Monday, October 18, 2010

China Glaze 'Tis The Season To Be Naughty And Nice Collection Winter/Holiday 2010 Swatches and Review

Sorry it's taken me so long to get this posted... I've been having some difficulties. Hopefully I'll be back in the swing of things soon!

What a pretty holiday collection. Makes me feel all cozy and happy.



Cheers To You. Standard silver foil. Very pretty but nothing unique.




Frosty. Such a gorgeous white. It's a semi-sheer white similar to something like Zoya Ginessa- made of shiny white particles in a somewhat milky base. It's just so sparkly and pretty and soft and delicate, even slightly iridescent- see how some of the shimmer pearls change color on the nail? Love this one, it's fantastic.




Jingle Bells. Halfway between a chrome and a foil, more on the foil side. Shiny and reflective. A neutral light gold bordering on champagne.



Jolly Holly. Incredibly gorgeous rich forest green shimmer. The pigmentation is amazing on this one, it's a one-coater even though I did two for the picture. I adore this. It looks really good topped with a layer of Party Hearty, too.




Little Drummer Boy. Soft dark navy shimmer. It's less saturated than a lot of other navy shimmers and it gives it a really soft and sort of faded look- like denim. Great pigmentation on this, too.



Midnight Kiss. Light blonde gold foil. Very festive. A little bit patchy but evens out nicely with two thick coats or three thin coats.



Mistletoe Kisses. This seems pretty unique, I can't think of many other colors like this. It's a silvery green glitter, or perhaps both green and silver glitter together. It looks much lighter than I expected, but that's not a bad thing. It reminds me of those Christmas wreaths with the plastic holly leaves that are coated in this sugar-looking crystalline substance- it's supposed to look like snow on the leaves? Light and sparkly.





Mommy Kissing Santa. Rich red shimmer. Velvety looking. Another one that's not terribly original but still pretty.



Mrs. Claus. A light red tinted base with light silvery red glitter. Different from the usual Ruby Pumps-esqe red glitter. This one looks softer and lighter than most red glitters. It reminds me of the one Color Club did in the mini set for Christmas last year.



Naughty And Nice. Very very dark plum purple. Blackened plum. At one coat it's obviously purple, at two it becomes more black. Similar to OPI William Tell Me About OPI and Essie Velvet Voyeur and all the other blackened-plum shades that were released this fall.



Party Hearty. My favorite. I've worn this four times since I got it and I still love it. It's silver small glitter with larger red and green glitter in a clear base. Fantastic for layering. Good on its own, too, as you can see here. This is two coats, three would have been more opaque but this actually looks good with a little nail showing through.




Peace On Earth. AWESOME! An olive green shimmer! Golden threads running through soft olive green. I'm absolutely ecstatic about this one. It reminds me of the long-gone Cat's Eye shade! Darker and less frosty, though, so definitely improved.



Phat Santa. A maraschino cherry red creme. Very glamorous. This is the darker of the two reds.




Ruby Deer. The lighter of the two reds. This one is more of a tomato-red, closer to something like Zoya America to give you an idea.


Snow. Plain white creme. Dries very glossy and isn't the least bit chalky. Very soft. A little streaky, I needed three coats and that's what's pictured here.


Sugar Plums. A cousin to the discontinued yet beloved Crystal Ball shade. This is a red-plum or burgundy shimmer with teeny tiny itty bitty holo glitter particles. Click the pictures to see them better. You can see them pretty well in the bottle especially.



Here's how Party Hearty looks layered over a foil and a creme:

Party Hearty (one coat) over Midnight Kiss.


Party Hearty (one coat) over Phat Santa.

Lovely, right? Super Christmassy! I'm totally into this color! Anything that reminds me of a holiday. Love. Though, I have noticed that it's gotten thicker each time I've used it. You may need to thin it every now and then to keep it smooth.


The formula on these was varied but good. The plain shimmers were extremely pigmented, a little thick, but nice and smooth. The glitters were a little thick, but that's normal for glitters. The whites and the foils were slightly sheer, I did three coats and that was fine for them. The cremes were smooth and nicely pigmented. Drying time on all is excellent, very quick. China Glaze used to dry very slowly for me but their formula has improved a lot over the years.

Are all the colors unique? No, not really. Red cremes, red shimmer, gold and silver foil, blackened purple creme... all quite common shades. However, all the colors are nice, all the colors are pretty to look at and they all seem to go well together in the collection. None of them are ugly! Yay! I think it's a very appropriate Holiday-themed collection with a few unexpected surprises thrown in. I approve. The greens are especially gorgeous.

These are available online already and they should be in stores sometime in November- individially and also packaged as really cute gift sets.

(These were sent to me for review.)

41 comments:

  1. Can't wait to get my hands on Party Hearty, Jolly Holly, and Mistletoe Kisses!!! Thanks for these lovely swatches. I was thinking of layer Party Hearty over Jolly Holly (which I am sure will look stunning), but now I want to do it over a red too!!!

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  2. Love! I'll try to resist those red cremes, surely I have some dupes, but I don't know if I can! Finally another olive green!

    And woah, different looking photos. Threw me off there for a second.

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  3. Why must you torture me with all the gorgeous colors! I had convinced myself I only wanted party hearty .. now im thinking otherwise.

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  4. Party Hearty and Mistletoe kisses are my favorites!
    Nice collection overall ^^

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  5. Mistletoe kisses and Party Hearty are definitely the ones I need!! But after these swatches, I´m now doubting about some of the other colors as well... sigh...

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  6. How many coats do you think it would take to get party hearty fully opaque? It looks pretty over the red creme but I think you lose a lot of the sparkle that way. I really want this one for my holiday mani.

