So last week I was meeting up with my coworkers for dinner after work and by some coincidence, we ended up going to a restaurant that is near some of my favorite nail supply places. Yes, it was a coincidence if a coincidence is that I recommended the restaurant and made everyone go there so I could shop before we ate. Yeah, my coworkers think I’m lovely. Anyway, I was planning to pick up a few shades from the China Glaze Chic Physique collection and when I was searching for them, I noticed a bunch of new polishes that I hadn’t seen before. Luckily, I had semi-charged my phone earlier in the day so I did a quick google search (what did we ever do without google and smartphones??), and it came back that they were from an upcoming collection. That’s all I needed to read and a grabby hands episode ensued. My good friend Lesley, who is also a polish collector, has witnessed this in person and I bet she’d be impressed because it happened in a flash. Let me show you some swatches of the China Glaze Shades Of Paradise Collection for Summer 2018. Are you ready?
China Glaze Cabana Fever
China Glaze Can’t Sandal This
China Glaze Kiki In Our Tiki
China Glaze I’ll Sand By You
China Glaze Don’t Be Sea Salty
China Glaze Tropic of Conversation
China Glaze All Sun & Games
China Glaze Water-falling In Love
China Glaze Stop Beachfrontin’
China Glaze Boujee Board
China Glaze Mer-made For Bluer Waters
China Glaze Ma-holo At Me (Indoor Light)
China Glaze Ma-holo At Me (Direct Sunlight)
Welp, that was a lot of work! I had a deskfull of polishes to swatch and ended up doing about 30some polishes on Saturday. My fingers are still feeling a bit raw so I am going to let the nail stuff calm down until next weekend. Now, let me tell you what I think about this collection: it’s weird. I mean, it’s not bad, but the finishes make it seem disjointed. Let’s take the white polish, Cabana Fever, as an example. While a white polish would not feel that out of place in this collection, a chalky, white and matte polish seems like a strange choice. I am not really a fan of matte polishes because they can have a tricky formula which is why I prefer a regular polish and then I use a matte top coat. Cabana Fever suffered from a crappy formula and it took me about 3 coats to make it look semi-decent. There are a lot of different finishes represented in this collection ranging from matte, cream, shimmer, satin, metallic and holo….it seems a little all over the place. I do like a large majority of this collection so don’t think that I’m saying that variety is a bad thing. There are three glass flecky shimmers in this collection that I did not like as much because the formula was kind of weird: it felt too thick and grainy if that makes any sense. It was especially bad with All Sun & Games but since I don’t really like that kind of radioactive Cheetos color on my nails, it’s no biggie. Don’t Be Sea Salty had this same kind of formula but it was much easier to work with while All Sun & Games and Tropic Of Conversation needed 3 coats just to look somewhat smoother and opaque. The cremes where a dream to worth with and were opaque at 2 thin coats which is what I usually expect from China Glaze cremes. In terms of finish, Boujee Board is also on its own as the only satin finish polish. The formula was thin, but it was easy to control and self-leveled easily. I did not top coat it for my pictures but I think it would look great shiny! I think that a lot of people will be excited by the lone holo in this collection. I’ll admit that the formula is very nice, but it’s not a blingy in your face holo so you will be disappointed if that is what you’re looking for. I hope that this NOT an example of what we will get with the re-release of the OMG Anniversary Collection. Overall, I am very pleased with this collection. While there were a few duds, that’s just what happens when you have a large 12 piece collection. I agree they should all be great, but what can I say? I’m used to this with most brands and don’t hold it against them. If anything, I’m glad to take one for the team and let you know what I think so you don’t have to go through the same grabby hands episode and end up regretting some of your purchases. Before I forget, I did want to mention that I had some issues with my camera and lighting. Certain polish colors wash me out or make my skin look darker than it is–it happens! Usually it’s not this obvious, but I did notice that my skin tone looks very different with certain polishes. Since I am not one of those fancy bloggers that knows how to correct any of that, I wanted to mention it. The most I do to my pictures is crop and rotate…and if I’m feeling especially talented that day, I might edit out a fuzzy or hangnail.
So what do you think of the China Glaze Shades Of Paradise Collection? Will you be picking up any of these polishes? I’m curious to hear from you! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.
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China Glaze Shades Of Paradise China Glaze Shades Of Paradise China Glaze Shades Of Paradise
China Glaze OMG anniversary collection?! Seriously? When??
Oh, yeah, I have both witnessed and participated in a China Glaze grabby hands episode. ?
That white is confusing/weird. I was wondering if the finish is intentional and figured it was, but…why? lol
I also hate Cheeto orange on my nails…it just does not work for me.
Oh yay, the first swatches I’ve seen of the collection. I’ve stalked my favorite online stores for months waiting for these to come out. So, I myself bought all that looked to have shimmer in them, swatches unseen. I usually do that when it’s China Glaze because they are one of my favorites.
I’m a little bummed the white is the matte one. In addition to that I also grabbed I’ll Sand By You, Don’t Be Sea Salty, Tropic of Conversation, All Sun & Games, Stop Beachfrontin’, Mer-made For Bluer Waters, and Ma-Holo At Me. After seeing your swatches I’m pretty happy with the ones I grabbed and didn’t. lol I’ve been debating if I should have gotten Boujee Board, and with the finish it has I’m glad I didn’t…so, thank you!
Beautiful swatches even if a few did give you a difficult time! <3
Eclectic is a nice word for this collection ? I’m not sure I really like any of these, to be honest. I mean the holo is nice but I dunno….
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I’m really drawn to Tropic of Conversation. I tend to stay away from China Glaze unless they have something I absolutely must have. They’ve let me down too much formula-wise.
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Im a huge CG fan so naturally I love all the cremes, but there isn’t anything new here (except the holo of course.) Its hard to justify the purchase of collections when its the same colors done again and again.
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Oh how I wish there were more shops like this in the U.K. my budget wouldn’t like it, but I would lol. Love all of these ?
You got the hook up on all the new stuff! I love tropic of conversation.
After looking at your beautiful swatches I was sort of bored. Some reminded me of their neons, and the holo looks exactly like the one from the MLP collection.
What did excite me was your mention of the OMG re-promote. I saw someone else talk about it a little. And after much googleing and searching I found nothing!
I’m hoping it’s awesome and not the watered-down holo versions they’ve been putting out.
Do you have any idea of a date?
Well, I’m a fan of China Glaze but some colors of this collection are too ordinary for my taste (or is it because I tend to prefer fall and winter collections ? I don’t know…)
Anyway, I might grab the light blue creme. I’m still on the fence about the holo. I love holos, but this color seems a little dull…
I have high expectations about the upcoming new OMG collection, since I missed it the first time.
Anyway, great post!