China Glaze - Island Escape Collection

I had planned on posting Chanel Mimosa next, but umm... you're going to have to wait on that one.  I did wear it, but ugh, application was terrible and it didn't look good.  It didn't seem so bad when I initially swatched it, but a full mani was not good.  I'll try it again when I get over being angry with her!  ;)

I knew I had to have the entire Island Escape collection the first time I saw swatches, but I've been lazy and haven't gotten around to posting it, though I've had it for, umm... at least 2 weeks.  Oops!  I really like the collection as a whole, though a couple of the formulas were a bit disappointing.  There is nothing earth shattering here, but it is a great summer collection that I will get a lot of use out of!

108 Degrees is a glass flecked pink, perfect for summer.  A bit on the sheer side, but I don't mind VNL when it's crazy-hot out.  I don't have an exact dupe in my stash, but it didn't seem all that original.

Seniorita Bonita is mostly purple, but it has some heavy pink shimmer, which is quite hard to capture.  This was the sheerest of the collection, and slightly disappointing because of it.  I really had to layer this one on to get it to show up.  It did dry though, and super-shiny at that, so maybe I shouldn't complain?

Blue Iguana is the last of the glass flecks in this collection, and I really love it.  I have seen a lot of complaints of how sheer it is, but I've seen worse.  It's a bit of a stainer, so be careful!  I can't wait to wear this one!  There is a slight pinkish duochrome to it, which makes it awfully similar to Nicole's You're S-Teal the One - I've compared them below - NOPI is in the middle.

These two are pretty much dupes.  Blue Iguana is much more pigmented than You're S-Teal the One, so if you're torn, I suggest it.  You can usually get China Glaze's cheaper too!  :)

Cha Cha Cha is the lone shimmer in this collection, supposedly similar to the famous Moonpool.  I don't own it, so I can't compare, but I prefer this to the pics I've seen of Moonpool - less frosty!  However, the application on this one wasn't great.  You can see some bald spots on my index nail, and this was 3 coats.

Electric Pineapple is a bright green/yellow creme which applies easily, especially after the sheerness of the previous polishes.  It looks similar to OPI's Fiercely Fiona, but they aren't dupes, as you can see below.

Fiercely Fiona is much more yellow than Electric Pineapple, but I love 'em both!

Papaya Punch is the last of the collection, and the best formula.  It's a gorgeous bright orange, not neon at all, but it will get attention!  It leans to the yellow side of orange, so depending on your skintone, this one might be troublesome for you.  I am addicted to oranges - it seems like I gotta have every one I see!

The cremes in this collection apply much better than the glass flecks, but the only real problem children are Seniorita Bonita and Cha Cha Cha.  SB was kinda watery and extremely sheer, CCC is prone to balding.  I <3 the colors, so I will deal, but if you don't have much patience, you might want to avoid these!  I LOVE Papaya Punch and Blue Iguana - both of them were stunning and pretty easy to apply.

Are you thinking about picking up any of this collection?  Tell me which ones you like!  :)

In other news, I head back to work tomorrow... ugh.  Can't vacations last forever?

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: none

Number of coats: varies, 2-3

I'm back!! and China Glaze - White Kwik Silvr

Mom went home from the hospital yesterday and is doing very well, but unfortunately she lives 30 minutes away, so I won't be getting to visit her much.  Thank you all so much for your kind words and well wishes - you have no idea how much I appreciate it!

So now that I'm back... omg, where to begin?  I have tons of pictures I haven't posted and I have been hauling like crazy because I've been stressed and that's what I do!  ;)  I haven't had the chance to swatch anything though, so there is a huge backlog of polishes waiting to be tried.  Hopefully I can get to them verrrrrry soon.  :)

I actually managed to wear the same polish for 12 days - yes, 12! with only one little touch-up, so that's what I'm going to start with today to ease myself back into this.  I wish I had taken shots of this before I took it off - I couldn't believe how well it held up after 12 days of me!  I normally have no luck with China Glaze - if I can make it more than 48 hours with no chips, I'm happy.  White Kwik Silvr only had a few small chips after 12 days (if you don't include when I hit my pinkie at work day 2 and chipped part of my nail off - that was my one touch-up).  I don't know if it was my basecoat/topcoat combo or if it was the non-B3F formula or what, but this one was like iron!

