Winter and Holiday Displays

We in southeastern Michigan had our first snowstorm of the season this past weekend, so it feels like a good time to share the winter and holiday displays that have been showing up at stores.

This first display isn't marketed as a holiday collection, but the colors read like one to me. It's the Bonita Forget Me Not display as seen at Rite Aid. Six shades: Golden Girl, Tinman's Brew, Mo' Money, Do the Flamingo, You're My Lobster, Forget-Me-Not.



The Bonita Holiday Helpers set, also at Rite Aid, is clearly meant for Christmas. It's got four polishes (green, red, silver glitter, and white) and Christmas nail stickers for $4.99.



I saw the Bonita Holiday Helpers set at Kmart as well, but they had something Rite Aid didn't: this year's Jolly Nails set from Bonita. It's a different mix of colors than the one I swatched from last year.



Kmart also had a Bonita set called Color Star that looked more summery than wintery, but there it was, newly displayed in the same area as the holiday stuff.



I saw the Butter London Invite Only mini set at Ulta. It's labeled limited edition, and the shades don't look familiar to me, but as every holiday season, I'll need to study the Butter London site to see which shades appear in other gift sets before I make a decision about what to buy. Colors in this one are: Pash, Vapour, Lock In, Peep Hole, Glad Rags, and OTT.



The China Glaze Cheers collection for the holidays showed up at my Ulta. As sometimes is the case with China Glaze, the bottles were arranged randomly in slots with no labels, so it wasn't possible to be sure how many shades there are supposed to be just by looking. Thank goodness for the internet, which tells me there are twelve colors: Coal Hands Warm Heart (charcoal glitter), Don't Get Elfed Up (green shimmer), Soiree I Didn't Do It (green glitter), Mix and Mingle (purple creme), Brand Spankin' New Year (purple glitter), Better Not Pout (berry shimmer), Winter Down for What (red creme), Peppermint to Be (ruby shimmer), Ugly Sweater Party (red glitter), Son of a Nutcracker (orange shimmer), Bring on the Bubbly (gold glitter), Break the Ice (silver gitter).



I've seen several different Cover Girl displays tied into the new Star Wars movie, some of which have nail polish in them, some of which polishes have Star Wars stickers on the caps. They don't seem to be marked clearly with which shades are limited edition and which are repromoted existing shades. I saw these first two at CVS. The one on the left has topcoat (no Star Wars sticker on the cap) and Red Revenge (stickered). The one on the right has Smokey Taupe (no sticker) and Speed of Light (sticker). I don't know if the non-stickered slots were supposed to have other colors that sold out or what.



These next two Cover Girl Star Wars displays were at Rite Aid; all the polishes had Star Wars stickers. The polish colors in the one below are Golden Opportunity and Diva After Dark.



This next one has Emerald Blaze and Snow Storm.



A different Rite Aid had two other Star Wars displays. This first, which I assume is Light Side, had Speed of Light polish and Top Coat.



The Dark Side had Red Revenge and Nemesis polishes.



I saw this small Cover Girl Star Wars display at Bed Bath & Beyond. The only polish shade here was Red Revenge.



A couple Essense displays popped up at Ulta. The first, Happy Girls Are Pretty, had the I Heart Trends nude colors that were already in the regular endcap: I Nude It, I'm Lost in You, Pure Soul, and Nude Sweet Nude.



The second Essence display, which didn't seem to have a name, had four I Heart Pastels polishes: So Lucky, Sweet at First Sight, Bubble Bath, and Do Nuts.



The Essie Winter 2015 collection appeared first at my Ulta. Six shades here: Apres-Chic (silver), Peak Show (pink), Virgin Snow (lilac), Altitude Attitude (red), Shall We Chalet (slightly darker red), and Haute Tub (black). I've seen this collection as well in the Nail HQ at a CVS that still has one (the store closest to my house has pretty much gutted theirs). There's also a four shade display I've seen at some Rite Aid stores; that lacks Peak Show and Altitude Attitude.



The only place I've seen Essie LuxEffects for Holiday 2015 so far is Ulta. This is a four-shade collection of glitters in clear bases. Left to right: Tassel Shaker (two slots), Frilling Me Softly (one), Fringe Factor (two), and Fashion Flares (one).



Walgreens has an LA Colors Color Craze Diamonique nail art kit with a five mini polishes, a mini top coat, a wheel of rhinestones, and a "pick & place" tool. Not bad for only $5.



