Glimmer by Erica Halloween Collection 2014

Good evening lovelies!  It's official.  I've swatched and reviewed my first Halloween collection for the year, WOOT!  Halloween is not only the best holiday ever, it has the best polish collections too (this is a fact).  I guess I will always be a kid at heart and if I don't dress up for Halloween anymore at least I know my nails will always kick a** with some fabulous indie concoction that resonates deep with my horror/blood/gore/campy loving soul (also I sneak some of my kids candy at the end of the night).  The Halloween Collection from Glimmer by Erica is pretty dang fabulous!  There are 6 polishes in the collection and it's definitely a set that covers all bases - jellies, shimmers, glitters and the always iconic pumpkin orange.  Erica did a great job on this collection.  These will be available today (RIGHT NOW) in her shop.  Each full size bottle is $9.25.  Well?  Less talk, more polish - grab some popcorn or candy corn and let's look at these lovely little beauties!

*PRESS SAMPLE*

Glimmer By Erica: Shop, Facebook, Instagram

I picked Blood Lust first.  It really spoke to me.  It was sitting there looking so glossy and juicy in the bottle.  Blood Lust is a red jelly with red glitters, blue/purple iridescent color shifting glitters and holo micro glitter.  It has so much depth and really glows.  The jelly formula was very easy to work with and as you can see from my pictures it built up to perfect opaqueness.  I used 3 coats of Blood Lust and 1 layer of topcoat.  Blood Lust looks great in all lighting but I especially love the pictures in the shade - you can really see all the awesome going on in the polish!

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Ectoplasm is a sheer purple jelly with green glitters and iridescent blue glitters.  This is a neat polish because it looks different depending on what kind of lighting you are in.  The jelly base in Ectoplasm wasn't quite as juicy or shiny as Blood Lust, but it did have a gorgeous color that covered wonderfully.  This mixture of blue, purple and green work so well together too.  The formula and application of Ectoplasm were both great.  I used 3 coats of Ectoplasm for complete coverage.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

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Possessed is a sheer milky off-white polish full of yellow/red, purple/blue and green color shifting iridescent glitters.  There is also some pretty micro shimmer to round it all out.  The light shade of the polish works really well with the iridescent glitters, and creates an almost nude yet glowy polish look.  The formula and application of Possessed were both great.  I started with a ridge filing base coat for a little color on my nail, then used 3 coats of Possessed and finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

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Jack O' Lantern is, of course, the orange of the bunch.  Jack O' Lantern is bright, vibrant and the perfect pumpkin color.  It's an almost neon orange shade, jelly type polish full of golden shimmer.  I love the color and the shimmer - they look like they are lifetime bff's.  Jack O' Lantern was more sheer than I'd expected, and in hindsight I would have started with ridge filling base coat to help eliminate the visible nail line.  I used 3 coats of Jack O' Lantern and no topcoat. 

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Moving on to the glitters - Love Spell is a mix of red and purple glitters in a clear base.  For some reason purple and red make for a perfect Halloween polish don't they?  The glitter was plentiful and came out easily.  Formula and application were both great.  I used 2 coats of Love Spell over Jack O' Lantern.  

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Witch's Brew is my second favorite from the collection.  This micro glitter is totally awesome!  Witch's Brew is full of orange, black, green and purple metallic micro glitters in a clear base.  BUT this is a dense glitter with great coverage - I actually started with a base color and quickly realized I didn't need it at all...as you can probably tell my lack of any base color peeking through.  I used 1 1/2 coats of Witch's Brew and 1 layer of topcoat.  

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Red Dog Designs Spooky Treats!

I am very excited to share this post with you!  It's the new Red Dog Designs Spooky Treats Collection and they are all really awesome!  Some are very Halloween-ish, others are going to be wearable all year round so that means you can reminisce about Halloween next summer!  The other great news is that these are available NOW so you  can pick these up for your Halloween themed manis today!  I'm sure you know I am a big fan of Red Dog Designs and I have to say this is my favorite collection that Gina has release yet.  You don't want to miss out on these, trust me.  You can purchase them at the shop and can follow Red Dog Designs on Facebook and Instagram (reddogdesigns).  Now let's look at pictures shall we?

*PRESS SAMPLE*

*PURCHASED BY ME*

Up first is Dead Man's Party.  Gina describes this as "white skull glitters, with various sized hex and square glitters in neon shades of pink, blue, green, orange and black, sprinkled with micro holo glitter in a clear base."  It's bright, it's fun and with the skulls it's perfectly fitting for a punky little princess!  I used 2 coats of DMP over 2 coats of Zoya Rocky.  I got plenty of glitter out with each brush dip.  The skulls came out easily on their own and I only moved them around on my nail a tad to keep them spaced evenly.  No issues to report with application or formula.  I have an accent nail of Red Dog Designs Caribbean Keys (neon blue texture).  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat on all but the accent nail.  

