China Glaze Spring Preview: Rainbow of Hope

I have some new charity collection news for you today. China Glaze will be re-releasing some of their very popular polishes in a new collection called Rainbow of Hope. China Glaze will donate 18% of sales of Rainbow of Hope to cancer research organizations hand-picked by China Glaze employees. Rainbow of Hope will be shipping in May 2010.

The colors for the Rainbow of Hope collection are:

Sexy Lady- pink
Liquid Leather- black
Recycle- gray
White on White- white
Outtabounds- emerald
Four Leaf Clover- kelly green
Custom Kicks- teal
Platinum Pearl- pearl
Unplugged- brown
Long Kiss- burgundy
Coconut Kiss- purple
Spontaneous- orchid/violet
Bahamian Escape- light blue
Secret Peri-wink-le- periwinkle blue
Rainstorm- blue
Frostbite- royal blue
Happy Go Lucky- yellow
Peachy Keen- peach
Breakin’- orange
Paint the Town Red- red

I have 8 of these colors to show you today- Recycle, Four Leaf Clover, Unplugged, Bahamian Escape, Secret Peri-wink-le, Frostbite, Happy Go Lucky, and Peachy Keen. Some of these colors (Bahamian Escape and Frostbite) are in my top ten favorite polishes ever!!! The polishes I have reviewed before, I’m just going to provide a link to my previous review. I don’t want to bore you with the details if you've already read them!!

Bahamian Escape, two coats, no flash

First up, one of my personal favorites, Bahamian Escape. Bahamian Escape is a gorgeous sky blue. Like the sky in super photo-shopped pictures, LOL. This mani just needs some puffy clouds and we’re set. This is a masterful formula, just perfect. This is two coats and it’s totally streak-free. This is what I had hoped for in the Up and Away collection. Perfection. By the way, that air bubble you see came from my Seche Vite, not Bahamian Escape. I am running low on Seche, so the application is getting to be less than perfect.

China Glaze Frostbite, three coats, with flash

Next up, one you've seen, Frostbite.

From Up and Away, Four Leaf Clover, Peachy Keen, Happy Go Lucky.

Four Leaf Clover, two coats, with flash

Peachy Keen, three coats, no flash

Happy Go Lucky, three coats, with flash

Recycle, two coats, with flash

Recycle is another really great color. It’s a medium gray crème with a bit of a blue-ish tint. In low lights, I would call this “slate” gray. This is two coats, no streaks, great formula again. See a comparison of this and Essie Chinchilly here.

Secret Peri-wink-le, three coats, no flash

Secret Per-wink-le was very hard to photograph (hence the weird angled pic and blurriness). However, it is a gorgeous color in person! It's a beautiful purple-y blue color, maybe more purple than you would imagine periwinkle would be. The color on the blurriest nails in the picture (the two on the right) is more accurate. See how it's more purple? This is three coats. It was even and opaque in two, but on camera I thought it might look better with three. This is a great color for spring and it's less streaky than some other spring polishes I've seen.

Unplugged, two coats, no flash

Finally we have Unplugged. Unplugged is a dark brown-red shimmer. In low lights, this kind of looks like mud. I wore it on my toes once, and you really couldn't see the shimmer, so it was very murky-looking. On the nails though, it’s rather pretty, as long as you know that it is very dark and the shimmer doesn't show up much in low lights. This is two coats. I took one picture with flash so you could see the shimmer.

Unplugged, two coats, with flash

Now, I know some people are not fans of the whole nail polish for charity thing. 18% of sales is not really a big contribution when you could just go donate to cancer research yourself. However, I have had a bunch of these polishes on my list for awhile now (Outtabounds, Custom Kicks, Coconut Kiss, Rainstorm, and Breakin’). So, if I was going to buy them anyway, I think it’s great that now I can buy them and some of my money goes to a good cause! I will definitely be purchasing those five polishes (and maybe more!) when Rainbow of Hope is released in May!

Also on the way from China Glaze is the Summer 2010 collection, Poolside. Poolside is a collection of six new neon polishes. EK and I are flipping out over these and you can bet we will have pictures of all of them as soon as we can get our glittery little paws on them!!!

