The Hunger Games and China Glaze Capitol Colours: The Martyrs and Freedom Fighters featuring Riveting, Hook and Line, and Agro

It's a mouthful of a title, I know. But there was simply no more concise way to appropriately summarize everything that will be talked about in this post. See, this collection first started as a rumour that was fed by a company leak of photos of the actual colors. Then, there was the threat of lawsuits and even more drama. Thank goodness it was all sorted out to reveal the exact same colors that was originally leaked, albeit with different names that a quick thinking fan pointed out were a representation of each of the 12 districts as outlined in the books. And now, I am the happy owner of the entire collection with the enabling aka pre-order option of the awesome Nail Polish Canada (they even came earlier than expected, double yay!). I know there were some that were skeptical about the color choices, but I feel it did do the books justice. More on that in a bit. While I know that I probably won't wear some of the colors as often as the others, I still felt strongly about wanting the entire set because (to my knowledge) this is the first nail polish collection that's based off a book series. As a certified bibliophile and nail polish addict, this easily made the entire collection a must-have for me.

I wanted to be able to do in-depth reviews for each color in the same fashion as is my usual, but if I stuck to one color per post, that would take me months just to show you all of them! So while I'll still be doing in-depth reviews, instead, it will be with three polishes in the spotlight per post. That will make this series a 4-part one over the next couple weeks and just in time for the movie release on the 23rd (boo yah!). Now, I'm fairly certain that by now, you've seen a bajillion swatches and reviews of this much anticipated China Glaze collection. So I have to raise the bar. To set these posts apart from the flock, I'll be showcasing not just swatches and a review of the actual polishes, but as well as how it ties in with the books. I'll be picking key characters from each of the districts that the nail polishes represent and somehow, show you how they all connect. This is the part where I say beware of spoilers as I'm fairly certain there will be quite a bit. I'll be writing this with the expectation that you've read the entire series. If you haven't read any or all of them yet, read on at your own risk or simply skip the text after the district name and number in bold. Also, if you're a huge Hunger Games fan and disagree with whatever I've written, please don't flame me. Let's just talk about it in the comments, okay? Okay!

Needless to say this will be a preeeetty long post, photo heavy and with walls of text so grab a coffee, sit back and relax. All set? Here we go!

The first three pretties in this series!

Nail Art Wednesday: Green Slim Silhoutte Nails for St. Pat's Day

With St. Pat's Day just around the corner, you betcha I wanted to be sporting a mani to commemorate the occasion. Problem was, it always seems to be about the exact same things: the clover leaf, rainbows and a pot of gold, and leprechauns. I wanted to do something different. But after playing around with attempts to freehand intricate Celtic designs and failing miserably (I blame poor quality brushes the same way Mickey in Fantasia blames the cleaning tools), I decided to play it safe and stay true to my minimalist aesthetic. Better yet when you find out that this particular design was created by the talented Jin Soon Choi of Sally Hansen, in partnership with fashion designer Prabal Gurung, for the S/S'12 runway. It was a way to incorporate softness with a strong statement that the designer wanted to complement his frocks on display. She paired a pale lilac base with a deep purple shimmer. Now, I've been wanting to try this technique since I've seen it and it seems most timely to do it now. It IS Spring 2012 after all, right?

Jin Soon's Slim Silhouette St. Pat's-fied.

OPI Mermaid's Tears are of joy and not sorrow.

After a spell of sporting vampy, dark shades, I had a hankering for pretty spring heralding colors to brighten up the dreary gray Toronto mornings. If you ask me, I prefer the white of snow to the grey of impending rain. Never mind that I used to live in a tropical island where the chance of rain on any given day was never lower than 50%. That cold, white stuff that falls from the sky is infinitely more magical than sloshing about in the damp, and huge puddles. Inspired by the new spring releases and all the lovely pops of color, I brought out a spring 2011 shade that I hadn't gotten around to wearing yet:

I definitely have spring in the brain.

Nars Zulu ends 2011 with a bang!

It feels like it was just yesterday when I started the red, gold and green series for the holidays and here we are looking at the end of another year. The past few days have been ridiculously crazy with the party a day schedule we've had, coupled with my poor honey bunny catching a virus (Such a lousy time to be sick! We hope he feels much better before the new year starts. And that he doesn't pass it on to me.) and hacking away every night. I've been piecing blog posts together whenever I have free time (I keep my promises!) and today I saved one of my newer acquisitions to end the series with a bang. In truth, it's one of the best deals I've scored nail polish-wise this year and it's one of the more (in?)famous polishes in my collection. Without further ado:

Say hello to NARS Zulu!

China Glaze Glittering Garland celebrates an early Merry Christmas!

