China Glaze - Sunsational - Highlight of my Summer

Dear reader,

Today I would like to show you this beautiful and very unique color from the creme series of the 2013 summer collection Sunsational. It is called Highlight of my Summer!




















I have been drooling over this beauty for a while, but could not resist any longer. I just bought this together with Too Yacht too Handle, which I will be swatching some time soon as well you may click here for a full review.

The other shade I have from the same creme series is That's Shore Bright, which I already posted a while back and you can find it here. I think all colors from this series (total 6 shades) have similar finish and application. I'd love to have all (Bottoms up, Sun of a Peach, Neon on & On are not in my collection), but I just can't justify buying so many pinks and corals. Maybe one day I'll still be getting Peach, it really looks gorgeous!

China Glaze - Highlight of my Summer - with top coat

Highlight of my summer 81328 - I love this color so much, and I got exactly what I expected. Most swatches you find on the web are all pretty color-accurate.

The application is pretty good! I think the pigmentation is just as hard to achieve as any light or yellow or lime-green nail polish, but it is super pigmented and creamy. What I found to work best, is to apply multiple, thinner layers rather than slap on 2 thick layers, so to avoid an uneven application. It dries really fast anyway as all neons do, so just use a few more thin layers until patches are fully covered. My swatches are all 3 thin layers. Thickness is just nice too. I know a lot of people complained about the formula for this one, even to be the worst out of the 6 cremes in Sunsational. I think it's nice to apply, especially for a neon and a creme.

As I mentioned drying time is very fast, and just like my other 2 colors from the same collection, the matted finish is absolutely adoring. Like silky satin! Much nicer than the usual matte finish those neons can have. Gorgeous with or without top coat!

Here are some shots without top coat for you, shot under artificial light. They are not as accurate as I want them to be.. so hard to capture this color! It's much more fluorescent and bright! The shade seems a bit off too, it's more yellow-leaning.

China Glaze - Highlight of my Summer - No top coat

China Glaze - Highlight of my Summer - No top coat

What this color reminds me of most, is how glow in the dark looks like in the dark (does that makes sense?). It's a very unique and amazing fluorescent color, somewhere between green and yellow, but the best color description to me is still: glow in the dark! I love this, and it instantly makes your skin looks tanned, even the most winter-whitened skin!

Ugh, I keep staring at my nails now, I so love this bright color! The top coat I used is China Glaze fast Dry Top coat (3 layers of Nail Tek II as my basecoat, my nails are still recovering from their Seche Vite two-month long abuse) .

Below shots are more color-accurate, just imagine them a bit more glowing and bright. Shots made under artificial light:

China Glaze - Highlight of my Summer - Top Coat

There, you know how I like my hand shots, it gives a much better overall impression of how a color looks than from a close-up swatch:

Hightlight of my Summer - Full hand shot

Hightlight of my Summer - Full hand shot

Now what I find totally unjustifiable, is people keep saying this is obviously a neon version of Refresh-mint. Well, in my humble opinion, it is not. It is a totally different kind of shade. Refresh-mint is a more bluish greyish green. This is just incomparable with that, it is so yellow-leaning compared to Refresh-mint, much warmer toned!

I know it's not the best shot, but below I wear Refresh-mint with dots of highlight of my Summer on my middle finger for comparison, you can see how different the tones are (and also a sneak-peep for you of the new Your Present Required from the new Happy Holiglaze collection too on my pinkie and index finger!). Shot made under the sun:

Refresh-mint with dots of Highlight of my Summer

Well, I can't believe how long this post is getting. I am really talking too much, better wrap it up! This color is just amazing and very unique on it's own, if you want something different, this is for you!

Which colors do you like from the Sunsational collection? Do you like the cremes or do you prefer the jellies?

China Glaze - Refresh-mint and Sweet Hook

Hi everyone,

If any of you have read my previous post, you'll know why I have not posted much for the past 2 months. I am slowly trying to nurture my nails back to health, and in the mean time I gave them a sweet layer of polish. Kindly ignore my current nail shape, I don't want to trim them until they have grown a bit more.

China Glaze - Refresh-Mint and Sweet Hook

I decided to give Refresh-mint another try, despite not being entirely what I wanted. In combination with Sweet Hook, I think it's pretty sweet. Like almond candy and easter ribbons.

