The MAC holiday collection is one I look forward to each year. From the unique packaging to the products, I usually find several items I feel I have to have. As a collector, it can be quite draining on my bank account. This year it is A Tartan Tale.

Unfortunately, I have to say that I am simply not as impressed with this year’s holiday collection as I wish I were. Now, a point I would be remiss not to mention: MAC’s holiday collection, this year and every year, represent the only time in the year during which MAC products are discounted. This is a fantastic opportunity for budding enthusiasts and people who otherwise don’t spend much money on make-up to get more bang for their buck. The items all also make great gifts. Another point: there are still a couple items I will probably buy from the collection, which I’ll talk about in another post in the near future.

Since Tartan Tales is such a huge collection, I want to focus the rest of this post solely on the 5 Naughty Little Vices Nail Lacquer set. This post is intended as more of a review than a beautiful post with pictures and swatches, because I have not and will not be purchasing the set.

Let’s get started already!

Set Includes: 5 mini nail lacquers: Nocturnelle, Beyond Jealous, Vintage Vamp, Asiatique & Vice is Nice
Amount: 2.5 mL / 0.09 fl oz each.
Retail Price: $25.50

To start, the only non-repromoted limited edition lacquer shade is Vice is Nice, a yellow gold frost. Nocturnelle is a black cream from the permanent line. Beyond Jealous is a deep teal cream, repromoted from F/W Nail Trend ’09. Vintage Vamp is a red wine cream from the permanent collection. Asiatique is a classic red cream, repromoted from the Dame Edna collection.

My first gripe here is the lack of new products. Yes, there are always “cult classic” colors that everyone can appreciate, but seeing as there is only one nail set, it seems that the colors would at the very least be new limited edition colors. Vice is Nice, on top of being a never-before-seen color is also a unique addition to MAC’s permanent collection (the last metallic gold nail lacquer was Gilded from Antiquitease in 2007).

On that same note, even if all the colors were repromotes, why these colors? Nocturnelle… a black cream… really? Wasted space in my opinion. Beyond collectors, most people will say a black cream is a black cream, and they can easily get cheaper (not to mention MORE) black creams at Sally’s. Beyond Jealous is one of those colors that looks black in low lighting, and isn’t as punchy as the season’s trending teal color (as seen in the collection’s promo picture).

Next, beyond the colors, is the lack of variety in finishes. Asiatique and Beyond Jealous are mistakenly labeled as frosts, but trust me: they are both creams, which makes 4 of the 5 mini lacquers cream finishes. For a set that represents the opportunity for people to try several colors for the price of (roughly) 2 full-sized lacquers, they definitely should have offered more variety here.

Lastly is the seriously minuscule amount of polish you’re given with the set. Yes, you get 5 different colors for the price of (roughly) 2 full-sized nail lacquers. However, the amount of product itself? 2.5 mL in each mini lacquer bottle, compared to the full-sized nail lacquer’s 10 mL. One full-sized bottle of MAC nail lacquer is $13. It takes just a bit of simple math: 5 nail lacquers x 2.5 mL in each bottle = 12.5 mL of nail polish TOTAL in the set. That is just slightly over the amount of polish in ONE full-sized bottle of MAC nail lacquer! You are better off buying 2 full-sized nail lacquers, and you will get more product for your dollar. There is very little value in the set.

So, with all of those complaints, I guess it’s obvious that I wouldn’t recommend this set to anyone. It’s unfortunate, because it’s been so long since MAC did a nail lacquer set, and I was truly looking forward to it. Hopefully next year they will have some better (and bigger, or cheaper!) options. We’ll have to see.

Below, check out swatches of Nocturnelle and Beyond Jealous side-by-side. Does this set really need both colors? Do you agree with the points I’ve made above, or disagree? I’d love to hear from you in the comments.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Direct sunlight.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Indirect sunlight.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Indoors, with flash.

(Beyond Jealous on index & ring fingers, Nocturnelle on middle & little fingers.) Indoors, with flash.

