China Glaze Summer Neons Collection for Summer 2012 Swatches and Review

China Glaze has a set of twelve new and updated neons out for summer 2012. In the past, the majority of neon colors released were creme-finish polishes, but the new China Glaze Summer Neons polishes have a hint of ultra-fine, iridescent shimmer to them. The colors are:


China Glaze Beach Cruise-r. This is a medium fuchsia with subtle blue, red and purple shimmer. It's not quite neon bright, but it is very colorful. In real life, it's more vibrant than it appears in the picture, just not exactly neon vibrant.



China Glaze Hang Ten-toes. Bright, blue-toned neon pink with faint, silvery, blue-violet shimmer. Such a great neon pink. The shimmer in these keeps the neon finish from looking too chalky or rubbery and adds a nice colorful glow to them.



China Glaze Flirty Tankini. Such an unusual neon! It's an orange-based neon coral and it has silver, pink and coral shimmer throughout. The shimmer in mine has all settled on one side of the bottle, making it appear light pink, but it's definitely coral on the nail. The only thing I don't like about this polish is the name!



Every picture I take of China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard comes out looking like this. It's so bright that my camera can't comprehend it. It took one look at this color and said "You have got to be kidding me. &^%$ this! I quit!". Eventually I figured out how to capture it with flash in total darkness:


China Glaze I'm With The Lifeguard. Ultra-bright yellow-toned neon green with bright green and gold shimmer. It's a bit like the old, discontinued shade In The Limelight, to give you an idea of the intensity. It's really amazing, a must-have green, if you ask me.


China Glaze Love's A Beach. Bright neon pink with glowy pink shimmer. This one is darker than Hang Ten-Toes and more warm toned. The shimmer in it doesn't make the color any less bright, but it does give it a less harsh, more glowy finish than other similar-colored neon pinks.



China Glaze Orange You Hot? Light yellow-toned orange neon with coral, orange, silver and pink shimmer. This is one of those "fake cheese" shades of orange, like the packet of frighteningly bright cheese powder that comes in boxed macaroni and cheese. The shimmer adds a warm glow, so that makes it even nicer.



China Glaze Pink Plumeria. This one is hard to describe. It's a lighter, more orange-tinted pink than Hang Ten-Toes, but not as orange as Flirty Tankini. It has soft pink and gold shimmer particles that accent the warm light pink base perfectly.


China Glaze Ride The Waves. This one isn't a shimmer, nor is it really truly neon, but it's still great. It's a bright blue jelly. Not as dark as Rescue Beauty Lounge IKB 2012, lighter and cleaner than Revlon Royal, not quite as bright at Nubar Blueberry.



China Glaze Splish Splash. A bright blue shimmer. This one doesn't really strike me as being neon either, but it is bright. The shimmer in it is all blue, but it's a slightly more green-leaning blue, almost an aqua, while the base is more of a light primary blue.



China Glaze Sun-Kissed. AWESOME. A highlighter yellow neon with warm gold shimmer. This is not pure yellow. There's a lot of green in it. This is what it would be like if China Glaze Limonyte and China Glaze Celtic Sun had a baby. Crazy bright neon yellow goodness with the added glow from the smooth gold shimmer. My favorite color in the collection.



China Glaze Surfin' For Boys. Neon red-coral with pink and purple shimmer. Very, very bright and extremely rich.


China Glaze Under The Boardwalk. This one lacks shimmer found in the other shades and it also doesn't appear neon to me. It's a purple-fuchsia-berry color, creme finish. It is perkier and slightly less blue-toned in real life, reminds me of another color they did recently. I'm thinking Traffic Jam from the Metro Collection? Haven't compared them, but it struck me as being similar when I saw it.

The formula on these is thick. I had some trouble getting them to apply smoothly because the thickness of the formula caused a ridge of polish to form at the edges of my nails unless I was very careful to avoid it. The thickness can also cause the polish to bubble, especially in the summer when it starts getting hot and humid. I'd recommend either thinning these with some polish thinner, or doing very thin coats and letting each one dry for at least two minutes before adding another. I did three coats of each, though most were opaque in two. The dry time was long. Since these are neon, they dry to a matte finish and you will need to use topcoat if you want them to look glossy.

Overall, these rock. It's hard to find different looking neons. It's like all neons are made out of the same pigments so there's rarely any significant variations between collections/colors. These, however, have that added hint of shimmer that makes them look more soft and glowy than the average chalky-finished neon. I think it's a nice update to their existing line of neons, they definitely feel more modern with the addition of the shimmer. The formula could be a little smoother, thinner and easier to handle, but the colors are all excellent. The only one I don't care for is Under The Boardwalk, but the rest are all awesome.

If I had to narrow it down, my top six would be Sun-Kissed, I'm With The Lifeguard, Hang Ten-Toes, Flirty Tankini, Love's A Beach and Surfin' For Boys.

Also available: 8-piece box collection featuring Under The Boardwalk, Ride The Waves, I’m With The Lifeguard, Sun-Kissed, Orange You Hot?, Surfin’ For Boys, Flirty Tankini and Pink Plumeria.

China Glaze® Summer Neons will be available as open stock colors and 12-piece counter display. Individual polishes retail for $7 MSRP and the 8-piece box set retails for $56. China Glaze® Summer Neons will be available at fine salons and beauty supply stores nationwide in June 2012.

(This was sent for review.)