Even though I have Frosty from the 2010 'Tis the Season collection, I've been lusting after White Kwik Silvr forever.  I finally broke down and ordered it from an etailer a couple of weeks ago.  It arrived a couple of days after my mom got sick and it was perfect timing.  I was really down that day and it felt so good to get a big box of goodies in the mail!  I figured this was a great work-appropriate shade and *hopefully* it wouldn't show too much damage since I didn't know when I would get the chance to do my nails again.  I didn't expect 12 days!

It's a hard little bugger to photograph, let me tell you that.  It's not just a straight white shimmer, there are little bits of color in there, much like Sally Hansen's Fairy Tale Ivory and China Glaze's Knotty.  It's subtle, but it gives it a little something extra to keep it from being just a bland white.  I thought it would be a dupe to Frosty, but they are a bit different, and to be honest, I prefer White Kwik Silvr.  I didn't do a comparison, since ALU did - check out her post here (scroll down a bit). Fantastic photo - she really captured what I'm talking about - there is a warmth to WKS that Frosty doesn't have... which is appropriate, since it is named Frosty!  ;)

Sorry for the scary hand, but honestly, this was the best shot I could get of the glass flecks.  My camera freaked out on this one a bit and couldn't get a nice crisp shot no matter how many times I tried.  For all my raving about how well it held up to me and the hell I put my hands through, the best part was that I really loved the color.  It's elegant and classic, which are not words I usually use to describe anything about me, on me, near me, etc.  ;)

Now... onto the not-so-hot stuff... this is a really sheer polish.  It took 5 coats to get what you see here.  Dry time was great though, being old formula non-B3F.  It did stay on 12 days, but by day 9, I had some major tipwear and a couple of tip chips, plus my right index had a huge crack in it.  I was afraid I would hit it and the polish would all come off in one piece, but it stayed put, just looked awful.  Fortunately, only I noticed.  Polishes like this are great for those times when you don't have time.  Chips aren't very noticeable and this color goes with everything!

I think I'll be getting a backup of this one... and I only currently have 1 other backup.  It's Orly's Galaxy Girl, if you were wondering!  ;)  I think I am getting a backup of Barielle's Elle's Spell and possibly Urban Decay's Bruise (pretty sure it is my fave color, ever!), but I don't usually do backups.  I think that I will be wearing WKS often though and since it is long discontinued, I need to get it now while I can!

Basecoat: Beauty Secrets Moisturizing Basecoat

Topcoat: Essie Good to Go + Beauty Secrets Fast Finish

Number of coats: 5 

China Glaze - Anchors Away Comparisons

I didn't do comparisons for all of AA because I had some that were totally unique in my collection, but here are the ones I did do!

First up, Pelican Gray.  I filled a request on the NB for it compared to Zoya Harley and then I thought about it later and decided to compare it to Recycle as well, so sorry there are two pics instead of just one on this one.

Pelican Gray vs Harley Bottle:

On nail:

As you can see, Harley is more purple-toned than Pelican Gray and its shimmer is no secret!

Here it is compared with Recycle:

I thought these looked pretty similar in the bottle, though PG is a little lighter and has shimmer, but on the nail, they really don't have much in common...

Recycle is much browner, darker, and has no shimmer.  Not really anything alike at all!

Cilucia over at Spaz & Squee compared Pelican Gray with Zoya Dove and Diamond Cosmetic's Concrete Jungle (which is a dupe to RBL's Concrete Jungle I hear) as well, so stop by and check our her AMAZING pics!

Next we have Below Deck.  It is supposed to be similar to Channelesque also by China Glaze, but I don't have that one to compare it to.  I have a ton of greige/gruples/whatever you call this color, but I decided to go with a couple of drugstore ones since those would be the easiest to procure - Confetti's Moonstruck and Revlon Top Speed in Stormy.

Bottle:

You can see from this bottle pic that the Revlon is more brown than Below Deck and Moonstruck, but those two are nearly identical.

Moonstruck is just the tiniest bit browner than Below Deck, but they are close enough I doubt anyone but a NBer would notice the difference.  If you have a CVS in your area, you can pick up Moonstruck for $1.99 and maybe save yourself a bit of cash?

When I showed Knotty, I mentioned that it had the same kinda shimmer as Sally Hansen's Fairy Tale Ivory.  The base colors are quite a bit different, but they both have a rainbow shimmer that really perks up a neutral.