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This lovely bad a$$ polish is Bad to the Bone.  It's full of "hot pink holo skull glitters, with various sized hex, square and dot glitters in purple, black holo, purple holo, and gun metal, sprinkled with micro holo glitter in a clear base."  I loved the holo hot pink skulls!  They are so shiny and fun!  Another perfect polish for some added flare to say a pirate costume.  I used 2-3 coats of BTTB and had a good amount of glitter come out with each brush dip.  I did use Gina's awesome new tool (paperclip) to pull out some skulls - but I know the mini bottles don't play well with shaped glitter.  Application and formula were great!  I have BTTB over a gradient of Bettina Daydream and OPI Funky Dunky.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

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The third polish rounding out the skull glitter contribution to the collection is Skeletini.  Skeletini is made up of "pink skull glitter, with various sized hex and shredded glitters in dark pastel shades of pink, yellow, green, purple and black, sprinkled with micro holo glitter in clear base."  I loved how this one was "different."  The matte pastel colors make it a fun polish that can be worn now and in the spring time!  Skull glitters for every season!  I used 2 coats of Skeletini over 2 coats of Essie Bikini So Teeny.  Skeletini is a lighter dose of glitter so use more layers if you want more glitter on your nails.  The application and formula on this were great.  The skulls came out all on their own and no problems to report.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat. 

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The Haunting Hour is one of my favorites.  It's gorgeous.  Like really, truly gorgeous.  It will look fantastic over so many base colors but I chose a deep and inky blurple to represent the night sky.  The Haunting Hour is "various sized hex and square glitters in a mix of black, gun metal, orange and silver holo, including silver holo moons and stars, sprinkled with micro holo glitter in a clear base."  I had loads of stars and moons come out (along with all the other glitter).  Application and formula were flawless.  I have on 2 coats of The Haunting Hour over 1 coat of Wet N Wild Toxic Apple.  I used 1 layer of topcoat to finish.  

*shade

Moving right along to Pumpkin Toss.  Love it!  Love the colors, love the pumpkin glitters!  But be warned, the pumpkin glitters are a larger sized shaped glitter than most are used to and they will likely stick off your nails.  This didn't bother me because they are so gosh darn cute!  Pumpkin toss is "various sized hex and square glitters in a mix of golds, yellows, oranges and browns, sprinkled with gold and orange micro holo in a clear base."  Here I used 2 coats of Pumpkin Toss over a gradient of Milani Almond Bliss and Bettina Epic.  I did use the pumpkins from the included baggie of extra glitter and placed them on my nails (all orders come with a bag of orange and black pumpkins to decorate with).  This also didn't bug me because I was able to place pumpkins exactly where I wanted them.  Formula and application were great.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat.  

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Up next we have Frank N. Stein - surprise favorite for me!  I have had no luck at all with glow in the dark polish.  So I was cautiously optimistic that I'd get this one to work for me.  I am so happy to report that I did get it to glow and was actually successful at catching it in some pictures!  Big step for me as a blogger!  YAY!  Frank N. Stein is full of "various hex and square glitters in purples, black, holo purple, holo black, sprinkled with micro holo glitter, with gold shimmer in a green jelly base."  I loved this one.  So much more than I'd expected.  The lime green jelly base was great!  The gold shimmer is gorgeous!  The purple glitters add just the right touch.  And then it glows like a mutha.  I used 4 coats to get almost opaque coverage and the formula and application were really nice.  Easy to work with and good glitter payoff.  It does dry a touch gritty because of the glow in the dark pigment.  1 layer of topcoat smooths things up nicely.  

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Finally we have Corn Maze.  Gina knows I love my yellow glitter!  Probably more than anyone else, but just look at this beauty!  How could you not want to take it home?  Corn maze is full of "various sized hex and square glitters in shades of gold, yellows, holo gold, and browns, sprinkled with micro holo glitter in a clear base."   This baby is so blingy it's almost blinding.  I could totally see this as a great polish for a super hero costume!  I used 2 coats of Corn Maze over 2 coats of Wet N Wild Lethal Injection.  I love how the yellow and gold play off the deep berry color.  So much glitter came out with each brush dip - this is definitely not a sparse glitter!  Great formula and application with no problems to discuss.  I finished with 1 layer of topcoat. 

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*some of this polish was provided for my honest opinion and review