Pearl Jammin'

Happy Friday!
This polish, apart of China Glaze's Grunge collection for fall, is such a throwback! There is something unique about Pearl Jammin' that takes me back to those old school Revlon Street Wear polishes. I feel like I had one back in the 90's that was a similar shade of blue. What makes Pearl Jammin' relevant now is the contrasting copper microshimmer.

Pearl Jammin' has a soft, baby blue base with a bright copper/pink, pearlized shimmer running throughout. I have found that similar polishes China Glaze has put out like this are too subtle on the shimmer, where as this one is right-in-your-face! That being said the overall look is very subtle and chic for fall. I found it to be the perfect transition shade to the cooler months ahead. I love fall and the gorgeous polishes associated with it, but I am just not ready to give up my brights just yet! Especially since the weather around here still feel like summer.

The formula was great. I could have built up this shade to full opacity in two thick coats, but I opted for three thinner ones to avoid any strong brushstrokes from the pearl shimmer finish. The pearl finish may not be for everyone, but it really makes this polish. I find it alters the shade depending on your light source.

I am usually not a fan of frost or pearl finishes but I am really digging this one.

Fall Haulin' - China Glaze Edition

Happy Friday! There was and awesome BOGO free sale for a week last month at CosmoProf for China Glaze polishes and I had to take advantage of the awesome prices! I picked up mostly fall shades, which was my intention. Rumours have been flying over the interweb about China Glazes fall collection, apparently, the coolest shades are not being sold at the most easily accessible vendors such as Sally's and Ulta. Upon hearing this I had a look online at Cosmoprof and was able to confirm they indeed have the full collection for sale. The BOGO promo sweetened the deal further!

Enough of my ramblings, on to the polishes. Due to the BOGO deal I picked up some shades I missed out on before, this includes:

Moonlight The Night - apart of China Glaze's spring collection, House of Color, is a great transitional glitter topper. With transparent and iridescent glitter it makes this polish super unique in my collection. 2 coats shown in the swatch below.

Glitter Me This - another glitter topper apart of the House of Color collection. This shade is a bit more spring, but also neutral. Made up of white, gold and pink hex glitter, I can't wait to try this over a nude shade. 1 coat shown in the swatch below.

The next four are my top picks for the Rebel collection.

Heroine Chic - this is an interesting shade. A grey-brown base with tonnes of orange shimmering flecks. Super cool for fall. 2 coats shows in the swatch below.

Holo At Ya Girl! - not holo, bad name choice! I typically would not have picked this up, but my husband was into it so I figured I should at least give it a try. In the bottle, it appears as though it has a strong duochrome shift, however, on the nail due to low density of glitter you can't really tell. The main colours I see are green and gold. I will have to see if it appears better over a darker base.

 

Blue-ya! - this is my second favorite from the collection. A deep inky blue base with a teal-green glass flecked shimmer. Flawless! Two thin coats are shown in the swatch below.

Pearl Jammin' - top fave and must-have of the collection, I also think it's safe to say that this is one of those all year round shades. The base is a soft powder blue with a strong amber shifting shimmer. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

I Got A Blue Attitude - this is your basic blurple creme... Or so I thought until I left the store! In direct sunlight, you can see a sprinkling of blue shimmer/flecks. Unfortunately, this is the only in direct sunlight and if you look very, very closely. That being said 99% of the time it will look like a creme. Two coats are shown in the swatch below.

We Got the Beet!

September may be here, but that doesn't mean summer is over just yet. Today I have a polish for China Glaze's summer Lite Brite collection that is the perfect transition shade from summer to fall.

We Got The Beet is a medium plum jelly saturated with gold flakie flecks. Being one of the darker shades in the collection, it didn't really fit in with the other pastel/neon brights at first glance. When I purchased it I didn't know how much I would actually like it until I swatched it. I was wowed!

Two easy coats were needed for full opacity. Although the first coat was a bit sheer, the second coat built up the polish I what you see in the bottle.

Ready to Rave?

This is probably one if the last bright shades I will be wearing this summer. Red-y to Rave, apart of China Glazes Electric Nights collection from last summer. I have been hearing rave (no pun intended) reviews about this shade since it's release in 2015, things like how it is a true neon red. Reds are not my go to polish if choice, I typically avoid them. I'm pretty sure this one ended up with me due to a sale of some sort!

In the bottle, this does look like a unique shade. It is a medium red that does look bright. When I applied to my nails I swear it looked orange! I have no idea why. The formula was good and only required two coats for full opacity. It's not a top coat hog, so it shines beautifully with a layer of topcoat. On its own it dries to a matte/satin finish.

