Mar 29 2013

China Glaze Hologlam Swatches and Review Part 2

Happy Friday!  Today’s post is featuring the remaining six shades of the China Glaze Hologlam collection.

Don’t Be A Luna-tic is a silvery pale blue leaning aqua holo.  This is another almost-chrome-but-not finish and reminds me a little of Metallic Muse.  I’m looking forward to testing these for stamping.

Sci Fly By is a light blue holo.  In my mind this is the 2NITE for Hologlam.

Take A Trek is a medium blue holo.  I plan to do a comparison post later between Take A Trek, 2NITE, DV8, Layla Ocean Rush and Girly Bits Roger That.

Strap On Your Moonboots – a dark blue holo. Another unusual shade.  I will compare this to OPI DS Glamour, China Glaze 2NITE and Enchanted Polish Bruised Nutcracker.

Galactic Gray is a charcoal gray holo.  It’s darker than China Glaze Let’s Do It In 3D (and also a linear holo whereas Let’s Do It In 3D was scattered).  It’s the middle ground between shades like Let’s Do It In 3D and Color Club Revvvolution vs HITS Zeus, Jade Magia Negra and Color Club Beyond.

Cosmic Dust is a dirty silver holo.  It’s a tiny bit darker than the average silver holo so I don’t think it will be a dead-on dupe for the highly coveted OMG but I would say it’s very close.  I’ll be sure to add this to my Silver Holographic Comparison post, though I may just redo the whole thing since I’ve added to my collection!

In case you missed it in my previous post for the first six shades, I’m going to include my review here as well.

With the thin coats I used, Hologlam polishes dried within 1-2 minutes.  These can show ridges on the nail so I recommend a gentle buff before application.  I noticed if I had OPI Nail Envy underneath I had some balding issues similar to Layla (but nowhere near as bad).  The balding was fixed with additional coats.  During application I also noticed brush strokes were slightly noticeable but pretty much disappeared after the polish was dry.

As I mentioned, some people may call a few shades boring or more commonplace.  While I can understand their point of view, I have to offer mine.  I don’t consider pale shades like Get Outta My Space to have many dupes because to me, they’re different.  For example comparing Color Club Cloud Nine to Get Outta My Space the shades may be similar but they are made much different based on the level of holographic effect and the grade of holo used to make these polishes.  The holo—which is the essence and the point of these polishes (in my opinion)—is of a different grade and that separates the polishes enough for me.  The grade of holo may not be enough to justify purchasing these and that’s understandable.

One nice thing about this collection is there are similarities between these polishes and the beloved OMG shades (or even Kaleidoscope) that have become a bit expensive and hard to find.  This is great news for people who came late to the polish scene (me included) who missed out on the OMG collection but still crave the extremely smooth linear holo that China Glaze does so well.

I’m very glad I got the whole collection and I really look forward to wearing these once winter passes!  Originally the brick and mortar store release date was said to be March but apparently it’s been pushed to April.  These are available on the Sally Beauty website, 8ty8beauty, Head2Toe and Transdesign now.

By Cassie • Reviews • 0 • Tags: China Glaze, holographic, review, swatches

Mar 21 2013

China Glaze Hologlam Swatches and Review Part 1

Today’s post is featuring six out of 12 shades from the new China Glaze Hologlam collection.  As most people I’ve talked to I was crazy excited about this collection!  For reference, all photos shown are three thin coats, no base or top coat.

Get Outta My Space

is the palest lilac yet slightly leaning pink.  I think it has a very demure and delicate look to it.  Although as holo as the others the tone and shade reminded me of China Glaze chrome polishes but definitely not a chrome still a holo.  Some people would call this boring but even with other pale holos on the market, I don’t consider them to be dupes.  More on this below.

When Stars Collide

is a very unique warm magenta-purple holo!  I have absolutely nothing like this in my collection but the closest would probably be Enchanted Polish Dance of the Sugar Plum though I don’t think they’re very similar.  In these pictures it pulls slightly more medium toned purple but in real life it’s a little bit redder and warmer.

 Infra Red is a magenta pink holo.  I see this as being a favorite in the collection for many.  Similar holos that come to mind would be QT and Layla Purple Illusion.

Astro Hot

is a baby pink holo.  This is another one that can look chrome, especially in unflattering-to-holographic-polishes-type lighting (like at my work).  It’s a stunning holo in bright and low light and obviously sunlight.

Not In This Galaxy is a coral holo.  The holo isn’t as strong but this is still a pretty shade that I was surprised I found myself liking.  A similar holo that came to mind immediately was TMI and my bottle of TMI had a subtle holo effect too.

OMG A UFO

is an olive green holo but can look like a grassy green holo.    The only shade I own (and have come across to far) that may be similar is Enchanted Polish Olive The Other Reindeer.

With the thin coats I used, Hologlam polishes dried within 1-2 minutes.  These can show ridges on the nail so I recommend a gentle buff before application or ridge filler (but I don’t own one so I can’t recommend a specific one).  I noticed if I had OPI Nail Envy underneath I had some slight balding issues similar to Layla but nowhere near as bad.  The balding was fixed with additional coats.  During application I also noticed brush strokes were slightly noticeable but pretty much disappeared after the polish was dry.

I’m very glad I got the whole collection and I really look forward to wearing these on the upcoming sunny days!  Originally the brick and mortar store release date was said to be March but apparently it’s been pushed back to April.  These are available on the Sally Beauty website, 8ty8beauty, Head2Toe and Transdesign now.

What do you think of the Hologlam Collection? Comment bellow and share the holo-y goodness!

By Cassie • Reviews • 2 • Tags: China Glaze, holographic, review, swatches