Once again she finds herself on blogging catch up after accidentally abandoning it for a couple months. WHOOPS. Listen, I’ve been moving to a new place and traveling, and this is all to say follow my Instagram as I post there daily, and the swatches will always go here first!! But also okay, take a shot every single time I’ve said I’ll catch up on all of the blog posts, but THIS TIME I MEAN IT. It’s HAPPENING. I’ve missed y’all, okay, and I’m never going fully away. I love having this blog as a resource to be able to readily look back on and reference past collections and swatches. So let’s start this catch up already and update the resource.
We have another Spring mainstream collection on our hands today. This one is the China Glaze ‘Mystic Bloom’ collection for Spring 2022. It features 8 shades of all sorts of shifty and shimmery and glittery and interesting finishes to it, and in the normal pastel shades of spring we normally get (listen, I still always love those too, okay, don’t get it twisted) this was a release that got me INTRIGUED.
As always, I purchased this set from my favorite place, polishpick.com. You’ve heard all of my praise for this site many times before, but it’s my go-to for purchasing OPI and China Glaze. The best prices and fastest shipping always. (If you ever find yourself purchasing from there, let ’em know I sent you. Not at all any sort of sponsoring or affiliate codes here, just helps the company to see where the traffic is coming from).
Alright, let’s get on into the swatches already!
Diving right in, we have ‘Pretty as a Petal’, a lighter almost coral-toned pink shade with delicate silver shimmer all throughout that dries with a matte finish. Since it’s a matte finish it will dry more quickly than a normal cream finish, but unlike other matte formulas CG has in the past, you have more than enough time to work with it and smooth it out. This was an easy 2 coat formula for me, and as you can see I didn’t have issues with brushstrokes.
Pretty as a Petal – Live Swatch
And of course I had to use a glossy top coat for a different look as well! The glossy finish really brings out that silver shimmer and I love it with both finishes!
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Continuing along, we have ‘Fairytale Bliss’. This is a brighter, coral-toned pink jelly base with a bright orange-gold shimmer running through. That shimmer does give it some shifty-ness, going from this bright coral to an almost orange depending on the angle – which you can see a touch of on the edge of my pinky nail.
Since it’s a jelly formula, it’s going to be more sheer and squishy on the nail. I noticed a touch of nail line still peeking through after the 2nd coat, so I built this up with 3 thin coats. It’ll depend on your own preferences and application as well, but overall it’s smooth and easy to paint on. And just look at that glow!
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Up next we have ‘Planted & Enchanted’ and of course, it’s the magical, mystical green shade of the bunch. It’s almost hard to describe and nail down one color for this one. It’s an almost jade, a teal-toned green base with tons of bright blue shimmer to it.
I had a touch of sheerness to the 1st coat, but the 2nd coat easily covered and makes it fully opaque. And that 2nd coat really brings out that gorgeous shimmer. There’s a teeny amount of brushstrokes with that shimmer, but most level away on their own.
Planted & Enchanted – Live Swatch
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‘Secret Rendez-blue’ is, as you can guess, a shimmery sparkly blue shade. It’s a sheer blue-y jelly base with tons of green and purple and blue shimmer to it. It’s lovely, and it’s got some shifty-ness to it as well, going from blue to green. All very fun.
Being a jelly base, it’s definitely a more sheer formula, so I used 3 thin coats to really build up the glitter and base. I would watch out for using too thick of coats or it can get a little gloopy, but otherwise it’s smooth and easy to work with.
Secret Rendez-blue – Live Swatch
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It’s hard to choose all throughout this collection with all of it’s different finishes and formulas, but this one just might be my favorite. This is ‘Bloomphoria’ and it’s a sheer, shimmery lilac purple base with a very strong green shimmer to it. It gives it a purple to green shift, and even at certain angles, a bright red shift as well.
Again, it’s a more sheer formula, so I built this up in 3 thin coats. It’s smooth and easy to paint on, but again it’ll depend on your own preferences. It could look so cool as a topper over a dark base as well!
I mean look at that shift!
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The next of the 2 purples in this collection, this is ‘Bloomi-nescence’, a super shimmery purple with tons of pink and purple and blue glitters to it, for a shimmery, almost foiled finish to it.
This does dry with a matte finish, and I found it had a thicker formula, with an almost, gritty? texture. Not in a bad way, just all of the glitters all together make it a little sandier than a normal cream shade – but it dries smooth, not textured. Do you understand me? 😂 Anyways, with the thicker formula, I was able to get this easily opaque in 2 coats. But since it’s a thicker formula, make sure there’s enough polish on the brush, as I found it could skip a touch if you didn’t.
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And last up, we’re in the duo of more beige-neutral shades. First up is ‘Instant Sparks’, and it has to be another favorite for that finish. It’s a metallic, light coppery beige base with larger holographic silver glitters all throughout.
Again like others in this collection, it did have a more sheer formula, so I built it up fully in 3 thinner coats. I did feel like the most sheer base let those sparkles shine through and layer up on each coat, but overall it was smooth and easy to paint on.
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And last but certainly not least, we have ‘Mystic Dawn’. This last shade is a neutral, brown-ish beige jelly base with subtle bright blue shimmer all throughout, again so unique to my collection which is always a feat.
It’s definitely meant for more of a sheer look overall – as this is 3 thin coats built up and the nail line is still quite visible. So it’ll depend on your own nail preferences whether or not you’ll love this sheer shade. It’s a great option for a “your nails but better” look, a little something more than naked nails.
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And that’s the collection!
Honestly this one was super interesting to me, and I loved China Glaze bringing something new and different to the spring collection table! There’s a lot of interesting finishes and formulas here, and y’all know I always love when a mainstream brand does something different. The formulas did feel more sheer in this one – but that had to do with the amount of jelly and shimmery formulas we had going on here. If you’re looking for something a little different, this collection could be for you!
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Upcoming Posts
Salon Perfect x Dippin’ Dots collection • Essie Movin’ & Groovin’ collection • Glam Polish Little Women Trio • Essie Spring 2022 collection • Starrily x Kelli Marissa Shades • Color Club Hot and Heavy
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