OPI Make Him Mine (Mariah Carey Holiday 2013)

After trying my first sand effect polish from Claire's, and being rather wonderfully surprised at how pretty it was, I decided to try one of the gorgeous Liquid Sand shades from OPI's Mariah Carey Holiday 2013 collection - Make Him Mine. 

This is a gorgeous soft, rose gold shade (and I loooove rose gold), though very subtle.  Described by OPI as "textured glistening rose", it has a gorgeous shimmer to it with medium pieces of glitter, and is a very flattering shade (would be work appropriate as well I think, if you are restricted to the colours you wear).  My only small gripe would be that after two coats, I still have some visible nail line, so I think it would take 3 coats to make fully opaque.

I'm thinking that this could potentially make a nice textured gradient with the Claire's one that I reviewed here as well.....

Base coat Orly Bonder, 2 coats Make Him Mine.

And as a bonus, I spent 6 hours doing hardcore gardening on Sunday and managed not to break a single nail.   Amazing!  Although I have now tempted fate, and I'll probably break one on a cushion, or something stupid like that.... 

Claire's Sand Effect Purple

I have always shied away from textured polishes - initially the cream ones really didn't appeal, but then the glittery ones started coming in and they peaked my interest somewhat more (I am still not keen on the cream varieties).  But I still hadn't tried one for myself until now - I was about to order some of the OPI Mariah Carey Christmas 2013 collection, which I will probably still do, but out on my wanderings, I went into Claire's for the first time in years, and saw they had a surprisingly large range of polishes now, including some "Sand Effect" ones. 

And I have been converted - this one is a gorgeous lilac that applies perfectly in two coats, and dries to a gorgeous, sandy yet even textured finish, that twinkles in the light.  I love purple anyway, and this really did pleasantly surprise me with the quality and ease of application - for £4.50, way to go Claire's!  I will be paying another visit very soon....

The last picture was taken with a flash, to try and capture the twinkle.

Base coat Orly Bonder, 2 coats Sand Effect Purple, no top coat.