China Glaze: When Stars Collide & Strap On Your Moonboots

Swatches & Review


Last week, I purchased seven of the twelve colors from China Glaze's Spring Hologlam collection. When I first heard about this collection, I was super excited because it was supposed to have a holographic finish & China Glaze had some of the best in the past (OMG collection & Kaleidoscope collection). The first two I tried are When Stars Collide and Strap On Your Moonboots, which were the two I wanted the most from the collection.

When Stars Collide: Deep purple. It leans kind of like a maroon shade, but I wouldn't call it maroon since it is not too much on the red-ish-purple side.
Strap On Your Moonboots: Dark denim blue.

These two pictures were of the nail polish taken indoors. For two of my fingers, I used Nfu-Oh's aqua base, and for my other two, I used no bases at all.
What I found with using the aqua base was that the nail polish applied unevenly and there was folding. When used without the base, it definitely shows the imperfection of the nails, but applying it without the base was definitely easier. However, when used with the aqua base, the color of Strap On Your Moonboots was a darker blue than applied without the base. All of these were applied with two coats. When indoor, the holographic finish is very subtle. It looks more like a metallic nail polish finish than holographic because they are very silver-y.

These were taken outdoor. The holographic effect is better outdoor than indoor.

These were taken outdoor with my smart phone, which is why my fingers look a bit more washed out than the one above. Like the other one, the holographic finish is better outside than inside.

When Stars Collide and Strap On Your Moonboots are the two that are supposed to have the best holographic finish. If this is really true, then this collection is definitely disappointing. The colors are there and have great potential to be very nice holographic finish nail polishes, but when this is compared to their older collections, Color Club's Halo Hues & Urban Outfitter's holographic nail polishes, these are underwhelming. The colors of these two are gorgeous and they applied easily without a base. Although it shows imperfection of the nails, I definitely would apply these without a base because the way these applied after the aqua base was completely dried was not nice. It looks more imperfect then my nail itself. If I were to choose Color Club's Halo Hues or this, I would definitely choose the Halo Hues. These retail for $14 each, but can be found on online e-tailers for cheaper, such as nailetc.com, 8ty8beauty.com, etc.. (I am not affiliated with these websites).

What do you think about the Hologlam collection from China Glaze? Love it? Hate it? Let me know! :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze Whirled Away

Swatches & Review

The second color from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil collection that I purchased is Whirled Away. Whirled Away consists of black and white glitter in a clear base.

Pointer: Clear/Whirled Away alone
Middle: OPI Come to Poppy
Ring: Stranger Tides
Pinky: Zoya Creamy
All of these were taken with one coat of Whirled Away.

One coat of Whirled Away on the left and two coats on the right.
As you can see, a majority of the glitter that are on my nails are the black glitters, both small glitters and bar glitters. With two coats, there's still a lot more black and very few of the white glitters. The white glitters are bigger than the black ones in size.

Both of the images above are with two coats of Whirled Away.
If you look at my middle finger, the glitter looks like eyes!! lol.

Overall, this was okay. I think it was a hassle to get the white glitter because it seems like there is definitly more black glitter in the bottle. Most of the time, I had to dab on the white glitter. I wish the white glitter was easier to apply and I wish there was white bar glitter as well. I feel like the white glitter is very big so if it is not in the middle of the nail, the white glitter is just hanging off the side of the nail because it does not fold down and it stays straight. It is pretty annoying since I keep feeling the white glitter on the side of my nails because it is just sticking out.

What do you think of Whirled Away? & what colors are you thinking about getting from this collection? :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze It's a Trap-eze!

Swatches & Review

It's a Trap-eze! is from China Glaze's Winter 2012 collection, Cirque du Soleil: World's Away. It is a multi-glitter nail polish in a sheer white base that can be layered for more coverage.

The left picture shows it in one coat, and the right shows it in two coats.

Two coats is pretty much all you need for this nail polish if you want full-opacity for it. However, three coats can be used because with two coats, it is still a bit patchy. The white base for this nail polish goes on patchy and uneven (like jelly finish nail polishes) so a third coat would help.

After having two coats of It's a Trap-eze! On, I decided to layer them with Zoya's jelly finish nail polishes that they have previously provided to me to review.
For my pinky, I added another coat of It's a Trap-eze! to see how it looks like with three coats.
Ring Finger: Zoya Katherine over It's a Trap-eze!
Middle Finger: Frida over It's a Trap-eze!
Pointer: Paloma over It's a Trap-eze!

