Saturday, July 3, 2010

Top coat love

I hit up eBay a while ago, wanting to expand my nail polish collection beyond Mode. I mean, I pretty much have every colour under the sun now (c'mon, $2.45 a bottle!) but I was super keen on trying some other finishes and textures. The two obvious options, besides nasty-to-remove glitter (and Mode's Diamante fills that slot nicely anyway) were matte and holographic.

Holos are notoriously difficult to track down unless you want to pay $12+ for a bottle (I'm looking at you, Nfu Oh, and yes that is drool on my chin. Sorry.) and I was totally spoiled after Mode's cheapness. I was also hankering after a lilac creme, and I spotted Light As Air from China Glaze's new collection. I poked around a few eBay stores and on viewing their selection, had a brainwave: if I wanted to try out holos and mattes, what better way to do it than buy a matte and holo TOPCOAT?

I did some research, especially in regards to the holo, before throwing my money at anything. China Glaze's Wireless looked the best in all the swatches and comparisons I saw, as did Matte Magic. I managed to get China Glaze's Light As Air, Matte Magic and Wireless from the same seller. I threw in Lemon Fizz for the hell of it, because Say Cheese from Mode is a wee bit bright for me. I ordered them from the U.S. and shipping seemed to take an eternity and a half. I got home from work one day and there was a well-padded envelope waiting in the letterbox.


Guh. So worth the wait! I'm typing this with every nail painted a different colour, which has either been matte'd or holo'd. I quickly found that Wireless works best over darker colours - I can't wait til morning to look at it in the sunlight over High Fashion and/or Starry Night! Light As Air is freaking gorgeous - I hadn't tried China Glaze before this but they're beautiful. The Matte Magic is AMAZING and if you like matte or haven't tried it before I would say GO, GO NOW before I buy every bottle available on eBay because I'm ordering a million backups right now. I even tried layering Matte Magic over Wireless, it completely obliterated the rainbow-y-ness, but it's still a bit shimmery, it reminds me of those Man Glazes I've seen swatched around. I matte'd a deep sparkly blue Mode polish called Style Magnet and it looks fantastic. I wish I had more fingers, I want to try this over all my polishes! Now!

Wear is a big thing for me when it comes to nail polishes. I don't think I'll be able to tear myself away from either topcoat at this point in time, so I can't comment on Light As Air or Lemon Fizz just yet. Also, as much as I love Lemon Fizz and find it way more wearable than Say Cheese... I don't have a lot of yellow in my wardrobe. Or orange, actually, which is why Frenemy from Mode hasn't gotten much wear even though I think it's gorgeous (aaand now I'm wondering what it'd look like matte'd...)

I won't do a proper review of these, because there are so many around, and because I haven't got anything to compare them to. I will, however, leave you with these:
China Glaze's Wireless Holographic Top Coat over Mode Cosmetics' High Fashion.

China Glaze's Matte Magic Top Coat over (thumb-pinky) China Glaze Light As Air, Mode Cosmetics So Parisian, China Glaze Lemon Fizz, Mode Cosmetics Cool As, Mode Cosmetics Hook Me Up.

P.S. if anybody has found a pastel/baby blue comparable to China Glaze's Moody Blue, could you let me know? I adore Hook Me Up, but I'd love something paler as well.

8 comments:

  1. Wow...I definitely don't research my nail polish as extensively as you do, haha. But I have China Glaze Nail Lacquer with Hardeners in Scarlet, Shower Together, and Coconut Kiss. The consistency and color depth of their shades is awesome! Shower Together is my fave so far.

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  2. Deb, my 'research' consists of drooling over photos posted by nail polish bloggers, hehe!

    Ohhh man, check this out: http://www.chinaglazediva.com
    I was looking up pictures of Coconut Kiss and found it. WOW.

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  3. Hngggg want. Which seller did you buy from? I need one central good polish seller, instead of like 50 :)

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  4. From here: http://stores.shop.ebay.com.au/ttluvspolish__W0QQ_armrsZ1

    They have over 500 bottles of China Glaze in stock right now *drools* AND they do combined shipping. Oh and they have Zoya! Must... resist...

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  5. Ever tried Rimmel 'Zeitgeist'? I think you'd plotz.

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  6. Holy crap Ems, I googled it and it's soooo pretty!

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  7. I LOVE what you have done with high fashion! Top coats are on my "to buy" list too! :)
    P.S. Have you tried Gorg?

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  8. V: I'm having trouble tracking it down. I'll have a look for it tomorrow, I have work so I'll be in the city.

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