 

The shade was pretty difficult to photograph correctly. Although I edited each photo for colour, I would have to say the photo that shows the shade as true as I could get on screen is the first photo in this post.

I find the shade of this colour is really dependant on the lighting you are in. It definitely is bright, and I found it to be a red-based coral shade. Not a true neon, but super duper bright!

Line After Lime

Happy Friday! Yet another shade from the China Glaze Lite Brite summer collection. Today a pastel boarder ing on being a neon, Lime After Lime.

Lime After Lime is a yellow based green creme polish. It is bright like a neon, yet soft like a pastel. Although the brightness factor just missed the mark for giving that neon glow, in lower light setting ing it does have that glow-in-the-dark look to it.

 

I used two coats for full opacity and found the formula good to work with, not too thick or thin. I got a few comments on this shade from strangers, that's how you know it's good! However, I purchased this with the anticipation of it being a bright neon. That being said, although there was slight dissapoint when I applied this shade to my nails, having worn it for a week, it has grown on me!

It wore well with slight tip wear towards the end of the week, and little cracks here and there, although, from a distance they cannot be seen.

Papa Don't Peach

I am living China Glaze's Lite Brite collection this summer. I have already worn two shades, Bite Me and What I Like About Blue, and today I have number three out of the five I picked up, Papa Don't Peach.

 

Papa Don't Peach is a bright neon coral jelly with golden flecks and shimmer. In the bottle it looks bright and summery and in the nail it doesn't disappoint. (The most colour accurate photo is directly below, however, in reality it actually pulls more coral)

I required two coats to build up to full opacity, which I didn't expect. I figured it would take at least three since it was a jelly. It dries to a semi-matte finish with slight texture, due to the flecks and shimmer, however, I layer of Seche Vite was enough to make the final finish glossy. For extra gloss, I'd add a second layer of too coat after 24 hours of the original application.

What I Like About Blue

Today I have another shade from Light Brites, China Glaze's 2016 Summer collection. This beautiful blue is called What I Like About Blue.

What is there not to love about this shade? The creme base is a beautiful sky blue and has a fine, slight duochromatic shimmer running throughout which shifts from gold to pink depending on your light source. To be clear, by duochrome I don't mean that the colour shifts in front of your eyes, its more of a subtle change from various light sources. This is, however,  a very unique shade in my collection.

Application was good, the first coat covered well, but you will definitely need two coats for full coverage. The polish dries fairly quickly to a matte finish, typical of neons, however, I would not classify this polish as a neon in terms of brightness or colour.

Overall I love the shade and the combo of bright blue creme and golden shimmer together. It wore very well with minor tip wear.

Bitten

Today I have a shade from the Lite Brite collection, China Glazes 2016 offering for spring. This bright shade of magenta is called Bite Me.

Bite Me is a neon creme with golden shimmer running throughout. It appears a lot more red toned in my photos, which is not true to the actual colour. Application was good and only two coats were needed for full opacity.

In the bottle I feel this shade of bright magenta had a little more pop to it, however on the nail it didn't wow me. In the photos I found the colour to be WAY off. A lot more red than it appears in reality. The last photo appears to be the closest to the actual shade.

I may have to try this one out again to see how I truly feel about it. I do, however, love the colour combo of the other two I purchased with this shade, What I Like About Blue and Lime After Lime. I just may have to figure out some nail art to do that combines all three shades.

Sun Worshiper

I picked up China Glaze, Sun Worshiper on clearance a little while back, however, it has always been a shade I wanted to pick up. That bright orange leaning yellow, and not to mention the name, totally me in the summertime! But hey, with this polish I may not need to spend as much time in the sun, it's so bright it makes my tanned no matter how long I have spent in the sun!

Sun Worshiper is definitely a neon and apart of the 2010 Poolside collection. It is an interesting shade, radioactive cheese comes to mind as a description. I layered this shade over a white base to get the maximum brightness on my nails. I applied three coats of Sun Worshiper total.

The formula was good for a neon, a tad on the sheer side but it is a yellow shade and that is what the white base was for. It dried pretty quickly to a matte finish, however, the many layers, likely combined  with the white base, did take some time to fully set and dry. Mind you, I was in a hurry when applying. I think it may have been more of the white bases fault than Sun Worshiper re. dry time.

Overall this is an awesome shade for summer and I actually wore it on my birthday!

xxx

Snapshots from Jamaica - My Honeymoon Manis

Yes, multiple manis... on my honeymoon. I honestly could have dealt with just one shade for an extended time but brought some fun neon shades with me in case I decided to change things up a bit.

