LOVE is in the AIR. Even at the end of March, because after all love is year-round and it doesn’t end after February 14th OKAY. Yes, I know this is coming out at the end of March. It’s because of things I’ve mentioned in other recent posts aka needing a little break to restart blogging motivation and then getting sick and then getting our sweet boy, Huey, our new dog. It was just a whole lotta things that knocked out my blogging schedule and productivity. But we’re HERE, we’re ready for Q2 and we’re going to surpass all of our quotas.
Now let’s continue catching up with our pal, China Glaze! They seem to be a mainstream brand that’s always giving us extra collections outside of their 4 regular seasonal releases. They continually release for both Valentine’s Day and Halloween, and you know, we love that. With those specific collections, they’re usually willing to try out something new and a little different, and I always want to support that.
Releasing in the first quarter of the year and with my little intro above, I’m sure you can guess that today we’re looking at a Valentine’s Day release. This is the ‘Love & Kisses’ collection and it’s a 6 shade set just oozing with love. We have 5 cream and shimmer shades, and then 1 topper. They’ve released quite a few Valentine’s collections now, so for this set they gave us some “nontraditional” colors – outside of those classic pinks and reds. Yes they’re still in the red and pink family, but they’re DIFFERENT, I tell you.
These shades are available from Beyond Polish – Code: GINGERLYPOLISHED will get you 10% off individual items. It is affiliated so I would get a small commission, but no pressure to use it! They’re also available from polishpick.com.
Alright, let’s see what all this love is about and dive on into the swatches.
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We’re starting right out with the sweetest color of the set, ‘Sweet Cheeks’. This is a light and bright bubblegum pink cream. It’s got a tiny bit of warmth to it, and it definitely pulls more warm on my cool pink undertones.
For most people, this will be smooth and opaque with just 2 coats. As I mention in every post, I have very naturally ridged nails that can cause more patches, so I often add an extra coat with a lot of shades – especially with such white-based shades like this. With 3 coats, it was fully opaque and smooth for me and it’s a good, average pink cream formula. Not the best I’ve ever tried, not the worst, but very workable.
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Well, okay, so maybe you don’t want sweet for Valentine’s Day. Maybe you want something BOLD and EXCITING. That’s where ‘XOXO’ comes in. This is a BRIGHT, neon pink cream shade and it’s a color you might not think of for Valentine’s Day. But I’m of a mind that we can wear neons for every holiday, thank you very much. Again, this one does pull warmer in tone, especially on my cooler undertones.
This did paint on very well, and was practically opaque in just 2 coats – again insert here my little spiel about adding a 3rd coat for my ridges. I was still very impressed with how it painted on, as neons like this can be often more streaky and finicky. But this one was smooth and lovely! It does dry with a more satin finish because of those neon pigments, but a top coat will bring back any shine.
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And before we get into the reds, lets look at this topper. This is ‘Ruler of All Hearts’ and it’s a clear base filled with larger light pink and metallic red hearts.
I don’t usually love toppers with larger pieces like this, for the exact issues I had with this one. With such large pieces, they are more difficult to fish out and grab on the brush. This also had a thicker clear base to suspend those larger glitters, so if you’re just painting on normal coats hoping to get hearts distributed that way, you’ll end up with thicker, almost goopy finish.
A method that could help with this topper, as well as others like it, would be painting the polish out onto a paper towel or similar surface. Then the base will get absorbed, and you’ll be able to pick up the hearts and place them wherever you want on the nails. I’m not in love with the final look enough to go through all that so this one will all depend on your preferences.
Ruler of All Hearts – Live Swatch
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Now, we move into the REDS. This first one is ‘Read My Lips’ (listen Red My Lips would work better if they were going for a pun here). Like ‘XOXO’ above, you’ll see that this shade is definitely different than a “classic” Valentine’s red. When you’ve swatched as many Valentine’s collections as I have, you gotta switch it up to get my attention. And this searing neon coral-red shade truly captures allllll of it.
This formula was so beautiful. It was practically opaque in just 1 coat, though of course I always do 2 coats for every swatch. It painted on so well and even smoothed out the ridges in my nails. Okay, maybe this screams more summer days than Valentine’s but see my thoughts above about neons being appropriate for every holiday.
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Up next is ‘2 Hot 2 Handle’, and you know, I can imagine one absolutely FEELING themselves while wearing this shade. You WILL be “2 hot 2 handle”. It’s a very bright tomato red base filled with a gorgeous red-orange shimmer. Absolutely spicy.
This one had another gorgeous formula to match, being practically opaque in just 1 coat. That 2nd coat layers up the shimmer and color more and really makes it glow on the nails. This, ‘XOXO’ and ‘Read My Lips’ will all be perfect for the summer heat.
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Last but certainly not least, we have ‘Eat Your Heart Out’. This last one is a deeper, cherry red jelly base filled with larger metallic red glitters.
It is a jelly formula, but with that deeper base color I was still a touch surprised at how sheer and uneven it was on the 1st coat. But with that first layer down, that 2nd coat comes in more smooth and builds up on itself. It deepens up the color to match the bottle and smooths everything out for full opacity.
For the glitters, I did have to swipe just a touch to spread them out onto the nail – but it was nothing like the ‘Ruler of All Hearts’ above. It does dry a touch textured because of those larger glitters, which you can see in the swatch. It’s nothing too “sandy” or a texture that will catch on hair, but a coat or two of top coat will fully smooth it out.
Eat Your Heart Out – Live Swatch
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And that’s the collection! As mentioned, at this point in my swatching career I always appreciate any brand that switches it up and goes with some different colors for a holiday themed collection. They could have gone with the same reds and pinks, but we have neons, textures and glitters here, and I ended up loving it. They are all still fitting for the theme, and perfect for any sort of date night – even one with yourself watching a cozy movie.
The only one I didn’t love obviously was that topper, just because of the work to go into it and personal preferences. Otherwise, there were some gorgeous formulas here, especially in those neons.
Are you interested in any of these shades?
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Upcoming Posts
Glam Polish I’ll Be There For You collection • Essie Blushin’ & Crushin’ Spring 2024 • Holo Taco I Need Space collection • China Glaze Meadow Dreams Spring 2024
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