This Christmas add Etude House My Little Nut holiday collection to your K-beauty wish list!

I am a sucked for Christmas collections - it's a constant battle with self not to purchase every piece from every holiday collection EVER. Etude House didn't make it easy - their My Little Nut LE holiday collection, inspired by The Nutcracker ballet, is certainly a sight to behold - the packaging is out of this world beautiful and very Christmas-y, and there are many items that cover pretty much the entire makeup range (lipsticks, lip balms, nail varnishes, highlighters, eyeshadow palettes, mascaras).

Somehow (I still don't know how) I managed to only pick up one lipstick from this collection - there were quite a few shades I loved, but as it is the holiday season I went with a red (any excuse works, really). I wanted to love the eyeshadow palettes, but they were a little lacklustre, considering the theme (The Nutcracker performances are usually spectacularly colourful and sparkling, so I was hoping for something like that...)

Now, I can't fault Etude on the packaging - they took the regular (and slightly boring) My Enamel Lips Talk packaging and made mulled wine (see what I did there). The My Little Nut edition hippies are housed in a tube with either a gold lid with pink ornaments and a pink base, or a gold base with pink lid - I scored the gold lid version, and I'm very happy about it!

I love the colour scheme - pink and gold is definitely reminiscent of both Christmas and ballet. It's very festive, but still elegant and feminine. I adore the little scalloped edge, which looks a lot less flimsy on this gold/pink scheme than the regular My Enamel Lips Talk lippies.

In general, this is a lot less cutesy/princess-y than Etude of the past, which seems to confirm my suspicions that the brand is moving away from the ultra girly packaging and into something slightly more understated and elegant - while remaining cute as a button.

The inside features a gold-toned case for the lipstick bullet, and your regular Etude round bullet itself - the lid snaps shut securely, and is easy to control how much you swivel up.

I chose the colour RD309 A Soldier's Gift - gorgeous fuschia/red with micro shimmer. I wasn't quite sure if it will have shimmer in it, but yes it does (you can see it in the hand-swatch bellow), although it's definitely not very noticeable, but I feel that it gives more dimension to the lipstick, and makes the lips look glossier. Beautiful!

I am very pleased with the formula of this lipstick - Etude's lipsticks are very hit-or-miss for me, but this one is an absolute hit! It's extremely pigmented - the swatch above, and bellow on my lips, is just one swipe/coat! Yup, tread carefully with this one, and definitely watch those edges when applying!

It glides on really smoothly - I found that in the beginning, when the lipstick was brand new, it took a few swipes for it to warm up and glide effortlessly, but now that it's been 'broken in' there are absolutely no issues!

I am seriously loving the My Little Nut Enamel Lips Talk RD309 lipstick, it's so affordable, but better than many more expensive lipsticks I've tried!

It lasts quite a while as well, but it's not 'long-lasting' - it will transfer when drinking/eating and you will have to reapply after a couple hours. It does leave a tint, and wears very comfortably as it's a very moisturising formula. One curious thing I found is that it only feathers right on my cupid's bow - everywhere else is neat, but that particular spot gets a little bleed after a while. No idea why, I'm sure it's my lips though - with a lipstick this opaque though, I would always suggest a liner to keep things neat!

I think this is going to be my most used makeup item over the holidays - I adore the shade, and the formula is great, not to mention that it looks incredibly festive!

I highly suggest you look into the whole My Little Nut collection - it's definitely worth at least a glance if not a purchase, considering how beautiful and affordable it is!