China Glaze - LOL

Here's an oldie but goodie.  I was just recovering from being basically in bed sick for an entire week, but my mom wanted to go do some shopping.  My darling husband graciously allowed it on the condition that he drive me to meet my mom and pick me up (what actually happened:  He drove me, halfway through he met us at the mall and carried all our bags, then drove me home).  Anyway, I still felt awful, and purple is my mom's favorite color, so I picked this out of my stash. 

LOL is a dark purple, linear holographic polish.

Basecoat:  NailTek Foundation II (1 coat)
Color:  China Glaze LOL (3 coats)
Topcoat:  Nubar Diamont (1 coat)

Love.

Orly - Au Champagne, China Glaze - Party Hearty

This combination came out very similar to my last year's Christmas manicure, but I don't care.  Last year I used China Glaze Frosty with Wet N Wild French White as underwear, but I like this combination better.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  Orly Au Champagne (3 coats)

Topcoat:  China Glaze Party Hearty (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Northern Lights Silver Hologram (1 coat)

Au Champagne is a pretty, shimmery opaque white.  It's a little softer than a straight white.  It dries to a satin finish, which I thought was interesting, but I also think that's why it applied so nicely.  I had zero problems with it.

I might as well have skipped the holo topcoat altogether, because the sun has not been out - at all - until this morning, and these photos were taken yesterday with already four full days of wear (see tip wear if you embiggen).

China Glaze - Glittering Garland and Snow Globe

I actually forgot I had worn this until I was editing photos of the last mani I wore.  I love these two polishes, just maybe not together, and I didn't even wear this out of the house.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Glittering Garland (3 coats)

Topcoat:  China Glaze Snow Globe (1 coat)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

See?  Super pretty, just not sure they go together.  I test swatched a few combinations and ultimately decided on this one for some reason - I should have gone with the gold Northern Lights topcoat instead.  Oh well.

I've seen photos of Glittering Garland that look very different from my bottle - mine just looks like a plain dark green with glass fleck.  It's very pretty but it's not the outright glitter I've seen photos of.  Application was pretty good, and I didn't have any problems with cleanup.

My bottle of Snow Globe is from the initial release with all the other specialty glitters.  As a result, it was super thick and I had to thin it a lot, but it was still pretty thick.  I have a little bit of tip shrinkage, too.

China Glaze - Skyscraper

Skyscraper is a dark blue jelly packed with silver glitter.  Some of the glitter may also be blue - I can't really accurately tell.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Instant Artificials (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Skyscraper (4 coats)

Topcoat: David (1 coat)

My bottle of Skyscraper is really thick and sticky.  I may thin it but I actually didn't have too much problems with application.  This took four coats for an opacity I'm comfortable with.  The surface dried totally not gritty at all - I didn't need to use Gelous, just one coat of David was enough for a totally smooth texture.

I don't know whether this is a dupe of Essie SSN - I've never seen it in person - but I think this is probably close enough for me.  I own the Fing'rs polish that's supposed to be a dupe - but just in pictures, Skyscraper fits closer to my idea of what SSN looks like in real life.

China Glaze - Stella and Nfu Oh - 50

Today I have a shining example of the phrase "know when to stop".  Stella is a medium reddish-purple shimmer.  Nfu Oh 50 is a pale purple jelly base with blue/purple/teal flakes.  Somehow I thought they'd go together.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Stella (3 coats)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

Color: Nfu Oh 50 (2 coats)

Topcoat:  Sally Hansen Insta Dri (1 coat)

Stella on its own is pretty but I felt like it was a little boring.  I initially stopped with just Stella and then a few hours later I had the bright idea to add flakes.  I should have gone with a different one like Hidden Treasure or Nubar 2010 but noooo, I looked at 50's base color and thought "that'll be perfect!" Well, it's not.  This combination is awful together.

Stella did apply nicely, though - it was a little thin and runny, but it cleaned up nicely.  I can't speak to wear because I hated this and took it off as soon as I got home from my dentist appointment.

China Glaze - Ingrid

Ingrid is a medium brown with warm golden-brown shimmer.  This has been untried for a while but I didn't buy it when it launched - at first I thought, "no way, that color is going to look awful on me" and then I saw everyone's gorgeous swatches and bought it.

Basecoat:  China Glaze Ridge Filler (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Ingrid (1 coat)

Topcoat:  David (1 coat)

I should have listened to that little voice.  This is a lovely polish, but oh I seriously HATE this color on me.  It looks awful on me.  It's not Ingrid's fault - she's gorgeous - I just think something about my skin tone and the tones in this polish do not work.  At all.  I'll probably give this to my mom - it will look great on her since she isn't Latina like me.

