Wish on a Starfish

Today I have a China Glaze texture polish from one of the many collections they have put out in the last few months, this is Wish On A Starfish.

As you can see it is a light pink texture with golden shimmer throughout. It was a bit sheer on the first coat but built up nicely with three thin coats. I find with these polishes if you add thicker coats the effect looks more like a clumpy mistake than a texture.

I had no issues with application. The polish dried neither quickly or slowly but since it was textured I think it dried pretty well. I love the name! This is totally a starfish pink and the gold shimmer makes it shine like a sparking star!

Sun Upon My Skin

I have had nothing but bad experiences applying polish outdoors. Whether it's the wind, sun or general temperature, my application usually sucks! Therefore, I don't really know how I should review China Glaze Sun Upon My Skin.

Sun Upon My Skin is apart of China Glaze's latest summer collection, Off Shore. There really isn't anything extra special about this yellow, it doesn't have a shimmer or neon pigment, however I don't have a lot of yellows in my collection and this was more of an impulse buy. This buttercup cream feels like it should be apart of a spring collection instead of summer.

Overall application as started in direct sunlight was difficult, thick and runny. Once I moved in to the shade application was a bit easier, but still uneven. I decided to run inside and grab some thinner in hopes of the evening out the polish on the second coat. I added a final third coat on top to make sure everything was covered up evenly and decided and three coats was good enough. A layer of Seche Vite helped to smooth out any imperfections and I was done.

The photos are forgiving compared to real life. The polish is still slightly streaky on some nails and I noticed some bubbling on others, but it is hardly noticeable. I will have to try this polish on indoors to give my final thoughts on it.

Be More Pacific

Happy, Happy Friday!! The weather is looking great and I am excited for the summer-like temperatures the weekend has to offer for the last few days of May! I went cross-boarder shopping this past weekend and only ended up with two new polishes, I think that is a new record! I have not been buying much polish lately, not for any particular reason, I guess I just haven't been interested in what has been released. Take for instance China Glaze's summer offering, Off Shore. I had seen promo pictures and some swatches but was not impressed. Although I have loved their previous summer and latest spring collections, the formulas have just been awful.

I picked out two Off Shore polishes that I thought were the most interesting and unique to my collection, Sun Upon My Skin and Be More Pacific. I tried out Be More Specific as soon as  got home.

Surprisingly the formula on this polish was awesome! The application was smooth and easy going, it even dried to a shiny finish! I am so used to the awful formula of the neons and pastels from the Peonies and Park Ave. and last summer Sunsational collections that I was expecting this to bomb as well. Luckily, it was fantastic! Smooth and self levelling and opaque in just two coats, that is awesome for a bright and light shade like Be More Pacific.

The shade it's self was unique enough to make me want to purchase it, it is a light and bright yellow toned green that is slightly more faded than pastel. Outdoors it appears nice and bright, perfect for the jump to summer-like temperatures we have been experiencing lately :)

I only swatched Sun Upon My Skin, but if it applies anything like Be More Pacific I will be very impressed. Too bad there weren't many exciting colours in this collection, I would have purchased more!

China Glaze Sets at Costco!

This is kind of late, but I thought it is still worth sharing since your Costco may not have received shipment yet. A few weeks ago I found half of China Glaze's latest spring offering, Peonies and Park Ave. You can see the set below. This six piece full size set includes:

Peonies and Park Ave
Petal To The Metal
Spring In My Step
In A Lilly Bit
Lotus Begin
At Vase Value.

The total cost was $19.99 for 6 polishes, that's works out to about $3.33 per polish, not bad! I wish they had both sets of collections available so you can pick and choose, but I'm glad I got my hads on this set while it was available :)

Godiva

I have been lacking in posts lately, mostly due to the fact that I have been super busy, that and leading to less polish changes and purchases. In a mad dash on the weekend I found just enough time for a polish change before a family event. So much was on my mind I didn't even know what shade I wanted to wear. Sometimes just choosing a shade takes up enough time on its own! I was hoping to wear something nude but knew it wouldn't dry in time for me to finish getting ready.

Lucky for me I had a few untried options on my desk, one of them being a pixie dust, Zoya to the rescue! Godiva was the perfect colour and easy to apply! Godiva is a nude glitter/shimmer textured polish. The formula was fantastic, not too thick or clumpy, very smooth and opaque. I only required two coats for full opacity, and although it took a tad longer to dry than the standard textured polish it hid any prefect ions perfectly!

The sparkle on this one is awesome and totally work appropriate. It remindes me of wet sand sparkling in the sunlight, I love this shade a lot more than I thought. The wear is also awesome, when I did get some chipping I easily filled them in and it blended in seemlessly.

Let's Go to the Park!

I picked up a set of seven Color Club polishes and am having a heard time finding the collection name! luckily the bottoms of the bottles were labeled so that helped out, looked to me a mix and match set. I located the collection for two of the shades, East Austin and Wicker PArk are apart of the Girl About a Town collection, which looks to be an interesting collection. One would think it would be a spring collection full of pastels but it is actually mostly darker, fall shades made up of many different finishes and textures.

I chose to wear Wicker Park, a lovely magenta leaning lavender pastel. It is bright and cheery and I LOVE it! It is a welcome change from the China Glaze pastel I wore last, Spring In My Step. The formula was fantastic, I only needed two coats for full opacity and it was easy to control. The finish also impressed me, it appears to have a slight neon pigmentation, similar to Spring In My Step, however it dried quickly to a shiny finish. It was even more glossy with the addition of Seche Vite on top.

I can't wait to wear the other neon/pastel shades I picked up in this set. The wear so far has been great, no chips 3 days in! In a day or two I will probably do a mani refresh, something I have not been able to do in a long time since polish has been chipping so quick on me.

All Lacquered Up

I haven't worn a Finger Paints polish in a while, so how about a bright glittery polish for spring? Enter Sarong So Right apart of Finger Paints collaboration with Michelle from All Lacquered Up.

Sarong so Right has a lot going on in that little bottle! It is a deep orange based coral with a jelly-like finish. I wouldn't say it is a pure jelly since it is slightly thicker and more opaque. There is also a super fine pink shimmer that runs throughout which aids in building up opacity overall. And last but not least, it is jam packed with reflective opalescent glitter.

Considering it is close to a jelly, I was surprised that I only required two coats for full opacity. the formula was a bit thick so I added some thinner before applying the second coat to the nails. The finish was interesting, usually jelly's dry to a high gloss shine, however, the final finish was slightly dull. I wouldn't say it was matte or satin, I think the glitter added a slight texture. One thin layer of top coat evened everything out and made it perfectly shiny!