The reason I bought Refresh-mint is ironically enough, because of the way it looks in above bottle-picture. A beautiful soft green. Not the grey/blue-toned green it actually is. (I think I saw a soft green like this in the new China Glaze Spring 2014 collection, I'm keeping my hopes up!) And my Sweet Hook looks so pink in this shot, it is actually a beautiful lilac! The below nail swatches are much more true to the real color. I did not make shots in sunlight, the sun would make the colors too pale, these are more color-accurate.

I did a review on these 2 colors before, but I wanted to show you how they look when worn together. For this full review on the formula, application and color, you may refer to my pastels post here.

No top coat for below pictures, all shot in artificial light. I thought my unicorn would be the perfect model for this sugary sweet mani <3

China Glaze - Sweet Hook and Refresh-mint

China Glaze - Sweet Hook and Refresh-mint

China Glaze - Sweet Hook and Refresh-mint

China Glaze - Sweet Hook and Refresh-mint

Because light nail polish always invites me to do some nail art, I added some dots using my dotting tool, this was the result (under flash):

 

The colors used for the little dots are:
China Glaze - Gaga for Green - full review of this color
China Glaze - Exotic Encounters - no reviews yet
China Glaze - Gothic Lolita - full review of this color

I have some new colors on the way, will show them to you in the coming weeks!

Seche Vite: Reason of my awfully short nails!

Ugh, I am so upset I am going to write a separate post on this. A black page in my nail diary.

I have not posted anything new (when I see my last post on China Glaze - Running around in circles, I feel like crying! My nails aren't doing this beautiful polish any justice T.T )  for months because my nails are this short, miserable bunch of junk. Just too embarrassing to display any beautiful polishes on. Apart from not being able to grow them too long due to me playing guitar on a daily basis, I have found the real culprit to my frustrations and pains: SECHE VITE!

Yes, Seche Vite officially ruined my nails. I will never use it for my fingernails ever again..

This is the culprit of all evil!

I have been very upset about my nails being this horrible and ghastly for so long now, and every time I use Seche Vite they start to peel and look so dry. They dry up the nail bed and ruin my nails totally, like one horrid chemical mess.. *extremely upset with Seche Vite*

Usually my nails would be dry and weak if unprotected by nailpolish. Now my nails seemed better without than with my usual coat of polish.. strange.. and then I suddenly realized! It's my top coat!

I stopped using Seche Vite for 1 week and there is instant improvement on my nail condition. Immediately ordered China Glaze Fast Dry Top Coat again, Seche Vite --> garbage can.

Bye bye Seche Vite!

I can't understand why I see so many good reviews on this product. Many girls claim this to be their holy grail. Maybe my nails are too sensitive and thin for this highly chemical product. I mean, it does go through all layers of nail polish just to dry everything fast, and there is toluene inside, a very unhealthy chemical. How can that be any good?

Maybe it works better if you have thick strong nails. The only good thing about SV is that it dries up so shiny making any manicure or pedicure just gorgeous! And it does dry very very fast. But the side effects on my nails are just not worth it.

Now I'm slowly letting my pathetic stumps grow so I can finally start posting pretty polishes again~! I ordered some new polishes (haven't bought any for a while, what's the point!) and really hoping to be showing them to you soon on clean, neat looking nails.


Warning: No bottles of Seche Vite were harmed during this photo shoot. I will ask my friend if she wants to adopt my bottle, she has nice, strong nails so maybe she wants to give it a try. ^_^

Are there any girls out there with similar experiences with this product? I am glad to hear!

China Glaze - Running in Circles

Hello fellow polish lovers, Today I wish to show you something I never wear because I love it so much, I don't want my bottle to ever finish. This is Running in Circles, from last year's Cirque du Soleil collection. A very mixed collection with a little bit of everything. I love green and I love glassfleck, so naturally, I love Running in Circles. Other colors from this collection that I like are Water you waiting for and It's a Trapeze.

China Glaze - Running in Circles - 81124

Running in circles 81124 - This is a beautiful emerald and Christmas green, it's very bright and very shimmery. I made many pictures but none of them do the color full justice. I tried the sun and the shade and flash and artificial light. Those under artificial light turned out most color accurate, the sun makes the color come out too dark.