I'm having a hard time photographing the rainbow part of the shimmer, but trust me, it's there!  You can see Fairy Tale Ivory's in the post I made about it - the shimmer in Knotty is identical.  I think the base color of Fairy Tale Ivory flatters me a bit more, so I probably won't wear Knotty as often, but it is nice to know I have another option when I'm looking for an interesting neutral.

White Cap vs CND Jade Sparkle:

In the bottle pic, you can see how dense the sparkles are in Jade Sparkles - White Cap just looks white in comparison!

On the nail, the differences are much more subtle.  They both have a lovely green-to-gold sparkle that will easily get noticed, but White Cap has that milky white base instead of the clear Jade Sparkles has.  I guess the question here is what you are planning on doing with it - if you are looking to layer this polish, you probably should do Jade Sparkles instead.  However, if you are planning on wearing it on its own, White Cap is the one for you.

Cilucia also compared these and you can see her layering experiment (scroll down) and decide which one you prefer, or both!  After seeing her pics, I ordered Orly Enchanted Forest!  :)

Now I'll move on to the Knotty Nauticals set.  I know others are comparing Ahoy! to lots of other China Glaze pinks, but I really have no pinks that look even remotely similar, so I didn't do anything for it.  I haven't seen it confirmed as a dupe to anything yet, so if you love it, get it!

I don't have very many red cremes in my collection, so I pulled out the two brightest I could find to compare to Hey Sailor! - Sally Hansen Insta-Dry Rapid Red and American Apparel's Poppy.

They look pretty danged close in the bottle, don't they?

Not so similar on the nail, which I am glad to see!  Hey Sailor! is more distinctly red than Poppy, but not as dark as Rapid Red.  I have been seriously lemming OPI's Color So Hot it Berns (is it sad to say that it is the only one I'm missing from the Swiss collection?!) and All You Desire did a comparison of it and Hey Sailor! - maybe I don't need CSHIB?

I had originally gotten AA Poppy out to compare it to Life Preserver.  They really aren't too much alike, but it was the closest I had - I need more oranges!

My photos all show Life Preserver being more vibrant than it really is.  There is a dusty quality to it that you can't see here.  I'd like to see it compared with OPI's Hot & Spicy, but I don't have that one yet.  Do you?  What do you think?

Now, I know that there is no way that Lighthouse and Sally Hansen's Sunflowers would be dupes because of the different finishes, but I did want to compare the base colors for you so maybe you could decide if this is a yellow that would work for you!

In the bottles I thought they looked close, but on the nail, they don't really seem like it... but odds are if you can't wear one, you probably can't wear the other and vice versa!

I was really concerned that Starboard and Essie's Pretty Edgy would be dupes... so much so that I almost didn't get Starboard, but then I decided to just get all of them.

When I started pulling out greens, Nina Pro's Salsa also seemed pretty close.  You can see here that there is a smidge of dustiness to Starboard that Pretty Edgy doesn't have.

On the nail, Salsa dries darker than it's bottle color, so it's definitely not dupey.  However, Pretty Edgy and Starboard are pretty darn close.  Again, there is just a hint of dustiness to Starboard that separates them.  If you aren't a NBer or a green lover, you probably could get away with just one of the two!

The last one I have for you is First Mate.  I pulled American Apparel's Mt. Royal and OPI's Dating a Royal.

I was a bit surprised how much Dating a Royal and First Mate looked similar in their bottles, but you can definitely see differences on the nail.

While they seemed similar in the bottle, you can see here that First Mate is definitely navy, whereas the others are more cobalt blue.

Whew!  Thanks for sticking with me there, I know the last two posts have been majorly pic heavy!  Can you think of other polishes the Anchors Away collection should be comped to?  Let me know!!

Also, while you're letting me know about that... do you like the text being on the pics, or would you rather I just told you what order they were in under?  I couldn't decide, so I added the text, but it might look tacky?  Someone make up my mind!  :)

Basecoat: None

Topcoat: None

Number of coats: varies

China Glaze - Anchors Away!

I apologize that I didn't get these swatches put up before you'd seem them 1000 times... I've had this collection since a couple of days after they were released.  I should have gotten them done sooner, but my job has stressed me out beyond belief and I really didn't feel like swatching for a few days.  However, here they are, hopefully better late than never!

