China Glaze & Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away: Nail Lacquer in Water You Waiting For

Apparently, my love for sparkle triumphs over everything, because here I am once again, pushing cream polishes aside to make way for more glitter. In rare act of self-control, I ordered only three shades from the China Glaze Cirque du Soleil collection after filtering through the dozens of online reviews and swatches. I felt that the majority of the shades from this collection, while fun and colourful, were shades that we'd seen before, so I only picked up the ones that I felt were the most unique. After trying and loving It's A Trap-Eze!, I decided to try the other glitter I picked up. I swear, I'm going to go back to creams after this.


Water You Waiting For is a sheer medium blue jelly base with cerulean blue, indigo blue, purple, and emerald green glitter, shimmer, and micro-shimmer. It has a fluid consistency without being too thick or too runny. It goes on smoothly and evenly, without any pulling, bubbling, or streaking. Due to the intense amount of shimmer and glitter, it will reach opacity in two medium coats. It is similar to Nicole by OPI's Kendall on the Katwalk, with perhaps less purple shimmer. Often, nail polish companies will try to group colours together to try to create a more unique or unexpected shade, but it ends up looking odd (e.g. ugly). But this is a prime example of colours working well together to create an even more stunning, more dimensional shade. It represents Cirque du Soleil perfectly; you somehow get lost in its oceanic beauty, like it's underwater magic.

China Glaze & Cirque du Soleil Worlds Away: Nail Lacquer in It's A Trap-Eze!

Okay, so I was on a cream nail polish kick for a bit there, but once my China Glaze Cirque du Soleil order arrived, I was like, "Screw it, I'm going back to glitter!" In another rare act of self-control, I ordered only three shades from this collection after much debate (e.g. filtering through the dozens of online reviews and swatches). The one I was most excited about, and the one that is the most hyped from this collection, was It's A Trap-Eze!, which has quickly become the most unique shade I own.


It's A Trap-Eze! is a milky white base with multi-coloured and multi-sized glitter. It has a thicker consistency that is common with chunkier glitter polishes, but it doesn't hinder the application. It goes on smoothly and evenly, without any pulling, bubbling, or streaking. Because the glitter comes in both medium and large sizes and the base is semi-sheer, it goes opaque in three medium coats. I cannot think of any dupes for this. What I love the most about this is that the milkiness of the base colour makes the glitter appear pastel, reminiscent of confetti, balloons, and Cadbury Mini Eggs. It's only appropriate that this shade was created for their Cirque du Soleil collection; it's fun, carefree, happy, and colourful. It looks pretty tacky, like a clumsy kid accidentally spilled craft glitter over your clean white manicure, but that's probably the biggest appeal for me.

China Glaze & The Hunger Games: Capitol Colours Nail Lacquer in Agro

Even though the hype around The Hunger Games is slowly coming to an end, I finally got around to trying out the last of the five shades I bought from China Glaze's The Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection. As I mentionedbefore, I don't think these colours are really suited to this time of year, but if you're not one of those people who has to wear pastels in the spring and brights in the summer (or you don't care about trends in general), then these are definitely for you. I, for one, will rock this year round.

Agro is a dark rich olive green with olive-gold shimmer and metallic threading throughout. This shade is named for District 11 for agriculture. The consistency of this shade isn't too thick or thin, and it goes on smoothly and evenly without bubbling, streaking, or pulling. It almost goes opaque in one coat, but two will make it perfect. Surprisingly, I don't have a lot of shades that are similar to this. It has much more of a golden undertone than Julep's Stefani, and is like the direct mix of MAC's Fatigues and Immortal Gold.

This is by far my favourite stand-alone shade from the entire collection (though it also looks amazing with Luxe & Lush on top of it). It looks absolutely stunning on its own, and is especially gorgeous in daylight, where the golden shimmer and metallic threads really pop. If you're going to buy just one shade from the China Glaze Capitol Colours collection, this is the one you should get. The warmth of the gold and the coolness of the dark olive green will suit every skintone from fair to dark, and every undertone from cool to warm. It has a good consistency, easy application, and great pigmentation — the three things we've come to expect from China Glaze.