Formula-wise, it's really great. Applies nice and smooth, though you gotta be a bit aware of cuticle flowing. But other than that it's very easy to handle. Evens out nicely, dries reasonably fast and dries up shiny, though a top coat will bring out the shine better.

You will need 3 coats for full opacity, 2 coats is still a little patchy. While 3 layers is usually not a problem and the formula is good so it dries fast and doesn't get clumpy, I wish it was only 2 because I don't want my bottle to finish..

Many of my girl friends who has seen me wear it asks what it is that I wear on my nails, and even my husband says he likes it alot. No wonder this is a fan's favorite of the Cirque du Soleil collection. Absolute love it. This should be entered under China Glaze's core collection. Then we don't have to worry about finishing our bottle so much =x

China Glaze - Running in Circles - Under the sun

My nails are still cruelly short. I have been giving them a SolarOil treatment, and it seems a bit better now. They just kept peeling non-stop. I am going to try not using Seche Vite for a while because I have a feeling it is not good for my nails. Actually now I come to think of it, they haven't been this bad until I started using Seche Vite last month. Back to using my Nail Tek II as both base coat and top coat again. Just gotta be a bit more patient with the drying time. And see if it goes better..

Anyway, enough of the nonsense chit chat. Let's show you a few more pictures of this gorgeous polish.

China Glaze - Running in Circles + top coat

Once again, the true color of this beauty is really hard to capture. You'll have to see it for real to fully appreciate it. All I can keep saying is: it is super duper shimmery because of the pretty glassflecks inside. It's almost like a foil (of course it isn't). That's how shimmery and shiny it is. You will definitely draw attention with this color!

Running in circles - Under the sun + top coat

Running in Circles - Full hand shot (top coat)

This is great for a Christmas mani, but perfect as a fun and bright summer color too. Anyway, I wear any color I feel like when I feel like. So should you~! Winter, autumn, summer or spring.

Update 27-12-13: I used this in my Christmas manicure for 2013, and it's so suitable! If you are curious, you can view it here.

What do you think of this pretty green jewel?

The Face Shop - Face it Wide Nails - PK101 and GR501

Hi guys, I would like to show you these 2 beautiful colors from this year's summer collection under de Face it range Wide Nails. I love this range, the brush is fantastic to work with, it's very thick , slightly rounded at the end and flat. I need just one single brush stroke for my pinkie to give perfect coverage and smooth finish! One stroke!!! Here are the 2 colors I'd like to share with you today: PK101 and GR501. Once again face Shop was very creative with their naming.. I wonder how many different colors carry the same name..

Face it Wide Nails - PK101 and GR501

The application for both colors is similar. The coverage is very good, even for the green one. 2 coats will do it, though you may want to go for a third if you are more particular. But 2 medium coats will do the job well. Very smooth and with the brush it's awesome. Here's a picture of how the brush actually looks:

Wide Nails - GR501 - Brush detail

There is a fine microglitter in both of the colors (the whole range has them), making it easier to apply and giving the color a bit more depth. I love these so much! I was looking for a pink like this. And then I couldn't leave the green one too.. I got both of them at the Face Shop for SG$ 7.90 each. You might be able to get them cheaper online.

Face it Wide Nails - PK10

Face it Wide Nails - PK101 

PK101 is a beautiful nearly neon blue-leaning pink. It's bright and happy, and it just shouts 'Summer!'. The shade is perfect, it doesn't make you look 'barbie', it's more of a punky cool kind of pink. If you get my drift. =P The fine shimmer (it's almost too find to really call it glitter) has a silver/pinkish quality, I love colors with a bit of shimmer as they make them so much nicer to apply and they just glow more.

Please ignore that dent on my middle finger >.< I used Seche Vite as my top coat, making it super shiny. The polish dries up shiny by itself, but a bit of extra shine from a top coat will bring out the shimmer even better, so I highly recommend to use a top coat.

I had some shrinkage from the Seche Vite (fast dry) after 1 day, which I usually don't really have problems with. I'm not sure why, I don't have this problem when I use Seche Vite with China Glaze.