This is the first time I've bought an entire collection at once - I did end up with a couple of other entire collections, but I've bought them in pieces.  Not this one - I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it.  A lot of people were meh about it, but I think it is absolutely stand out!

We'll start with the Knotty Nauticals, which is the brighter of the two sets in this collection.

Oh yeah, and see all that shine?  It's all polish, baby - I didn't use topcoat on any of these!!

This is Ahoy!, which might actually be my favorite here.  I hardly ever wear pinks - I can't find any that really flatter me.  I think this one looks pretty good - I actually wore it for a couple of days this week!  You might be saying "it's not really pink...", but this is as close as I get!  It's a really saturated almost jelly base with gold flecks that really make it glow.  Stunning!  Two coats

Gak!  A pink and a red that I like on me in the same collection!?!?  Crazy!  This is Hey Sailor! an incredibly shiney orange-based red jelly/cream combo.  I actually saw someone post on the NB the other day that they think this might be a new type of finish and I totally agree.  This collection is the first I've seen to have these jelly/cream things.  They're as opaque as a cream, but they have the glossiness of a jelly - I love it!  Two coats.

Life Preserver is a dusty orange version of this jelly/cream thing - opaque in two coats (one if you are careful!) and it shines like crazy.  It's dustier than my picture shows, but still a bright vibrant color.  I love oranges and this one does not disappoint!

I had the hardest time capturing the glass fleck in Lighthouse correctly.  It blurred no matter how still I held my hands!  I don't have a lot of yellows, but most of the ones I have are not fun to work with.  Lighthouse was a breeze!  My friend said it looked like sparkling urine, but he's a boy, what does he know?  It is sparkly though... three coats.

Starboard is another jelly/cream opaque in two coats.  I think this one will be great to wear during the summer.  It reminds me of thick lush grass squishing under your bare feet!

First Mate is amazing.  I own several blue creams, but nothing tops this one.  That wonderful jelly/cream finish, perfectly opaque in 1 coat if you are careful (I used two because I'm not careful!), and it never looks black, which is a problem for a lot of navy blues.

Next up, the Sand & Sea set!

Pelican Gray is a pretty neutral gray, not leaning overly blue or brown.  It has a slight bit of shimmer (the secret shimma!) what you can barely see on the nail.  Mine seemed a bit goopy though, probably needs to be thinned for better application.  Three coats.

Sea Spray  has that same secret shimmer that you can just barely see, it it makes it so special!  I also found it a little thick and hard to apply evenly.  This is three coats.

Sunset Sail is not as horrible looking on me as I thought it would be, but it still doesn't look good.  It's a really pretty peachy nude with a subtle silver shimmer.  It might be more flattering on cooler skin tones - I thought it looked pretty good on All You Desire!  Three coats

Below Deck is another one of those purple/grey/taupe things, but I think I might like this one better than the others I have.  It looks good on warm skin and is edgy, but still work appropriate.  This was two coats, but it could have used a third.

I wore Knotty for about 3 days, which is pretty decent for me!  It has the same multi-colored shimmer as the previously reviewed Sally Hansen Fairy Tale Ivory, but it is more beige than nude.  I was hoping it would be like a sparkling Your Nails But Better, but it was just a tad too dark for that.  I kept it on for 3 days though, so I wasn't too disappointed!  Three coats.

And finally we have White Cap, another glass fleck.  The flecks seem to change from gold to green depending on the angle.  My camera freaked out on this one and refused to get a clear shot.  I think it would look great layered, but it also works on its own for a interesting sheer.  Three coats.

All in all, I love this collection.  The only one that I don't know if I will wear is Sunset Sail, but I still like it - how often do you find a collection where you like everything?

To be honest though, I was a little disappointed in the application of the Sand & Sea set.  I was really looking forward to Pelican Gray and Sea Spray, but I had troubles with both of them.  I'm hoping a little thinning will make the difference.

I was FLOORED with how amazing everything in the Knotty Nauticals set was - color, formula, finish - it truly is a winner!  If you only decide to pick up part of this collection, make it this half - you won't be disappointed!

Let me know which ones you love (or hate!) in the comments!

And... I have done a bunch of comparisons on these... I will post them next!  :)

Anchors Away is popping up in Ulta and Sally's now and retail for $5.99 each.

Basecoat: none

Topcoat: NONE!!

Number of coats: varies