China Glaze Archives - Page 8 of 13

Tag: China Glaze

Of Life and Lacquer > China Glaze

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 19: Floral Print Nails

Posted on 12 November, 201212 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I was at a loss today. I didn’t want to do any dotting tool flowers but knew I couldn’t really freehand any flowers unless I wanted my nails to look messy and silly. Stamping to the rescue! As much as I try to stay away from stamping during these challenges, I know that I am just NOT good enough to whip out my nail art brushes and come up with something amazing. Well, let me tell you that stamping didn’t help me much today anyway. I actually did two looks today and I am not really happy with either. I’ll show you the one I settled on first and then I will show you the one that made me try again.

First, I started with OPI We’ll Always Have Paris.

We’ll Always Have Paris is one of my favorite dark polishes from one of my favorite collections: La Collection De France. This polish is just so pretty, super pigmented and shiny.

I used Bundle Monster stamp BM 323 for this rose design and alternated white roses and metallic roses (using Essie Nothing Else Metals.) Why did I do that? I have no idea. I was just kind of irritated and frustrated with my first design. Are you ready to see it?

Ehhhh….I don’t know what to say about these either. I wish I had just stuck with my simple mani of We’ll Always Have Paris and stopped there. As I’ve said before…not every mani is going to be a winner and clearly these are way at the bottom of the totem pole. The next challenge calls for delicate print…what the heck am I gonna do then?? At least I have a few days to think about it.

China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection – My 3 Picks

Posted on 10 November, 201210 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As a reformed polish hoarder, I no longer rush out to get whole collections just for the thrill of getting a whole collection. I have become a little more discriminating when it comes to my polish purchases so when my local beauty supply got the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection, I rushed over to see what it looked like in person. I’m not going to lie: the colors are pretty but most of them are not unique or must-haves for me. After my initial impressions, I decided to get three polishes from this collection: Water You Waiting For, It’s A Trap-eze! and Whirled Away.

Water You Waiting For was the first polish that caught my attention. I can never resist a good blue–especially a blue glitter. I know some of you are probably snickering since only a few months ago, I was a sworn glitter hater. Don’t fret–I’ve seen the error of my ways. I was hoping that this glitter would be a little more opaque (like the fine glitters from the On Safari Collection) but the glitter is not as fine and the formula is a little thin. I applied three coats here, and I felt like it definitely needed all three.

It’s A Trap-eze! is one of those milky glitters that have been popping up so much lately and that I always fall for. This reminds me of the Nails Inc. Sprinkles polishes without having the awesome one coat formula. I applied two coats here and as you can see, I have quite a few bald spots. Despite the mediocre formula, I still really like this polish because it’s like a birthday party explosion on my nails.

Whirled Away was the glitter I zeroed in on when I first saw promo pictures because I was so excited to see a mainstream brand take some direction from the indie community. This is not a dupe of Sticks ‘n Stones, Putting On The Ritzzz or Connect The Dots but it is obviously similar. I layered this over China Glaze Aquadelic, and I quite like this combination. You will have to do some dabbing to get the large glitter to go where you want it to, but I think it’s worth the effort.

Overall I am pleased with these three polishes, but I feel slightly underwhelmed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m glad I only picked up these three. I’m not saying that I won’t perhaps get a couple of other colors once I see swatches and convince myself that I MUST have them. That’s just something every polish lover has to contend with.

So, let me know what you think. Have you spotted these polishes yet? Are there any colors that you can’t wait to get your hands on from this collection?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 17: Animal Print Nails

Posted on 9 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As usual, here I am posting super late. I am such a spaz. I was pretty busy today so at least I have an excuse. Since I was short on time and lacking any really creative ideas, I decided to resort to stamping. I know, I know…I kind of cheated. But hey, at least I got the right challange design unlike other people. *cough* Nicole *cough* hehe.

I decided to finally use one of the glitters that so many people raved about when the China Glaze On Safari Collection came out. Now, which one to use? I Herd That or I’m Not Lion? I decided to give I Herd That a Whirl…

This glitter is absolute perfection. I am not kidding. It’s easy to apply, it covers nicely with only 2 coats and it just SPARKLES like a mofo. I love it and can’t believe that I have waited so long to use it.

I used Konad plate M57 for this design along with Konad’s Black special polish. I think it came out pretty well. I am definitely happy with the simplicity of this mani. I Herd that is definitely the star here, and I can’t wait to use I’m Not Lion!!!

