Cheers To You! Collaboration Box

Good morning beauties!  How many of you are already Christmas/Holiday shopping?  I know I've already picked up a few things here and there and next week is the annual shopping day with my Grandma.  Truthfully I am chomping at the bit to get the shopping started and stash away presents for next month!  Eeeeeeeee!  SANTA!  So I have a fabulous collaboration box to share with you today that would be an amazing gift for any polish and beauty product lover.  This is the Cheers To You! Collaboration Box, inspired by New Year Eve.  It's packed full of goodies that will make your mom, sister, aunt, grandma, best friend or favorite teacher squeeee with delight.  Everything in this box is exclusive and you can only get it in this box so that definitely adds to the "I feel special" value of this box, whether you are gifting it to someone else or picking it up for yourself!  There are a total of 8 indie brands participating in this box; ellagee, You Polish, Sweet Heart Polish, Northern Star Polish, Philly Loves Lacquer, 6 Harts, Alter Ego Body Care Products and Baroness X.  The box is $50 plus shipping and will be available for pre-order from 11/27 at 12am CST to 11/30 at 12am CST.  The box will ship on or before 12/10.  You can only buy this box on ellagee.com.  So let's jump in and see what this fun box is all about! 

*press sample*

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Here's an overview collage of all the goodies that are in the Cheers To You! box.    

Up first is a new to me brand that I was extremely impressed with.  Baroness X not only makes gorgeous polish but this completely fantastic "swatchers balm" which is a Matte Cuticle Balm.  This is a total game changer in my life.  I love me some cuticle oil but it does tend to slow me down while I'm swatching as I have to wait for the oil to absorb.  The Matte Cuticle Balm goes on matte and there is zero shine or oiliness to it at all!  You put it on and can take pictures immediately!  Now you don't need to be a watcher to appreciate this product.  It's also very moisturizing and smells fabulous. The exclusive to the box scent is Berry Bubbly and it's fruity yet champagney and very pleasant.  

This picture is immediately after I put on the Berry Bubbly Matte Cuticle Balm.  I am a big fan and will be purchasing more of this fabulous balm right away!

And here's the gorgeous polish Baroness X included with the box - Champagne Room.  I think a beautiful nude is just as sexy as a vampy red.  Actually nude holos are a definite weakness of mine.  They truly go perfectly with everything.  Champagne Room is a faboosh silvery-taupe-nude holo with some pink shimmer and some golden flakes and a very small serving of holo glitters.  I will admit I was worried about the opacity of Champagne Room when I tested it out as I found it pretty sheer.  But I was very happy when it built up to full coverage in 3 coats.  I finished with a layer of topcoat.  

This is Pink Champagne, ellagee's contribution to the box.  It's a mega blingy pink and gold glitter bomb!  I've come to truly love Laura's glitter bombs, the colors always blend nicely and the coverage is great!  I also feel that Laura nailed NYE with this polish.  It's flashy but classy and exactly what you want to be wearing for the festivities!  Pink Champagne can be worn alone in a few coats of as a glitter topper.  I went ahead and layered it over Champagne Room since the colors matched nicely.  I used 2 coats just to get maximum bling and glittery effect.  Formula and application were both great - the glitter payoff was also great.  I finished with a layer of topcoat.  

To continue to add to the awesomeness I decided to do a skittlette featuring the glitters nail vinyls from You Polish.  The box will contain 2 sheets both with the same designs, one is a silver glitter and the other is gold.  These are so fun!  I picked the champagne flutes, a star and mask for my nail art.  They are on top of a black matte.  These are so simple to use!  Just pick the design you want off with tweezers and place them on your nail - boom - done.  I didn't topcoat these because I wanted the matte look but you could easily slap on topcoat for a shiny finish.  

I used the silver You Polish vinyls and added 2016 to this blue, sparkly mani!  You'll see more of this mani towards the end of the post.  

Gold Lang Syne is a beautiful yellow gold polish from Philly Loves Lacquer.  It's got a smattering of holo sparkle in there but it's more of a brushed metallic finish.  This is another totally perfect color to celebrate the holiday!  You know everyone has to be dressed to the nines...your finger nails should be too!  This would be a great touch to any outfit.  Gold Lang Syne was a bit sheer, I ended up using 3 coats here but you can still se my nail line.  That doesn't really take anything away from the pretty color or finish for me though.  I finished with a layer of topcoat.  

6 Harts makes some really great cuticle oil and that's just what Courtney added to the Cheers box.  The exclusive scent is Honey Bee Fragrance and I am a big fan of honey so I totally love this scent.  It's sweet (but not overly so) and pretty darn delectable.  The scent is not overpowering so if you've got a sensitive nose I would guess this wouldn't bother you.  I also like that Courtney uses a doe foot applicator, which is super easy to use.  I feel like I can put this on and the doe foot does most of the work rubbing the oil in so I don't have to.  

Freshly oiled and soaking in all the honey scented moisture.  

6 Harts Honey Bee Fragrance Cuticle Oil rubs in nicely, not to much shine left behind!  But a very soft, delicate honey scent does linger.  

Northern Star Polish is a brand I always want to try more of.  Because the few times I have tried this brand I have been very impressed.  The polish included in this box, New Year New Joys is pretty darn fabulous!  It's a wintry, icy blue holo with blue sparks.  Very pretty color with an awesome formula.  New Year New Joys is opaque and creamy and applied like a dream.  I used 2 coats for full coverage and finished with a layer of topcoat.  

Cassandra from Sweet Heart Polish also partook in this collaboration box!  I love this brand.  You can always find something sparkly or holo-y in the shop.  First Night is a great glitter topper that is full of mini black stars, blue and silver holo glitters all suspended in a silver shimmery base.  Actually I think you could probably build First Night up on it's own for a pretty smashing look!  First Night has a frosty feel, but not a frosty finish.  I went ahead and put it on top of the Northern Star Polish New Year New Joys since they seemed to be made for each other.  Formula and application were both great.  I was please with the glitter payoff and found the polish applied easily, the glitter pieces didn't clump together and they laid flat.  I used 2 coats of First Night and finished with a layer of topcoat.  

And last but not least is this beautiful hand made soap from Cynthia at later Ego Body Care Products.  Cynthia has a whole line up of polish but has recently started making soaps, balms and men's fragrances.  She included this Ego Boost in the box called Confetti Creator and it's made with champagne fragrance oil.  I love how colorful and festive this soap is!  And it's sparkly!  I haven't seen sparkly bar soap before!  The scent is nice and light, the champagne grapes are bright and fruity. I tested the soap out and found that it lathered up easily and was very bubbly.  My hands felt very clean but not dried out.  I did notice the blue patches seem to bleed color but nothing stained and it washed right off.  If you're a fan of handmade soaps you're really going to love this one!