Next, I used a base under it to see how it would look when It's a Trap-eze! is layered over colors. I also compared Candy Shop to It's a Trap-eze!
Pinky: It's a Trap-eze!
Ring Finger: Claire's Candy Shop
Middle Finger: White nail polish under
Pointer: Green nail polish under

For Candy Shop, I used two coats. It's kind of weird since when I used it before (&when I previously reviewed it), it had very good coverage, but it seems like it is thinner now? I don't know if it has anything to do with sitting around for too long.

Overall, I like It's a Trap-eze! There are many nail polishes out there with the same concept, but I have not seen a white based one before. I liked how it looks like when it is layered with jelly finish polishes over it, but I do not like it as much when it is used to layer on top of colors. The only problem I had with it is that the white base is uneven when you're applying it, but then that goes away after more than two coats. It dried pretty fast, which is always a plus to me.

What do you think about It's a Trap-eze! Are there any other colors you are interested in from the Cirque du Soleil collection? :)


My giveaway for OPI DS Original is still going on until New Years!

Click to read more!

China Glaze Cirque du Soleil

Haul & Swatches

Edit: I have reviewed both of these here: Whirled Away & It's a Trap-eze!

Today, I purchased two of the twelve colors from China Glaze's Cirque du Soleil collection.

Over Number One Nemesis
The shades I purchased are It's a Trap-eze, which is a glitter in a white base (kind of like a white version of Candy Shop) and Whirled Away, which is black and white glitter in a clear base. In Whirled Away, the white pieces are bigger than the black pieces and there is also bar glitter in it as well. When you look at Whirled Away in the bottle, it looks like there's googly eyes staring at you O.O ...

I originally though I was going to purchase more, but it did not appeal much to me after seeing it in person. Most the colors reminded me of summer neon colors. For the rough swatch, they are both layered over OPI's Number One Nemesis (since I was rushing to school after getting it). It's a Trap-Eze made Number One Nemesis look like a grey, which is not bad at all! Anyway, I will swatch them individually soon! :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze Glitter All The Way

Swatches & Review
Glitter All The Way is part of China Glaze's Holiday Joy collection. Holiday Joy is their 2012 Holiday collection. This collection contains twelve shades. Seven of the shades have a glitter finish to them. Looking at the shades, it seems like Angel Wings is the exact same shade as Ultamate Holiday, which was an Ulta exclusive last year. I ended up only purchasing one shade out of twelve, which is Glitter All The Way.

From the bottle, it shows that there are many multi-colored glitters, such as purple, red, gold, and green.

Index: Two Coats
Middle: One Coat
Ring: Two Coats with Black Base
Pinky: One Coat with Black Base

From the swatches, it shows that the green glitters are the biggest in glitter size of the bunch. It only required two coats for full coverage of the nails. Like all glitters, these are super gritty, but it's nothing that two thick top coats can't fix. The first coat get kind of patchy, but if you let it fully dry before applying the second coat, it covers the patchy-ness. These dried pretty fast, although they were kind of the the thick side (which is how most glitters are).

Overall, I love this glitter polish! It is definitely like confetti on the nails. I see myself using this as an accent for Christmas and New Years! What I like about this unlike the glitter from previous years is that you can use this for many occasions, whereas glitters in the past were mainly just red, green and gold. In person, it is super sparkly and shiny, definitely eye-catching. For me, this is a must-have! If you like glitters, this is definitely a good choice :) What do you think about glitter polish? Are you ready for the Holidays?

Click to read more!

China Glaze: V

Swatches & Review
China Glaze's V was released as part of the X (Anniversary) collection back in 2007. I have had it for a while, but never actually got the chance to try it. I purchased it because it looked like a nice peachy-orange shade.

When applied to the nail, V definitely looks darker than it does in the bottle. I was at first a bit disappointed since I was hoping for it to be more of a creamy pastel orange shade, but it wasn't too bad after looking at it for a while. It is more of a burnt salmon orange than a peachy soft orange. The formula on this was a bit on the thick side (maybe because it's been around since 2007), but it was not hard to work it at all. This only required two coats. I believe this may have been discontinued, but I am unsure. I normally do not like posting discontinued items (unless it's something I really really like) because it is harder for readers to access them, but I know that this is still sold on many e-tailers still carry this shade (such as 8ty8beauty), which is why I did not mind posting a review on this. What do you think about this shade? Do you hate it when the color you thought a nail polish would be turns into something that is a bit different?