Anyway, a beautiful, fun color for summer! Looks very good on short nails too, so a good color for me at the moment. =x

The second picture is very color accurate. You can see the fine glow of shimmer and also how bright it is! Love this. The best shot I had was this one, and I apologize for the fur sticking to my finger. I didn't notice it until I upload it into my computer. Please blame this molting long-eared furry little fellow that is hopping around in my house and looks like this:

Scary Monster

I couldn't resist that~ Anyway, the second color I am very keen to show you is this awesome poisonous toad green. I am wearing it on my wriggly toetsies now, I know, I keep making you all look at my toes, not very sexy. But I really want to show you how it looks!

GR501 Is a very yellow-leaning green, I love this kind of shades, they go very well with pale skintones and look bright and nice. Actually, when I wear this on my toes - believe it or not - it looks quite neutral. Not too shocking or weird or whatever. It's beautiful, and I love it even more than I thought I would. Something like a bright version of China Glaze trendsetter (click here to see what Trendsetter looks like).

Face it Wide Nails - GR501

Took this bottle shot to show you the gorgeous subtle shimmer inside it, it is very difficult to capture once on the nail. Don't you love this! I wish the shimmer would translate onto the nail just like that, unfortunately it doesn't.

Below I took 2 shots of the end result, one in flash and one without flash. The shot without flash shows the color how it really looks like, this is a very very accurate picture of the end-result.

Face it Wide Nails - GR501 - Color accurate

The flash will bring out the depth with the shimmer, but makes the color too yellow-toned, and not as color-true.

Face it Wide Nails - GR501 - Flash

Below the colors I have collected this spring and summer from this Wide nails range, I think my favorites are the blue (full review click here) and this green. And this pink is so nice too! They are all so pretty <3 How to choose! I saw some darker colors in the stores the last few visits, some dark purple and green, maybe I'll have a go at them next month.

Wide Nails launched 2013

Do you like the Wide Nails range? What do you think of the bruch? Which colors are your favorites, and your least favorites?

China Glaze - Pastels

Hi! I'm going to show you some pretty China Glaze pastels today! It's not spring, but who cares! Anyway, here in Singapore it's always summer anyway.

L-R: Lemon Fizz, Refresh-mint, Kinetic Candy,
Something Sweet, Sweet Hook

It's been a while since I posted.. I've been pretty busy with work and housework, and my nails are in a horrid state, making me very unwilling to post anything. They were already short because of practising my guitar, and after doing a lot of housework all 10 of them split entirely and I had to cut them down to the meat again. *sniff sniff*

Anyway, I finally took out my pastels given by my colleagues for my birthday and did a skittle with them. I finished with a fine glassfleck topcoat called White Cap.

For a full review on White Cap, please click here.

L-R: Lemon Fizz, Refresh-mint, Kinetic Candy,
Something Sweet, Sweet Hook

They look a little pale here, they are all slightly brighter (except the Lemon Fizz, that one is slightly more muted) in real life, but these colors are all really hard to photograph. There is also no sun at all, making it harder to get a good shot >.<

The below pictures are all taken in daylight - shade. I have a more color-accurate picture at the end for you, without White Cap, which was taken with flash.

China Glaze - Lemon Fizz + White Cap

Lemon Fizz 80941
I actually reviewed this color already, click here for the post. The color is from the Up and Away collection spring 2010.

This is a very good yellow, good coverage in 2-3 coats, creamy and pigmented. Easy to apply, self-leveling. Love it! It is slightly more muted and pale than the picture. Beautiful, baby-chick easter yellow.

I did some nail art with this yellow as well, if you're keen, you can click here. Only now I realize I already worn this color 3-4 times in 1 month time, that's like.. a record. And it's a yellow. I suppose that just says how nice this color is~

China Glaze - refresh-mint + White Cap

Refresh-mint 80937
This color also comes from the Up & Away collection for spring 2010. overall I really like this collection.

I don't know where to start on this color though, this was a disappointment since I first got it. It was on my to-get-or-not-to-get list for a long time. And I was looking for a pastel green for a while, and this one is so popular and I liked many of the swatches I had seen online. I actually craved for something like.. Gargantuan green grape by OPI. Faithful to China Glaze as I am, I tried looking for something like that in their line, but could not find it.

