkles (new), Sugar Sugar, Unwrap Me, clear. Second row: Gold Medal, Gilded, Out of This World, Ice Dream, Red Eye, Pine Away, Sugar Sugar, Snow Me White. Third and fourth rows: repeats of first and second rows. Bottom row: Outta Space (two slots, new this year, not in either of the Rite Aid displays), Bring It Sheer, Gilded, Ice Dream, Holiday Rebel, Bring It Sheer, Snow Me White.



Studio M (only at Meijer) has Holiday Glamour. Top row: Gingerbread (sold out, but I'm guessing/hoping it's the same as one they had last year), Antiquated, Sparks Fly, Red-ical Gypsy, Drama Queen, Nouveau Vintage, Blue Funk, Poparazzi. Second row: Party Girl (new), Savoy Nights (new), Baldwin Blues (new), Holiday Splendor, Sugar Rays, Williamsburg (new), Berry and Bright, Lust. Third row: Holiday Splendor, Apollo Star (new), Slammin Red, Wish Upon a Rockstar, Mamba, Purple Medallion, Wild Cactus (new), Sex Symbol. Last row: Slammin Red, Kaleidoscope, Sexy Siren, Sparks Fly, Funfetti, Glitterati, Magnetism, Jingle Jangle. For once, I was delighted to see so many repromotes, because Berry and Bright was one of the colors I lost in the Great Breakage Incident of '14, and I'd yet to find a replacement.



CVS has been disappointing me in the polish arena for quite a while now, but I keep them in my rounds just in case, and was rewarded recently when they did have the All Access Beauty display with the limited edition Wet 'n' Wild MegaRocks glitters for Holiday 2014: Rebel Without a Claus, Starlet in Scarlet, The Snow Must Go On, It's a Winterful Life, Breakfast in Tinsel Town, and Glitz the Night Away.



Zoya's Ultra Pixie Dust colors for Fall 2014 landed at Ulta: Oswin, Noir, and Arianna. For my swatches, see this post.



The Zoya Matte Velvet reissue collection also appeared at Ulta: Dovima, Posh, Harlow, Savita, Verushka, and Loredana. This particular display was at the store closest to my house; I also saw a double decker display of these at another Ulta closer to work. My swatches (well, nail art; I didn't do straight swatches) are here.



The latest Zoya to pop up at Ulta is Wishes: Prim, Haven, Willa, Nori, Thea, and Imogen.



Due to time constraints, I wasn't able to include the polish gift sets I've seen in this post but will try to get them in another post soon. I've heard about more new stuff coming from Sally Hansen, so I'll be on the lookout for that, too. Other than that, I can't think of anything I'm waiting for—well, except the full Orly Smoky, but I think that's a lost cause since Sally didn't get it and Ulta is in full holiday mode now. Ah well, there's always the internet.

9 comments:

  1. woww, I wish I was there...:)
    Have a nice day Karen!

    ReplyDelete
  2. OH, the ice cream and the snow men bottles, those are so cool!! I'm dissapointed in OPI's Gwen Stefani holiday collection - there's just too much red in there! I quite like Essie's winter collection though, some atypical colours in there!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Studio M - I don't know it, but it looks very interesting. Also Orlys and Sinful Colors I've discovered lately.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love the look of these displays - thanks for sharing these posts, I love them!

    ReplyDelete
  5. So many goodies! I'm drooling ;-) Those Orlys keeps jumping out at me :-D Great post Karen, once again <3

    ReplyDelete
  6. Hi Karen! First of all, I want to thank you for visiting my blog :)
    Wow this place is heaven on earth, so many beautiful shades, and those snowmen and ice cream bottles are too cute :) I wish we have something like this here in Croatia...

    ReplyDelete
  7. Wow, all this beauties! I'm jealous. ;-)

    ReplyDelete
  8. So many pretty displays. l'oreal here doesn't have so many choice in colour. They always have the same shades :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. I love these roundup posts oh so much. I also realize my stores are slacking because I haven't seen most of those displays.

    ReplyDelete

Thank you for reading and commenting! I greatly appreciate knowing I'm not just talking to myself here. :) I'm moderating most comments now due to the spate of spammers who claim to be looking for sexy times.