Polish of the Week: Oops... It's Not Green...

China Glaze Ginger, two coats, with flash

Soooo yesterday I promised you a green Polish of the Week. I originally had a green polish in mind, but I really haven't felt like wearing green polish all week (OMG what's wrong with me?). I think maybe because I'm trying to use some more winter-y colors before spring really hits. So the green will be Polish of the Week next week!

This week, we have a warm and cozy polish color, China Glaze Ginger. Ginger is part of the 50 Specialty Colors collection (see other 50 Specialty Colors here and here) and is a beautiful glitter polish. The base color is a coppery bronze metallic, just the color of a new penny. There are two different types of silver glitter in the polish- a whole bunch of very find silver glitter pieces and a smattering of medium-sized holo glitter pieces. With our love of glitter, Ginger is an automatic winner!

China Glaze Ginger, two coats, with flash

This picture is more color accurate, less red than the first picture.

Sadly, right after taking these pictures, I had one of those "oh my mani is definitely dry" moments when you find out that your mani is definitely NOT dry. But at least I took the pictures first!

Ginger is a year round color, but I am really loving it right now for that warm feeling. It's been raining here for what seems like 3 days straight, so I could use some penny-colored glitteriness in my life!!!

China Glaze Ginger and other China Glaze polishes are available online at 8ty8Beauty.

Comparison Series: Rurples

Here's a quick and dirty comparison shot of the only two red-based purples I own: Nars Purple Rain and OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not. Obviously, they do not look alike. OPI LMLMN is much lighter and more red than Purple Rain. No dupes here!!

Left to right: OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not, Nars Purple Rain, OPI Louvre Me, Louvre Me Not, Nars Purple Rain

Coming up tomorrow: Polish of the Week! It's GREEN!!
Later in the week: A preview of a China Glaze collection coming out in May.

New for Spring: Nars Purple Rain

Nars Purple Rain, two coats, with flash

Clearly I should have taken these pictures yesterday, as today there is no natural light and it is sleeting (still lovin CT). So this post features some of my super blurry, yet reasonably color accurate pictures LOL. I took pictures with flash (see above) to show the shimmer, but I'd hate for you to walk away thinking that the polish really looks like it does in the flash pics.

Nars Purple Rain, two coats, no flash. This is how the polish looks in most artificial lights.

Nars Purple Rain is a red-based dark vampy purple. I love this color because I think we have a lot of blue-based purples (a.k.a. "blurple") in the polish world, so this is a bit different (Rurple? See what I did there?!). In bright lights, it reminds me of a red grape. In most lights though, it's a pretty dark vampy color, but definitely not black. It always has that purple cast to it, so that's another plus about this polish. I really love that a major make-up company like Nars is calling this a spring color. I usually kind of skip spring polish colors and go directly to summer brights. I feel like Francois is saying "It's OK to skip the pale pinks, wear Rurple this spring!" LOL.

Nars Purple Rain, two coats, no flash (cloudy daylight).

This was my first foray into Nars polish, and I'm pretty pleased. The formula is thick, but not in a bad way. Drying time is pretty decent, no long wait here. I noticed that this polish could be opaque in one coat if you are skilled at application. Some of my nails were evenly covered in one coat. I really wasn't trying for one coat either, it kind of never occurred to me that I could get this color even in one coat. The large, square cap of the bottle could be a pain, but it's coated in some kind of non-slip stuff, so it's easy to grip. I would definitely buy Nars polish again (and I will if they ever re-release Zulu!!!!). The price tag is a bit high, but for unique colors, great formula and luxurious packaging, I don't mind!!

This is really my kind of polish. I always feel like darks are SO flattering on my pale skin. Purple is my favorite color too, so it's pretty much a guaranteed win for Purple Rain!

Nars Purple Rain and other Nars polish are available online at Nars and at Sephora stores.

I'm Baaaaaaaaacccckkkk!

Hey lacquer lovers, EC's back from Ireland!!!! I had a pretty good trip, I did OK at the competition despite one judge attempting to ruin my life, and I really missed this blog!!