Glad I did because my manis were kind of chipping all over the place! Next time I will definitely be doing a gel mani before I leave! I had a gel base of my wedding mani, no in-between chipping I'd have that for a few days at a time as well. Let start it off with what I wore on my tips...

China Glaze, Celtic Sun - bright neon yellow, 2-3 coats over a white base

China Glaze, Pool Party, new version - Bright neon, orange based coral, three coats over my gel French tip base.

China Glaze, Flip Flip Fantasy, original version - Bright neon coral, 2-3 coats over my French tip base. Yup, I brought this discontinued baby with me because I have another full bottle at home!

Bio Seaweed Gel, French Mani - more on that here.

Next up, toes

Are You Jelly, new version - The most perfect shade of purple leaning magenta, 2 coats

Flip Flop Fantasy, original verison - 2 coats, no base (forgot to pack it! Opps!)

I would have preferred to keep Are You Jelly on my toes the whole trip, but I didn't bring a bottle of the stuff with me.

A few snippets from my vacation through my manis. Do you bring nail polish on vacation with you?

Living in the Limelight

Another new to me purchase... From a not so new collection. China Glaze In The Lime Light, apart of the Wow Factor collection from 2006. This polish changes it's tone due to the fine shimmer that runs through, but I would describe it as a bright green with a fine blue/green duochromatic shimmer.

The formula applied well, thin and sheer, needing three coats for full opacity. On it's own this dried to a matte finish, however, adding a topcoat adds a high gloss shine without the base sucking it up

I am normally not a fan of shades like this but I really enjoyed wearing it. I like show the shimmer makes the polish appear new in different light sources.

Daisy Know My Name?

Summer... Feels so close I can taste it! I have been in a summery mood lately and pulling out my fun brights and neons. Today I have a brand new polish, China Glaze, Daisy Know My Name. This was apart if China Glazes Electric Nights collection from last summer.

Daisy Know My Name is a bright yellow that is not quite neon on it's own. It's not quite a creme either, it has this translucence to it that is closer to a jelly. 

The formula was excellent, it have a very workable thin consistency. I attempted to get this fully opaque at 3 coats, but it's not quite there. It applied like butter, so smooth and evenly and dries to a high gloss shine. 

I can imagine layering this over a white base would really make it pop and eliminate the visible nail line. Although this polish is not a neon, I can see the white base also making it way brighter that it is on it's own.

Summer Time Haul, Y'all!

I am in full summer mode and atiently awaiting a bunch of fun things in July; my birthday, my wedding and a honeymoon trip! So many exciting things to come in my favorite month and season of the year!

Summer screams brights and neons to me, today I have some of my latest purchases (first and largest in quite a while now). It's so surprise that they are all China Glazes, they manage to put out fun and exciting polishes summer after summer that I actually want!

I'll start off with my picks from the Lite Brights, summer 2016 collection first.

Papa Don't Peach and We got the Beet

Papa Don't Peach is a jelly-like coral shade with gold shimmer and iridescent glitter running throughout. Bright and flashy, I love it!

We Got the Beet is a deep plum jelly with golden shimmer throughout. I honestly like this one more than I thought I would! so pretty!

Two coats of each are shown on the nail wheel below.

Bite Me, What I Like About Blue and Lime after Lime.

Bite Me is a bright pink neon with a golden microshimmer running throughout. Excellent formula on this one! The golden shimmer makes the pink warmer toned.

What I Like About Blue was the must have polish for me! A gorgeous bright blue with a golden and slightly iridescent shimmer running throughout. The shimmer is way more visible in this one compared to Bite Me.

Lime After Lime. I love this name, it makes me think of the choreographed dance sequence from Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion! Light, bright and right on the verge of being a neon green. It has that bleached bright thing going on. Another one with great formula.

One to two coats of each are shown in the nail wheel below.

Next up I have some randoms I picked up for a beauty supply clearance section:

In the Limelight, Daisy Know My Name? and Sun Worshiper.

In the Limelight, an oldie but a goodie! From my research, I have found that this was originally from the Wow Factor collection back in the summer of 2006. This shade a bright green neon with a lightly duochome shimmer, flashing green or blue depending on the light source.

Daisy Know My Name? is from last summers Electric Night Collection. I am actually wearing it right now! Its a bright yellow, but not highlighter yellow. Outside in the sunlight it is close to neon teritory on it's own, but I feel it would really pop with a base of white.

Sun Worshiper is a polish I have admired from afar for way too long. A part of the 2010 Poolside collection, this is a bright, in your face nacho cheese neon! I can't wait to wear this with a tan!

Two to three coats of each are shown in the nail wheel below.

So many exciting new polishes to wear making it hard to decide what to wear next! What is your favorite shade for summer?