China Glaze's fall collection this year is all about retro, hippie, frosty, bohemian type shades loaded with shimmer.
Cords. Metallic warm grey shimmer. This one reminds me a lot of China Glaze Stone Age and also perhaps Beatnik. I call this a warm grey because it seems to pull out the warm tones in my skin. 
Cruisin'. Sheer golden orange shimmer. This one gave me problems. Four coats. This is sort of an orangey, coppery golden frosty shimmer. The shimmer in it is very fine. This color is quite sheer and watery.
Drive-In. Red shimmer. I really like the shimmer in these, it looks like little pearls. This is a red shimmer, it seems to be on the cool side... Not much else to say about this one!
Far Out. Warm golden tan mauve shimmer. This is an odd color. It's mauve, but it's also brown, but it has strong gold shimmer. It reminds me of something from last year's Rodeo Diva, but I can't remember what. 
Free Love. Bold orange shimmer. Ooh, I love it! It's a bright, punchy, fiery orange with gold shimmer. A lot of the colors in this collection have that 'lit-from-within' look where they seem to be glowing in the center and darker on the edges- this is a light version of one of those shades. 
Let's Groove. Deep purple shimmer. This picture is pulling much more blue-purple than it really is. It's a Zoya Yasmeen type purple. Extremely gorgeous. It doesn't look like much in the bottle, but once it's on your nails it really shines.
Short And Sassy. Deep vampy cranberry shimmer. An unexpected favorite! It's deep and velvety looking, very vampy. Another lit-from-within color, this one really does look like it's glowing. 
Skate Night. Magenta shimmer. This is magenta, right? If it's not magenta, I'd call it a light toned purple that leans waaaay red.
Stella. Warm purple shimmer. Another amazing purple! I love it! I can never get enough purple. This one is lighter than Let's Groove and also more red toned. Really nice. I love purple so this one really appeals to me.
Street Racing. Nearly duochrome reddish rose gold metallic. I say nearly duochrome because it doesn't really flash between two colors, but it does show two distinctly different tones when exposed to different lighting. It's mostly that light red/orange/copper color but also has a lot of cooler gold in it.
Stroll. Deep burgundy with golden shimmer/glitter. Four coats. Glitter!! This glitter is really different, it's not traditional glitter. It's like paper thin little flakes of gold. Very reflective golden glitter in a rich wine-like sheer (but not really jelly) base. I still had visible nail line at three coats, so I did four. 
Thunderbird. Glowing blackened red. One more lit-from-within shade. The edges look black and the middle looks like molten red metal. Beautiful.
The formula on these was so-so. It was pretty three-freeish, thick and watery at the same time. These shades weren't as thick as the past few China Glaze collections, so the formula seems to be improving, but they were still runny. I didn't get a chance to gauge the drying time on these. None were dry by the time I was done taking the pictures, so I'd say that based on that observation alone, these have a slightly longer dry time.
These aren't really the type of shades I was expecting when I heard about the Retro Diva collection! I was thinking... Avocado... Orange... Chocolate... Almond... Brady Bunch type colors. This seems to be a more 70's themed collection, but I'll admit that I all I know about 70's colors, I learned from my in-laws' kitchen. So, maybe there was a lot of red stuff in the 60's and 70's... But, I also think of disco and glitter and outrageous hair and makeup and outfits. I feel like they could have ditched half the reds and oranges and added in a little more variety.
But, overall, not too bad. I really love the purples and the glowy vampy wine shades. My favorites are Let's Groove, Stella, Stroll, Free Love, Short and Sassy and Street Racing. While there are a lot of really nice interesting colors in here, I feel that they're very safe and not 100% unique. I would wear almost all of these, but I would have liked to see some ugly 1970's appliance shades in here!
What do you think? Does it say 'retro' to you? I didn't exist in the 60's and 70's so I have no insight into how truly retro this is. But hey, I love purple, glitter and vampies, so I can't complain too much!
