Hey, y’all! Do not be fooled by my post title. It is actually March right now, and Spring is around the corner (although I believe we are supposed to get snow this weekend). I just this morning realized that I never posted the polishes from the Colores de Carol Holiday 2022 Box. What?!?!? How can this be? How did this total, epic fail happen?
I bet you already know what I’m going to say: Work! Yep, you got it in one. November and December were such busy months for me. Both went by in a complete and total blur, and I barely remember living through them. The weird thing is that I swear I put this post together. I remember swatching all the polishes, taking notes about them, and then typing out a post. And yet, I found no post when I searched my blog. And I found no notes when I searched through my little notebook where I keep all my swatching information. I do, however, have swatches. Huzzah!
Needless to say, with no notes to work off of and considering the amount of time that has passed since I swatched these, this is mostly going to be a “look at the pretty polish” kind of post — with not much information about the actual polishes. On the plus side, December is long gone, so at least there are no spoilers here!
THE BOX:
It seems like I did not take photos of the actual box — Blogger Fail #2! So, a quick written description will have to do. This year’s box was a mix of nail polish and nail or manicure-related products. It was a fun mix that leaned heavily on the side of nail polish. (As in, there was more nail polish than anything else in the box.) I was a total fan of that, as I can’t get enough of Carolina’s beautiful polish creations. For this year, Carolina did a twelve day box. Although I miss having the chance at a larger, 24- or 25-item box, I do think the twelve day box is a lot of fun. Plus, you can decide to open it during the first twelve days of December or the last twelve. I feel like a twelve-item box gives you more of a chance to savor the surprise, if that’s what you want. Y’all know, though, that I opened my box the very moment it arrived. Yep! Mama can’t contain her excitement!!
THE CONTENTS:
DAY 1: GOLDEN BELLS
I feel like this box started off with a huge bang(!!) in the form of this glitzy-glam, sparkling beauty.
Oh, Golden Bells … You are such a beauty! I think this is a magnetic polish. I feel like I can see this really dense, golden shift at the top and bottom of my nail, especially in the swatch photo. This is an unusual gold, which is probably why I like it so much. It is a bright, yellow-toned, and sparkly gold. But, at the same time, it is not. It has this sort of chartreuse undertone to it, which, I think, shows through beautifully. I like how it has this jelly sort of look to it. On top of all this beautiful color, you have these lovely flakes that give pops of red and green and golden-orange. This is definitely a fun polish!
DAY 2: CHERRY CAROLS
This pretty polish won my heart right away. I love the combination of muted, dusty color tones in the base color and how it contrasts with the brighter pops from the glitters.
I really wish I had taken notes from my swatches of this box. Or that I had kept my notes. Or … something. Because I am not sure if this is a thermal or not. In my full hand swatch photo, it almost looks thermal due to the differences in color between one nail and the next. But it does not look like a thermal in my macro photo. So, my conclusion is that this may or may not be a thermal polish. Womp-womp.
But (!!) I freaking love this pretty polish. The base color is such a nice mix of purple and pink. I feel like it leans slightly more toward pink, which gives the polish a younger, sweeter sort of appearance to me. As I mentioned above, the base color is dusty and somewhat muted. But the flakes/shards in this polish are so, so eye-catching. I love how bright these blues are, and that’s the color that stands out for me the most. But, you can also see brighter pops of dark pink, golden, and even some greens.
DAY 3: COOKIES AND GIFTS
Y’all!! I’m sure you know already that this polish is right up my alley. Because … just look at it!
I can say with certainty that this polish is a magnetic. It has that classic magnetic line and look to it in each of my photos, and the magnetic shift stands out beautifully. This polish was pretty much an insta-fave for me from the moment I unwrapped it. I mean, just look at this beauty! It is so blue and purple and sparkly. And then, you have the magnetic shift to greenish tones. It’s such a pretty polish. I like how the shift is stark and stands out easily, and I love how this polish mashes up all the colors I love into one fabulous package!
DAY 4: WONDERFUL WINTER
This is pretty much a perfect “Winter” or “Holiday” polish.
Man … oh man … oh Man!! This is one sparkly, gorgeous, sparkly, amazing, sparkly polish. And did I say it’s sparkly? I really love this little beauty. It has that “sparkling snow” look to it, for sure. I love the mix of warm, golden tones and cooler, silvery tones. I love how the light dances across this polish and picks up the stronger reflections from the brighter silver glitters. You can also see some golds, greens, and pinks in this one.
This is the polish that led me to realize I had never posted about this box. I never managed to wear this one on its own during the Winter, and I decided to pull it out for a manicure last night. But, I didn’t want to wear it on its own, as I was craving something kind of “Spring”. I ended up wearing one very thin layer of this over a light pink (Zoya, Jordan).
DAY 5: MAGICAL MISTLETOE
I wore this polish in a full manicure right after I finished swatching through the box.
Needless to say, this polish was suuuuch a favorite for me. I love the dusty turquoise base color. I say “dusty”, but it’s also a little bit bright, in a way. You can see how bright it looks in my full hand swatch photo and contrast that with the muted dustiness of my macro shot. This polish is a little bit of a chameleon in that way. I love all the shards and glitters that run through this polish, too. It reminds me of cheerful wrapping paper.