Since I have you here, don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am doing a huge purge of polish. Most of my polishes have only been swatched once, and I really want to find a new home for them since I know I won’t use them much. You can see all the polishes I have for sale here.

Don’t forget to check out the other animal print manis for today’s challenge…or a floral mani if you’re Nicole. Let me know what you think and talk to you later!

China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

Posted on 1 November, 20121 November, 2012 by Cynthia

November is here which means that the only holiday I like is around the corner: Christmas! I am not a person who usually enjoys holidays, but I love decorating a Christmas tree. There is something so lovely about the process of unwrapping and unpacking Christmas ornaments that just makes me happy. I was looking through my polishes today since I had a bunch of them out after my blog sale post, and I reached for China Glaze Little Drummer Boy. This polish comes from the 2010 Holiday collection which predates my nail polish obsession. The reason why I even got this polish is because I can never think of the song The Little Drummer Boy without thinking of Angela on the office singing this song during office karaoke or when she asked Andy if she could walk down the aisle to this song when they were planning their wedding. hahaha…I am cracking myself up over here. I tried to find a clip of these exchanges on youtube but could not come up with anything. 🙁 However, I did find one clip that I had forgotten about:

That’s classic Dwight right there.

Back to the polish: Little drummer boy is a darkened blue with some gorgeous shimmer. This polish is super opaque so I could have gotten away with one coat but I used two.

Since I haven’t been doing much stamping lately, I decided to stamp an argyle design from Konad plate M60.

I am not that happy with this stamping job. I have noticed that all of the white konad polish that I have purchased the last year or so have been really watery. The first couple of white konad polishes I bought where so thick and opaque and always stamped perfectly. These new ones, not so much.

And just as a treat (I’m looking at you, Lesley!), here is a compilation video of awesome Dwight moments:

I think that I have just found the perfect opening sentence for my next job interview: “How would I describe myself? Three words: hard-working, alpha-male, jackhammer, merciless, insatiable.” How could they NOT hire me, right?

China Glaze Holiday Joy 2012

Posted on 30 October, 20121 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ok, so I just shared the PR info for the China Glaze Holiday Joy Collection and I suddenly realized that I already had 3 of the polishes. Ehhh???? Well, a few weeks ago I went to one of my nail places and I was in a buying trance and was just grabbing random polishes. If this has never happened to you, then you’re probably not really a nail polish addict. Anywho, when it came to add the polishes to my spreadsheet, I realized that they were from the new collection. I am not sure if my nail place put them out by accident or what because they were mixed in with all the other older regular colors. Anywho, I decided to swatch them for you even though they are not even close to the colors that I want from this collection. I am actually really looking forward to Blue Bells (BALLS! hee!) Ring and Winter Holly. My cuticles haven’t quite recovered and my nails are still short so bear with me!

Cranberry Splash

Glitter All The Way

Pure Joy

Aren’t these three the most yawn-worthy colors? I mean, they are so been there done that. There is nothing unique or exciting about these colors because it’s like they are holiday collection staples. Ugh…why did I get them? WHYYYYYYY? (Press the button!) I didn’t want to make fun of Nancy Kerrigan cause I totally loved her, but I couldn’t help it.

So what other holiday collections are you excited about? Do share!

China Glaze On Your Knees!

Posted on 12 October, 201211 October, 2012 by Cynthia

Is it just me, or were polish names a little more risqué in the past? I seem to keep running across a lot of older polishes with very interesting names, and today I have another oldie but goodie. China Glaze On Your Knees! was part of the 2002 Winter collection called Crown Jewels. Lately I have been on a total old polish buying binge–the older they are, the more excited I get. You can blame all the dusties in my area for my recent obsession with older polishes.

Behold the Fall beauty of China Glaze On Your Knees!

This polish has a glowing cinnamon aspect to it so it reminds me a little bit of Jessica’s Cinnamon Kiss. This polish is definitely not 3-free and I found the formula dreamy: it is a little sheer but it’s super easy to control and apply. These are the type of colors that I look forward to wearing every fall and winter.

And because I’ve missed my stamping…

I really don’t like the Essie Mirror Metallics as regular polish, but I love them for stamping. Look how gorgeously crisp the stamping is with As Good As Gold! I used a design from Mash plate 41 for this design in case you were wondering. Doesn’t it remind you of a chain link fence?