Thursday, June 18, 2009
China Glaze Fall 2009 Retro Diva Collection
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39 comments:
I was a baby in the 70s, but I've spent a lot of time relatives' houses that hadn't been redecorated since then. I have the same associations you did-olive or avocado green, brown, rusty orange... If you factor in the colors you might see on the dancefloors of Studio 54, you might get more variety though.
Ditto about the avocado, burnt orange and crap brown thoughts. I am thinking Brady Bunch colors also when I hear of a 70's inspired line. I WISH there had been an avocado!!
Some really nice colors.
Love Let's Groove and that vampy one called something something Sassy.
Gorgeouss!
I'm kind of underwhelmed by these. Do you have any specific thoughts on how Cords compares to Beatnik? Thanks for swatching these.
They're nice colors... but I don't know I guess I'm just not wowed by them :/ I might get Free Love because it's apparently a cross between 2 oranges I love, and my other fave is Short & Sassy :) Thank you for the pics!
hmmmm I need 7 out of the 12! not too bad. Im waiting for you to swatch your LA girl rockstars!!! and i'm sure i'm not the only one!!! Im saying it in a nice way not a bitchy way. Im appreciative of your time and work!! Thanks
When I think 70's I think hippies so I'd have wanted psychedelic colors bright blue yellow green pink orange purple, rather creme and definitely in a spring or summer collection. I find it to be a waste of theme. They could even have tried some new holos with such a theme.
Now maybe they'll have a retro 20's or Alfred Hitchcock collection with these colors.
Also the metallic texture looks nothing like what they had in the 70's. This one is more a urban kind one, more futuro than retro.
Also yes nothing extraordinary, would wear them too but can live without.
Some of these are very pretty, but not many of them say "Retro" to me either. I'm also wondering where the avocado (my parent's tub color), rust orange, pure white, denim blue, harvest gold (parent's old stove & fridge), brick red, taxi yellow, and black are. Those say the 60s & 70s to me the most. Yeah, there were bright pinks, bright blues, and lavenders, but there was more of the earthy colors I think.
Dang it, now I want some!! I was fine before you came along with your hot ass swatches! :P
I hear you on the color choices! Did any other colors exemplify the 70s like avocado and burnt orange? This collection reminds me of OPI's South Beach, not in the colors offered obviously, but in how the selection didn't seem to vibe with the theme of the collection at all. This collection feels safe and traditional, but not at all retro. Looking at it,it's almost hard to believe this is what China Glaze is giving us. They're usually more adventurous than this. It definitely disappoints me, especially when I think about how awesome last fall's collection was. Rodeo Diva may be my favorite nail collection ever.
I think Stroll is the only shade that excites me (everything else, while pretty, looks like stuff I own already or at least exists elsewhere. some of the reds remind me of Zoya's fall 08 collection), and I'm disappointed to hear it's a 4-coater! :(
These do look like fall colours, but not very retro. I thought the same thing when I heard about this collection....green! I guess we can't complain too much with all the other greens that are out now.
I don't see retro either. They're okay, nothing that I must have!
I had the same feeling about too many oranges and reds and having instead some more "interesting" colors, plus the names don't have that funny/sexy connotation past collections have had.
I'm sort of disappointed but I still might give both purples a try.
Oh My! I need Let's Groove, Short And Sassy, Stella, Stroll & Thunderbird. I want Thunderbird mostly for the name-oh what an awesome name. And I want a 1950s Ford Thunderbird too:P!
LOL about the in-laws bathroom! Totally know what you mean. I was born in the 70s but I don't remember anything. Looking back though there were a lot of brown and oranges in various photos.
I am surprised as I like different ones to what I expected when I saw the colour chart. Am very keen on Far Out, Short & Sassy and Stroll.
Lovely photos, thankyou!
* I meant kitchen. It's early in the morning here!!
Hey Scrange, totally unrelated, but can you compare moonpool with zoya midori? Thanks!
how does let's groove compare to essie's sexy divide? i was reminded of it instantly when i saw the picture. love the collection :) love the 70s!
