February 4, 2010

China Glaze Up and Away Part Three

Here we are with the third and final part of the China Glaze Spring 2010 Up and Away collection. Featured in this post are Flying High, Heli-Yum, High Hopes and Re-freshmint. This post has some serious winners in it. So we'll get right to it!

Heli-Yum, two coats, with flash

First up is my favorite of this bunch, and a tie for my favorite of the collection (with Four Leaf Clover), Heli-Yum!! Heli-Yum is a delicious raspberry pink jelly that makes me think of Jolly Ranchers or some other kind of candy. This is one of those polishes that makes me hungry. This is definitely a jelly finish and so it is a tad translucent, but it's opaque enough after three coats. Heli-Yum applied evenly and streak-free. I don't have any comparisons for this beauty. I would say the actual color is a little deeper pink than this picture, maybe tad more red.

Flying High, two coats, with flash

Next up is another winner, Flying High. Flying High is this great dusty teal/aqua creme. This was opaque in two coats and application was lovely. I compared this to China Glaze Shower Together and a 99 cent polish I bought at Sally Beauty. Shower Together is too dark and less aqua. The 99 cent Sally Girl polish is pretty close actually. It's a bit darker, but has the same dusty feeling. That polish has no name on the bottle, but there were only two blues in the display- this dusty aqua and a light sky blue. If you're really interested in the 99 cent polish, shoot me an email and I can provide some more detail so you can find it.
I absolutely love Flying High! Just gorgeous and I'm glad the formula was good on this one.

left to right: Shower Together, Flying High, 99 cent Sally Girl polish, Flying High

High Hopes, two coats, with flash

High Hopes is a pretty orange-y coral creme. I like this kind of color a lot for summer make-up, nails included. I compared this to OPI Mod-ern Girl, which is more of a jelly finish than a creme. Mod-ern Girl needed three coats to High Hopes' two and is more of an orange-y coral, whereas High Hopes has more pink. High Hopes isn't exactly a unique and ground-breaking polish, but it's still very pretty and nice to have for spring and summer.

left to right: High Hopes, Mod-ern Girl, High Hopes, Mod-ern Girl

Re-freshmint, three coats, with flash

Last, but not least, is one I'm sure you've been waiting for- Re-freshmint! Re-freshmint keeps the mint green nail trend going, but is different than other mint greens I own. I like to think of this one as spearmint. You know how spearmint gum is always in a yellow-green package and wintergreen is in a blue package? Well Re-freshmint is spearmint and Essie Mint Candy Apple is wintergreen. Re-freshmint has a yellow-y green touch to it, while MCA is more of a blue-green mint. I did three coats of Re-freshmint and the first two coats were a little streaky, but less streaky than Mint Candy Apple, and by the third coat, it looked nice and even. Mint green is not flattering to my skin, but man, I love this color! If you like the mint trend, you should pick up Re-freshmint! If I had to choose between Mint Candy Apple and Re-freshmint, I'd pick Re-freshmint. (The picture below is so dark because I couldn't get the difference between MCA and Re-freshmint to show up on camera except in this weird dark picture. The difference is more visible in person)

left to right: Re-freshmint, Mint Candy Apple, Re-freshmint, Mint Candy Apple

Up and Away Wrap-up

Must-haves: Grape Pop, Four Leaf Clover, Heli-Yum, Re-freshmint

Really Nice to Have: Flying High, Peachy Keen, Something Sweet

Eh, pick these up if you have some extra cash: Lemon Fizz

Skip or buy the dupes: Happy Go Lucky, Sugar High, Light as Air

Obviously, my wrap-up is based on my personal tastes and my experience with the formula. It's always possible that I got a few bad bottles here, you never know. Overall, I love the theme and color choices in this collection, and there are some serious winners here. Now that you've seen all the colors, how are you feeling about China Glaze Up and Away?

China Glaze Up and Away is available online at 8ty8 Beauty.

Don't forget to enter our Up and Away giveaway!!!!!

5 comments:

Never Enough Nails said...

I think I kind of saved some of the best ones for the last post, gildedangel! Except for Grape Pop and Four Leaf Clover, of course!

Jamie (the amazing) said...

I agree... they are really nice colors for the up coming spring... can't wait to wear them!

Never Enough Nails said...

Which one is your favorite Jamie? It's hard for me to pick between Grape Pop, Four Leaf Clover and Heli-Yum!

Unknown said...

i love this collection !!

Never Enough Nails said...

Lily Nail, I agree! I'm not a big creme fan, but these are such nice colors!!!