Click to read more!

China Glaze; Flirty Tankini

Swatches & ReviewFlirty Tankini is from China Glaze's Summer 2012 Neon's collection. I have purchased this around the beginning of summer, but I never had to chance to try it and since it is almost the end of summer, I decided to try it on. Flirty Tankini is a soft shimmery pink-coral. It kind of reminds me of Patrick Star, just a bit.

The application for Flirty Tankini was good. It was kind of thick, but easy to work with. It only required one coat, but I used two for the swatches. For the accent, I used Orly's Glowstick, which is from their summer collection. Glowstick is a a lot brighter in person, I love it! Since they are both neons, they both dried to a semi-matte finish. It was not a full-on matte finish, but it was not very glossy either.
Overall, I like how easy it was to apply Flirty Tankini and I like the color, but Flirty Tankini stained! Even though I used two coats of base coat and waited until it was completely dry, Flirty Tankini stained my nails into a bright pink, which was very unflattering. Orly's Glowstick did not stain my nails at all, which was surprising since it was a yellow, I kind of expected it to stain. Glowstick required four coats for me because it was on the sheer side, but taking it off was easier than Flirty Tankini was as well. Although I like Flirty Tankini, I do not like the staining, which may keep me from wearing it as much. I kind of wish I used Glowstick for the rest of my fingers and Flirty Tankini as an accent, but now, I know that I should probably use another color under Firty Tankini to try to prevent it from staining.

Click to read more!

China Glaze New Bohemian Over Black

Here they are layered over black. L to R: Deviantly Daring, Unpredictable, No Plain Jane, Want My Bawdy.

After layering it over black, I think the one with the best duo-chrome finish is No Plain Jane. Other than that, Unpredictable also has a nice duo-chrome finish. Deviantly Daring & Want My Bawdy does not really seem duo-chrome at all. Maybe this is not the best swatches of it since I never actually tried to swatch duo-chromes, but I tried.

Click to read more!

China Glaze New Bohemian Swatches

Swatches & Review
Today, I have the new China Glaze New Bohemian Luster Chromes to review. I went out and purchased four of the six shades in this collection. The colors I purchased are, Want My Bawdy, No Plain Jane, Deviantly Daring & Unpredictable. I did not get the other two because one of them just did not appeal to me and the other one seems very similar to OPI's Just Spotted the Lizard & Jessica's Iridescent Eye, which is a color I own.

My index& middle finger is No Plain Jane, and my ring & pinky is Want My Bawdy.
No Plain Jane is supposed to be a Lavender Pink, but to me, it's more lavender than it is pink. Want My Bawdy is supposed to be a sapphire blue. In the bottle it looks like a purple, but on the nail, it definitely looks more of a blurple, which means more to the blue side. Both are pictured with two coats. No Plain Jane is a bit on the sheer side so three coats would probably be better.

For this, I have Unpredictable on my index & middle finger, and Deviantly Daring on my ring & pinky.
Unpredictable is supposed to be a gorgeous green described by China Glaze, it is basically a green that shifts teal from time to time. It is seems similar to OPI Just Spotted the Lizard, but a lighter version of it. Deviantly Daring was actually one of my favorites because it was a one coater! My swatches for this color was pictured with one coat. It is described as a peacock teal, but I don't think the duochrome is too strong on this. After staring at the swatch for a while, it kind of reminded me of Zoya Charla, but with less sparkle? Unpredictable is pictured with two coats.

Overall, I thought I would like this collection more, but I don't. The duochromes look more amazing on the bottle than it does on the nail. On the nail, the duochrome effect just seems less "wowing" to me as when I purchased it. Other than Deviantly Daring, the first coat for the other three were really thin, but it definitely built up by the second coat, although Unpredictable and No Plain Jane could use a third coat for it to look better. Since I found it at my local supply store, it should be out everywhere soon! What do you think about this collection? Are you going to buy any? Which color seems the best? :)

Oh & here is how my brush from Want My Bawdy looked like. It was really frayed out.. What is up with that, China Glaze? :(

Click to read more!

Zoya; Arizona

Swatches & Review
Zoya Arizona is from their 2012 summer collection, Beach. There are two parts to their summer collection and Beach is the collection that consists of creme finish colors. Arizona is a light orange color with a creme finish. It is not bright, but it's not milky like how pastels are either. It kind of reminds me of the orange from the tangerine popsicles from Dreyer's fruit bars. For my ring finger, I used China Glaze's Riveting as an accent.

