Wednesday, January 5, 2011

China Glaze Anchors Away Collection Spring 2011

This year is off to a really good start, polish-wise. The second new collection of 2011 is a great one- China Glaze Anchors Away. Looks like there's going to be a soft and muted yet not quite pastel color trend this spring...


Ahoy! You all know I'm not big on pink, but this pink is AMAZING. It's more of a deep magenta than a true pink, but it's a jelly and it has iridescent gold shimmer. The combination of the bright, colorful jelly and the glowing gold shimmer is just fantastic. The jelly base tints the gold flecks a little so you get lots of different tones sparking on your nails.


Below Deck. One of those ever-popular purple-grey shades. Is it Greige? I forget what term everyone's using for these now... Grurple? Anyway, I've heard from a few people that this was intended to be a replica of the old Channelesque, and it does look pretty similar! Channelesque seems lighter to me, though. This one reminds me more of Metro Chic.


First Mate. Lovely soft navy blue creme. It looks too bright in this picture- in real life it has a really soft, dusty sort of look. Really pretty. One of the only navy shades I like... Most of the time I feel like Navy can't decide if it's blue or black and it's always so dull... this one is perfect.



Hey, Sailor! This is an attention grabber for sure. Crazy bright loud obnoxious red creme. It looks dangerous! I love it. It has that retro sailor pin-up girl look to it, those kinds of reds are my favorites. This is almost a jelly, too, it has that soft squishy look to it when it's applied.



Knotty. This is an interesting shade- it's a glass fleck nude? It's a light tan/beige nude shade with silver-white flecks of shimmer. Maybe not the best color on me, but I really do like looking at it. I don't own many shades like this.



Life Preserver. A soft burnt orange. Really rich looking, so saturated and creamy. I really like orange polish and this one is not the common bright orange. It reminds me a lot of one of the shades from the Immaterial Girl collection from a few years back, but I can't remember the name! Vintage Crepe? Ah, I can't remember and now I'm rambling.





Lighthouse. Holy smokes, this yellow is awesome! And easy to apply! A bright yellow jelly base with shiny, sparkly pale yellow glass fleck shimmer. It has a lot of depth to it, I love the way the shimmer looks sitting in the lower layers of the polish and then how it sparkles at the top layer.




Pelican Gray. Light, pale grey, neutral, with a little soft shimmer to it. It's a hidden shimmer like the kind in Zoya Marley, you can't really see it but it gives a nice soft cloudy look to the color. Love these kinds of greys. Or maybe I just love all greys, I can't decide.



Sea Spray. So many beautiful colors in this collection... this might be one of my top favorites. It's a very pale blue but it's not pastel. It has a lot of grey in it and a very subtle shimmer. It looks rainy. Reminds me of something like Eyeko Rain Polish- rainy sky blue!



Starboard. Soft grassy green. What's not to love about this? It's my favorite type of green, too- yellow-leaning and not too blue. Very creamy soft finish, has that soft, cloudy marshmallow-ish look like the rest of the colors in this set have.


Sunset Sail. A peachy beige nude with some silvery microglitter. Looks a shade or two darker on the nails than it does in the bottle. It's on the warm side but I still think it looks pretty good on my cool skintone!


White Cap. Gorgeous. Sheer white jelly with gold duochrome shimmer. It's like a cross between a glass fleck and a flake finish- tiny little flat flakes that are very, very shiny. It's so bright and luminous, it looks so clean.

The formula on these was good. A little on the thick side, but with flawless application. Not runny or anything like that. The opacity on these is decent but I found that I needed three coats for complete coverage on most shades. All pictures are three coats, no basecoat or topcoat. They dry really shiny without topcoat. Drying time is average.

I really love these shades. Some of them look like other old China Glaze shades but I don't know if any are exact matches. I don't dislike a single shade in this entire collection- they're all beautiful! After all the dark vamps and shiny glitters of fall and winter, I'm really craving these types of soft, greyed-out muted creme shades. The smattering of glass flecks in the collection is just the icing on the cake for me. I'm quite pleased with these. I see myself wearing Sea Spray a lot this spring...

Two thumbs up for me. Refreshing change of pace from all the glitter-heavy manicures I've been sporting lately. Lots of wearable soft shades, very calming and peaceful.

(These were sent to me for review.)

83 comments:

  1. woaaaa soooo beautiful! neeeeed them! :)

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  2. i am so amped for this collection!! i want every single one!!!

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  3. I didn't like the promo pics, but your swatches are really pretty! I want some of them now...

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  4. Oh man, I'm going to have a hard time not getting all of these. I really love Lighthouse, Starboard, Sea Spray, and First Mate.