That said, this had the usual China Glaze awesome application, and cleanup was simple.  I really wish I didn't hate this so much on me, but y'all, this isn't even a "try it without a tan".

China Glaze - VIII

VIII is a deep, dusty purple.  It's very similar to "Crimson" from this year's Halloween collection, but it is a touch lighter.

Basecoat:  China Glaze Ridge Filler (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze VIII (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

I've had this bottle for a while, so there's been some settling at the bottom (visible in the bottom photo).  It doesn't affect the color of the polish.  This was a little bit runny and wanted to pool in my cuticles, and once it gets there, good luck getting it out cleanly.  This polish is *just* light enough to not be one of those "looks black all the time indoors" polishes.

China Glaze - Laser Lime

Laser Lime is a light green holographic polish.  The holographic effect is more scattered than linear.  Otherwise, it's very similar to L8R G8R - I believe the base colors are very very close if not identical.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Color:  China Glaze Laser Lime (4 coats)
Topcoat:  China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat (1 coat)

Application was fairly typical for holo polishes - I went slowly and made sure not to go over any parts that already had polish unless they were totally dry.   Cleanup was a snap.

The Tronica collection of polishes has been hit or miss, to me.  Some bottles just don't look as holo as other bottles - Laser Lime is one of the non-holo-looking bottles.  And once it's on the nail it still looks non-holo, even under my desk lamp in my office.   I had to go outside to capture any holo at all, and even then it's fairly weak. Somehow, all the outside photos give me major lobster hands with this polish, which is odd - in real life it doesn't even remotely make my hands look red.

For once, I used four coats because a holo wasn't opaque enough.  I had no dragging or bald spots at all - it just wasn't very opaque.  If you look very closely in the photos you can see a hint of VNL - it's not visible in real life, but it definitely was at three coats.

China Glaze - Ruby Pumps

Ruby Pumps is a red jelly packed with red glitter.  It's definitely been worn and loved by me before.  I didn't wear this because I couldn't decide what to wear - I picked it because it's one of the jersey colors worn by my beloved Rangers, whose magic number to clinch the AL West is currently 3.  Since I'm a season ticket holder, I'll be at the ballpark all this weekend, hopefully to watch a dogpile on the field as they celebrate.  Anyway - on with the polish.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Color:  China Glaze Ruby Pumps (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Gelous (1 coat)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

First of all, I ran out of stockpiled posts, so I'm actually posting this the same day I applied this - and there's no sun in my area today (for once).  The last photo is under a desk lamp.

I don't know how old my bottle is, but I know I've had Dorothy Who? for at least a year, if not longer, and I had Ruby Pumps WAY before that.  My bottle REEKS, y'all.  It actually reminded me of Kleancolors, it smelled so bad.

Anyway, this application was awesome - not too runny, not too thick, no bald spots, nothing.  Cleanup didn't even suck that bad - sure, I had some glitter left on my skin but it wasn't superglued there like some other glitters tend to be.

I actually debated between this and Nubar Fire Sparkle, which is untried, but I just didn't want to mess with that much topcoat today.  I thought about Orly Star Spangled, which is usually my go-to Rangers Red, but decided I've already shown that a couple of times on the blog, so I went with Ruby Pumps.  If I do a playoff manicure I'll probably go with Nubars, but if the Rangers don't pull their heads out soon it won't matter.  :)

China Glaze - 108 Degrees

108 Degrees is not only the average temperature in Dallas this summer, it's also a vibrant berry jelly packed with pink glass flecks.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network

Color:  China Glaze 108 Degrees (3 coats)

Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

In real life, the VNL is somewhat evident - for once, it's not as visible in these photos.  I'm not sure exactly why I left this untried for so long, but I'm definitely going to wear this one again - possibly as a pedi.  

This was a little bit runny and wanted to pool in my cuticles (photos were taken the next morning).  Cleanup wasn't too much of a problem though.

China Glaze - Reggae to Riches

Reggae to Riches has been in my untrieds for quite a while.  Someone on the Nail Board posted a swatch of an old, old L'Oreal - Sea Violette - that I used to have back in the day.  Reggae to Riches isn't a dupe, but the really strong blue flash reminded me of Sea Violette, so I pulled it out of the stash.  Reggae to Riches is a purple jelly with a very strong blue flash and shimmer.

Basecoat:  Gelous (1 coat)
Color:  China Glaze Reggae to Riches (4 coats)
Topcoat:  Sally Hansen Insta-Dri (1 coat)

This polish was thin, runny, and sheer.  It ran *everywhere* - it's been a while since I made that much of a mess painting my nails!  However, cleanup was really easy, so it wasn't that big of a deal.  I did need four coats to cover up streakiness, but again - this is a thin polish, so it wasn't too bad.  It's not totally opaque, either, but you have to look pretty close to see VNL at four coats.  I had a hard time capturing the blue flashes.  I was actually disappointed when I finished applying this polish, because I was just not seeing the blue flashes visible in the bottle.  It wasn't until I was outside at night under very strong lights that the blue really came to life.