The application of Arizona was smooth. Although the polish was a bit on the thick side, it was not hard to work with it at all. I used two coats in my swatches, but I could have easily gone with one coat for opacity if I used a thicker coat. It did not take the first coat too long to dry before applying the second coat. For China Glaze's Riveting, I only needed two coats even though it was thin.

Overall, I really like both the orange colors. Arizona was actually picked from my boyfriend because he liked the orange creme color and it is not a color I normally would wear and Riveting was perfect for a day out in the sun because it has shimmer to it. The application did not give me any problems and the removal was easy and did not stain my nails. What do you guys think of orange color polishes? We have definitely seen them a lot this year!

Click to read more!

Zoya; Creamy

Swatches & Review
Zoya Creamy is a creme yellow color, however, not a pastel yellow. When I purchased this over a year ago, the name Creamy reminded me of custard buns, especially since it is a yellow! lol. I was looking for a perfect creme yellow nail polish since I did not have any, which is why I purchased this. I am actually still looking for the perfect creme yellow because Zoya's Creamy is not it. The application of this was very streaky, and in my pictures, I have used four coats before getting it to look even. For my accent, I used China Glaze's Shocking Pink, which is a neon pink. It dries semi-matte, and the nail polish is very thin so it required a few coats. For Shocking Pink, you have to make sure it is completely dry before applying the next coat because it can result in some balding.
Overall, I don't love this nail polish. I really like the color, but I do not think it is worth the hassle of using so many coats for it to look nice. Because I used so many coats, it started to look kind of gloopy on the nails and even with a fast drying top coat, I felt like it took a very long time to dry. I think if you want to purchase Zoya nail polishes, it is better to look up swatches, or order their color spoons before purchasing because the color they display on their website is usually a color that is different from the actual nail polish itself.
For the China Glaze, although applying it was also I pain, I find myself using it a lot as accent nails, or as french tips. I love how the neon pink looks as a french tip on nails, especially over the summer time. What are your thoughts on these two nail polishes? Do you have any recommendations for the perfect creme yellow? Let me know! :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze; Harvest Moon

Swatches & Review Today, I will be reviewing China Glaze's Harvest Moon. Harvest Moon is from their Hunger Games collection that has released last March. After seeing the collection, I knew I had to have Harvest Moon because it was a color I did not have in my collection, along with Riveting. Harvest Moon is a coppery color with a foil finish. It is very bronze and although it is a foil, I did not see any streaks after applying. The formula on this was perfect! Like many China Glaze polishes, they always take me by surprise. For Harvest Moon, I actually thought that I would have needed three coats because it seemed so thin, but after trying it, I realized that I only needed two coats. It applied on very easily & the drying time was not bad.

Overall, I definitely recommend this polish if you are interested in coppery/bronze colors. It feels very smooth after applying. I actually wore this nail polish for a whole week and it did not chip! The wear time of it was amazing after a week, and there was just minimal tip-wear. I say Harvest Moon is amazing! What do you think of this color? Have you purchased anything from this collection? :)

Click to read more!

Dusty Pinks

I always find myself buying a lot of dusty pink colors because I think dusty pinks look good with pretty much anything, but that can just be my opinion. So today, I decided to do some swatches on a few "dusty" pink colors I have.

On my pinky, I have Zoya Penelope.
On my ring finger, I have OPI Gouda Gouda Two Shoes
On my middle finger, I have OPI Java Mauve-a
On my pointer finger, I have China Glaze Fifth Avenue
& On my thumb, I have China Glaze Sweet Cream

All of them are creme, but Gouda Gouda Two Shoes has a subtle shimmer to it. When comparing them, the two China Glaze's look like they really stand out because they are a lot brighter. When I wear them alone, they seem a bit more dustier, but that might be because there is not anything right next to it that is even dustier. The Zoya and OPI's seem very similar, but there are difference to them.
Zoya Penelope is similar to OPI Java Mauve-a, but Penelope is a lighter and brighter shade. Both the OPI's are very similar and the main difference is that Gouda Gouda Two Shoes has shimmer in it. China Glaze Fifth Avenue is dustier than China Glaze Sweet Cream, and Sweet Cream is definitely brighter. I also have a full review on China Glaze's Sweet Cream from a few months ago too :)
Overall, I really like all of these colors. Almost all of them were easy to apply, but China Glaze's Fifth Avenue is on the thicker side, which took longer to dry and you had to be careful on how much polish you have on the brush or it can come off goopey looking on the nail. I used one coat of Zoya Penelope, and two coats for the rest. What do you guys think of dusty pinks? Like it? Dislike it? Let me know! :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze; Electric Beat

Swatches & Review
When I first heard about China Glaze's Electropop collection, Electric Beat was the only color that I was interested in from the whole collection of eleven colors and one glitter top coat. Electric Beat is a dusty blue. It is similar to Zoya's Yummy, but it is a bit lighter and dustier.

