I have been working on re-doing a lot of my swatches lately. I'll admit it, some of my pictures are really bad! Broken nails, fingers at bizarre angles, bad lighting, lots of glare... Some of the worst photos I've ever taken were of the China Glaze Bahama Blues collection. This collection is so beautiful, it deserves to have better swatches. So, here we are, the first post in a series of past collections revisited.
In my original review, I complained loudly about the thick, stringy formula of these. My opinion of the formula hasn't changed, but I am slightly more forgiving of the bad consistency of the polishes because the colors in this collection are so awesome.
These polishes have "three free syndrome": thick yet runny, watery yet stringy, globby and weird and hard to control. This can be remedied with a few drops of Seche Restore, but I prefer not to thin polishes that are new just out of principle.
So, with the weird formula out of the way, let's have a second look at the colors. They rock.
Bahamian Escape. A bright sky blue creme. Looking back, it seems like this color got the ball rolling on the sky-blue creme trend we've been seeing lately. Super cheerful and perfect for any time of year.
Bermuda Breakaway. A rich medium blue creme. One of my favorite blue cremes. It has a similar feeling to OPI Dating A Royal, but it's darker and more opaque. It's perfect for layering and Konad designs.
Blue Island Iced Tea. A light blue with heavy glass fleck shimmer that gives the polish an almost foil-like finish. Isn't this spectacular? I'd call it a new classic. This color is unbelievably pretty and it's going to be a polish lover's favorite for a long time.
Blue Paradise. A medium blue pearl. This is in between frost, metallic and pearl and leans more to the pearl side than the metallic side but is still reflective like a metallic. Not my favorite of the collection, but not a bad polish. You have to be careful of brushstrokes with this one.
Calypso Blue. A dark, rich blue creme. It's lighter and more noticeably blue than a traditional navy blue. This is another favorite of mine. The thing I love the most about this color is that it is a very dark blue that actually looks blue and not black. Be prepared for Smurf-fingers when removing this!
Caribbean Blue. A bright nearly-neon blue with gorgeous glass-fleck shimmer. Wow. I mean, what else can I say? Just WOW. This color kicks serious ass. It's bright, it's blue, it's sparkly, what more could a blue-lover want? I just wish the formula was less of a hassle to use, otherwise I'd be wearing this all the time!
Aren't these colors just to die for? One of the best collections of all time. A great variety of blues in varying finishes and intensities. You have all your bases covered here. I have to take points off for the super-long drying time and the globby three-free formula, but otherwise I love it.
And, in my humble opinion, there's not a person out there that can't wear blue. I think blue is one of the most flattering colors for any skin tone. It just looks awesome on everyone, even a super pale girl with red lobster claw hands like me!
Oooh, they're so pretty! I now announce that I have a crush on blues 'Amen' :P
ReplyDeleteI love, love, love calypso blue. Sidenote: I wore on Super Tuesday a.k.a. Nov. 4th. It was a mess as I was taking it off, that is my only complaint. Nice job capturing the colors.
ReplyDeleteCaribbean Blue is OMG gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteHi, I love this blog!
ReplyDeleteI keep seeing the term "three-free" around and now I finally understand it. How did that phrase come to mean watery-but-stringy? I am very curious!
Sanna, yayyy me too!
ReplyDeleteDenny, oh yeah, blue stains everywhere, what a nightmare! Worth it, though haha
Phyrra, isn't it? *sigh* Love.
Rebecca, "Three free" or "Big three free" means that the polish doesn't contain toluene, formaldehyde or DBP. When companies started changing their formulas to be three free, they started sucking. Polishes containing the big three used to be smooth and thin and three-free polishes tend to be thick, globby and hard to apply. :)
I used Calypso Blue once, and then sent it to Zoya for the swap. I never wanted to endure that removal again. It is a nice color, but for me it wasn't worth it.
