China Glaze came out with an adorable collaboration with Sesame Street for their 50th anniversary! It’s a 12 piece collection of lots of colorful shades and lots of sparkle.

It took a little longer to get my hands on this collection, but it was so dang worth it! I ended up purchasing from polishpick.com, and there are still some shades left there as well as on head2toebeauty.com.

Let’s get into it!

All of the caps have these adorable little printed characters on them. They have the little face on one side, and then the little “symbol” of them on the other side, with the You Do Hue name printed as well. There are 3 different characters: Big Bird and his feather, Oscar the Grouch and a fish skeleton, and Cookie Monster and a cookie. I think it’s just so cute, and I love when the caps are special for a collection.

We have a lot of swatches to get through, so let’s get into the polish already!

Up first, we have the one sheer polish of the bunch. This is ‘I Count Even’ and it’s a VERY sheer purple jelly. This is 3 coats built up, and it was only on the 3rd coat that I started to see the purple. China Glaze says this was inspired by the trend of sheer polishes they’ve seen this season.

This will be a great palette cleanser, and would be great for a sheer look on the nails in between full color polishes. But of course, it won’t be for everyone. This definitely wasn’t a favorite of mine, just because I don’t love sheer polishes. Like I said, I’ll mainly use it for a more “naked” look in between swatching and manicures.

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Alright, that’s the only sheer one in this collection! We’re onto the full color polishes now!

This is ‘Ah-Ah-Ahmazing’, and she’s a frosty lilac metallic shade. I had some nail line after 1 coat, but a 2nd coat easily made it opaque and smooth. There’s major brushstrokes in this, and it’s standard for a finish like this, so you’ll want to paint as straight as possible. If you really want it to be fully smooth, you might need to sponge on the final coat.

There’s a lot of very interesting and unique finishes in this collection. And this is another one that I know will be love or hate for people. I weirdly love this? I don’t know what it is, but I’m here for this frosty mess. Maybe because it just seems to glow on the nails. What do you think of it?

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‘Beak on Fleek’ is a matte “Big Bird” yellow shade. This had a sheer uneven first coat, but it did even out a little as it dries. It was smoother on a 2nd coat, and could be opaque with a thicker 2nd coat, but I ended up doing a 3rd to even out everything. It was a little thinner than I was expecting or would have liked, but it is a more difficult color and finish overall.

It dries more quickly like any matte shade would, but nothing too crazy that you don’t have time to paint evenly. Not the best formula, but I’ll work for this unique shade, since I don’t have anything else like it.

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‘Trash Can-Do Attitude’ is a metallic gold-tinged green shade. It had a good 1st coat, there was still some nail line, but a 2nd coat easily covered it up. This definitely has fewer brush strokes than ‘Ah-Ah-Ahmazing’. There are a few just because it’s a metallic, but most disappear and smooth out.

This is another that was just so fun for me, and unique to my collection. And I think very fitting for Oscar the Grouch.

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The next shimmery metallic is ‘I Believe in Snuffy’. This is more shimmery and glittery than ‘Trash Can-Do Attitude’ and ‘Ah-Ah-Ahmazing’, and because of that, the brushstrokes will be less noticeable overall. This was an easy and smooth two coats, and so pretty on the nails.

Again, she just glows on the nails, how could you hate it?

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‘Ernie Your Stripes’ is a full on shimmery orange-gold shade. With 1 coat, it was an “easy” look, to add a little fun to bare nails. It was pretty good on a 2nd thicker coat, though you might need a 3rd to cover up any last nail line and make it totally opaque.

As you can see in my super bright lights, you can almost see a little bit of nail line, but it’s nothing crazy in normal daylight. The shimmer is just so smooth and beautiful.

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‘Fur Real Though’ is a more crelly bright pink shade. This had a lil bit of unevenness on the 1st coat. But it was good and even on the 2nd. There was a touch of nail line still visible, so I ended up doing a 3rd coat, and it’s so squishy and bright on the nails.

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These last 5 shades are all of the scattered holo and glitter shades. Aka the best part of this entire collection.

Up first, we have ‘Monsterpiece’. This is a more jelly pink base with tons of scattered holographic sparkles all throughout. It’s a thicker formula, so it’s very easy to control on the nails, even doing thicker coats. This was just 2 coats to opacity.

This shade is goddamn gorgeous, so you can’t be mad at all of the photos you’re about to see of it.

You can see on my ring finger here a little peek of the linear holo, and I know it’s going to be STUNNING in sunlight. This is the shade most packed with holographic, and honestly a favorite of this collection. I want every holo that any mainstream brand does, and will continue to gobble them up. Gimme more.

And here it is with flash, so you can see more of that holo jump out, and what it would be like in sunlight!

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‘Free to Be Sesame’ is a dark green base with smaller sparkles all throughout. I think these are more silver than holographic, but it’s still a stunning effect overall. Just like ‘Monsterpiece’, this was a thicker formula, and an easy 2 coats to be opaque.

Just those sparkles. This is more densely packed than ‘Monsterpiece’, but has smaller glitters overall, so it has a little bit of a different finish. But I love them both equally. It dries with a touch of texture, so a good glossy top coat will smooth it all out.

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‘Grover It’ is a dark blue base, with even smaller and more scattered holographic sparkle. This had an even more jelly formula, so it did have an uneven and streaky 1st coat. But it was easily opaque and smooth in 2 coats.

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‘Dat Color Dough’ is a light metallic blue shade. This was more of a full coverage glitter shade than the others that are more glitter within a base. Another sheer 1st coat, but it builds up so easily in 2 coats. Again, a touch textured, but nothing a good top coat won’t smooth over.

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The very last shade is ‘Living in the Elmo-ment’, a red base with tons of chunky glitter. This was the biggest and thickest glitter of the groups, with different sizes of silver metallic hexagon pieces. It had a good 1st coat, and was pretty well even on 2 coats. Depending on the thickness of your coats, you might have some nail line and need a 3rd, but it’s easy to work with, even with the thicker glitter.

As you can see, it will be a little bumpy just on it’s own. (I always like to show the shades without top coat, to show how it’ll be on anyone’s nails). It will need a thicker top coat to smooth and even it out, but I do love a good chunky glitter.

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And we made it! There’s a lot of super fun and unique shades and finishes in this group, and I think it’s perfect for a Sesame Street collection! “I Count Even’ was the only one that was a true pass for me, just because it’s SO sheer. ‘Ah-Ah-Ahmazing’ and ‘Trash Can-Do Attitude’ won’t be everyone’s favorites because of the metallic frostiness.

But I love that a mainstream brand is doing something fun and different. The glitter shades are absolutely stunning, and I think ‘Monsterpiece’ and ‘Free to Be Sesame’ are the must-haves of the collection.

What do you think of these shades?

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Upcoming Posts
Nails: Essie ‘Gorge-ous Geodes’ • OPI Scotland Fall 2019 Collection • Orly Fall 2019 Collection • Essie Rocky Rose Collection

Makeup: Wet N Wild Pac-Man Collection • Colourpop Uh-Huh Honey & California Love palettes

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Summer Collection Posts:
Zoya Barefoot Summer 2019 Collection
Essie Summer 2019 Collection
Orly Euphoria Summer 2019 Collection
OPI Neons Summer 2019 Collection