Although this was the color I was most excited about, applying it was disappointing. This nail polish was thick and it applied streaky. I was hoping by the 2nd coat that it would be less streaky, but I was wrong. I applied three coats with the third coat being a super thick one so it will even itself out, which is what I usually do with streaky nail polishes. When first applied and wet, the polish on the nail is lighter than the bottle. Once it dries, it gets darker, which is also a bit darker than the shade in the bottle. Since I used a thick third coat for the polish not be streaky on the nail, it took longer to dry, even with the Seche Vite top coat.
Overall, this is a pretty dusty blue color, but I don't think this polish is one of the blue colors I will be going to use a lot considering the application was a total pain. What do you guys think about this polish? Own it? Love it? Have any other color from this collection?

Anyway, have a great weekend everyone! :)

Click to read more!

China Glaze Magnetix: Swatches and Review

Remember I posted before about China Glaze's version of magnetic polishes? Well, they have been released and I was so happy to find out that the China Glaze Magnetix has been released! Once I found out, I knew I just had to go get it! Although there are six colors total, I only bought four of them for now considering I need to save some money for school because it is starting next week. I might end up going back to get the last two when I have time to though. Here are the four colors I got:

Left to Right: Attraction, Cling On, Instant Chemistry & Pull Me Close.

This is how the magnet looks like.

For all the reviews, I have my pinky as the individual color itself, my ring finger with the line magnet, my middle finger with the arrow magnet, and my index finger with the star magnet.
Reviews:

Attraction: Is a Gunmetal Grey with shimmer. Out of all the colors, I found this color to take a bit more time for the design to go through from the design, so leave the magnet on top of it for a big longer than others so approx. 20 seconds. I used one coat for this nail polish, but if you want it to be darker, you can apply two coats, or until however you like it.

Cling On: Reminds me of a duckpoop green. Lol, it doesn't sound appealing, but it really isn't a bad color at all. Basically, it's like a silver shimmer duckpoop green. I found Cling On to be on the sheer side, so two coats would be better for this although I only used one. (I was following the instructions so I could just test it out). I found this color to be one of the easiest and fastest one for the design to get on it. I put the magnets on top for about 6 seconds and it was already done!

Instant Chemistry: Is a dark purple, like a deep eggplant purple. This really only required one coat for full coverage. When picturing this color, I found it only looks better with flash and when I didn't use flash, the effects didn't show as much. Normally, I am not a purple nail polish kind of girl, but this purple is really pretty. This again, did not require a lot of time for the design to get on from the magnet, about 10 seconds.

Pull Me Close: This is a metallic blue. Kind of reminds me of Adore from China Glaze, but a bit more silver. In the pictures, this looks similar to Attraction, but you can tell the difference once it's on your nails. This, like Cling On was on the sheer side, but it was really fast for it until the design got onto it, which was about 6 seconds. Not a bad color at all!

Overall, I found these magnet polishes to be very easy to use. The dry time is fast and you only need one coat for Instant Chemistry and Attraction. I found Cling on to be really sheer with one coat, but Cling on and Pull Me Close were the easiest and faster to get the design on from the magnet. I love how there are three designs included in the magnet, and I found the line design to be the easiest one to use, after the star one. The only one I still need to work on using is the arrow one, which I found to make my nail polish wrinkle and fold upward so the nail polish gets kind of goopey. They are all easily my favorites, but if I had to choose, I think I would choose Cling On because the color is pretty unique in my stash and I love greens! OH, I found a good name for this green, it's kind of like camouflage green! lol. Other than that, I think China Glaze's version of magnet polish is just as good as other brands and more affordable. I believe they retail for $8 - $10 depending on where you get them and the price of the magnet ranges from $2 - $5. To make sure you have the design on, watch the magnet while it is on top of your nail and you will see it slowly start creasing and eventually, you will be able to tell when it is done. What do you guys think about this? Own it? Love it?


*All the pictures in this blog post are mine and the nail polishes were purchased by me.

Click to read more!