Swatch and Review: China Glaze Tranzitions

Happy Saturday, everyone! Today, I have for you three of the new Tranzitions shades from China Glaze!

The Tranzitions are a form of color-changing polish in which the use of top coat triggers the color shift. In all of the swatches with the dual colors, I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

First up is Shape Shifter, a gunmetal metallic polish. This was opaque in just one coat. The color itself was pretty, but very streaky. I did my best to hide the brushstrokes, but I wasn't thrilled with the end result.

Here is Shape Shifter with the top coat. I wanted to do some designs on the nail so you could see the difference with and without top coat. As you can see, the color shifts to a blurple that I'm pretty fond of and would probably wear on its own.

This one is Altered Reality, a teal metallic polish that was opaque in one coat. This was even more streaky than Shape Shifter.

The french tip I did was with two coats of top coat and it barely made a difference. The shift wasn't enough to be noticeable for me. This was by far my least favorite of the three.

Split Perso-nail-ity was my favorite of the three and probably the only one I'd wear again. It's a dusty pink that changes to more of a magenta. This is with two coats to even out the streakiness.

And here is the color with the top coat. I used a dotting tool to create the polka dots and then dotted the original color back on to hollow them out. I thought this was a pretty easy way to do nail art.

The pros: Versatile color. Need only one bottle for multiple looks.

The cons: Slow dry time unless you use a top coat, but you can't if you want any portion to remain pink. These shades also stained my nails. Additionally, the brushstrokes are not really attractive to me in the first two shades and not nearly enough of a color shift.

The Tranzitions collection is currently available at ULTA and other beauty retail stores. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

What do you think of the Tranzitions? Do you have a favorite?

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.

Swatch and Review: Lush Lacquer Ticklish Teal

Hello, everyone! Sorry for the delay in coming back. I think I just needed the time off post-vacation to relax and get in a good state of mind, even once I was over being sick. Law school is VERY taxing mentally and emotionally, so I think I just needed the break.

But I'm back now... and with lots of fun things to share!

Today's polish is one I bought as part of Llarowe's Scratch and Dent Grab Bags: Lush Lacquer Ticklish Teal!

Ticklish Teal is a black jelly base filled with all different sizes of black and teal hex glitter, as well as teal bar glitter. The above picture is with three coats and one layer of top coat.

This color was very pretty and the base built up better outside of my light box. That being said, I probably would have had better results if I used a black base polish, but I was afraid of losing the awesome black hex glitter if I did.

The application wasn't gloopy and there was definitely a ton of glitter in each stroke. It was a little gritty on the nail, but not to the point where one coat of top coat couldn't handle it. However, this was REALLYYYYYYYYYYYYY hard to get off. I'm talking about three separate foil wraps AND a soak in some remover. It took me about a full hour to get it off. I was contemplating using this as a base for a striping tape mani and am really glad I reconsidered.

So what do you ladies think? Is this one worth all of the removal trouble?

Until next time!

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So what three Zoyas will you be picking up?

Top of 2012: Glitter Bombs

Happy New Year, my lovelies! What better to kick off 2013 than a sea of glitter? And no, I don't mean all of the confetti still stuck to your hair from last night!

 

Even though Christmas has passed, I'm still head over heels for R. Hobby Cosmetics's Peppermint Shatter. It's like I got a crushed up candy cane and decided to turn lemons into lemonade... or rather, nail art. It's really unique and well thought out.

The above is two coats layered over two coats of Zoya Holly.

Oh, Maisie Shine Aquarium. How I adore thee.

This glitter bomb consists of an aqua jelly filled with varying shapes and sizes of blue and silver glitter. Above, it's layered over Nfu Oh 61 for a really cool underwater look.

Here, you can see how I built up coats of Aquarium to create a really cool gradient effect. Every time I see the chunks of glitter, I feel like they're fish in the depths of the ocean.

So there you have it folks... my Top of 2012! I hope you enjoyed this little segment of posting while I was away and went digging through your own stash to find your favorites.

Happy 2013! (And take that Mayan Apocalypse!)