ReplyDeleteoh scrangie, first i always love your swatches (you're awesome!) but secondly, your quote about "lobster claw hands" had me cracking up... i couldn't get zoidberg out of my head from futurama... http://images.google.com/images?hl=en&client=firefox-a&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&hs=ktp&ei=KwbDSYmcK6CSsQP0-pX7Bg&resnum=1&q=zoidberg&um=1&ie=UTF-8&ei=LQbDSfORO5nMsAO1l6n3Bg&sa=X&oi=image_result_group&resnum=5&ct=title although i'm sure your hands are GORGEOUS! (i mean, you have such envious nails, I can't see those on anything else but perfection!) :)
ReplyDeleteI bought Bahamian Escape and Blue Island Ice Tea on Monday. I'll come back to buy more! These are gorgeous. I'm not too worried about smurf fingers since my nails are already yellow. At least it's not a hazard!
ReplyDeleteScrangie, thanks for explaining the three-free term! I KNEW it must make material sense and I just couldn't figure it out. I'm glad to know!
ReplyDeleteI love Carribean Blue too. So pretty. This makes me want to wear it again :)
ReplyDeleteAre these still widely available? They look sooo gorgeous!
ReplyDeletehey scrangie, new to your blog and recently obsessed with polish thanks to all the nail bloggers.
ReplyDeletewhat do you think of "no chip manicures" or "UV gel nails"... and fake nails in general. wanted opinions on fake/enhanced nails from nail experts.
also what's your fave base coat? i apologize if this's been answered somewhere but i can't find your fave nail products.
Blue Island Ice tea and Carribean blue are very beautiful!
ReplyDeleteCalypso Blue is just perfect! Another deep blue I love is Precision After Ater Party.
ReplyDeleteI bought the whole collection when it first came out. I always love your photos. I think you are too hard on yourself. They all look beautiful on you. Sadly I haven't worn a one. I have so many others to try!
ReplyDeleteI've got Caribbean Blue ... love the color, hate the formula. :)
ReplyDeleteGorgeous nails, St. Scrangie. I dig the blues. You don't see them out much, tho. Kept secret and it's a shame. Keep up the great work. Gorgeous!
ReplyDeleteScott
I am a lover of all colours but feel that light blue is something that just won't work on me. But with this post, I think if I were ever to change my mind about light blue for me, you would be the cause!
ReplyDeleteThank you Scrangie for all your brilliant swatches!
I loved this collection! China Glaze hit the nail on the head with this one. They are all such gorgeous blues.
ReplyDeleteI have been debating this set for a month before you did this ... it just sent me over the edge. I grabbed this set and the new Summer Days set just because of you :D
ReplyDeleteThanks ... off to find your pics of the Rodeo Diva collection so I can get talked into those too ... I already got Wagon Trail because of your blog.
I`m not a blue-lover but they look nice...
ReplyDeleteDee, hahah, oh no! I hope you got something good in return :)
ReplyDeleteMs. Lady, LMAO!!!! Hahahaha, Zoidberg!!!! Thank you, that made my day :D <3
Anonymous, I think you'll fall in love :D
Rebecca, you're very welcome :)
Pixie, I bet it looks amazing on your incredibly gorgeous nails :)
Jackie, yes, they are! I think they're only six or seven months old so they should be around for a very long time :)
Suz, thank you! :D I do like fake nails, but I'm not a fan of gel nails. I prefer acrylic because you won't ruin your nails trying to remove them :) I have done a couple posts about fake nails and I will do more in the future :) Also, my favorite base coat is Qtica Natural Nail Growth Stimulator.
Alexlyndra, I agree :)
Gea, ooh, I will have to look at the Precision, I love blues!
Lucy, thank you so much :) I love wearing these but I hate removing them!
Faith, agreed :)
Scott, hahaha, thank you so much!! :D
Penny, awwwe, thank you! I think there's a shade of every color for everyone :) You should look at some light blues, they are so pretty!
Dee, I completely agree, great job China Glaze!
AngelBunny, hahah thank you! Rodeo Diva is incredible, hide your wallet! :D
Charming Nails, they are very, very nice :D
I'm the biggest sucker when it comes to blue nail polish - or anything blue for that matter. :) This collection is my #1 lemming. *drool*
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