China Glaze – Shades of paradise collection

Hey lovelies,

I hope you are having a fantastic week so far.  I just wanted to take a quick moment to say thank you for ALL the love.  I appreciate you so much.  Now let’s get nailing 😉

I’m still on the swatching train and showing you yet another collection from China Glaze today.  Do you want to see more?  I am more or less up to date with the new ones but I have quite a few older collections I never swatched.  Should I?  Let me know if you’ve had enough of these or want to see more.  Maybe more space between?  Anyway, today I am showing you the Shades of Paradise collection which is the Summer 2018 collection (US summer, not South African summer).  I’ve seen some really mixed reviews about this collection but I want to share my thoughts. Just a quick note, I heard many people complain about some needing 3 or more coats so I wanted to try them all with 2 to see how it worked out.  Let’s go

China Glaze – All sun & games

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a bright orange packed with gold shimmer.  The formula is eh.  It’s not horrible but it’s a bit sheer.  It also dries down to a neon type of matte and the shimmer makes it look bumpy.  I definitely think this needs 3 coats tough as the VNL is not attractive in this shade.  I do however like the combination of the polish with the shimmer.  The orange isn’t my favourite shade but I can already imagine a lot of nail art using this.  I wasn’t a fan of the finish of this either but once I added topcoat it definitely looked much better to me

China Glaze – Boujee board

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a bright pinky purple with a satin finish.  It could probably use a third coat but it didn’t look this sheer in real life.  It applied well and evenly and I really like this colour too.  It reminds me of Sinful Colors Dream on (or one of the versions at least) but I am not loving the finish.  I always topcoat anyway and I definitely prefer this with topcoat.

China Glaze – Cabana fever

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a white with a matte finish.  So there is nothing fancy about a white matte right?  I really love this though.  I don’t know why this white matte but I like it.  The formula is really iffy and uneven on the first coat but evens out on the second.  I am sure a third would be a great touch.  I can however say that you have to be a little careful with that first coat.  It dries fast-ish so a slightly thicker coat will work well.  Once you add a topcoat it is just a regular white.

China Glaze – Can’t sandal this

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a salmon pink creme with a stunning formula.  Of course I have the ‘my camera hates pink’ curse so this is a slightly more pink tone.  I really liked the colour of this and reminds me a bit of China Glaze Pink or swim. It applied well and has a gorgeous shiny finish.

China Glaze – Don’t be sea salty

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a bright pink with pink shimmer.  This is the same as All sun & games above.  It has the type of finish that you find with neons.  This one applied better than All sun & games and is also a little more opaque.  You can see some VNL in the photo but it wasn’t visible in real life.  Which is better than All sun & games was.  I do prefer this with topcoat. This is also the shade of pink my camera hates the most so it’s a bit more vibrant in real life (closer to how the bottle looks).  This one reminds me a bit of China Glaze – She’s a mane-iac from the My Little Pony collection

China Glaze – I’ll sand by you

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a light nude shade with a very fine, very subtle gold shimmer.  You can’t really notice it  on the nails but you can see it in the bottle.  It applies well and has a nice shiny finish.

China Glaze – Kiki in our tiki

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a bright orange toned red creme.  It applied so beautifully and is one of my absolute favourites.  It’s bright and vibrant and shiny.  It’s also a shade that I think works year round and suits any skin tone.

China Glaze – Ma-holo at me

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a blue holo.  It isn’t the strongest holo I have but it isn’t bad at all.  You can see some holo and this was in my Lightbox.  Beside the holo, this is actually a really pretty colour.  It applied well and I like it.

China Glaze – Mer-made for bluer waters

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a shimmery blue almost metallic looking polish.  I love this colour and it really looks like deep shimmery water.  It is a little brush strokey but not badly and a topcoat definitely helps with this.  It is quite thin and a little sheer but 2 coats was enough for me.  More coats would be easy to do because it is thinner and applies well.

China Glaze – Stop beachfrontin’

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  I adore this purple creme.  It applied beautifully, it’s a gorgeous shade and its shiny and beautiful.  Definitely one of my favourites.

China Glaze – Tropic of conversation

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a coral version of All sun & games and Don’t be sea salty.  It has the same matte-ash finish and this one especially looked bumpy without topcoat.  It is a coral with gold shimmer and even though the colour is beautiful, it’s not the nicest to apply.  It is a beautiful colour and I prefer it over All sun & games. I do again prefer it with topcoat too

China Glaze – Water-falling in love

This is 2 coats with no topcoat.  This is a light sky blue creme.  It applies beautifully, has a nice opacity and is also such a nice colour.  I’ve been wanting a light pale blue and this one fits the bill perfectly.  Another favourite.

So…..what do I think about this collection?  I do like them all.  Some of them are a little harder to work with but they are also different and unique and in my opinion, is pretty enough to make the effort.  None of them are awful or impossible to apply and if you’re not a fan of any of those, there are also quite a few really nice, well performing polishes in this collection.  I quite like that there are cremes and shimmers and bright and pastels all in one collection.  I like it.  It’s not my favourite collection ever but it is definitely an interesting one. I also think the names are quite catchy and fun.   What do you think?  Which ones stand out for you?  Do you have any preferences?  Let me know what you think and if you would be grabbing any of them.

Thanks for reading,