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  5. wow, thanks for the swatches, I had been waiting for these for so long, the colours look awesome

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  6. I need this collection in my liiiiife *_*

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  7. Great swatches! I like Ahoy and White Cap. It looks like White Cap and Zoya Jules are sisters :))

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  8. Woooow!
    Doesn't White Cap look just a bit similar to Zoya's Jules from the Intimate collection? :)

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  9. I need at these soft greys and blues so beautiful!

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  10. Your swatches did the trick for me! I was meh after seeing the promo pics, but now I can't wait to have them all. Love your blog!!!

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  11. Great swatches. I would love to see what White Cap looks like layered over some of the other colors!

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  12. Below Deck looks absolutely stunning! I haven't had a nailpolish cravings for a long time (the last was Chanel Paradoxal) but this does stir some thinsg up ;)

    Also would be nice to have a comparison between different greys and Pelican Grey.

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  13. thank you so much for the pics! i am so excited about White Cap and Life Preserver

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  14. I definitely want six of the collection so far. Darn your making me want them all! I'll be thrilled to get Starboard. That's seven, I forgot to write that one down.

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  15. So disappointed in green. I was hoping it would be a more yellow, less dusty, and brigter and jellyish. At least White Cap is awesome.

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  16. WONDERFUL! white cap looks like it's going to be my favorite :)

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  17. oh, they look so much better than the promo pic.
    Cool!

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  18. No top coat? I'm very impressed with the shininess of the colors. The swatches are great, and much appreciated. They've confirmed my initial impressions and helped me solidify my list.

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  19. Pelican and White Cap are gorgeous. I am definitely going to enjoy these colors!

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  20. Whoa, White Cap is gooorgeous! <3

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  21. Yay, got all excited when I saw that you've posted these swatches. Had to make myself a cup of coffee before I sat down to read and study the pictures. I think this is a decent collection and I'm probably gonna get 6-8 of them. My favorites are probably Life Preserver, Hey, Sailor and White cap.

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  22. I must be alone cause I don't love this collection. Not like I loved the Zoya Spring collection. Heck, I love a blue creme and even that I'm not that excited about. With that said I'm still going to get it. :)

    Question-how does Pelican Gray compare to Zoya's Dove?

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  23. I see two, maybe three, definitely wants there: Ahoy!, Sea Spray and Whitecap. Thanks for the swatches.

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  24. Scrangie, you're making my wallet very very sad... I need several of these and your swatch just made me want some more of them.

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  25. Knotty and lighthouse are absolutely GORGEOUS! I adore glass flecks.

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  26. Definitely getting: Life Preserver and Sea Spray
    Possibly getting: Ahoy! and Below Deck

    Thanks for the awesome swatches!

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  27. Im so excited about this collection!

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  28. the promo pics made me skeptical, but after seeing your swatches i'm SOLD!!

    OMG "lighthouse" has to be the best yellow shimmer ever! w2g China Glaze!

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  29. They are all beautiful :) Also, I am not really a pink person, but the first one (even though it is "actually" pink), I am really loving and I might just have to get it :) I also really like Sea Spray, First mate, and Starboard :)
    But I think Ahoy! might just be my favorite ^^

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  30. wow Scrangie - you're the best. I love love love your descriptions and your pictures, and your nails. You rock girl. Now I want them all ! :D

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  31. Is Sea Spray similar to RBL Bikini Bottom? How about Rain from Illamasqua?

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  32. I think I'll get Anoy and White Cap. Mmmm...pretty!

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  33. I want most of these.. and I love the names.

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  34. wow what beautiful colors! I WANT ALL OF THEM!

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  35. Sea Spray reminds me of an Essie polish but I can't think of the name.

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  36. Sea Spray looks a lot like Sag Harbor by Essie.

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  37. I cannot wait to get my hands on these!! I MUST have Lighthouse! It looks AMAZINGG!

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  38. Gorgeous! I really want Lighthouse, Starboard and maybe Sea Spray.

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  39. So beautiful! How does Below Deck compare to Zoya's Kelly/other purple-ish grays?

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  40. I have to have White Cap. So much for my spending freeze!

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  41. Beautiful collection! I like all of them!

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  42. Is Below Deck a bit similar to OPI's Parlez vous OPI ? Because I can't find this one.

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  43. The 2 reds are not special but the rest ARE!

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  44. Absolutely adored this collection upon sight of the bottle pics but now, oh boy! Your swatches of them are wondrous! And I'm so happy to see that you said all the color applied so well and had such a great formula. :D Sometimes light colors can be so tricky to apply.

    I hope to haul away this whole collection - it's so beautiful and soothing, fresh light and lovely! Just looking at your swatches lifted my mood! I can't wait to have these on my tips. :) Thank you so much for swatching these!

