Jessica Cosmetics is the nail care brand founded by Jessica Vartoughian, the woman the New York Times dubbed “The First Lady of Nails.” Since 1969 when the Jessica Nail Clinic opened in LA, the brand has practiced natural nail treatments including use of their signature nail polish, a 3-free line of colors.

For Holiday 2008, the brand put together two mini nail polish sets from both the Jessica & Jessana lines; Nutcracker Sweet and Sweet Treats. Each set includes three mini .25 oz bottles of nail color, base coat and top coat. I had the opportunity to test out the Nutcracker Sweet set.

Previously I’ve only seen Jessica products at TJ Maxx and like all the beauty products they sell, the quality can be sketchy. I once bought a Barielle treatment only to get home and find the bottle half empty, dried up and open. Lesson learned, always open the boxes before buying. Anywho the Jessica sets I’ve seen at the Maxx are usually sheers or french mani kits, not my thing, so I never bothered but the colors in Nutcracker Sweet, totally me.

Even though the bottles are small, the caps are still nice and long, easy to handle. The brushes are full size as well so application was a breeze. I really like the medium viscosity formula and high pigmentation. They’re able to pack in a ton of color without making the formula goopy. It dries relatively fast as well. I could touch each shade after a few minutes.

Lilac Snowflake is not what I’d think of as lilac. It’s more fuchsia to my eye with pink and silver shimmer giving it a metallic look without the brush stroke downside of metallics.

Crimson Dew Drop reminds me a lot of OPI Midnight is Moscow only with way more glitz. It’s a black based, uber-dark red with a ton of duo-chrome micro-glitter that reflects both red and gold depending on the light. And because the glitter is so small, the polish dries smooth and glossy. No matte finish here!

Sugar Plum Fairy on its own is reason enough to buy this set. It’s the color that immediately drew me in. A blue based purple, it has the same amazing micro-glitter that’s in Crimson Dew Drop. Believe me, it’s WAY better in person.
The Jessica Holiday Petites are available on the Jessica Cosmetics website. Nutcracker Sweet retails for $16.50 and Sweet Treats is on sale for $12.50.

Who’s a Jessica fan? What colors do you recommend for a Jessica newbie?