Ulta has the OPI holiday collection Starlight. The full collection is 18 shades, which is about a dozen more than I can pay attention to at any one time. There are apparently three variations of the small six-color display; my store had the shimmers and glitters one. Left to right: No More Mr. Night Sky, Two Wrongs Don't Make A Meteorite, Press * For Silver, Infrared-y To Glow, Let Your Love Shine, and Ce-less-tial is More.



The big display at my Ulta had 13 shades, with Ce-less-tial is More being in both this and the small display. Top row: Guys & Galaxies (two slots), Love Is In My Cards (three), Ro-man-ce On the Moon (two), I'm in the Moon for Love (two), Base Coat. Middle row: Ce-less-tial is More (two slots), Cosmo with a Twist (two), Give Me Space (two), The Center of the You-niverse (two), Top Coat (two). Bottom row: I Drive a SuperNova (two slots), Super Star Status (two), By the Light of the Moon (two), Is This Star Taken (two), Comet Closer (two).



Meijer had a new Orly Color Blast display. The top row has two different 3-piece kits: After Midnight (Teal Pink Gloss Glitter, Multicolored Gloss Glitter, Deep Purple Gloss Glitter) and City Lights (Silver Multicolored Gloss Glitter, Hot Pink Gloss Glitter, Navy Blue Gloss Glitter). The bottom row has individual bottles: Glitz and Glam, Price of Fame, The In Crowd, Blvd of Dreams, Baby Pink Creme, Amethyst Color Flip, Champagne Gloss Glitter, Pearly Pink Neon, Fluorescent Fuchsia Neon, True Neon Pink, Pink Coral 3D Glitter, Green Color Flip, Rose Chrome Foil, Pink Luxe Shimmer, Plum/Gold Color Flip, and Star Tours. These names are an odd mix of nondescriptive, very descriptive, and inaccurately descriptive.



Rite Aid has three holiday displays from Ornaments. The first has crystal topped polishes with Santa and Christmas tree designs on the caps, ice cream polishes (because ice cream is cold like snow? I don't know), nail art polishes, and candy cane handled lip gloss (I think it's gloss anyway).



The second Ornaments display has two sets of mini polishes and a trio of lip glosses.



The third Ornaments display has the snowmen polishes we've come to know and love at this time of year. I didn't see any eye catching new colors; I think some are new to snowmen bottles, but not new colors/finishes overall.



This is the first holiday season the Pop-arazzi brand has been around; their holiday offering as seen as CVS is a 15-shade set of minis. The colors all seem to be core, but the bottles sure are cute. Shade names: So Cheeky, Frosted Fairy Tale, Kiss Ya Later, Spice is Nice, Info Red, Pretty in Pearls, Hit the Goldmine, Cinn-Ya-Mon, Star Shine, Glam Factory, The Hue is Blue, Sapphire Desire, Money Honey, Orchid Crush, Down the Runway.



The Rimmel Royal Plush limited edition holiday collection display includes five Love Glitter polishes: All Glittered Up (red/blue/silver), Tinsel Toes (gold/silver/blue/copper), A Crush on You (blue/green), Queen of Bling (gold), and Mistletoe Mischief (gold/copper). All of these appear to have shredded glitter flakes in a clear base; I haven't bought any yet because I really am trying to reform my free spending stash enhancement ways. I've seen this display only at Meijer and KMart so far.



Sally Hansen has released six holiday gift packs in the Miracle Gel line. Each has a colored polish and a top coat. Polish shades are: For the Thrill (glittery gold), Game of Chromes (metallic shimmery gold), Ruby Shimmers (glittery red), Mad Women (shimmery pinkish red), In a Flurry (glittery silver blue), Combustealble (shimmery greenish blue). I spotted the display below at Bed Bath & Beyond, but later saw the same shades in a sidekick display at a CVS.



The SinfulColors Glitz and Garlands display for holiday 2015 has been at my Rite Aid since the end of September, but I've been pretending not to see it because I'm still cranky about how early the Christmas retail machinery cranks up. Left to right: Blue by You, Red Eye, Queen of Beauty, Snow Me White, Call You Later, Pine Away, Gilded, Holiday Rebel. I believe all are repromotes or core shades.



