China Glaze Up & Away Collection Review Round-up

The twelve shades from Up & Away are all creme finish, which means that they’re creamy and have absolutely no shimmer whatsoever. I didn’t find these the easiest to apply from the beginning, but I did find that after I initially applied three or four of them, I started to figure out what worked and what didn’t for these. I did, however, really love the range of shades included in this launch and really felt like they covered the entire rainbow.

Temptalia Recommendations

Must-Haves: Four Leaf Clover, Sugar High, Re-Fresh Mint
Nice-to-Haves: Something Sweet, Lemon Fizz, Flyin’ High, Light As Air
Skip: –

I don’t think any of these merit a skip, because none of them performed horribly — it’s really a matter of what kind of shades you gravitate towards and which ones you just know aren’t your thing. (Like bright yellows? Not really my thing.) I found the darker/deeper colors to be the easiest to apply, with the lighter ones more prone to streaking, but as you can see, I was able to get creamy, smooth results with all the shades.

Here are some tips I learned about application for these spring shades…

• Experiment with thickness of coats and number of coats. I found one thin coat (which might even be streaky) followed by a slightly thicker second coat gave me the results I wanted.
• Make sure to use a base coat and top coat. The base coat will give the polish a smoother surface and something better to anchor to, which will help the polish look and feel more even and smooth. (It also helps it last longer!)
• Patience is a virtue. You don’t need to wait ten minutes in-between coats, but I would advise waiting anywhere from 30 seconds to a couple of minutes. Since I went for a fairly thin first coat, I didn’t have to wait long before it was dry enough to layer on a second coat.

Shade by Shade Reviews

• Heli-Yum
• Sugar High
• Something Sweet
• High Hopes
• Peachykeen
• Happy Go Lucky
• Lemon Fizz
• Re-Fresh Mint
• Four Leaf Clover
• Flyin’ High
• Grape Pop
• Light As Air

China Glaze’s spring collection certainly caught your eye, and I was really pleasantly surprised by just how many nail polish fans we have on this blog! I will definitely try to be more consistent and include more coverage on nail polish in the future (though let’s take a break for a few days!).

What are your favorites?

China Glaze Up & Away Collection: Heli-Yum

China Glaze Heli-Yum Nail Lacquer is a vibrant, deeply pigmented pinky-red.; It’s not the scarlet red we’ve seen over and over again for the holiday season — it’s marked by a lot of raspberry pink. It’s one of the deeper shades of the collection as well, but it is a beautiful shade of not-quite-red but more-than-pink.

Intensely pigmented, smooth to the touch, and pretty easy to apply all describe this formula and shade. I needed just one medium-thick coat to get a smooth, non-streaky application with an opaque finish. I still went for two, but that’s a personal preference; you could easily get away with just a single coat with this particular shade and formula.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: Though a little summery, this is one beautiful pink-coral shade for nails!

Availability: January 2010

See more photos and swatches…

China Glaze Heli-Yum Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Heli-Yum Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Up & Away Collection: Sugar High

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Lacquer is a vibrant medium pink with a coral kick creme. When I swatched it, I saw a fair amount of coral in it, so I wouldn’t classify it as a hot pink at all. It does have the brightness one would expect in a hot pink, though, but there is definitely some coral in it. I actually think the smidgen of coral makes it a more interesting than it otherwise would have been.

Like other deeper shades in the collection, Sugar High applied like a dream–even, smooth, and opaque–in just one or two coats. I didn’t find myself worrying much over streakiness with this, like I did with some of the lighter shades, which was nice. The formula is similar to the other shades; thick, richly pigmented, and has a beautiful slightly glossy creme finish.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: Though a little summery, this is one beautiful pink-coral shade for nails!

Availability: January 2010

See more photos and swatches…

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Sugar High Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Up & Away Collection: High Hopes

China Glaze High Hopes Nail Lacquer is a bright orange-red creme. It’s almost like a really, really intense orange-coral with kind of a red flare to it. It’s definitely not “construction orange” nor is it a summery coral! It’s somewhere in the middle, and I’d say it is considerably bright for the spring season. I could just as easily see this shade being part of a summer launch as I do for a spring launch (I’d probably lean towards the summer side, though).

This was a very intensely pigmented creme formula — it went on evenly, smoothly, and opaque in one medium-thick coat. I still ended up opting for a thinner first coat followed by a thicker second coat for the swatches; I just felt like it gave it a more finished look and feel overall. The formula itself wasn’t too thick or gooey, and this one applied particularly well out of the bunch, so I was quite pleased!

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: For a brighter color on your nails this spring, High Hopes might make you hopeful (harhar!)!

Availability: January 2010

See more photos and swatches…

China Glaze High Hopes Nail Lacquer

China Glaze High Hopes Nail Lacquer

China Glaze High Hopes Nail Lacquer

China Glaze High Hopes Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Up & Away Collection: Peachykeen

China Glaze Peachykeen Nail Lacquer is a brightened up peachy-orange creme. It’s distinctly orange, but it has enough lightness to give it a peachier feel. It’s really like an apricot to me, actually. You could call it Apri-peach, and I’d dig it. It’s completely and utterly unlike MAC’s Seasonal Peach Nail Lacquer, which is more of a pinky-peach and far lighter. (The good news is China Glaze’s creme formula applies more evenly and less streakingly–at least the final results–than MAC’s Seasonal Peach did.) It’s not a neon orange either, in case anyone was worried (or wanting!) about that.

This is sort of a middle-of-the-road shade; Peachykeen didn’t give me much trouble in application, but it wasn’t as smooth or even from the get-go as the deeper shades like Four Leaf Clover. It’s a thick, richly pigmented creme formula that doesn’t apply like goo or run all over the place, so it’s a pretty good formula. It just may take you one or two attempts to get the application down for this formula.

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: If you’re wanting a little peachiness in your day, consider Peachykeen.

Availability: January 2010

See more photos and swatches…

China Glaze Peachykeen Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Peachykeen Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Peachykeen Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Peachykeen Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Up & Away Collection: Lemon Fizz

China Glaze Lemon Fizz Nail Lacquer is a spring-y daffodil yellow. It’s pale and pastel, but there’s a little warmth there to keep it from being too cool or dull. There’s even a brightness–maybe the optimism of spring captured in color–to the yellow without making it a traffic-stopping yellow (which is more Happy Go Lucky’s style). I’m not a fan of yellow on my nails, but this is a yellow I could feel comfortable wearing.

Like some of the paler shades from this launch, application proved trickier than usual, but I found one thin coat (which may or may not have been streaky) followed by a thicker second coat worked well to given an even, creamy finish. I had the mentality of, “Fine, be streaky on the first coat… but I’m covering all that up later.” I would really suggest just playing around with different applications, coat amounts, thickness, etc. (you may even have to test out different base/top coat combinations), but the results are certainly worth a few botched attempts!

If you want to know more about how products are evaluated, read out Rating System FAQ!

• Product: 28/30
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 3/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Recommendation: For a perfect-for-spring yellow that’s not too sunny, try Lemon Fizz.

Availability: January 2010

See more photos and swatches…

China Glaze Lemon Fizz Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Lemon Fizz Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Lemon Fizz Nail Lacquer

China Glaze Lemon Fizz Nail Lacquer