DAY 6: READY IN 5
This is Ready in 5, which is Carolina’s quick-dry top coat. I was pretty excited to get a bottle of this in the box because this has become my absolute favorite, number one, go-to top coat. I do my nails a LOT, so I go through a lot of top coat. I love having extra bottles of this favorite on hand so I don’t have to switch over to my second favorites for a manicure — ha, ha!
I find that Ready in 5 really does dry quickly. It dries to the touch for me within less than a minute to a minute, at the most. I find it has a nice, glossy, hard finish within 5 minutes. This polish is glossy as heck, too! I love a lot of shine on my manicure, so this topcoat hits that sweet spot for me. I also find it never gets cloudy or dull.
DAY 7: CUTICLE OIL
Day 7 was another nail care product. I was super excited to unwrap this cute little cuticle oil pen. I looooove Carolina’s cuticle oil. I don’t know if everyone got the same scent, but mine was Mountain Pine. It has a pretty strong pine scent to it, for sure. It’s not an unpleasant scent, although I have to admit it is not a scent I would pick on my own. On the plus side, the scent felt very appropriate to me for Winter, as it is cozy and makes me think of snowy days in a beautiful forest.
DAY 8: THE LEVELER
This is The Leveler, which is Carolina’s smoothing top coat. I already had a bottle of this and did not want to pull out a textured polish to do a new photo. So, I’m using my old swatch photo. This shows Leveler over Zoya, Chyna. You can see how this polish is super textured on my index finger (no Leveler) and much smoother on my middle finger (with Leveler). I find this to be a great smoothing topcoat. It really does a nice job of evening out the texture in a thicker, grittier sort of polish. I think this would also be useful as a glitter food for a super glitter-heavy polish.
I don’t use The Leveler very often. I have some sensory issues, and I tend to shy away from textured polishes. I have some in my stash because I couldn’t pass them up due to just how pretty the colors are. (Chyna is a perfect example!) But, I find I don’t wear textured polishes much at all. I just don’t like the feeling of them on my nails or against my skin. I keep thinking I can get over it, but I never manage to do that. Anyhow, this is a long story to say that, although there is nothing at all wrong with this product, my two bottles of it will likely last me for a loooong time.
DAY 9: FESTIVE FIRE
Oh, Baby!! This little pretty is like firecrackers on the nail. So, so lovely!
Y’all! This is a fabulous and fiery red. It looks orange-toned to me in some lights and at some angles. It looks more red to me at others. But, overall, I would call this a warm-toned red. It is beautifully bright and vibrant, and I feel like it stands out particularly well against my ghostly-pale skin. Given that I am, basically, ghost-toned, I should wear more reds and bright, vibrant colors. I tend to shy away from them due to comments made during my growing-up years. Also, reds often seem like “too much” to me when I look at them against my skin tone.
But, you know what? I really need to get out of that mentality. I have so, so many beautiful and vibrant reds in my stash. And they don’t get much love. Maybe one of my nail goals for 2023 should have been to step out of my comfort zone to become more comfortable wearing these vibrant beauties. At any rate, this is a good one. It’s such a lovely and rich base color, and all of the other elements work perfectly with the underlying color.
DAY 10: SPARKLY STOCKINGS
This polish is a glitter fest!
We are talking party on the nails, y ‘all!! I just love this gorgeousness. It is a beautiful, purple jelly base. I would call the purple a deep purple, even though it can look somewhat sheer due to the fact that it’s a jelly finish. But it is a nice, dark, and deep sort of color. But, for me, the entire story for this polish lies in the glitters. There are So. Many. Glitters! in this polish. Like … So. Many. I love the way light flickers across each and every glitter element in this polish.
DAY 11: COZY CHIMNEY
I can’t remember if this polish is a magnetic or not. It may just have a strong shimmer that kind of gives that magnetic sort of look in photos.
I love greens and blues together. I think I have mentioned this at least hundreds of times in this blog. This polish is just … wow. And I mean … Wow! This is such a wonderful green. It feels lush and fresh and nicely cool-toned, and it’s a color that makes me so happy. But then, it has this strong blue shimmer running throughout. The shimmer gives this polish a slick, kind of ethereal glow when light hits it. There are lots of beautiful flakes running throughout this polish, too. And they are truly beautiful. But, for me, this shimmer is everything!
DAY 12: COLORFUL CANDLES
I would not call this polish “colorful”, but I would call it oh-so-lovely. I mean, just look at this beauty!
Y’all!! This polish. I just … I can’t even. It is So Darn Pretty. And what a fantastic way to wrap up this beautiful Holiday Box. This polish looks so soft and gentle on each and every nail and in every type of lighting. I love how the base color is softly white, but the shimmer running throughout gives it a pinkish-reddish glow. The black flakes provide beautiful, strong punctuation points of starkness to the softer base color. And the shimmer and other shifting flakes (oranges and golds) all give this polish an overall glow. It really does look like candle light dancing across each nail.
THE WRAP-UP:
I’m hoping the prettiness of what was in this box makes up for my extreme tardiness in blogging about it! I’m gonna be honest and say that I have not yet worn every polish from the box. Y’all know that Mama buys way more polish than she can ever wear in three lifetimes. So, it often takes me a while to wear new things. But, I can also honestly say I’m looking forward to wearing and enjoying each of these — even if it happens outside of the holiday season or during the Spring or Summer.
What about all of you? Did y’all buy the Colores de Carol Holiday Box for 2022? If so, what did you think of it? Which polishes were your favorites? I would love to hear all about it!
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