I don't have a real post for you today, as my nails are recovering from the trip. Nasty airport soap + dry airplane air= SUPER dry hands and cuticles. I need to use my One Minute Manicure today and lots of hand cream!!!

Tomorrow, I'll have a post about Nars' spring polish- Purple Rain! I tried to find Lancome's Europe-only polish release, Pop Petrol (a greeeeen!!!!) in the airport, but no such luck. EK and I have a layover in Heathrow next month though, so we'll look again there!

Nail of the Day: South Beach Re-freshmint

For my last China Glaze Up and Away Nail of the Day (last for awhile anyway), I had to do a look with Re-freshmint. This is a super subtle look, but extremely pretty in person!!!

For this look, I did three coats of Re-freshmint with two coats of Zoya South Beach Ice on top (see South Beach Ice alone here).

Three coats Re-freshmint, two coats Zoya South Beach Ice, with flash

On camera, South Beach Ice just looks like a layer of shimmer, but in person, you can see that it really deepens and adds to the color of Re-freshmint. These two polishes together make one of my favorite looks for Spring 2010. If you own both of these polishes, try this out immediately. If you only own one of these, buy the other one now!! If a polish company came out with a polish that looked like this, I guarantee there would be a stampede for it!!!

Three coats Re-freshmint, two coats South Beach Ice, with flash

China Glaze Up and Away is available online at 8ty8Beauty and in an Ulta store near you. Zoya South Beach Ice is available online at Art of Beauty.

Nail of the Day: Fizz Nova

The next China Glaze Up and Away polish that I wanted to jazz up is Lemon Fizz. I like the color of Lemon Fizz by itself, it's nice and pretty for spring. But when you want something a bit more fun and unexpected, try adding a silver glitter top coat, like China Glaze Nova!

Three coats Lemon Fizz, One coat Nova, with flash

I think that most people would do gold glitter with yellow, so the silver is a little bit different. The pale yellow with the holo pieces in Nova looks really good. I like this combo a lot!

Three coats Lemon Fizz, One coat Nova, with flash

China Glaze Up and Away is available online at 8ty8Beauty. China Glaze Nova is also available at 8ty8Beauty.

Nail of the Day: Up and Away Purples

I have a few posts this week where I take the China Glaze Up and Away polishes and make them more exciting (LOL)!!

Before I get into today's NOTD, I have a quick announcement. I am going to Ireland this week for a big dance competition called the All-Ireland Championships. So, any posts this week are scheduled posts. EK will be answering comments whenever she can, but if it seems a little slow around here, that's why. The blog will return to normal when I come home Sunday night. Next week, I'll have a few new things to show you! Now, back to our regularly scheduled program.

Today's NOTD features the two purple polishes from China Glaze Up and Away, Grape Pop and Light as Air.

Three coats Light as Air, Tip with Grape Pop, with flash

I did three coats of Light as Air, followed by my favorite tip look, the inverted V. This tip look works out best when you wipe off the flat wide part of the polish brush on both sides. Do not wipe off the sides of the brush. Then, use the side of the brush to make one stroke of polish from the side of your nail to the middle at the top. Do the same on the other side. Voila! Easy, cool-looking V-shaped tip!

Three coats Light as Air, Tip with Grape Pop, with flash

The China Glaze Up and Away collection is available online at 8ty8Beauty or in an Ulta store near you.

Valentine's Day Nail Fail

Three coats Color Club Ghost of Chance, with Essie Pama tips, with flash

I wanted to do something creative and fun for my Valentine's Day manicure. I started off with three coats of the Color Club white from the Halloween set, Ghost of Chance. Then I did my favorite kind of tip, the inverted V, using Essie Pama. This kind of tip is very easy to do free-hand. You just start on one side of your nail and make a line diagonally upwards to the middle of your nail, and then repeat on the other side. With just two strokes of your brush, you have this cool looking tip. So far so good, I liked this look.

Three coats Color Club Ghost of Chance, Essie Pama tips, one coat Color Club Yule Love It!, with flash

I should have left the manicure alone after the Essie Pama tips. But, "What's a festive mani without glitter?", I said to myself. So I did a halfmoon mani with Color Club Yule Love It! (See Yule Love It! by itself) Obviously, this is UGLY. We have a lot going on- tips, halfmoon, glitter, etc. I also must have been half asleep putting the stickers on for the halfmoons because some of them are all crooked and weird. This is a FAIL.

