It’s still summer for a couple more days officially, so that means this review is right on time, right? I feel like I say that every year.

I know I keep saying I’m going to be more consistent with posting – but then I get freelance projects that take over. Blogging is just my hobby, and I have a full time job + freelancing to finance me, so that always takes priority.

But you know, being away from blogging always renews my love for it. It always makes me want to come back and get really back into it, so I do really love it. And it really makes me want to kick into gear and just put out a ton of reviews of all the products sitting on my desk. There’s a lot to talk about y’all.

For now, let’s focus on this last hurrah of summer shall we? This week is that last week of warm temperatures you always get right before it really goes into fall. “Second Summer”, they call it. So perfect time to review some bright colors, right??

This is the China Glaze ‘Shades of Paradise’ collection for Summer 2018. As always it’s a 12 bottle collection, so there’s a lot to talk about – let’s get right into it.

Up first we have the lightest shade, a slight off white. It’s called ‘Cabana Fever’ and has the slightest touch of beige to it that softens it up from a pure white. As you can see it is a matte formula, but it’s not the crazy matte formula that we’ve had before – there’s time to work with it and smooth it out on the nail.

This could be pretty well good on 2 coats – I did have some problems with application where I would have some patchiness at the base of the nails. I solved this by applying it to the middle of the nail, and then pushing it up to cover the base of the nails, and then pulling down.

Obviously not my favorite look on my ridgey nails – I think I need a base coat, or another thick coat, but I do like the different finish to it that sets it apart from other whites.

‘I’ll Sand by You’ (I’m always here for these pun names) is a beigey, sandy color with subtle golden shimmer. Unfortunately the shimmer is a lot more apparent in the bottle than on the nail. It’s pretty well lost on application.

At least the formula was better. It was pretty well opaque in 1 coat. I did two to help smooth out the ridges in my nail a little more, but it was a nice smooth application.

‘Water-falling in Love’ is a pale sky blue. This had a more sheer first coat, which I wasn’t surprised by for such a light color. It will need at least 2, but I found it evened out and was opaque in 2 easy coats – again super good for such a light color!

Pretty standard sky blue, but if you don’t have one in your collection yet, this is one with a good formula to add in.

‘Can’t Sandal This’ is a nice pink with coral thrown in. This had another smooth formula. It needs 2 coats, but they were so easy to paint on.

‘Tropic of Conversation’ is a corally orange shade with bigger orange shimmer all throughout. It had a more sheer first coat, but the shimmer was strong throughout the base. There was still some nail line after 2 coats, but it has a super easy formula. It dries down with an almost satin finish, so the coats dry quickly.

Here I gave a close up of the shimmer. It’s even more pronounced in person, and really shines in my lights.

And here it is also with top coat, which helps bring out the shimmer even more.

‘All Sun & Games’ has the same finish as ‘Tropic of Conversation’ but with a bright orange base instead. The flakes might be a tiny bit smaller than ‘Tropic’, but that could be me really looking into it.

It also has the same formula as the one above as well – with some nail line after 2 coats, but the satin finish helps the coats dry a little faster. I did find with thicker coats it can pool a little bit at the end, so I did prefer thinner coats.

And here it is with glossy top coat as well.

Up next ‘Kiki in Our Tiki’ (what is this name) has been the fan favorite of the collection. This is a bright cool-toned red shade. It almost has some rosiness to it that differentiates it from the other reds in my collection.

This has a beautiful almost 1 coat formula. There was still some nail line, but it was opaque in 2 easy, smooth coats. Absolutely stunning.

This bright pink shade next is ‘Don’t Be Sea Salty’. This has the same finish as ‘Tropic of Conversation’ and ‘All Sun & Games’, with a more satin finish.

A bright pink shade with more purpley-silver shimmer throughout. The shimmer is pretty separated, so it’s not super apparent, but it does give a nice depth to the color. It has a more sheer 1st coat, but it was smooth and even, even going over the ridges in my nails. It was opaque in 2 coats.

A glossy top coat helps bring out the shimmer a little more as well.

‘Ma-Holo at Me’ was the shade I was most excited to try out. (This collection came out before the OMG Flashback collection, so this was the first holo shade that China Glaze had made in a while). I love seeing more mainstream brands do holo shades, like yes give them to me.

This is a blue toned silvery base with scattered holographic all throughout. The holo is actually pretty evident, especially underneath my lights – you don’t get the rainbows unless under stronger lights or sunlight, but it still looks shimmery and beautiful on its own.

Another easy two coat formula.

And with flash, it really helps bring out the holographic effect, and lord it’s stunning.

I need more holo, pls.

‘Mer-made for Bluer Waters’ is a shimmery blue shade. This one had a thinner formula, so it can run down the brush and flood the nail if you’re careful. If you put on too thick of a coat, I found it could be uneven on the nail, and not smooth out on its own.

There’s less brush strokes with thinner applications. It was pretty well good with 2 thicker, controlled coats, or with 3 thinner ones. Not my favorite formula since it wasn’t the easiest to control. And the shimmery blue didn’t stun me or anything, so if you’re willing to work for it, it’s something to think about.

‘Stop Beachfrontin’ is more of a crelly deep purple shade. But it had a really opaque formula. I used 2 coats to smooth everything out, but it was so easy to control and beautiful on the nails.

This one could transition over to fall nicely as well.

And last but certainly not least is ‘Boujee Board’. Again with these names, I love them.

This is more of a sheer neon formula (it reminds me of the shades ‘Sultry Solstice’ and ‘Sun-set the Mood’ from last summer’s collection – see those here).

This one dries with more of a satin matte formula as well, and so the coats dry quickly in between. It has more of a crelly formula, so there was still some nail line after 2 coats. This is 3 coats in this picture. But it’s pretty smooth, and I do like the color!

Here it is with a top coat. I do like it more glossy, as it’s got more of a squishy look to it, and just has more depth to it.

So that’s it, that’s the China Glaze Summer collection, and the last summer collection review for 2018! It’s crazy to think that it’s almost fall already – where is the time going? It’s crazy.

Overall, my favorite in this is of course, ‘Ma-Holo at Me’. I can’t get enough of the mainstream holos, keep em coming. There were some stunning formulas in this, and I loved all of the satin shades – they shook it up from the traditional cream shades. If there’s any shades in here that you like, I can’t complain about most of the formulas. ‘Mer-made for Bluer Waters’ might be one I skip though, as I found the formula a little tough to work with and not a super unique shimmery blue, especially for summer collections.

So this means that fall reviews are on their way! I’m biased, I love fall the most of all the seasons, the deep vampy colors just really speak to me. Are you excited for fall?

I promise I’m getting back into a more consistent posting schedule, and there’s a lot of products I have to talk about coming to the blog soon, so as always follow me to keep up to date with everything!

 

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