Diets be damned, the coming weekend promises at least 3 days of buffet-style dinners and lots of family fun. Then, of course, there's the gifts to be given (and received!), candy canes and chocolate to be had and lots of peppermint mochas. Right after which will be the chaos of Boxing Day (I'm on the look out for a new camera but so far the Boxing Day flyers I've seen haven't looked very promising..). The only thing that would make this weekend all the better (and probably a whole lot crazier) would be a lot of that wonderful white stuff that you see drifting over your screen. It's undoubtedly bound to be a crazy busy weekend, so I truly hope your Friday is treating you well. While we're at it, let's enjoy this calm before the storm with a bit of glass-flecked magic from China Glaze:

Like green foliage on a Christmas tree!

Nail Art Wednesday: Red, Gold and Green Checkered Nails

Are you as excited as we are that Christmas is almost at hand?? I know, I know, there's probably still a ton of stuff to do, but let's not forget the reason for the season. Maybe a breather or two and a nice cup of peppermint mocha should calm the holiday-weary soul. And while you're at it, how about another take on the perennial colors of Christmas:

Get into the spirit!

Nubar Reclaim helps you reclaim the (holographic) magic of the holidays

How awesome is it that it's 9 more days till Christmas?? We've hit the single digits in the countdown! *squeeeee!* I sincerely hope you have at least half your shopping done (or about to be done this weekend), all your decorations up and at least a good idea of the dinner menu by now because 9 days is really cutting it close! Although, who am I to talk when I've just finished all my cards (finally!) and they'll be mailed tomorrow. I know they're not going to make it, but it's the thought that counts. :D If your Scrooge needs some cheering up or to take your mind off all the things that still need to be checked off from the long Christmas To Do list, take a few minutes and let this green holographic weave some of its Christmas magic:

Reclaim some of that Christmas cheer with Nubar Reclaim!

Rimmel London 60 Seconds Camouflage ushers in the Christmas cheer with greens and golds

I don't know about you, but when you combine red, green and gold the first thing that comes to mind is Christmas, my absolutest, favoritest time of the year! (And maybe that song by Culture Club..) So throughout the month, you'll see a smattering of red, green and gold polishes here at Polished Indulgence. We're kickstarting the month with one of my green pretties that has a gold shimmer to it from another cheapie but goody brand that my cousin swears by (a mommy who can only get her nails done if they dry faster than her little boy can climb out of his crib).

[Red] Gold and green, [red] gold and greeeeen...

Nail Art Wednesday: Movember Moustache Nails with a Gaming Geek Twist

With November coming to a close, I thought it would be appropriate to end it donning moustachioed nails in support of Movember, the annual fund raising event for men's health and prostate cancer research. Mr. J participated unofficially (in all honesty I think this was about the only time he felt it was justified to sport any sort of facial hair) so I'm beyond ecstatic to have his face back. Now, I wanted to put my own twist to it and didn't want it to be just like any other moustachioed nails. I thought about doing different types of moustaches on each nail but wanted to take it a step further: why not sport famous moustaches based on video game characters? I love me some video games (in fact, Mr. J and I met while playing a video game but that's a story to tell on another day) so what better way to incorporate that with Movember?

Can you guess who's who? Three are easily recognizable but the villains aren't as easy to place.

Pam's Girly Bits: Stormy Skies and Street Magic helps you Sea's the Day

I'm really excited to show you a couple polishes from the Pam's first Girly Bits collection: Sea's the Day today! Pam, a fellow Canadian blogger, has really exceeded expectations with these lovelies. Really, not much intro is needed when these two can speak for themselves. First up, the packaging and after the jump, the polishes themselves!

The packaging it comes in. Very Girly (Bits)!

I love the personalized touches. Really shows the love put into these.

Nail Art Wednesday: Rainbow Zebra Patterned Nails

Whenever I see these pretty colorful nail art, I can't help but rave about them. It looks like so much fun! But you wouldn't catch me sporting them on my own nails. I guess I'm more of a "subtle nail art" kinda girl where I prefer tone on tone color combinations as compared to high contrast ones. I recently had a hankering for some rainbow goodness to combat the grey, dreary fall days and decided to go with high shine instead of high color saturation. I was thinking of layering it with a black crackle to tie it all together but remembered I've been meaning to play a bit more with the makeshift black stamping polish I discovered (thanks to stamper extraordinaire, Marta!). This is what I came up with:

Subtle but with enough oomph to pack a punch.

Nail Art Wednesday: Poppy Nails for Remembrance Day

Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the Pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be
For my unconquerable soul.

- Invictus, William Ernest Henley

One thing about me that always surprises people is when they find out I underwent a bit of military training. Nothing fancy as it was required in university, just marching about, really, and learning basic survival skills. Even then, my job throughout the whole experience was mostly administrative: took tally of attendance, processed the required paperwork and coordinated with the different platoons to make sure everyone was on the same page. I was lucky. Most of my friends had to endure hours under the hot sun perfecting their marching cadence and carrying heavy rifles. See, the people in the administrative team are those considered physically unfit. I just so happened to be the first casualty of the year when I hyperventilated after a hard run of exercises that were supposed to "loosen the muscles" on the first day. It was the first year that females were required to take the course, too, so everyone was skittish. I guess I looked pretty terrible with no ability to talk, gasping for air like a beached fish, that the instructors immediately moved me to the administrative team after I was rushed to the infirmary. All I really needed then was a paper bag, but that incident ensured I had one of the easiest jobs.