FAIL

After realizing that this mani was best left as an idea in my head, I covered the whole nail with Color Club Yule Love It!. Unfortunately, this is still ugly because there is white showing through and the tips look ugly underneath the glitter. LOL. So basically, this mani stinks. I am removing it and just doing a nice couple of coats of Color Club Yule Love It!. It's a pretty pinky-red glitter and that is just fine for me this Valentine's Day!

More FAIL!

Happy Valentine's Day everyone!!! I hope your Vday nail look turned out better than mine LOL!!!! Any big plans for the day? I'm not big on Valentine's Day, so my plans are to wear the MAC make-up I bought yesterday (Spring Color Forecast!!!!) and watch Glee with the boy.

The Color Club Halloween mini set is still available online at Head2Toe Beauty. Both the Halloween and Christmas sets are still available at a Beauty Plus Salon near you (I just saw them for $7.99 last weekend).

How to Remove the Polish of the Week

Absolutely Alice, 3 coats, with flash

So I love the polish of the week, OPI Absolutely Alice. Most of you love this polish too! However, we all HATE removing glitter polish.

Fortunately, I came across this EXCELLENT post by fellow nail blogger Lacquer Laine that solves all of our glitter removal problems. Read her post NOW!!

Polish of the Week: OPI Absolutely Alice

Absolutely Alice, 3 coats, with flash

I thought I'd start the post right off with a gorgeous picture. OPI Absolutely Alice is blue and gold glitter suspended in a clear base. However, there is SO much blue glitter, it almost appears to be a blue base once you get a few coats on the nail. This polish is just gorgeous. I would venture to say that this is the best polish of 2010 thus far. I guess if you hate blue polish or glitter polish, this would not agree with you, but I LOVE glitter and I LOVE blue, so there you have it.

Absolutely Alice, 3 coats, no flash

One caveat- Shown is 3 coats. 3 very thick coats. I was very excited to put this polish on and take pictures for the blog, so I didn't want to take the time to do thin coats. However, one day later, I have massive chipping and two nails have completely lifted off and vanished. So, my advice to you- do about five THIN coats. You will be much happier than I am right now LOL.

Absolutely Alice, 3 coats, no flash

You know I had to mattify it! I love it mattified because the gold flecks really stand out.

Absolutely Alice, 3 coats, 1 coat KnockOut Cosmetics Flatte Top, no flash

Now if we could have a moment of silence for EK's brand new bottle of Absolutely Alice. A stupid textbook pushed AA off of EK's desk, throwing it to the floor to meet it's untimely death. Obviously, this polish will have to be replaced ASAP.

So my question to you guys is: do you know of a polish that is this exact shade of blue, but in a different finish (i.e. shimmer, metallic, maybe even creme)? If so, let me know, because I am crazy about this color blue!!!

OPI Absolutely Alice is available in an Ulta store near you. Knockout Cosmetics Flatte Top is available at Knockout Cosmetics.

China Glaze Up and Away GIVEAWAY WINNER!!!!

Four Leaf Clover, two coats, with flash

And the winner of the bottle of China Glaze Four Leaf Clover is...............

Cara!!!!!

Congratulations Cara!

A huge thank you to everyone who entered and to all of our readers and followers. There will be another contest coming up in about 2 weeks or so, so stay tuned!!! (If I can locate the prize I want to give away, it's going to be HUGE!!!)

Review: One Minute Manicure Spa Treatment Moisture Scrub

Here's a fact you need to know: My name is Erin and I have an addiction to exfoliating scrubs.

LOL, seriously though, I LOVE scrubs. I have several different kinds of scrubs for my face, body, feet, and hands. So, it's no surprise that when I spotted One Minute Manicure Spa Treatment Moisture Scrub in Sally Beauty Supply, I snapped it right up. Better yet, EK and I each nabbed one of these in the small 2oz. size on sale for something like $2.99! I'm not sure if Sally still has the small size, but they definitely have the larger 10oz. size.