When I got this.. I couldn't find anything green inside the bottle.. some greyish pale blue, like the sky in winter in Europe, when it's cloudy for days and days in a row. Only in certain lights can I see the slight green tinge to it.. and this is in my humble opinion, not mint-green AT ALL! Like, not at aaaalllll! Only certain lights (artificial light mainly) will reveal green, in any other light looks like a dirty grey/pale blue. It does turn out quite nice with White Cap, a bit of a winter-snow manicure, but just not the color I intended to get. I don't want to make this color appear to be awful, I know so many girls love love love it, but I am not one of them. I think I am just disappointed it wasn't what I was looking for. And it brings out the red in my skin ever so slightly.

The formula is pretty okay on this one, very pigmented and full coverage in 2 coats, but it is a bit streaky and thick. You need to apply it with a lot of care, and try to apply it evenly.

China Glaze - Kinetic Candy + White Cap

Kinetic Candy 80735
This is a color from the Elektropop collection for spring 2012. Another collection that I love.

This may look similar to Refresh-mint from the pictures, but it is much warmer, really baby-blue. I love this, the color is very nice and the formula is fantastic. The picture is too pale, it is darker in real life. The color goes well with my skin tone. I am sure I'll be using this quite a lot! Will be nice to use as a background for nail art too.

It applies like a dream, very smooth, self-leveling, opaque in 2 coats. Wonderful formula, especially for a light white-based color! Not too thick or thin. This is one of my favorites from this bunch.

China Glaze - Something Sweet + White Cap

Something Sweet 80932
I was looking for a pastel pink, and there are many around. After much researching, I decided on this one, because I like the collection it was launched in (Up & Away) and I like the soft warm baby-pink. Also read good reviews on the formula.

The color is just what I wanted, very warm soft pale pink, though it doesn't look as good with my skin tone as I would want to. However, the formula is not the greatest. I needed 3 coats for full coverage and it tends to get streaky and patchy, it doesn't level out as well so you need to apply this with a lot of care. I think it worked best using 1 thin layer to start with, let it dry well, then apply 2 more coats, use a more generous last coat so it will level out easier and applies a bit smoother.

I guess the efforts are worth it as the color is so sweet. I also wonder how this compares to the more recently launched Pink-ie promise (Avant Garden spring 2013). And it looks even sweeter with White Cap on top. Real life color slightly more blue-tones than shown in the picture. It's not so peachy colored.

Overall a nice color, okay-ish formula, but there might be similar colors out there with a better, more pigmented and buttery formula.

China Glaze - Sweet Hook + White Cap

Sweet Hook 80745
Sweet Hook is another color from the spring 2012 Elektropop collection. This might be my favorite of this bunch! The color is a very sweet pink-leaning lilac, I absolutely love it! I like it more without White Cap. Dires up very shiny by itself too!

The formula is amazing too, Thickness is just right, very smooth, 2 layers give full coverage and it levels out perfectly. Nothing bad to say about this! I am wearing this on my toes for the whole week already as well, wanna see? Ignore the chips, it went to a lot of scrubbing and housework already. =P

China Glaze - Sweet Hook + Seche Vite

Actually, this toetsie-picture is really color accurate! Taken with flash. Sigh, really love this color so much, and very flattering for my skin-tone.

End result:

China Glaze - pastels with White Cap

Like a rainbow unicorn, right? I'm still not sure whether I prefer with or without White Cap, it makes it a bit too sweet for me with the shimmer.. Picture taken with flash.

 Without White Cap:

China Glaze - L-R: Refresh-mint, Kinetic Candy,
Something Sweet, Lemon Fizz, Sweet Hook

The above picture was taken with flash, and is pretty color-accurate for all colors except lemon Fizz. Lemon is slightly lighter in real life.

And the winner is:
My 2 favorite colors (and also the best formula): Sweet Hook and Kinetic Candy.

China Glaze - Sweet Hook + Kinetic Candy

Which ones are your favorites? What pastel colors do you like?