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  45. I luuurve Sea Spray. I want it, I need it.

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  46. Hi Scrangie! How are you? :)

    Can I ask... How does Pelican Gray compare to Rescue's Concrete Jungle?

    Thanks! :-D

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  47. Wow!! You ROCK!!! I thought it would still take some time before I would get to see swatches of these babies! But you are a polish Goddess!! ahahahaha... Thanks a lot for sucha a great post!!
    Looking forward to the Tronica review!

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  48. I'm so anxious to get my hands on these, thanks for the swatches!

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  49. I'm so excited to try Ahoy! and First Mate!! Thanks so much for the awesome swatches!

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  50. Oh I want this whole collection so badly! Especially Pelican Grey and Sea Spray. Fab swatches too!

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  51. Amazing swatches as ever!
    Could you please compare First Mate and Bermuda Breakaway? They seem dupish...

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  52. I love the whole collection! With an exception of one or two! I think the finishing color is so shiny for it not to have a top coat! So Pretty!

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  53. Can't wait for First Mate, Below Deck, and Sea Spray! I have a comparison question, tho. How similar are OPI's Dating A Royal and ChG's First Mate? Ty!

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  54. I want to run out and purchase these already!!

    Btw...what kind of camera do u use?

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  55. I definitely didn't think I would like Ahoy! at all but oh my god it's gorgeous. And I usually HATE pinks. I love Starboard, Sea Spray and Pelican Gray too. I want them all! Thank god it's not another pastel collection!

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  56. Oh those are so beautiful, i'm so sad that on my country (Estonia) these brands are not sold. Lucky you who can wear those colors :)

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  57. Wow, those are so beautiful, i'm so sad that they are not sold in my country (Estonia)
    You're lucky to wear them :) So pretty!

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  58. Knotty actually reminds me of OPI Hollywood Blonde and OPI Up front & personal. Is it close to any of them?

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  59. Love! I've been so looking forward to these swatches from you!

    White Cap and Lighthouse I can definitely do without. Not that I don't like the color, but they would look horrid on me. I don't know if I'll be able to resist buying all the others, though. They've managed to make colors I normally don't like (magenta-y pinks, navy blue, bright bright green) irresistable. So dusty and muted and awesome!

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  60. I wonder if Sea Spray is anything like Essie Sag Harbor? They look alike on pic I think...

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  61. OMG I'm dyyyyying. I want most of them...I can't wait! I wish wish wish they'd come out sooner. Ahhhh!

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  62. I want a good half the collect -

    Ahoy
    Below Deck
    First Mate
    Pelican Gray
    Sea Spray
    Starboard

    I can't wait to get my hands on them!!

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  63. Gorgeous colours - and amazing blog!!

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  64. I just might have to buy them all!

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  65. Amazing swatches! Very pretty! Some colors are really tempting, spesially Ahoy! :))
    Interesting to see how Zoya Jules compares to CG White Cap, and how Zoya Dove compares to CG Pelican Grey.

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  66. Great swatches as always... I'm probably getting all of them.

    I was wondering how Life Preserver compares to OPI Hot & Spicy how Starboard compares to Essie Pretty Edgy though. Are either of these close?

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  67. Shit son! I want more of these than expected! Ahoy, Hey Sailor, Lighthouse, Sea Spray, Starboard and White Cap.

    You think China Glaze will marry me? Because they're HOT.

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  68. Hello. I heard that China Glaze Pelican Gray is very similar to Misa Working Hard, except for the shimmer. Which one has a better overall application? Which one is more chip resistant?

    Problem is, you make them all look so good that I end up splurging on so many polishes every time I look into your page hehehe

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  69. Wonder what Light House would look like OVER Life Preserver? Is LH in one coat transparent enough to be used as an overlay shade? I have Below Deck but now thinking I need to see if I can still find White Cap.

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  70. I just purchased White Cap (finally). I layered it over Wagon Trail which gave it a really funky look. It brought out the olive tones and added to the gold shimmer to give it a very strong olive green and gold shimmer. Love it! Love your blog!

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  71. This now a year later might just be my fav collection from 2011 - not that I got or saw them all - plus I tend to purchase and wear polish that falls in a mid $ range of the $6-$15/bottle range with of course the occasional splurge overboard that when I just cannot resist.

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  72. Skipped this last year but am happy to say my Sally's has the whole collection on its core rack. Just bought Sea Spray, Life Preserver, Starboard, Ahoy! And Below Deck. Will be going back for Pelican Gray and First Mate. And maybe Lighthouse too. Funny because I didn't care about it last year and now love them.

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