This is the best hand scrub I have tried so far. It is super moisturizing, I don't even feel the need for hand cream for hours after using it. Rubbing it around your cuticles really gets rid of dead skin and smooths the cuticles. I took a picture of my nails after using this because my hands looked so glowy! In about a minute, the appearance of my hands and nails improved dramatically. This scrub is perfect for those days when you just feel like your cuticles are just so dry and gross.

Glowy skin and nails after One Minute Manicure

One Minute Manicure can also be used on your feet and body. I am definitely going to try it on my feet, I bet it will work wonders! It might be a bit too oily for my body, and I have about 7 other scrubs to use on my body anyway LOL. The Fresh Pomegranate smell is seriously delicious! It smells so juicy and fresh, it made my mouth water! One Minute Manicure also comes in Blackberry Vanilla and Original Peppermint. The 10oz. size is $14.99 ($13.99 with a Sally card), which may sound like a lot, but I think it's worth it. When my 2oz. size runs out, I'll be running into Sally to get the 10oz. size!

One Minute Manicure Spa Treatment Moisture Scrub is available at your local Sally Beauty Supply, or online at Sally Beauty.

You still have a few hours to enter the Up and Away GIVEAWAY!

Nail of the Day: Snow Day Edition

Here in beautiful Connecticut, we have a raging snowstorm, nicknamed "Snowmageddon" by some TV reporters. So no one went to work today and I'm sitting at home doing my nails (what else do you do on a snow day?). I decided to try my hand at a halfmoon mani, using the snow-inspired colors China Glaze Frostbite and OPI Alpine Snow.

For this look, I started with two coats of OPI Alpine Snow. Then, I cut a round sticker (you can use any small round stickers or even those hole reinforcing stickers) in half and stuck it onto the bottom part of my nail. I am very impatient, so I did not wait enough time before applying these stickers. Definitely wait until your base color is COMPLETELY dry before applying the stickers to your nails.

Next, I added two coats of China Glaze Frostbite. I painted right over the edge of the sticker to make sure I covered all of the nail not protected by the sticker. When these two coats were completely dry, I slowly removed the stickers.

Two coats China Glaze Frostbite over two coats Alpine Snow, with flash

You can see that my half moons are a bit messy- that is because I didn't wait long enough for Alpine Snow to dry.

Now this might be enough for some people, but I wanted to add something extra. Namely, a coat of China Glaze Nova to make this mani look like a Snow Globe!!

one coat China Glaze Nova over two coats China Glaze Frostbite over two coats OPI Alpine Snow, no flash

I am really feeling this look today. I think it would look cool with silver as the base color as well!

one coat China Glaze Nova over two coats China Glaze Frostbite over two coats Alpine Snow, with flash

China Glaze Frostbite and Nova can be purchased online at 8ty8 Beauty.

Today is your last day to enter our China Glaze Up and Away GIVEAWAY!!!!

Frozen Grape Pop

When we didn't have 9 different polishes gracing our nails on Saturday, we were messing around with fun polish combinations, like "Frozen Grape Pop". Frozen Grape Pop is two coats of China Glaze Grape Pop with one coat of Zoya Vegas Freeze on top. See Grape Pop by itself here and Vegas Freeze by itself here. The mani is a bit messy because we were really just fooling around and then decided to take pictures afterwards, but the color combo is very cool!

Two coats China Glaze Grape Pop with one coat of Zoya Vegas Freeze, with flash

This combo looks even cooler with a matte top coat!!!!

Two coats China Glaze Grape Pop with one coat of Zoya Vegas Freeze plus one coat KnockOut Cosmetics Flatte Top, with flash

Stay tuned for more polish combinations involving the China Glaze Up and Away collection. And you still have time to enter our Up and Away GIVEAWAY!!!

China Glaze Grape Pop is available online at 8ty8 Beauty. Zoya Vegas Freeze is available online at Art Of Beauty. KnockOut Cosmetics Flatte Top is available online at KnockOut Cosmetics.