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  7. I honestly want them all. LOL! Thanks =]

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  8. Pretty! I like Frosty, Jolly Holly, Mistletoe and Sugar Plums ;)

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  9. Great swatches! I ordered Cheers To You, Little Drummer Boy and Mistletoe Kisses and I am sooo looking forward for them to arrive!!!

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  10. I hope everything is better for you! <<<<>>>>

    I ordered 5 of these, and I love them all. It is a great themed collection, and I bet some will be classic lemmings after they are gone (Party Hearty for sure)!

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  11. Great swatches! I received my order yesterday and am so in love with them! Perfect Holiday collection.

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  12. I like many of these polishes. Especially the greens. Those reds are lovely but how many can you have? Oh well, what can you do.

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  13. i think i died and went to heaven when i saw "cheers to you." i must have!

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  14. Great Collection. Really well rounded with lots of festive colors as well as ones that can be worn after the holidays.

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  15. LOVE the Jolly Holly. The first one looked fantastic on your nails too-very pretty (both your nails and the color:).

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  16. China Glaze really put together an awesome holiday collection. I love Party Hearty, Snow, Frosty, Peace on Earth, Mrs. Claus, Mistletoe Kisses, Sugar Plums and Jolly Holly. (Which is like half of the collection!)

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  17. These all look great on you! I really like Jolly Holly and Peace on Earth. My order should be coming soon - got a bunch of these.

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  18. OOO, such pretty colors :) The silver reminds me of sally hansen celeb city and the green (jolly holly one) reminds me of emerald city also by sally hansen, do you think they look alike?? (also, if you don't know what they look like, I have swatches of both of them on my blog lol) I would love to hear your thoughts :) I really like the party hearty one :)

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  19. Peace on Earth is beautiful!!! It reminds me of this Maybelline polish I had as a girl. I think it was called Khaki Fringe??? or Golden Khaki? I don't know but I love that olive green shimmers are coming back.

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  20. I hope things improve for you soon, it sucks you've been having a hard time :(

    That being said, you are evil! Other swatches of these haven't made me want them but now I'm lusting after some of these so badly! :D

    Take care x

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  21. I want Frost and Mistletoe Kisses. Bust since i only have $26.63 to my name i will have to chose between the two :( will probably go for the more wearable Frost..

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  22. Jolly Holly, Little Drummer Boy, Mommy Kissing Santa, Ruby Deer and Phat Santa... Whoa!

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  23. Oh i just love party hearty! im still waiting for mine to be delivered:-)
    cant wait to swatch them as well:-D

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  24. Noooooo! This was the post I had crossed my fingers wouldn't come because I'm so broke already and I tried to find reasons not to buy party hearty.. but now I have to, hahahah! It's BEAUTIFUL layered, super duper christmasish!

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  25. I ordered the gift set that included party hearty a few days ago :) and after seeing these im so glad i did, its absolutely stunning :) gorgeous swatches as always

    Diava
    X

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  26. Awesome collection and nice swatches!!! Already in the Christmas mood...

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  27. Thanks, you always have the best descriptions! Now I want Little drummer boy, since you said it's similar to denim. I never considered Naughty and nice, either. I'm definitely getting Party Hearty, Peace on Earth and Frosty.

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  28. How does Snow compare with that other white...um...White on White? Or White Out. I believe I have White on White, but it's a little streaky and not opaque enough for me, so maybe Snow will be good. Other than that, I rather like Sugar Plums, Frosty, Midnight Kiss, and Mrs Claus

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  29. Peace on Earth looks NICE as does Sugar Plum. I've never been much for red on my finger, though.

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  30. Ok, my mouth literally flooded with saliva when I saw Party Hearty over Phat Santa. LITERALLY. I can't wait to own these! :)

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  31. I'm sorry to hear about your difficult times. You always manage to sound positive and fun in your posts, and I know how hard that can be. I know we all appreciate you, and we're pulling for you. Anyway...

    I've been looking forward to this post! Seems the foils and red cremes and Naughty are skips for me, but I'm otherwise panting, especially over Peace and Mrs Claus. I'm crossing my fingers that Snow will end my search for the perfect white...three coats, I can totally deal with.

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  32. Aaaaahhh!! Green! Red! Glitter! *dies from happiness* I simply MUST have like 60% of these shades! Thanks for the lovely swatches, Scrangie :)

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  33. Oh I love your swatches! I must have frosty, sugar plums and mistletoe. Hmmm...if I already own watermelon rind and untamed luxury can I justify a third green glitter? lol

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  34. I showed my bf your swatches and he said "don't you ever in your life get Party Hearty" lol! But I got the OK to get others so I'm ordering now thank you!!

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  35. Loooove these ones :

    Jolly Holly
    Mistletoe Kisses
    Mommy Kissing Santa
    Party Hearty
    Peace on Earth
    & Sugar Plums

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  36. I wasn't very excited about this collection.
    But, woman do you make everything look good!!

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  37. all polishes look wonderful ♥ i think party hearty is my favourite ^^

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  38. I have Peace on Earth and I LOVE it. Now I want Sugar Plums!
    BTW, I love the Party Hearty ove Phat Santa! Thanks for the inspiration.I hsve Peace on Earth and LOVER it. Now I want Sugar Plums.
    BTW, I love the Party Hearty ove Phat Santa! Thanks for the inspiration.

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  39. I got ten of these. My favorite so far has been Frosty with Party Hearty on top. The white base really brings out all the glitter in Party Hearty, and then the shimmers in Frosty just go with it. Super awesome!

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