It’s time to look at MORE WINTER RELEASES, Y’ALL. More SPARKLE, more SHIMMER, more GLITTER, my FAVORITE THINGS.
Okay I’ll stop now.
Anyways, trying to get better at updating my blog more regularly. As I always say I post these polishes and swatches first on Instagram so I definitely recommend following there to see things! But I’ll always get the accompanying blog posts up so you can reference them whenever. Now let’s get the rest of these winter polishes reviews up shall we!
Today we’re looking at the China Glaze release. This is the ‘Jewels Royale’ collection for Winter 2021. They describe this collection as “Sparkle like a jewel. Lavish yourself with mesmerizing holiday hues that capture the brilliance of the most luxurious gems.” And I have to agree. We have a lot of rich jewel tones here and no end to the sparkle.
This is an 8 bottle release – I would say that’s becoming the norm for them, but the summer and fall collections were 6 polishes, so I know nothing. BUT what I do know is that I always buy China Glaze from my absolute favorite polishpick.com. Always the best prices on their polishes and incredibly fast shipping! I’ve talked about them 17 million times in other posts, so clearly I trust them and use them regularly.
Now let’s get on into the swatches!
Up first we have ’24k Noir’. This is a deep, warm-toned green almost jelly base with dense gold glitter all throughout. It has a bit of an uneven 1st coat with that jelly base, but easily covers and is fully opaque with a 2nd. There’s enough of a jelly base that it’s not gritty on the nails and removal is easy – though you might just have golden glitter all over your cuticles.
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Up next is ‘Emerald Magic’. This is another deep green jelly base, but cool-toned and forest green. And this one has scattered glitters all throughout. Again, since it’s a jelly, its more sheer and uneven. I did end up doing 3 coats for this one, as I noticed some patches and it continued to deepen up with that 3rd coat. But I think most people will be good with 2 – it’ll depend on your application and thickness of coats.
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This next shade is just the type of polish you would expect to be named ‘Sapphire Up!’. This is another almost jelly base in a rich blue shade with dense blue microglitter. This was an easy 2 coat formula.
I have noticed that China Glaze polishes can tend to be more runny, especially in this collection – so I just recommend wiping off the brush realllly well before application so you’re not getting too much polish on the nail and flooding the cuticle! They’re still smooth and easy to apply otherwise.
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‘Stay Frosted’ is a well, frosty blue shimmer with an almost green shift to it. It’s described as a matte finish – which you can really see with the 1st coat (you can also see how much that green shift pops as well) but it didn’t seem that matte on the 2nd coat or in the finished photos! I didn’t even think it was a matte at all until I read the description from China Glaze. So who knows, maybe it’ll be matte, maybe you’ll need to mattify it! Either way it was an easy 2 coat formula here.
I do wish it stayed how it looked after that 1st coat to be quite honest…
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‘Spoil Me Royale’ is a gorgeous royal purple shimmery shade. And another easy 2 coat formula!
Like I mentioned with others, this was one I did have to make sure to wipe the brush off very well or it could easily flood the nail. But it was still a smooth to apply polish.
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Again, I’m sure you would have been able to guess how a polish called ‘Ruby Riches’ would look. This is a deep jelly red base with tons of red-golden glitter (lots of jelly bases in this release). This was an easy 2 coat formula.
A lot of these shades, especially this one, will leave a lot of glitter around after cleanup, but I wasn’t mad at it. The holidays are for being covered in glitter.
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‘Glistening Pearls’ is a more sheer, squishy pink base with iridescent flakes and bright blue shimmer. In my swatch I’m showing it as 3 coats built up – it’s pretty well opaque with a touch of nail line peeking through. So a more sheer and neutral look overall.
This is one that you can choose how opaque to wear it – 1 coat can be a “your nails but better” look. It’ll all depend on your preferences.
‘Glistening Pearls’ Live Swatch
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Now the PARTY is HERE.
We’ve saved the most SPARKLY for last, we’ve saved up New Years in a bottle for the last post. This is ‘Ice & Bubbles’ and this is a champagne gold dense glitter polish in a clear base. It feels a touch dense for a topper – which you can see in the live swatch – but it’s dense enough to build up in 3 coats for a full look. It does dry a little textured and sandy to the touch, so a thick coat of top coat can smooth that out. I would also recommend a peel off base coat underneath this one if you don’t want to go through the glitter removal.
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And that’s the collection! We have a lot of sparkle and shine, and I think all bases are covered if you’re looking for a knockout holiday shade. My only advice was making sure to wipe off your brush before application, but otherwise they were all easy to work with, and I had no out of the ordinary complaints here. Do any of them catch your eye?
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Upcoming Posts
Glam Polished ‘Charmed’ Collection • Essie Winter 2021 • Sinful Colors Candy Wonderland Collection • Pleasing Nail Polishes Review • KB Shimmer Reflective Glitters • Color Club Scented Glitters
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