This is probably the first successful Konadicure I’ve ever done. While I really enjoy hand-painting nail art, I’ve never been able to get good results from the Konad stamping system–there’s definitely a learning curve I’ve been slow to grasp. Anyway, I thought this was a really awesome looking manicure. I love the contrasting textures along with the contrasting finishes and colors. I really suggest getting China Glaze Millennium if only to stamp with, because it’s a fantastically smooth, opaque silver in just one coat. I found this along with other China Glaze Khromes on clearance at Sally’s for $3.99!

Base: Gelous
First layer: Orly Iron Butterfly (matte)
Second layer: China Glaze Millennium with plate M62
Topcoat: Sally Hansen Mega-shine Topcoat (only over the tips)

I wanted to show you one way to extend the life of a manicure if you get chippy tips after a few days. My original manicure was MAC Earthly Harmony, and I simply used Nail Art Striper in black and a rhinestone to cover the chippy tip!

Do you have any other nail art ideas for chippy tips?

Totally. obsessed.

I follow WAH Nails of London on Tumblr (and Twitter), and I absolutely love getting inspiration from the pictures they post. Even though I am decent with freehand design, I usually feel that their designs are too advanced for me, or I don’t have the right colors or tools to complete similar looks (ie, Minx, gel nails, etc.). But I realized today that I had collected 3 snapshots of aztec manicures for inspiration, and knew I could do my own.

First, the inspiration pictures:

Now, the tools I used:

Revlon eyeliner brush (used with acetone for clean-up)
Thin paintbrush from craft store (used to paint designs)
White Nail Art Striper
Black Nail Art Striper
CoverGirl Boundless Color Fuchsia Girl 525 (I’m not sure if this bottle is really old or if the formula was bad, but I don’t recommend this polish.)
OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red
China Glaze Lemon Fizz
MAC Peppermint Patti
Sally Hansen Double Duty Strengthening Top & Base Coat

I started off with this base:

(L->R: OPI Paint My Moji-Toes Red, CG Fuchsia Girl, China Glaze Lemon Fizz)

And then added designs freehand!

I am so, so, so happy with the design, but I have one small dilemma.. my right hand has ZERO polish on it right now. I’m not sure if my hand is steady enough to attempt ambidexterity. I’ll figure that out tomorrow.. :P Hope you enjoyed!

I’m a nerd, so I love doing themed nail art. I can’t find my camera cord at the moment, but I will post higher quality pictures as soon as I do! I also did my toes and am considering posting those here The bottom two photos are my left and my right big toes respectively. I cropped them so you could only see the nail art, so hopefully that doesn’t skeeve anyone out too badly! (I know it’s a little bit of a faux pas to post pedicure pictures, but I do nail art on my toes, too!) Here goes…

USED:
OPI Russian Navy
OPI Dorothy Who?
China Glaze Ruby Pumps
MAC Vestral White
White nail art striper
Black nail art striper

Left hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
L, index: Black “U” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, middle: White “S” using white nail art striper over diagonal half OPI Russian Navy and CG Ruby Pumps.
L, ring: Black “A” using black nail art striper over half CG Ruby pumps and half MAC Vestral White base. Accented with blobs of OPI Dorothy Who? and the white nail art striper.
L, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?
Right hand, thumb: American flag design using OPI Russian Navy as a base for the blue, CG Ruby Pumps as a base for the stripes, then OPI Dorothy Who? and white nail art striper to make star portion, and white nail art striper for the stripes.
R, index: Gingham-inspired design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and checkered using white nail art striper, accented with black nail art strpier.
R, middle: OPI Dorothy Who? layered over OPI Russian Navy as a base, white star outlined in black using white nail art striper and black nail art striper. (*This is the only nail I’m not really happy with. I think I should have done several smaller stars instead.*)
R, ring: Playful polka dot design using CG Ruby Pumps as a base and white dots using white nail art striper accented with dots of OPI Dorothy Who? Dotting tool was used.
R, pinkie: Fireworks design over OPI Russian Navy base using white nail art striper and accented with CG Ruby Pumps and OPI Dorothy Who?

God, I love this color! It’s the first and only Color Club polish I own, and I know I have to have more. Revvvolution applies smoothly and thinly, and is opaque in just one coat. The color is a dark gunmetal grey filled with prismatic specks of glitter. In the sunlight, the colors of the rainbow appear on the pieces of glitter as you turn your finger. It’s gorgeous.