The SinfulColors holiday display The Finishing Touch is at Walgreens. This has some new colors, though many core and repromotes, too. Top row: Snow Me White, Decadent, Gold Medal, Flake Out (new), Ruby Glisten, Flake Out (new), Holiday Rebel, Green Ocean. Second row: Ice Dream, Pride, Purple Heart, Top Coat, Sugar Sugar, It's a Wrap (new), Ice Dream, Sugar Sugar. Third row: Casablanca, Silver Crush (new), It's a Wrap (new), Top Coat, Holiday Rebel, Black on Black, Silver Crush (new), Touch of Class (new). Fourth row: Star Studded (new), Steel My Heart (new), Out of This World, Velvet Ribbon (new), Star Studded (new), Sugar Sugar, Velvet Ribbon (new), Twilight Twinkles (new). Fifth row: Gogo Girl, Flake Out (new), Top Coat, Gogo Girl, Sugar Sugar, Green Ocean, Gold Medal, Ruby Glisten. Bottom row: Supernova, Gilded, Red Eye, Pine Away, Blue By You, Snow Me White, Gilded, Red Eye.



At what I've come to think of as "the good CVS" even though it's Nail HQ is usually a mess, I saw the Wet 'n' Wild We're the Wild Cats display with six limited edition ColorIcon shades: Where My Ho Ho Hos At, Los Feliz Navidad, Bring the 'Pagne, Holiday Spirits and Wine, Naughty and Iced, Garnet My Heel Broke.



Zoya Matte Velvet for Holiday 2015 showed up at my Ulta in a timely manner; they seem to be getting much better about getting this brand in than they used to be. Left to right: Aspen, Sue, Amal, Iris, Yves, Honor.



Ulta also had Zoya Sugar Plum Surprise, which I hadn't really heard anything about. Three shades: Renee, Marjorie, and Cindy.



I haven't seen Studio M or FingerPaints holiday displays yet; they're probably out there but I don't hit stores quite as often as when I had to be in the car every day for work. Hope what I did see at least gives you some idea what to look for if you're in the US and planning to do some Thanksgiving weekend shopping.

Wheel O6: Ornaments and Other Glitters

Yet another glitter wheel for Nail Wheel Wednesday, this time dominated by colors scooped up from holiday displays when brands that don't have a core line appear.



1. Ornaments unnamed silver (4 coats) [pretty sure these first 7 are Ornaments, from the winter holiday mini sets from 3 or so years ago]
2. Ornaments unnamed silver/red (3)
3. Ornaments unnamed rose pink (4)
4. Ornaments unnamed red (4)
5. Ornaments unnamed red violet (4) [worth doing four coats]
6. Ornaments unnamed blue (4)
7. Ornaments unnamed gold (3) [very yellow gold]
8. Ornaments Icicles unnamed silver (3)
9. Ornaments Icicles unnamed multi (3)
10. Ornaments Icicles unnamed red (2)
11. Ornaments Icicles unnamed fuchsia (3)
12. Ornaments Icicles unnamed purple (2)
13. Ornaments Icicles unnamed blue (3)
14. Ornaments Icicles unnamed green (2)
15. Maybelline Express Finish Pink Pizzazz (2)
16. Naturistics Super Shine Shimmer (2)
17. Naturistics Super Shine Ice Crystals (2)
18. Lancome unlabeled mini (3)
19. Wild and Crazy Purple Glitter (4) [not sure if dark base is intentional or result of glitter bleeding]
20. W7 Cosmic Mauve (2)

Bottles 1 through 7:


8 through 14:


15 through 17:


18 through 20:

Mid-October Displays

As per usual, I've got a lot of displays to share, so let's get right to it, starting with a few Halloween things I didn't see until after I did my last display post, which is unfortunate as that focused on Halloween things.

Meijer and Walgreens both had variations on the Fantasy Makers from Wet 'n' Wild displays I shared last time. Meijer had a shelf top one with just the tombstone polishes plus a sidekick with the tombstones plus other makeup:





Walgreens had a sidekick with none of the tombstones but three Megalast polishes and three FastDry colors along with other makeup:



Moving on to Fantasy Makers stuff I hadn't seen in any display variation before, Meijer had the Neon Clairvoyance collection. Even though the display had the Fantasy Makers branding, with a photo of the same dark haired model as others of their displays, the polishes here were in regular Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine bottles. There are six neon colors here: Werewolf Vision (yellow), Ghoul Time (lime), Frank is Mine (green), Jealous Lover (purpley pink), Jailhouse Shock (orange red), and Vengeful Bride (warm pink).



