Color Club Winter Affair

Happy weekend everyone! I wanted put up a post before I got started with my crazy day of Christmas shopping. Today I want to talk about my opinions on the Color Club Winter Affair mini set. I was at Sally’s a few weeks ago and was lucky enough to pick these up. I've NEVER seen color club around me before and had really wanted to try the brand out so I was very excited to get these. I thought the price was pretty reasonable 4 colors for $10, and the mini’s larger than the typical mini size so I thought it well worth the money and they are scented!

Berry and Bright: Berry scented

All photos of Berry and Bright are 2 coats no top coat.

This is probably my least favorite. The formula left much to be desired. It was clumpy, right from the beginning.  It could have been a 1 coater but with all the clumpy dragging there were several bald spots that needed to be covered. You can see in the photos that the end result looks a bit textured. The color isn’t really anything special, it’s just another red. It does have a hint of blue sparkle to it but it just doesn't make this special enough for me to love or even really like it. Also the smell was awful! It did have a kind of berry smell but it was a weird berry smell and kind of sickening sweet. 

Ho Ho Holly: Pine scented

All photos of Ho Ho Holly are 2 coats no top coat.

This one, surprisingly, is my favorite. While I like green ok enough, it’s not my favorite color. This green, however, has a golden and blue shimmer in it which makes it pretty enough for me to really love this shade. The formula on this one was so much better than B&B, smooth and even. Application was effortless and it was such a perfect formula there was absolutely no clean up required at all, not even to create “the gap”! The smell of this was what surprised me the most. It smells like pine for sure but it also has kind of a cologne smell to it. While it is kind of a “manly” smell to me it wasn't offensive to my nose! This is a keeper for me!

Gift of Sparkle: Vanilla scented

All photos of Gift of Sparkle show 2 coats and no top coat.

I have mixed feelings about this one. The formula was ok, not as bad as B&B yet not as butter like as HHH. It did have a bit of dragging towards the tips, but it was evened out with a second coat and there wasn’t any clumping. The color itself is beautiful, maybe only because I’m noticing I am kind of partial to blue polish. I can get over the minor application issue but the smell. Yuck! I really don’t like vanilla scents much anyway but this is the worst vanilla smell ever! It was, much like B&B, sickening sweet smelling, to me anyway. While I say this I should point out I have a very sensitive nose! I only like certain scents and this isn't one of them, nor was B&B. You may like them, I don’t. 

Snow Flakes: Unscented flakie

All photos of Snow flakes show 2 coats over Gift of Sparkle topped with 1 coat of NYC You Matte Me Crazy.

I had such high hopes for this! I have kind of fallen in love with flakies! I only own a few and was super excited about adding another to my stash. This one kind of left me hangin a bit.  As you can see in the pictures there really isn’t a very strong flakie presence. The shift in color you see in the bottle virtually non existent on the nail. I will probably try again with 3 or more coats just to see if it looks better but I am still a little let down because it looks amazing in the bottle! 

Overall, I will be keeping Ho Ho Holly and Snow Flakes but the other 2, those are the very first polishes I can say I am willing to part with from my stash. That’s unusual for me because I’m a polish hoarder, but I’m willing to purge them for sure! 

What are your thoughts? Do you have this set and love it, hate it, have mixed feelings like me? Let me know what you think!