China Glaze - White Cap

Hello, I'd like to show you White Cap, a glassflesk shimmer from the Anchors Away spring 2011 collection. And come on, what a cute name. It reminds me of little white mushrooms and little leprichauns. =x

I didn't like this collection too much, but I love the China Glaze glassflecks so White Cap got my attention. Would it turn any plain polish into a glassfleck!? Well, almost! because this is great for layering!

China Glaze - White Cap

White Cap 80970 - I am not sure if this fully qualifies for a glassfleck, but they sure look like it. The shimmers are floating in a semi-transparent milky formula. Application is easy and smooth. I have not used it often, but it is fun!

You can use it as a normal polish too, but I don't like the look much. The gold glow of it makes your nails look really yellow and gross. (My nails are already yellow and gross without it, so it's even worse xD) It is really much more suitable for layering over other colors, and I am pretty sure that's what China Glaze intended for this color.

The actual color is hard to determine, it depends on the light. In most lights it looks like a silver shimmer, but in the sun it turns gold, and under artificial light, it even turns to a multi-color pastel shimmer! Do you know how Snow Globe looks like? The color shift is similar to that, pastel like pearlescent twinkles.

Used as a top coat it gives your polish an almost pearl-like or frosty finish. It really shape-shifts depending on the light. A very fun polish to play around with.

China Glaze - White Cap

I took many pictures to show you what this color looks like, but it's so hard to capture! The above picture, made under natural light (shade) shows the pearlescent quality and the fine glassfleck shimmers. The flecks look silver while the overall glow is gold. It's magical!

You can also see the milky base well. Not to worry, it does not dull your base color!

China Glaze - White cap - Blurred out shot

I tried to photograph how it looks when it shifts to the fairy-like multi-colors, but it proof impossible to capture. Only the above shot, which is a horrible shot it inself, shows a slight sparkle of green and yellow. You'l have to take my word for it.

And this is how it looks like when worn layered over a base color, shown different colors:

China Glaze - White Cap on pastels

As soon as I have shots of White Cap on other, maybe darker colors, I'll update this post. I also should post a swatch of the color on natural nail. And I am sure this would look amazing on plain black creme, or gray. Once my current mani wears out, I'll update this post with more looks. <3

If you are curious about the pastel colors used in the above picture, please click here for a full review.

08-09-2013: Hi, quick update for you! I took some swatches with darker colors for your comparison. I quickly did these swatches a few days back, my friend wanted to borrow White Cap so quickly made swatches so I could pass my bottle to her. I don't have too many creme's, I chose those I thought would turn out nice.

The colors I used below to show you are: L-R: Fuchsia fanatic, Life is Rosy, Exotic encounters, Westside warrior and Call of the wild (all China Glaze colors).

China Glaze colors before adding White Cap

China Glaze - Dark cremes + White Cap

China Glaze - dark cremes + White Cap

I think my favorite combi's are Exotic Encounters (from the 2012 autumn Safari collection) and Westside Warrior (from the 2011 autumn Metro collection). Like a mermaid's tail, very pretty and I kept looking at them! The combi with Call of the wild somehow reminds me a little of Wagontrail, an oldie from the (was it 2005?) Rodeo collection. But it's a little dark for my liking.

I really disliked how it looks with Life is Rosy, very grandma hehe. if you are interested in a full review for Life is Rosy, you can click here, it's pretty cute by itself.

And the combi with Fuchsia Fanatic.. I came to the shocking discovery... This is exactly like the China Glaze glassfleck called Strawberry fields! I tested my friend, who loves Strawberry fields, and asked her if she liked my polish. She straight away said "That's Strawberry fields"! But it was Fuchsia Fanatic + White Cap. Well, maybe it'll give you a better idea of the kind of finish this polish will bring you. Below my thumb next to my bottle of Strawberry fields, sorry for the blur shot! I wanted to show the shimmer, but it wouldn't want to show well in a clear shot.

Nail = Fuchsia Fanatic + White Cap
Bottle = Strawberry Fields

Well, hope these extra shots with darker colors will give you a better idea of the diversity of looks you can create with this fun polish! Please excuse the horrible state my nails in, and the smudges on my cuticles. 

I didn't have a lot of time >.<

Do you like white Cap? Do you use it for layering or on your natural nail? What base colors do you like to use under White Cap?