Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit Review, Photos, Swatches
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit: Mars, Gunmetal, Hot Mess, Ziggy, Wrecked, Barlust
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit ($28.00 for 6 x 0.17 fl oz.) is a set that features six miniature-sized bottles of polish with colors designed with the season in mind. Urban Decay’s formula is free from toluene, formaldehyde, and DBP. The applicator brush is still full-sized, even if the rest of the packaging is not. The six shades included are: Mars (emerald green with green and silver micro-glitter), Gunmetal (shimmery dark grey), Hot Mess (bright fuchsia with fuchsia micro-glitter), Ziggy (gold and multi-colored glitter), Wrecked (deep red wine), and Barlust (whiskey brown with brown shimmer). It is a limited edition set that will only be available at select Macy’s in-store and online at urbandecay.com around October.
- Mars is a greenish teal with teal shimmer and silver micro-glitter. It was opaque in two coats. It reminded me of Illamasqua Viridian, which has a blacker base and no chunky shimmer. Other shades I considered ended up looking too green in comparison (like MAC Jade Dragon, Duri Paparazzi).
- Gunmetal is taupe brown with silvery micro-shimmer strewn through the creamier base color. I used two coats for opaque color. I have no idea why this is described as a dark gray, because it’s barely gray on me at all. It does not resemble the Gunmetal eyeshadow shade at all (which is a dark gray with silver shimmer). I couldn’t think of a good dupe, though – I thought maybe China Glaze Ingrid, but it’s lighter and browner.
- Hot Mess is a fuchsia-red with fuchsia micro-glitter. The formula on this was really nice and very pigmented. It looks like there is gold shimmer in the bottle, and there seems to be the tiniest reflectio of it if you angle your nails just right. I used two coats for opaque coverage. It’s pinker compared to China Glaze Ahoy! and Nubar Prize. Zoya Gilda is pinker with less red.
- Ziggy is multi-colored glitter suspended in a clear base–it’s dominated by gold, blue, and pink. It’s actually rather opaque; I did swatches with just two coats, and it was nearly opaque. I blanked when trying to think of a dupe; I was reminded of Deborah Lippmann’s Happy Birthday, but they’re nothing alike.
- Wrecked is a deep, dark brown-red with cream finish. It’s nearly opaque in two coats, but the formula was a touch on the thin side. This is the most dupeable shade of the six to me, as all of these shades are similar: Zoya Anja, MAC Purple Majesty, Rescue Beauty Lounge Drifter, and MAC Vintage Vamp.
- Barlust is a dark brown with bronze and green-teal shimmer threaded through the shade. I used two coats for opaque color coverage. China Glaze Goin’ My Way was the closest I could think of, but it’s a warmer brown–more bronze in it.
The kit contains the equivalent of two full-sized polishes (the average polish is about 0.50 fl. oz.), and if Urban Decay sold individual, full-sized polishes (they don’t!), it probably breaks even or you come out a couple bucks ahead. Personally, I love mini nail kits; it’s rare that I fall so head-over-heels for a color that I’ll wear it for months on end, so more bottles for less money total works out for me. It is, though, a bummer if you do fall in love and aren’t able to buy a full-size of it. Urban Decay actually mentions breaking up the set and giving out individual polishes to friends/family as stocking stuffers, and I actually love that idea. How cute is it to receive a baby bottle of polish?
I have long fingers (must be from all that piano playing as a kid), so I’m often clumsy with really small bottles, but it’s not too awkward to hold and polish nails. The brush worked fine and did its job without murmur. In reality, a lot of higher end polishes have removable caps such that you’re actually polishing with something about the size of the full cap on this polish (think Chanel, Dior, etc. where the outer cap is large, but the one attached to the brush itself is significantly smaller).
As these just arrived in yesterday’s mail, obviously I can’t report on the wear of these specific shades. I have, however, tried various Urban Decay polishes since they started putting out the kits, and I have no issues with wear. I get around a week of wear with the expected tip wear (hey, I type all day and really have no regard for maintaining a chip-free manicure; I will totally pry something open with my nails) but no chipping.
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit: Mars, Gunmetal, Hot Mess, Ziggy, Wrecked, Barlust
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit: Mars, Gunmetal, Hot Mess, Ziggy, Wrecked, Barlust
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kitt
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit: Mars, Gunmetal, Hot Mess, Ziggy, Wrecked, Barlust
Urban Decay Holiday 2011 Nail Kit: Mars, Gunmetal, Hot Mess, Ziggy, Wrecked, Barlust
Urban Decay Mars Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Mars Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Mars Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Mars Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Mars Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Gunmetal Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Gunmetal Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Gunmetal Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Gunmetal Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Gunmetal Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Hot Mess Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Hot Mess Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Hot Mess Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Hot Mess Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Hot Mess Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Ziggy Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Ziggy Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Ziggy Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Ziggy Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Ziggy Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Wrecked Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Wrecked Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Wrecked Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Wrecked Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Wrecked Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Barlust Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Barlust Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Barlust Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Barlust Nail Lacquer
Urban Decay Barlust Nail Lacquer
Hmmm… Mars and Barlust are the only two in this set that I actually like. I don’t think I’d get too much use out of more gaudy shades like Hot Mess and Ziggy; thanks, Christine!
They are all really nice, but for such a small amount, I think they are all easily dupe -able….
Mmmmm, Mars. I might be buying this one.
Ziggy looks like a dupe of OPI Sparkle-icious from the Burlesque collection.
Agreed! I think Ziggy is a bit golder, but only if I squint.
I thought that also soon as I saw the swatch.