I might have asked this before, but does it annoy you when I feature polishes that are discontinued and are probably hard to find? I have found so many amazing polishes (some even pre-2000) lately so I’m super excited to share them on here. Let me know what you think about this and about my latest mani. I love hearing all your opinions. Thanks again for stopping by–your feedback keeps this blog fun for me. 🙂

China Glaze Wicked Collection Halloween 2012

Posted on 18 September, 201218 September, 2012 by Cynthia

Today I decided to beat the heat and head over to Little Saigon before the heat really started. My dusties are really…dusty. No, you don’t understand: you actually walk out of some of those places covered in dust and soot. My allergies actually get out of control when I go there, but it’s worth it. It’s sooooooo worth it. Jessica from Once Upon A Polish had mentioned that her Sally’s already had the China Glaze Wicked Collection out so I figured I might as well check my usual places since it’s the only place I can get my polishes for cheap. See, when you buy as much polish as I do, you have to become a polish sleuth and find the best (read cheapest) places so you can really go nuts on the quantity.

The China Glaze Wicked Collection is a 6 piece collection and I decided to get 4 of the polishes. I passed on the two glitters just because I didn’t think they were that interesting. Let me show you some swatches of the 4 polishes I picked up.

Roguish Red is kind of radioactive when my camera is involved. It is a very bright tomato orange color but it looked way brighter in the sun so I had a hard time taking an accurate picture. In the bottle, this looks exactly like China Glaze Pure Torture that was released in 2005 as part of the Voodoo, That U Do collection. It’s probably the same color! Poo! The application on this was perfect and only needed two coats. My only complaint is that the brush is junk on my bottle. I rarely have brush issues with China Glaze but this brush was frayed and wonky. 🙁

Immortal is really my favorite polish from this collection. I am always on the lookout for a good grey, and this one definitely fits the bill. The shimmer in it is just so pretty!! This polish was a little thin so I had to use three thin coats. Although I don’t think this is the most exciting polish of the bunch, it is probably the polish I would get the most use out of on a regular basis.

Bizarre Blurple is really throwing me for a loop. Normally I would say that it’s my favorite (purple and blue–hello!) but it’s very “been there, done that” on the heels of Orly Mysterious Curse (aka Orly Royal Velvet) and Deborah Lippmann Dancing In The Sheets. There might be slight differences, but not enough for me to tell you it’s worth getting if you have the others already. I know that won’t stop serious polish hoarders…like yours truly. Don’t say I didn’t warn you!

Cast A Spell is the only polish in this collection that actually seems Halloween inspired! Wow! One out of six. I don’t think I have anything similar to this in my collection so I’m definitely glad I picked it up. It’s such a gorgeous blackened olive with goldish/green flecks. Did I mention it’s amazing? This could be a one-coater if you use enough polish, but I ended up applying two thin coats.

What are your impressions of this collection? Are you planning on getting some of these polishes or will you be passing? Personally, I think that the Wet N Wild Fantasy Makers RIP polishes seem much more interesting. I will be swatching those for you tomorrow so you’ll have to let me know what you think.

Here is what the damage has been in the last couple of days…mostly all today.

Why does polish make me so happy? I’m just fortunate that I have stealth ninja skills when it comes to getting polish on the cheap…otherwise I would be in BIG trouble. Thanks again for stopping by and until next time!

P.S. Have you entered my Jessica Cosmetics Giveaway? No?! Why not?

a Rafflecopter giveaway

China Glaze Deviantly Daring

Posted on 15 September, 2012 by Cynthia

I realize I’m late to the New Bohemian party but I still ended up getting a couple of polishes from the China Glaze New Bohemian Collection. China Glaze Deviantly Daring is probably the only color that really interested me from this collection after I saw what a duochrome fail the whole collection turned out to be. I think that the colors are pretty, but I was so incredibly let down once swatches started popping up online that I just decided to pass on the whole collection when it first came out.I came across some of the polishes at one of my dusties for dirt cheap so I picked up this color and No Plain Jane.

China Glaze Deviantly Daring is a described as an “adventurously bold peacock teal” and I think that description suits it just fine. I am always a huge fun of teal polishes so I am happy that I decided to pick this one up. I thought the formula was pretty darn perfect. It was easy to control and it was opaque in two coats.

Something weird happened when I applied my top coat of Seche Vite: I found that the duochrome showed up a lot better. I could really see the darker blue flash on the tips and edges of my nails! It’s still not as majestic as I had hoped when I saw bottle shots, but it’s pretty. Brush strokes are one of my most hated polish issues and unfortunately, there were some visible brush strokes: not enough to make me hate the polish but enough to let me they are there–teasing me.