Tucked into a shelf away from the usual nail polish area at Sally Beauty, I found a Sally Girl Trick or Treat Yourself display with two colors in fun bottle shapes: a skull with black polish and a pumpkin with orange.



I don't know if the Disney Villains collection at Walgreen is considered Halloween merchandise—probably not because it didn't show up in stores until late September or early October, four to six weeks after most Halloween products appeared. Regardless, it seems to fit in with the theatrics of Halloween. The nail polish portion of this collection consists of a cube with twelve mini bottles from elf, a trio for each of four Disney baddies: Cruella de Vil, Ursula, the Evil Queen (a.k.a. Snow White's stepmother), and Maleficent. The draw here is the packaging—I see now that I should have swapped the left two boxes before I took the photo so Ursula and Maleficent could have matched up like Cruella did. I know at least some of the colors in here are not new, as they match ones in the set I got at Target last Christmas; I suppose I should be glad they didn't just rename them with a villain theme to try and fool me.



Some but not all of the Walgreens stores have Disney Villains nail art kits from Kiss as well, one for each of the ladies.



In the still sort of theatrical department, I finally saw some Cover Girl Hunger Games displays with all nine Glosstinis polishes somewhere other than Meijer. Bed Bath & Beyond had a freestanding floor display that looked very similar to the sidekicks that Meijer stores have (see that at the bottom of my mid-September display post), and CVS had this shelf top version:



REMINDER: My Cover Girl Hunger Games giveaway ends tomorrow, October 23rd.

I'd seen the Zoya Fall PixieDust polishes before, but hadn't seen the display until I came across it at Ulta earlier this month.



At Sally Beauty, they had a smaller version of the Orly Surreal collection display than I'd seen back in August; it still had all six colors in it, though.



Walgreens had the Wet 'n' Wild Fall 2013 Be a Runway Beauty display before, with some Megalast polishes included. A couple shades I'd seen before, as they're core; the others were new to the Megalast line but some look quite a lot like colors in other Wet 'n' Wild lines, which doesn't surprise me at all. Shades here are: Rudy-dolph, I'm Not Shrimpy, Under Your Spell (core), In Too Deep, Playing All Suits, Disturbia (core), Violet Attack, Up in the Air, and Sea Ya Soon (hidden behind the eyeshadow price sticker hanging down).



At Meijer, I saw the new line from Sally Hansen: Triple Shine. I did not think Sally Hansen needed a new line, but they routinely disagree with me on that point, which is why I have dozens of different bottle styles from them in my stash accumulated over the years. Unlike lines like Lustre Shine or Fuzzy Coat which debuted with a manageable number of colors, Triple Shine showed up with 29, plus a clear top coat. At first I thought there were 30 colors plus topcoat, as I counted the 10 bottles across in the bottom row and multiplied by the 3 rows; it took me a long time to notice that the middle row is nine bottles across. (There are also slots for three bottles dynamically displayed diagonally; most stores I saw this at hadn't put anything in those slots.) I'll have the color list after this photo:



I wish I'd taken the time to turn all the bottles so the white print on the cap faced forward. You might have already noticed that in the bottom row, someone has already take off the removable outer cap from one of the bottles; maybe they thought they were doing everyone else a favor by showing off this new to Sally Hansen feature?

Colors, top row: Bait Me, Clam Up, Blow Bubbles, Drama Sheen, Pool Party, Make Waves, Great White, Oyster Bar, Slick Black, Pixie Slicks.

Middle row: Reef-Raf, Flame On, Red Snapper, Play Koi, Lemon Shark, Statemint, Kelp Out, Dive In, Vanity Flare.

Bottom row: Pearly Whites, Twinkled Pink, Dream Sequins, Fanta-sea, Scale Up, Seanic, Sparkling Water, Hypnautical, Wavy Blue, Sparks Fly.

Revlon has a new line, too: Parfumerie, scented polishes in square bottles with round caps. I first saw these at Bed Bath & Beyond but soon after they showed up at CVS and Rite Aid, too. I've seen two different displays. First, there's a shelf top with 16 colors divided into three groups: Fruits & Florals, Freshes, and Sweets & Spices. I haven't noticed a lot of consistency in which colors are in which group at different stores, so I'm not sure which colors Revlon intended to go in which group. I can tell you which ones are where in this particular version, though. Fruits & Florals: Sunlit Grass, Apricot Nectar, Pink Pineapple, African Tea Rose, China Flower. Freshes: Fresh Linen, Lavender Soap, Moonlit Woods, Surf Spray, Watermint, Italian Leather. Sweets & Spices: Wild Violets, Spun Sugar, Beachy, Bordeaux, and Autumn Spice. Based on the name, I'd move a few of those to different groups for sure, but I think the groupings work nicely by color the way they're arranged here.