China Glaze & The Hunger Games: Capitol Colours Nail Lacquer in Riveting and Electrify

Since my last "Hunger Games manicure" using Smoke & Ashes and Luxe & Lush was such a hit (seriously, every other person asked me what I was wearing on my nails), I decided to try another combination — Riveting and Electrify — from the five I bought from China Glaze's The Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection. I mentioned before that I think the colours in general are more suited to autumn/winter, and I do think that these two worn together certainly reflect that, but I can definitely see Riveting being popular in the summer.

Riveting (two coats) and Electrify (two coats)

Riveting is a medium bright reddened tangerine orange with orange-gold micro-shimmer. This shade is named for District 3 for technology. It goes on smoothly and evenly without any pulling, streaking, or bubbling. It goes opaque in two medium coats. This shade is definitely in line with Pantone's 2012 Colour of the Year. This shade is brighter, more red, and has smaller shimmer than Zoya Tanzy; it's a shimmered and much less red (or way more orange) version of MAC Kid Orange and Essie Braziliant.

Electrify is red and gold glitter suspended in a clear base. This shade is named for District 5 for power and electricity. It goes on smoothly and evenly for the most part. I did two coats for this look and it's not quite opaque because you can still see Riveting peeking through, but I reckon it would go opaque in three coats. I couldn't think of a dupe for this.

I'm not usually a fan of orange shades on my nails, so I wasn't really sure how I felt about this look. But over the course of today (I did my nails last night), I've had a lot of people complimenting me on my nails and asking what I was wearing and where they could get the colours. While I feel that this look doesn't really suit my preferences, it is a pretty and unique combination. I do think Riveting is an excellent colour on its own, especially as we're approaching warmer months, but I think the combination of the two is actually quite autumnal, like something I would wear around Halloween. That might just be me, though. On that note, Electrify is really aptly named, 'cause my nails look like they're lit up!

China Glaze & The Hunger Games: Capitol Colours Nail Lacquer in Smoke & Ashes and Luxe & Lush

I ordered five of the shades from China Glaze's The Hunger Games Capitol Colours collection, which arrived just yesterday. When I first saw the colours of this collection, I was kind of disappointed because I knew I wouldn't wear half of the shades. Not that they weren't pretty; they just weren't very unique (like, another taupe? Really?). But I understand that they created a shade for each of the 12 districts in The Hunger Games, and I do feel like the shades represent the districts fairly well, for the most part. The five I chose are what I think are the prettiest and most interesting of the collection. In general, the colours are definitely more suited to autumn/winter, but if you're like me and you just don't care about trends, you'll rock these year-round. I decided to test out two of the shades together as one nail look:

Smoke & Ashes (one coat) with Luxe & Lush (two coats)

Smoke & Ashes is a dark blue-based black with fine blue and green holographic shimmer. This shade is named for District 12 for mining. It is on the thicker side, but it goes on smoothly and evenly without pulling, streaking, or bubbling. It goes opaque in one medium-thick coat. I found that the gorgeous shimmer that you see in the bottle doesn't translate very well on the nails; to me, it just looked like black nail polish with barely susceptible shimmer. You can really only see the blue-green holographic aspect of the shimmer in natural lighting and, even then, it's really subtle. I couldn't think of a dupe for this, though.

Luxe & Lush is a clear top coat with duochrome flakes. This shade is named for District 1 for luxury. This is a really, really pretty top coat, 'cause the flakes will reflect different colours depending on the lighting; it will reflect orange, gold, green, teal, and pink, to a lesser extent. If you decide to wear it on top of another colour, it will also help determine what colours the flakes will reflect. I also find that the flakes look more stunning and defined on top of a darker nail colour (as opposed to a lighter one). One coat of this will give a decent amount of flakes on the nail, but two coats will make it more even across the nail bed. I couldn't think of a dupe for this, but Zoya's Fleck Effects top coats are similar in concept.