Suffice to say that Remembrance Day is one of those holidays that's close to home. I imagine, the horrors of war is more than a hundredfold of the hardships of military training. No one really wins until the fighting is ended. It's senseless violence that should be condemned. So to commemorate the sacrifices of all those who have fought in armed conflict both past and present, I proudly wear my poppy nails.

Red poppies symbolize the memory of those who died.

Nail Art Wednesday: Halloween Nails! Ghost, Skull, Frankenstein's Monster, Jack o' Lantern and Mummy

The title is a mouthful, I know. But because I only do nail art posts once a week and with the October Birthdays series, I couldn't do Halloween themed nail art leading up to it. Oh no! There was so much I wanted to try! I wasn't going to make it for Halloween! The solution: cram them all in one post on the first Wednesday in November and call it Halloween Nails. *toothy grin*

Beware the Claw!!!

Nina Ultra Pro Mossy Britches

Ever seen a nail polish color and knew you HAD to own it, by hook or by crook? First, it was Chanel Peridot, the one Chanel polish that *almost* made me break my self-imposed $10 maximum price per nail polish bottle. In the end, Hammie convinced me that $25 was just too much to spend on one nail polish when I could get four or more for the same price. (I've heard rumors that Hammie hails from the Hamstons but this is one sensible, penny pinching hamster so I don't think so!) Then, came Butter London's Wallis but at $14, it was still over my limit. These green/golds were killing me! Not even wearing Nubar Wildlife could kill the crazy lemmings from these two. So I hit the interwebs in search of something that might be similar (I was so far gone, I didn't even need a dupe) without killing my budget. This is what I found:

Look at that pretty!

Color Club New Bohemian

When I was asked by the talented Marta from Chit Chat Nails if I wanted to do a triplet post with the wonderful Carolina from Colores de Carol, how could I say no? (Subliminal message: Those links are there for a reason. You know you want to click them...) I was so excited, I felt like the luckiest girl alive! Luckier still that the polish picked for today is extra special. It's so special that it definitely deserves three times the love.

Hammie says: A warm welcome to all the lovely ladies who are here through Marta from Chit Chat Nails and through Carolina from Colores de Carol! We are most honored by your presence and we hope you enjoy your visit with us!

Hammie dice: A cálida bienvenida a todas las bellas damas que están aquí por medio de Marta de Chit Chat Nails y por medio de Carolina de Colores de Carol! Estamos muy honrados con su presencia y esperamos que disfrute de su visita con nosotros!

Pretty, isn't it?

China Glaze It's Alive

You know those little jelly cups that sometimes have bits of fruit inside them? I love those so much that I can finish a tub in one sitting. Almost (but not quite) as much as I love chocolate. I also prefer jelly instead of tapioca in my bubble tea. So it comes as no surprise that I have a thing for jelly finish nail polish. I used to be on a creme kick but once I put on a jelly, there was no turning back. It's easily one of my favorite finishes just because it looks so squishy and it's crazy shiny...really, what's not to like? But you know what's even better than a jelly? A jelly with glitter! Revlon Facets of Fuschia was such a hit that I knew I had to get more of these wonderful jelly glitters. So when I saw the 4pc China Glaze Haunting collection on sale at Sally Beauty, it was practically a no brainer. The star of the set?

China Glaze It's Alive in all it's jelly glitter awesomeness.

Fingerpaints Military Green

A lot of Fall's trends this year include predictions of colors that are going to be big during the season. Some said navy and electric blue will be big, along with honest to goodness greys. (I can totally get with that!) Others said gold greens reminiscent of the widely lusted after Chanel Peridot was going to make a splash while I've noticed dusty looking colors in almost every single Fall release. When I last surveyed my stash for on trend colors, I realized that I was seriously lacking in the green department. Shame! Of course, you know I had to remedy that!

FingerPaints' answer to Fall fashion.

Nail Art Wednesday: Special Birthday Nails Part 1, Pastel Skittle Nails

In our family, October is known as the birthday month with birthday dinners every week. It's always a lot of fun, family getting together and all that. Since each celebrant usually picks a different restaurant, it's also a great way to try some place new to add to the rotation. (Or they do a party at home!)This year, we're having one more birthday to celebrate: my niece, Alena, who's turning one on the 8th!

I did a skittles manicure in honor of the birthday girl in fun bright colors. I then stamped animals from the Konad S10 stamping plate in silver and added a holographic glitter layering polish as the final touch.

What I used:

Thumb: In the Mood Devious (cold color)

Index: Nicole by OPI City-Pretty Rose

Middle: Orly Snowcone

Ring: Revlon Garden (from the Spring 2011 mini set)

Pinky: Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Lemon Dash

Silver stamping polish: Rimmel Lasting Finish Pro in Pure Silver

Glitter polish: Sally Hansen New Lengths Ceramics in Silver Slightblade

More photos after the jump!