Tuesday, February 9, 2010

China Glaze Up & Away, Part II of II

As promised, the second half of the China Glaze Up & Away collection.

First, a comparison between RBL Mismas and China Glaze Grape Pop.

RBL Mismas and China Glaze Grape Pop (from L to R: RBL, ChG, RBL, ChG)

RBL Mismas is, of course, Michelle Mismas' (of All Lacquered Up fame) creation for the RBL Blogger polish collection. I must have far too many polishes because I didn't think of these as really dupey at all. Granted, they are both vibrant purple cremes: Grape Pop is more blue-leaning while Mismas is more red-leaning. Application-wise, Mismas applied better and had a glossier finish (and I kept on getting cuticle drag with Grape Pop). Still, Grape Pop was about $3 and Mismas is about six times that much without being six times better. Two coats each.

China Glaze Peachy Keen
This was actually a bit neon-like against my skin: is there such thing as a neon pastel? Probably not. Two coats, a little more like salmon than peach, imo. (Mmm, salmon. Mmm, peach. I must be hungry...) This was an NOTD on the second day of wear. Unfortunately, chipped during Day 1. Oh well.

China Glaze Sugar High
This is slightly more towards a neon pink than the photo shows. Really gorgeous basic pink creme (and I don't really like pinks). It was one of the ones that applied the best for me: two coats, very smooth. Not as glossy a finish as some of the others but that's to be expected from colors that lean a bit neon.

China Glaze Flyin' High
Another polish that applied very well. This is a beautiful cyan creme. It's very bright against my skin and I think it'd make an awesome pedicure polish with pink polka dots. :)

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover

Right, not exactly the color of clover (and it's not as blue IRL either). I guess if shamrock green wanted to be a neon, it might look a bit like this. Another wonderful polish. This is a collection where I wanted the pastels to be much better in application and but I gotta say, the slightly more neon colors were a bit easier for me.

China Glaze Happy Go Lucky
I almost forgot to swatch this one! I'm not sure about this medium yellow: it's nice and pigmented but it was less-than-easy-breezy to control the application. I think the trick with this one is thin coats: three at most. The above shows two but I applied it a bit too thickly.

I'm so exhausted (as usual). I have to lead a discussion for a social psych class that I absolutely don't know what to do with -- it's so on different plane and planet from what I study -- and I get so unreasonably nervous before leading discussions. But tonight, my SO and I are going to his future advisor's house to celebrate Chinese New Year (early) with her family and her other graduate student. (I actually introduced my SO to his advisor after I took a class with her. It didn't take long to realize that their interests were a perfect match.) That should be fun for me and probably slightly anxiety-inducing for him. (Although I don't know why! He's made a delicious baklava and no one can be annoyed with someone who brings homemade baklava to a dinner.) Anyway, I have a long day ahead of me, mostly filled with reading and hopefully finishing my first questionnaire for my second-year project.