Love the collection. My 2 cents since I was there in the 70s, not retro colors. But I love them none the less.
I may only be 21, but my parents moved into a house that was built in the 70s when I was 7. (They quickly redecorated it..hehe)
Anyway.. Like those who recall being in the 70s, or houses that were never updated...
Our *new* house had the orangey brown stove and fridge.. and the cabinets of the kitchen were a bright tan, with a white counter top that had yellow and orange boomerang designs on it...
Hahah... I can see why my dad tore all of that down and renovated.
WOW! Great colors. I think in the 70's more people wore red and traditional colors on their nails so maybe that is where the retro fits in. The burgundy glitter one (was that Stroll?) - is it close to Essie hot Commodity???
When I was in high school in the 70s, I had a pair of bright purple cords, with even brighter purple patch pockets. I would wear them with a bright orange shirt. I would wear this when I went roller skating. (I swear on my HTFs that I am not making this up.) So I am just drowning in nostalgia right now. I would paint my fingernails orange with purple polkadots and my toenails purple with orange polkadots and I thought I was da bomb. Good times, good times. Needless to say, I'll be ordering a bunch of these.
I graduated grammar, high school and college in the 70's.
I gotta tell you that the colors in this collection DO reflect what we were wearing on our nails during that era. I don't think their intention was to wear the color of our refrigerators but go back to what was selling in the stores for our hands.
Although they did leave out a few colors (periwnkle blue, dark brown and mauve to name three) as 10 years is a long time but they pretty much hit the nail on the head.
I agree, an avocado green would have been a wonderful (and fitting!) colour for the collection. That swatch of Cords reminds me a lot of Awaken, from the Romantiques collection. Is Cords as dark as Awaken is?
Such a beautiful post! Thank you for not konading it up. In the late 60s when I was a pre-teen, there was a line called Yardley that was part of the mod era. That was when I wore frosted pink lipstick and brightly colored nail polish. In the 70s, I am pleased to say, I was not a victim of the home decorating nightmares so many of my friends suffered. Nail polish then would never have been green or brown, but some people wore orange. Beige and peach probably were more reflective of the overall color trends of the era being added to the usual whites, pinks and reds. Maybe this new collection is more very late 70s to early 80s disco. Whatever.
These are so brilliant I cannot contain myself
Omg, how amazingly beautiful is "Let's Groove"? I love purple to death. And btw, congratulations on your RBL collaboration - that's great and we all know you deserve it :D
I think I love all of these, except Far Out...even the reds and oranges O.o
do you know of any places to purchase china glaze that ship to australia? some nice colours in there.
God, I LOVE all of these.
I don't know about the 60s and 70s, but these are very 20s to 40s femme fatale shades. Are they supposed to be evocative of the 70s?
I wish China Glaze had a website where you could read the backstory of the color choices. It would have been interesting to see Avacodo green, Harvest Gold and that Burnt Orange shade. Thanks for swatching. I do love the shades. They do have that glow from within look. I don't need them all but...
I actually like many of these. Then again I love vampy purples, magnetas, reds....do you know when they will be available?
Thanks a bunch for your gorgeous swatches :)
This is going to sound stupid, but where can you buy these? I absolutely love some of the colors, but I can't find them anywhere! Someone told me to try 8ty8beauty, but I couldn't find them there.
This is so depressing :(
I'm amazed at your application... how do you get it so perfect?! I never fail to get bubbles on my nails, even though I wait for each coat to dry and I'm careful to brush smoothly (or so I think). Any tips or advice on what I might still be doing wrong?
Thanks!
trans design, inc has these in stock on their website, or is it head2toe? I just saw them today! So excited. Craving Let's Groove, short & sassy, stroll, and thunderbird! and I don't normally like reds =P
I have only Thunderbird at the moment, it was kinda thick and gloppy like you said, but it's such a beautiful color, I don't mind it. I love Let's Groove, Short and Sassy, Drive In, and Street Racing.
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