I did have some bubbles, but I also applied this very late in the day, when I had to be somewhere right after work, so I'm faulting my application there, and not the polish.

China Glaze - Ahoy

Ahoy is the only polish from the nautical collection I wanted (and, for once, the only one I actually bought).  I tried several Ultas before I finally found it in stock, and of course, once I bought it I saw it everywhere.

Ahoy is a berry almost-jelly base with tons of glass fleck shimmer.

Basecoat:  Salon Sciences Fiberglass Network
Color:  China Glaze Ahoy (4 coats)
Topcoat:  Seche Vite (1 coat)

Ahoy was very easy to apply.  It is a tiny bit sheerer than I like so I used four coats.  I still had VNL at three.  Consistency is a little bit runny, so I had a lot of pooling at my cuticles and it was a little difficult to clean up, probably because I didn't cleanup between each coat like I usually do.

These photos do not do the sparkle justice.  I might need a backup bottle of this.

China Glaze - Virtual Violet

Virtual Violet is from the Tronica collection, which was available only at Sally Beauty Supply.  I only picked up a few polishes from this collection but I had to resort to eBay to get the one I really wanted, which was Techno Teal.  Virtual Violet is a dark purple - probably really close to LOL, but the holos are different.  LOL is a linear holo, and the Tronica polishes are a little more scattered.  I had a hard time getting a good bottle photo of this.

Basecoat:  China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat (1 coat)
Color:  China Glaze Virtual Violet (3 coats)

I did not want to risk dulling the holo so I did not use a topcoat.  As you can see from the bubbles I have, I had a fan going in the room I was in.  Application was kind of a pain - I should have used a basecoat like Nailtek Foundation or even a matte topcoat.  I had all kinds of dragging because I used a sticky basecoat, so I ended up using thicker coats than I should have to compensate.  Because of that I had tons of pooling at my cuticles, and it made the bubbles worse, too.  Oh, well!

Comparison - Savina Money Tree and China Glaze Cha Cha Cha

I was playing around in my stash this morning, trying to pick an untried to wear later this week.  I finally settled on Savina "Money Tree", which I've had in my untrieds for a while.  I was waiting around for the washer to finish before I did anything, and while I was waiting I thought, "huh, this looks kinda similar to Cha Cha Cha".  That's also in my untrieds, so I decided to pull that out and do a quick comparison.

In the bottle they are really, really close.  The Savina looks like it might be brush-stroke-y, but otherwise they are very similar.  I didn't set up my lightbox for this comparison, because I wanted to make sure I got different light sources, and now I think I might have found a different way to take NOTD pics.  Anyway, here are the bottle shots.

The Savina looks a little bit duller in this photo, but I think it's because the Savina is a little bit thinner.

Here they are at one coat each, over one coat of Fiberglass Network.

I have Cha Cha Cha on my index and ring fingers, and Money Tree on my middle and pinky fingers.  At one coat you can see that Cha Cha has a little bit more shimmer, and Money Tree seems to be a tiny bit deeper green.

This is two coats.  They're starting to get closer now - the Savina has a little bit of VNL, but it no longer looks much deeper green than Cha Cha Cha.

And here we are at three coats.  All the nail photos are taken next to a window on a sunny day (is there anything else in Texas this time of year?).  My middle finger is at a different angle, so it looks a lot greener, but you can see from my pinky finger that they're still really, really close.  Money Tree does have a teeny tiny bit of brush-stroke-y ness, but it's really not noticeable.

Verdict:  dupey dupe dupes.  You only need both of these if you're a green hoor.  I am, but I actually still don't know that I need both of these in my stash.

China Glaze - Frosty and Party Hearty

Yep, I'm joining in with the Elf Vomit mani.
I don't think I've ever worn a multi sized and colored glitter. I own Milani Gems but it's untried.


Basecoat: Orly Ridge Filler (3 coats)
Color: China Glaze Frosty (3 coats)
Color: China Glaze Party Hearty (2 or 3 coats, I forget)
Topcoat: China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat (1 stinky coat)

I had something at work blow up right as I was doing the glitter coats, which is why I can't remember how many coats this is.

I'm not sure I like this overall. The combination of ridge filler and Frosty is pretty opaque but isn't nearly as bright white in real life as it looks in my photos. I think next time I might wear this over something like Zoya Trixie, or even try a white creme instead of ridge filler.

I have some scheduled posts stocked up for the holiday. Have a safe and merry Christmas, everyone!