How EC and EK Do Saturday!

left side (top to bottom): China Glaze Sexy Silhouette w/ 1 coat CG Cleopatra, China Glaze Cleopatra, Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar, OPI Designer Series Extravagance; right side (top to bottom): OPI My Private Jet, China Glaze Sexy Silhouette w/ 1 coat of Sally Girl glitter, China Glaze Twenty Four K, China Glaze Reggae to Riches, China Glaze Sexy in the City

EK and I were hanging out yesterday, having a fun Saturday afternoon. We thought we'd take some pictures to show you how we like to spend our Saturdays. First of all, "hanging out" with us means "buying polish at Sally, Ulta, and the mall".
Our first stop was Sally Beauty Supply, where we purchased several China Glaze polishes:

Reggae to Riches
Sexy Silhouette
Sexy in the City
Twenty-Four K
Cleopatra

and also a 99 cent Sally Girl gold glitter polish. We took these treasures back to my house to test them out.

left to right: OPI Designer Series Extravagance, Sephora by OPI Leaf Him at the Altar, China Glaze Cleopatra, China Glaze Sexy Silhouette w/ 1 coat Cleopatra, 1 coat Sexy Silhouette w/ 1 coat Sally Girl glitter, China Glaze Twenty Four K, China Glaze Reggae to Riches, China Glaze Sexy in The City

If you'd like full swatches of any of the above colors, leave a comment or shoot us an email!

While we were testing, we happened to notice that my dining table had 27 nail polishes scattered about on the table. The sad thing is, the 27 polishes were only the 6 we bought at Sally, whatever polish happened to be in EK's purse, and whatever polish happened to be in my polish basket on the table. My polish basket usually only contains polish my mom and I are currently wearing, or plan to wear next. You know you have a problem when 27 polishes are in your purse/on your table on a normal, average day. LOL. Please note the cuticle butter, various hand creams, tanner and Irish Dancing magazine.

We have problems

After this adventure at my house, we proceeded on to Beauty Plus Salon in the mall, where I bought Color Club Wild at Heart, and EK bought OPI Mad as a Hatter and Absolutely Alice!!! (LOVE Absolutely Alice!!!!!!!!!)

On the way back to EK's house, we "accidentally" stumbled into Ulta, where I purchased 8 of their 49 cent chocolate hand creams (yes, 8) and Absolutely Alice because I was jealous of EK LOLOL.

So, later in the week, you can expect pictures of Absolutely Alice, which is probably going to be Polish of the Week. And eventually, we'll get some pictures of Mad as a Hatter as well.

OH, we also looked at OPI Hong Kong collection and passed on the whole thing for the moment. I'll probably pick up Jade is the New Black and Meet Me at the Star Ferry eventually, but the rest of it just bored me. I think Up and Away was enough cremes to last me awhile. That said, I LOVED the display with the little boat! I'd like to just buy the display LOL. Are you interested in any Hong Kong polishes?

There's still time to enter the Up and Away GIVEAWAY!!

Polish of the Week: OPI My Private Jet

OPI My Private Jet, two coats, with flash

After the sweetness and light of the China Glaze Up and Away collection, I needed something a bit more "me". So I picked one of my all-time favorite polishes for Polish of the Week- OPI My Private Jet.

I know there are two versions of this, I believe I have the less cool version. But still, I LOVE THIS POLISH!!! If you don't own this, what are you waiting for??? Get it now!!! Even the less cool version is extremely cool!

OPI My Private Jet, two coats plus one coat Knockout Cosmetics Flatte Top, no flash

A couple days after doing this mani, I decided to mattify it. I like to mattify polish after wearing it for a bit, to change up the look. I love this one mattified, it looks kind of like an OPI suede. They should totally have done MPJ suede. When MPJ is shiny, it looks like the holo glitter is alive and moving. Mattified, it's like the glitter has been frozen in ice, LOVE IT!

The matte top coat I used is KnockOut Cosmetics' Flatte Top. Flatte Top and other KnockOut Cosmetics matte polishes can be purchased online at KnockOut Cosmetics. A cheaper (yet excellent!) matte top coat alternative is China Glaze Matte Magic, available online at Head2Toe Beauty.

Don't forget to enter our China Glaze Up and Away GIVEAWAY!!!!!

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!!!!!