And now for the last mainstream summer collection that I have to show y’all on the blog for this year! (Obviously there were many more, but I can only buy and post so many). Summer is just zooming right on by. (We’ll be getting into fall collections before we know it! Sorry I had to say it). (Do I have enough parenthesis yet).
Today on this summery day, we’re looking at China Glaze’s newest seasonal release. This is the ‘What’s the Scoop?’ collection for Summer 2023. This features 6 saturated shades, all with fun ice cream names. To me summer always includes ice cream on a warm evening, so I’m already a fan of the theme. Most of these shades have a more squishy, jelly-like finish, with more sheer formulas and shiny finishes. Some of these jellies were gorgeous, giving a true melted popsicle look to the nails – while others were a bit more streaky – spoiler alert.
As always I purchased these from polishpick.com. They’re still my favorite place to pick up China Glaze from, as they have the best prices and shipping! They’re also available from BeyondPolish.com as well though they don’t seem to have the two pink shades any longer. (The pinks are still at Polish Pick). Y’all know the drill that I do have an affiliate code for BeyondPolish for 10% off individual items (GINGERLYPOLISHED)! Feel free to use it or not, up to you!
That’s all I have, let’s get on into the swatches!
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We’re starting with the two pinks of the collection. First up is ‘Will That Be a Cup or Cone’ and it’s the lighter and cooler-toned of the two pinks. It still has a touch of warmth to it but it’s much less neon and fiery, being more of a Barbie pink shade.
As mentioned above, these shades all do have a touch of jelly to their formulas, but this one felt the most opaque and cream-like of the bunch. But unfortunately that tiny bit of jelly just made the formula streaky, especially on my very ridged nails. I built this up with 3 coats – those with smoother nails might be set with 2, but overall it was an uneven formula, and I just have other pinks from China Glaze themselves that I like more. (Their last collection of mostly pinks was so good and so much better!)
Will That Be a Cup or Cone – Live Swatch
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The other pink we have is ‘Tan-burr-ine’. (I still don’t understand this name. Every other color is ice cream themed – did they mean a play on Tangerine, but this isn’t orange? Did they mean Tambourine, but what does that have to do with ice cream? I HAVE QUESTIONS.) This is a bright neon pink shade, leaning more into that coral-red part of the pink spectrum.
Again, more of a jelly-crelly formula on this one, so it does dry with more shine and squish on the nails. Luckily this one is much more smooth in finish, even on my ridged nails, which I was missing from the shade above. I built this up with just 2 coats – but depending on your application and preferences, you might want a 3rd to continue to brighten up that color. It’s so bright, and I love these shades for the sunshine.
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Next up we have ‘Glad You Melt Me’. This is a bright tangerine (see maybe this one should have had the ‘Tan-burr-ine name) orange jelly shade (though someone noted it looks like egg yolks and I can’t unsee that comparison).
This one is where you really see the effect of the jelly formula, being the most sheer and squishy on the nails. This was 3 coats built up and you can see there is still visible nail line, so I know this won’t be for everyone. Nail polish is subjective and so personal. I am slowly coming around to these more sheer jelly finishes – as long as they’re a smooth finish on my nails.
Glad You Melt Me – Live Swatch
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Next up we have ‘Berry Yummy’ (another interesting name that doesn’t seem to quite fit for a yellow. I mean technically a banana is a berry, fun fact, but it’s not something we think of as a berry. Maybe this was supposed to be on a pink? Very curious). This is a cooler toned pale yellow squishy shade.
Again a touch more squisher than a cream, with that drop of jelly most shades have. However, like the 1st shade, that touch of jelly just made this one more streaky and uneven on the nails. It seems they needed to either fully commit to making these full jelly or full cream, and the in-between is not working out too well. I still had ridges peeking through even after 3 coats, so again not my favorite here, and one I would pass on. I’ve got better yellows in my collection.
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‘Frozen in Lime’ is finally a name that truly fits, and it’s, of course, a bright lime neon green shade. There’s some yellow to this green, just making it like a highlighter.
Just like the yellow, I had some issues with this and that crelly-like formula causing streaks and uneven application. This is 3 coats built up and again the ridges of my nails are still peeking through and just causing issues. Not my favorite formula – and we’ve seen China Glaze do better with it before – which is a shame because I always love any sort of green like this.
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And last but not least we have ‘Freezer Burn’. This is a rich cobalt blue jelly shade. There’s almost a tiny bit of dustiness to it which is so interesting, but I really loved this shade. I can’t get enough of blues like this.
Formula-wise you can see on the nails it’s very much on that squishy jelly end of the spectrum, being more sheer. But because of the deeper color, this one is more pigmented and I got it easily opaque in just 2 coats. It was smooth and even on my nails, and we’re ending these swatches on a high note.
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And that’s the set! I always appreciate a brand trying out something different, either in color palette or finish. With this one, we have more traditional summer colors, but we’re experimenting with more of a jelly finish for them all. However, I would say this experiment just didn’t quite land for about half of the shades. This specific combo of cream + jelly really just caused streaks and uneven patches in some cases. When it worked well, it was smooth and such a gorgeous finish and squishy look on the nails!
Just not my favorite with these formulas here, but I’m always just here to show my own personal experiences. What do you think of these?
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Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Pride 2023 collection • Glam Polish Queen to Be collection • Orly x Adam Lambert High Drama collection • KB Shimmer Plant One on Me collection
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