OPI has manufactured a plethora of holiday exclusives for different stores. That's pretty normal. But their Ulta offerings are a little unusual this year, in that the minis and full-sized bottles are not the same. Though I suspect one mini might be a dupe of the full-size bottle, I'm getting ahead of myself here.

OPI's exclusive for Trade Secret is called Festive Fuchsia. I haven't been to Trade Secret, so I couldn't tell you what it looks like or what it's a dupe of. Helpful, huh?

Beauty Brands has an exclusive OPI called Pomegranate Me a Wish (HL A61.) I found it for a great price- US$4.98! I couldn't pass it up since it was so cheap and cheerful. It's a standard shimmery pink-y red. The shimmer is slightly lighter than the base color, but in some lights some of the shimmer appears to be a purple-pink. I'm seeing it more in the bottle than I am on my nail, but I've only done a quick swatch of it.

Ulta has two holiday offerings from OPI. One is a set of three Ulta exclusive minis plus a mini Rapidry top coat. The other is a trio of full-sized OPI bottles that can be purchased separately. When I bought my full-sized bottles, they were part of the buy two get one free deal, so of course I took advantage of that! The mini set was US$9.95 when I bought it.

The set of mini polishes has three lacquers- Berried in Gifts (NL 309), Amethyst Twist (HL A49), and Silver Belles (NL 307.) Berried in Gifts is a pinked red with much lighter silver/hot pink shimmer. It's a bit more unusual than the other holiday colors, and certainly sparkly enough. Silver Belles is a darker gray silver polish with much lighter silver shimmer. This isn't as blingy as it sounds. I think it might look neater with a matte topcoat over it, actually. Amethyst Twist is the polish that makes me look twice. It's a dark purple filled with lots of bright pink shimmer. And it looks suspiciously like Visions of Sugarplum, one of the full-sized Ulta exclusive OPIs.

The full-sized Ulta exclusive OPIs are Visions of Sugarplum (HL A49), Dreaming of Red (HL A50), and Dazzled by Gold (HL A48.) Dreaming of Red is a beautiful red with fine red shimmer. It's shimmery to the point of almost being frosty, but it just skirts that line instead of going over it. It's not an unusual color, but a solid holiday color we've come to expect from OPI. Dazzled by Gold is exactly the color you'd think of when you hear the word "gold," plus it has lighter gold shimmer. This one isn't as blingy as I thought it'd be, just like the silver from the mini set. My bottle is so pretty with all the sparkle- why is that not translating to my nail?! I shouldn't have to add glitter or holo to this polish to make it pop, but I feel like it needs it. I'm cool-toned and I will say that this gold doesn't look bad on me, despite gold being a color for those with warm-toned skin. It's also really sheer, so you could do a nice funky french with this one- a white, black or gold tip with one coat of Dazzled by Gold over the whole nail. Visions of Sugarplum bears more than a passing similarity to Amethyst Twist. The color is 99% similar to Amethyst Twist to my eyes. I've heard that if you're a super big purple fan, you can tell a difference... but I can't. As far as I'm concerned, Amethyst Twist and Visions of Sugarplum are the same polish, and I think most people won't be able to tell a difference between the two. The final nail in the coffin for me is that they both have the same OPI "item number"- HL A49. Same color as far as I'm concerned!

As usual, please forgive my swatches!  Less frazzle, and probably less neatness, too.  The camera flash did make everything lighter and brighter, but we've had a lot of cloudy, dreary days lately.  Not the best for nail photos!  My written descriptions are more accurate than these photos, unfortunately.

From my pinkie to my thumb: OPI Amethyst Twist, Silver Belles, Berried in Gifts, what I believe is two coats of Pomegranate Me a Wish followed by one coat of Dreaming of Red (that was an oops!), and Nicole Faux Fir.  The Nicole was in a display with similar holiday-themed colors at both my Ulta (US$6.99 IIRC) and the Bed Beath and Beyond with a Harmon drugstore inside of it (US$6.49 IIRC.)

Here we have Silver Belles, Berried in Gifts, Pomegranate Me a Wish, and below on the horizontal finger is Dreaming of Red.

Thumb to pinkie: Nicole Bah Plum-bug! (also part of the seasonal holiday Nicole collection), OPI Dreaming of Red, Dazzled by Gold, Visions of Sugarplum and Amethyst Twist.  Looks like you'll have to take my word on the latter two being dupes, since this picture didn't turn out!

The only holiday Nicoles that immediately appealed to me were Faux Fir (NI 266) and Bah Plum-bug! (NI 267.) Faux Fir is a medium-toned green with a touch of blue in there.  It has microshimmer that is almost frosty, but doesn't quite get into frost territory.  It has been chippy on my thumbnail, but I don't know whether to blame the nail, the polish, or both. Bah Plum-bug! is a a dark purple creme at first glance.  Up close, you can see tiny, buried purple-pink shimmer.  I like this color a lot more than I thought I would since it's a little jazzier than your stock dark color.

I have to say that I'm underwhelmed by OPI's holiday exclusive polishes. It's not that the colors are standard- they just don't pop. Plus the incredible similarity between Amethyst Twist and Visions of Sugarplum cannot be ignored. I wouldn't buy any of them again, though I do think Dreaming of Red and Pomegranate Me a Wish are very pretty.  I'm slightly more happy with Nicole's offerings, though I'm probably going to be pretty happy with a collection that has a green in it anyway!