China Glaze City Flourish and Sea Goddess Collections, First Impressions and Review

Hello polish lovers!

Sorry I have been absent for a while but I think the last challenge had me on posting overload so I took a bit of a vacation when it was over.

Today I have 4 polishes from China Glaze Spring Collection City Flourish and 1 polish from the Sea Goddess Collection.

I will start with the City Flourish collection.

So I finally got around to creating a light box so I am hoping that will help with how uneven my lighting has been.
I purchased these colours when Sally Beauty had China Glaze on their 1 day sale in February, and have used them in mani's since but have not yet told you what I thought of them.

First up is In a Lily Bit.

In a Lily Bit is a lilac cream polish with a strong pink undertone.  The formula is thin but not overly difficult to work with and requiring minimal clean up, the first coat is streaky but is opaque on the second coat.  The polish is one of those neon pastels and does dry matte so it does require top coat.  This is 2 coats topped with Seche Vite.  I normally avoid this shade but the brightness stops the lobster fingers.

Second is What a Pansy.

What a Pansy is definitely my favourite name of the collection, although it is not my favourite polish.  What a Pansy is a mid-tone purple with strong blue under-tone.  The formula is thicker than In a Lily Bit and would be a 1 coat-er if the application was not slightly patchy, fully opaque in 2 coats.  This one does not dry matte and the above picture is 2 coats with no clean up and no top coat.

Third is At Vase Value.

At Vase Value is a light blue that shares its value range with For Audrey, and shows slightly more green IRL.  The 1st coat is streaky but is opaque in 2.  This dries with the same matte finish as In a Lily Bit and this photo is 2 coats with Seche Vite.

Last is Grass is Lime Greener.

Colour-wise, Grass is Lime Greener is my favourite of the collection...but of course it has the worst formula.  It is both patchy and streaky and uneven with 2 fingers requiring a third coat.  It is the most neon pastel of the collection and I do not have anything comparable by other brands.  It dries with the same matte finish and this is 2-3 coats(depending on the finger) topped with Seche Vite.

Next I will show you the 1 polish I purchased from the Sea Goddess Collection: Wish on a Starfish.

Cute name and a very pretty polish.  The Sea Goddess collection is the first China Glaze has released that is all texture containing glitter or shimmer.

Wish on a Starfish is a pink texture polish with a ton of gold shimmer.  This polish has a great formula, in that it stays exactly where you put it and requires no clean up.  Unfortunately it requires 3 coats to be fully opaque and not show VNL.  Drying time is on par with other texture polishes that I own(which I think is way too long and part of the reason I seldom use them).  It would be interesting to put 1 coat over a pink base and top coat, just to see how much the gold shimmer really shows.

Overall I really like the China Glaze polishes for Spring.  The colours are totally appropriate in their Easter Pastels, but bright enough to not look washed out.  I know I will be using them all spring and a few into the summer too.

That's all for today, I will be back probably on Friday for my next post.

Until then, polish happy!

Hallow e'en Challenge Day 2: Witches

Hello polish lovers!

Today I have the second of the Hallow e'en Challenge mani's to share with you and our theme for today is Witches.  I was kind of stuck for this one so I pulled out one of my handy stamping plates to make it a little easier.

Sorry about the huge watermark, wasn't paying attention

My pinkie is Wet n' Wild's Ebony Hates Chris, ring is OPI liquid sand in Can't Let Go, middle is Essie's Fear or Desire, and pointer is Milani White on the Spot.  The witches cauldron is stamped using Konad Special White and the black stamping is Ebony Hates Chris.  The stamps used are from Bundle Monster's Holiday set and are number H07 and H08.

I will be back tomorrow with the 33DC with the theme Indian.

Until then, polish happy!

33DC Day 6: Texture

Good morning, polish lovers!

Today is texture day in the Crumpet's 33 Day Challenge.  I have only recently gotten into textured polish and only own 3 so choosing one to use today is easier for me then it would be for some.

I started this mani with 3 coats of Ciate's Kiss Chase, this is a bright fun pink with hints of coral,  I could have stopped at 2 but there as a slight visible nail line at 2 and I was covering the tips anyway but I am a bit OCD about these things and don't like to see nail line through polish.  Once this was dry I used my OPI Matte Top Coat.  I love the smooth soft texture that matte-ifying nail polish gives you.

I actually did my textured tips using NOPI's A-nise Treat from the Gumdrops collection before I did my stamping.  I love this textured polish because it is all fine sparkle without chunks of glitter, which I find makes them more messy looking.

Once the texture had dried sufficiently I added the thistle image from Messy Mansion's MM16 plate, which is William Morris and Friends(I love William Morris design and did a little squee when I found this plate on her Etsy site, which you can find here).  I realize that this did not stamp perfectly every time but that was because I did not want to put too much pressure on the textured polish, not any fault of the plate itself.

That is all for this post but I think I will post tomorrow, even though it is not a challenge day.  I have been sitting on my photo's of Lucky 13 Lacquer's Bad Wolf and I feel the need to share that amazingness with everyone, so look forward to that post tomorrow.

Until next time, polish happy!