Since I’ve been on a star kick lately, I decided to use another star stamp over Deviantly Daring.

This star pattern is from Cheeky plate CH52.

What do you think? I think that if I find more of these New Bohemian polishes for cheap, I will purchase them. Did you get any of these polishes? What did you think of them?

Thanks for stopping by and catching up. Stay cool and until next time!

Bourjois Grenadine Tonic

Posted on 24 August, 201227 October, 2012 by Cynthia

I have the most amazing nail polish connections in France. Yesterday I got a package from Sabrina and today I got another from Julie. Oh man…am I spoiled or what??? If you haven’t visited Julie’s blog, go visit Un Brin De Julie. Her blog is in French, but you can use google translate. She speaks English so you can always talk to her! She is so sweet and does the most beautiful nail art. Here is one of my favorite looks that she has done:

You can see her blog post here and see more pictures of this look. How freaking cute is this? I don’t know why I have always loved Navy/Sailor everything (Hello, sailor!) and this made me remember a dress my mom got for me when I was a little kid. I think I used to wear it ALL the freaking time, AND I would wear it with cowboy boots. Huh?! When I asked my mom why she combined the two, she said I was the one who insisted on wearing the boots. Oh well…tacky from birth. Anyway, here is a picture of me in the infamous dress. I think I was maybe 2 or 3 years old in this picture.

Yes, I was wearing shorts underneath! My mom knew that I liked to play with the boys and dresses and jumping off things don’t really go well together. I was such a boy growing up. I hated dolls unless it involved decapitating them, cutting their hair, burning them or making clothes for them. I envied my brother for having He-Man toys, Tonka Trucks and marbles. Since I’m a year and a half older than him, I would always find a way to butt in and take his stuff or force him to play with me. I was such a bossy kid.

The polishes I received today are two Bourjois beauties!

I had been drooling over the orange one, Grenadine Tonic, ever since I saw it on Ommorphia Beauty Bar. I am so lucky that Julie went out of her way to track it down for me. She also sent me this lovely lavender polish called Lavande Esquisse. (Exquisite Lavender) On to the swatches!

This is three coats of Grenadine Tonic. It is such a strange and lovely (in my opinion) jelly-like polish. It’s so glossy that I thought it was still wet the whole time I was wearing it. Obviously, if you don’t like VNL, this is not the polish for you.

Since I just picked up China Glaze Techno, I layered one coat over Grenadine Tonic. I know I’m tardy to the party on this glitter, but I just never wanted it until I found it for dirt cheap today and caved.

And lastly, I ended with one last coat of Grenadine Tonic for a strange jelly sandwich. Let me tell you something: this may not look impressive in my pictures, but when I went outside, it was completely magical. It was like my fingertips had the sun in them! I was actually blinding myself with the orange shine. People stared. People ran away in terror thinking I was a Drew Barrymore Firestarter-like creature. In short, I loved this.

And just to give you a better idea of my depravity, these are the polishes I have acquired in the last 2 days. Yes, 2 days. In the famous words of Patrick Henry: “Give me polish, or give me death!” I am 90% sure that’s what he said.

For fun, here is a little flash mob video that my friend shared:

I worked for Air France for a few years in my early 20’s and she said that she could totally picture us doing that. Haha. What a crazy time, but I loved that I was able to travel so much.

Wow, I’m tired. Crazy day today. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Summer Blue

Posted on 20 August, 2012 by Cynthia

Lately I have been on a China Glaze kick. Since I have so many dusties in my area, I always like to go and look for older China Glaze polishes…especially the pre big-3 free polishes. I am convinced that one of these days I am going to find Channelesque if I just look hard enough.

Rain Storm was first released in the China Rain collection for Spring/Summer 2001. It was then also re-promoted as part of the Rainbow of Hope Collection in 2010. Let me just tell you that I absolutely adore this polish. I don’t even care that it was crazy sheer and I needed 4 coats to reach bottle color.

And because I couldn’t help myself, I added a coat of China Glaze Blue Hawaiian. I am IN LOVE with this combination. I’ve seriously been wearing this for 2 days now and I anticipate leaving this on for at least another day! *gasp*

Even though it’s still early in the day here, it’s supposed to be a little cooler. I am so looking forward to it!!! OMG…I think I just heard the UPS guy’s truck. Gotta go!