I'm actually really loving the look of Luxe & Lush on top of Smoke & Ashes, which look so stunning together but not nearly as exciting when worn separately. I was kind of disappointed that the shimmer didn't show up very well in Smoke & Ashes, 'cause it looks so damn pretty in the bottle. I'm really glad I got Luxe & Lush, though, 'cause I totally refrained from buying Zoya's Fleck Effects, even though I really liked the look of them. What are your thoughts on this look? Are you going to pick up any shades from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection?

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Ring In The Red

I went to the doctor's yesterday, and it's official: I have bronchitis and asthma. Joyful, no? I have been rather miserable, so in an effort to get into the holiday spirit, I decided to start with... my nails. Obviously. I'm not usually a fan of Christmas-themed anything, but I decided that China Glaze's Ring In The Red was just Christmas-y enough without going overboard. It's a cherry red base with cherry red glitter and shimmer. I'm not usually a fan of red nail polishes on myself, either, but this one is actually really, really pretty. It looks infinitely better in real life than in pictures — I had about eight people ask me what polish this was the first day I wore it. The formula isn't China Glaze's best; I needed three coats, which is on par with many glitter polishes, but China Glaze is usually good with the opacity in their formula. That aside, it's definitely worth checking out if you're looking for a fun holiday colour.

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in It's Alive

So I've been sick and stuck at home for the last three days, and as a result, am going a little crazy. I've already finished all of my Grey's Anatomy: Season 7 DVDs (that's nearly 22 hours of television in the span of two days!), and watched half of 90210: Season 3 (another 11 hours!). I've had so much soup and tea that I'm seriously feeling sloshy (not to mention I have to pee every fifteen minutes). So what's left to do? Obviously, paint my nails. I decided to get a little head start with Halloween and chose China Glaze's It's Alive, which is from their Halloween collection this year. It's an awesome blackened olive green with lighter olive green shimmer and glitter. And it is gorgeous. I can see how it's Halloween-themed, but it's definitely wearable right into the holidays (it's kind of evergreen-y, no?). And I actually haven't seen other glitter polishes in this colour. Bright green? Yes. But for some reason, these darker greens (and not forest green, either, this is definitely an olive, army green) never make the glitter ranks. And this particular shade goes on opaque in two coats; a lot of glitter shades usually need at least three! Thusly, as I am a fiend for all things glittery, this is a definite must-have.

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in Four Leaf Clover

I wanted to go back to crazy brights for my nails this week, but didn't want something that was too predictably "summer-y." So in came China Glaze's Four Leaf Clover, which was launched with their Up & Away collection for Spring 2010. This colour is spectacular. It's a bright mid-tone emerald green with a subtle teal edge in a cream finish. It's richly pigmented, super-smooth, and thick without being goopy. This formula is probably my ideal; it's similar to Butter London's bettershades. It's not streaky at all, it went opaque in one coat, and it's definitely one of the more unique colours I've come across. It's like a brighter, more teal version of Essie's Pretty Edgy. If you like green nail polishes (or brights in general), this one is a must-have.

China Glaze Nail Lacquer in C-C-Courage

I finally found some time this evening to paint my nails after a ridiculously busy week of work. I usually never go more than four days without changing my nail colour, so I was really itching for a change. I decided on China Glaze's C-C-Courage, which was released with their Wizard of Ooh Aahz Returns collection in 2009. (I recently made a huge nail polish order from Spa Boutique, and grabbed a ton of shades I wanted from older collections that aren't in stores anymore.) It's a deep, rich purple with lighter purple and silver glitter. The picture really doesn't do this shade justice, because it's actually so much prettier in person. This will probably be my last dark nail colour choice for a while, though, given that it's already April and all the Spring colours are rolling out. We've been in a dark period for way too long.