The above was at Rite Aid (I saw similar at BB&B); at CVS I found a free standing tower display which also had 16 colors, but not the same 16. This had three colors not in the other display: Ginger Melon (which appeared to be sold out, as its slot was filled with Beachy), Lime Basil (bright green), and Chocolate Truffle (brown). There were no slots for Sunlit Grass, Lavender Soap, or Italian Leather.



OPI has extended their Liquid Sand line with a limited edition shade My Current Crush, which I saw at Ulta in The TXTure Effect set, which has the polish and their Natural Nail Base Coat.



I shared a couple winter/holiday displays last time, so it only makes sense that I've got way more this time. Revlon has the Evening Opulence collection by Gucci Westman, which I've seen at Rite Aid and CVS. There are four polishes here: Elusive, Rich, Divine, and Seductive. (The eye shadow in this collection must be really popular, as it's been sold out almost every time I've run across this display.)



My Kroger grocery store is the only place so far that I've seen the Nicole by OPI sets with one Selena Gomez color (Scarlett or Pretty in Plum) and one mini called Gumdrops (on the front of the box) or Silver Gumdrops (on the back), which is confusing. This silver is not any of the colors that were in the Nicole by OPI Gumdrops collection. According to the back of the box, this Gumdrops is a textured glitter, too.



Ulta is the only polace so far that I've seen Essie's winter collection (some of my drugstores still have the summer one hanging around next to the fall colors). Six shades here: Shearling Darling, Mind Your Mittens, Toggle to the Top, Sable Collar, Warm & Toasty Turtleneck, and Parka Perfect.



I've come across two holiday displays from Sinful Colors, both at Rite Aid. The first is Glitz & Glittered, with six new glitters and two old ones. Shades are: Gilded (new), Holiday Rebel (new), Decadent (new), Full Spectrum (new), Unwrap Me (new), Ice Dream, Charmed, Silver Belle (new).



The second Sinful Colors holiday display I've seen is Naughty or Nice, which has six polishes and three nail art colors. Polishes are: Kissy, Call You Later, Ice Dream, Sugar Sugar, Blue by You, and Aubergine. I don't recall seeing Aubergine before, but it's quite possible they slipped it into the core display when I wasn't looking. The nail art stripers are a silver glitter, a green shimmer, and a gold shimmer. Why they weren't put into the display with the all three colors in the front row, I don't know (the next time I ran into this display, I did rearrange them, but didn't get a photo for some reason).



Wet 'n' Wild has a Color Icon glitter collection for the holidays called In the Spotlight. I've only seen this at Jewel Osco in Chicagoland so far but I expect it will be turning up here in Michigan at some point soon. Because this is Wet 'n' Wild, I wouldn't be surprised to find that some or all of these are all rebottles from other lines. Colors are: The Golden Rule, Social Circles, Seeing Stars, Silver Linings, At the After Party, and Cruisin' the Blvd.



Maybelline has some glitter polishes for the holidays, too, in their Gilded in Gold collection. At this point I've only seen the makeup display that has two of these new Brocade polishes, Crushed Crimson and Silver Swank. I guess Brocade means chunky and fine glitter mixed together? (Like the Revlon holiday, the makeup in this one seems to be popular; both times I've run into this display it's been pretty bare.)



The snowmen from Blue Cross (sold under the Ornaments name) are back again, and this year they've blinged out their hats with rhinestone bands. That touch helped distract me from my annoyance that Christmas stuff is in stores before Halloween now.





The snowmen brought along some tubes of mini polishes with them under the Ornaments banner. There are four different sets of colors, two of them scented.



That'll do it for today's shopping excursion. You might have noticed we skipped the pink sections for Breast Cancer Awareness month. Maybe I'll do a separate entry on those before the month is out or maybe I'll just trust those who want to see them will find them elsewhere. I have decidedly mixed feelings about pink nail polish in October.

There are several displays I have been keeping an eye out for but haven't seen yet, including the rest of the Maybelline Gilded in Gold Brocade polishes, Sinful Colors Crystal Crushes, NYC Disco Inferno (really afraid I missed this one), and the new holiday colors of Julie G Frosted Gumdrops.