Wow I already have so many dupes for shades in this collection, that I will have to pass. I like Ziggy but not enough to buy the entire set for. Mars looks exactly like what I’m wearing right now… OPI Cuckoo for this Color. Hot Mess = Milani Glitzy Stiletto. Wrecked = Essie Sole Mate. I’m just surprised because I have such a small collection of polish, I usually don’t have dupes for anything!
Agreed. I love Cuckoo for this Color, but I’d rather just pick up a second bottle of that. Everything else..isn’t unique and I hate mini bottles (though it’s nice they have full sized brushes).
It doesn’t surprise there are a lot of dupable colors here. At best you could say that UD dabbles in nail polish, when they do, it’s to make the kits. The kits -need- to have mass appeal and unique polish colors tend to be more niche by their nature.
Pretty colors! I still haven’t tried any of UD’s polishes, but I might go for this one.
I’m right with you on not putting effort into maintaining a manicure. Every once in a while I hear somebody say “Fingernails aren’t tools!” and I just think to myself “Ok… what exactly do you think they’re there for?” 🙂
Is Ziggy at all like OPI Mad as a Hatter?
I don’t use OPI, sorry! 🙂
How come you dont use OPI Christine? Just curious!
no, its more like sparkle-icious http://www.mclaughlan.org/carinaeletoile/2010/10/14/opi-burlesque-part-i-holiday-2010/opi-mad-as-a-hatter-vs-sparkle-icious-sunlight/
Yes, thank you, it is like sparkle-icious. I’ve got that one!
Mad As A Hatter has no gold glitter in it at all.
Yes, thank you, it is like Sparkle-icious!
Lauren, I was going to ask the same thing! LOL
Christine, why don’t you use OPI, if I may ask?
Poor handling of a bad situation and then an attempt to cover it up (at least re: Temptalia), so generally I didn’t feel (when it happened) like they appreciated bloggers. I had no previous relationship with them then, at that point, nor have one with them now. There are more brands available than I can possibly cover, so I decided not to support a brand that wasn’t supportive of the blogging community.
I’m not really a big fan of Wrecked, or any deep reddish color. Other than that, I think I’d probably get good use out of the rest. I could always give Wrecked to someone who’d actually use it anyways. The swatches look amazing! 🙂
Is gunmetal the same as from The apocaLyptic kit?
I believe so, but I don’t think I reviewed that particular set on Temptalia, so I can’t do a direct comparison.
Great collection. I really like these shades – all of them, even if they don’t really look new… My “less favorite” may be Gunmetal though.
I love Mars! Ziggy reminds me of OPI Mad as a Hatter, only MAAH is more silver. Sparkle-icious is also possibly similar.
Hot Mess kind of reminds me of Zoya Reva.
I originally compared the two, but Reva is darker and much redder!
Okay, I’m kind of in love with Barlust and Ziggy – I wish UD sold these separately! I seem to end up in this predicament whenever they release a nail set; there’s a few that I LOVE the look of, but there’s always a lot that I’d never wear, too 🙁
Thanks for sharing the swatches with us, Christine! I’m kinda excited for the holidays now – and before term’s even back in 😛
Ziggy and Wrecked = OMG.
Out of these colours, there are only 2-3 that are even remotely holiday colours. The others are all super dupeable. I hate how UD always puts random shades in with some shades that we want. Like those Book of Shadow palettes, everyone must have 10 Midnight Cowboy Rides Agains from all of them. Is it because they don’t have enough good shades to go around to all the palettes so they just fill it with these, but they still want to sell everyone all of their palettes? Sigh
I have to disagree… this isn’t “random”.. just like Temptalia said, it’s “Holiday-esque” but not domineering. Would you rather they give you all glitter, red, and green?
I love all of these shades! Ziggy especially. I’m totally with you on the mini bottles thing. I find that I’ll buy a polish I’ve been lemming, wear it once and then forget about it for a long time. Terrible.
I like Barlust.
Ziggy is so bright and colorful. *o*
Ziggy reminds me of one of the RBL glitters…maybe Locavore?
oh my GOD i might just buy this for the ‘ziggy’ colour. my eyes popped out of my head when i saw how sparkly it was! x
Ziggy looks exactly like OPI Sparklelicious. If you only like Ziggy, just look for Sparklelicious on ebay, I got a bottle for $7 not too long ago.
Never tried UD nail varnish, but I think that this will convert me!
The gunmetal shade reminds me of OPi’s My private jet.
Ziggy looks a lot like OPI Sparkle-icious from last year.
I like hot mess and love Ziggy
Ziggy looks similar to RBL Locavore – which one do you prefer?
Hot Mess looks like Essie Super Bossa Nova.
I’m loving that Ziggy! Can’t wait until this set is available.
I actually like most of them, just Mars and Hot Mess don’t look that great to me.
I like them all except for Gunmetal… the other colors are BEAUTIFUL!
So pretty… I love them! 🙂
This is the only thing from UD’s holiday products that I am excited to buy. =[
Man, Ziggy looks awesome but I don’t want/need any of the other colours. I wish they’d release it separately!
never really been into UD nail polishes, but im dying for most of these!! :O
Ziggy kind of looks like RBL Locavore but with less blue and more purple
I NEEED Ziggy and gunmetal…why does it have to be a set boohoohoo
I love my Rollergirl nail set and look forward to buying this one too! I think the quality of UD nail polishes is really good. They seem to last a while on me. This is the only holiday set by UD that intrigues me and the only one that I’ll be buying this year. I don’t mind the small bottles and I really like these colors!
Nice colors! Ziggy is my favorite and it reminds me of OPI’s LE Mad as a Hatter color that was so popular a few years ago.