Friday, December 23, 2011

China Glaze Glittering Garland celebrates an early Merry Christmas!

Diets be damned, the coming weekend promises at least 3 days of buffet-style dinners and lots of family fun. Then, of course, there's the gifts to be given (and received!), candy canes and chocolate to be had and lots of peppermint mochas. Right after which will be the chaos of Boxing Day (I'm on the look out for a new camera but so far the Boxing Day flyers I've seen haven't looked very promising..). The only thing that would make this weekend all the better (and probably a whole lot crazier) would be a lot of that wonderful white stuff that you see drifting over your screen. It's undoubtedly bound to be a crazy busy weekend, so I truly hope your Friday is treating you well. While we're at it, let's enjoy this calm before the storm with a bit of glass-flecked magic from China Glaze:

Like green foliage on a Christmas tree!


The Quick Take

Brand/Name: China Glaze Glittering Garland
Color: Evergreen
Formula: Evergreen jelly base with glass flecks
Finish: Glass-flecked
Price: $6.49 - $7.75 CDN for 14mL
Seen at: Trade Secrets, Sally Beauty, Nail Polish Canada and other various beauty supply retailers
Note(s): Glittering Garland is part of the China Glaze Let It Snow Holiday 2011 collection.


The Fun Facts

Token bottle shot.

Label at the base.

The China Glaze brush.

Evergreen, glass-flecked awesomeness!

Taking a cue from its name, Glittering Garland is exactly what it says it is. A very pretty evergreen that's perfect for the holiday season, Glittering Garland's jelly base color wonderfully emulates the color of that tree you probably have in your living room, the wreath on your door and that garland hanging over the fireplace that's strewn with lights and tinsel. And just like all the sparkly ornaments you'd dress all these up with, you have sparkly glass flecks that provide a great contrast against that lovely dark green. For a polish that's filled with all of these glitter particles, it dries to a smooth and glossy finish even without top coat. I have to concede that China Glaze has definitely mastered the glass-flecked polish formula.
***All nail swatches were done with Orly Bonder Base Coat and two coats of China Glaze Glittering Garland unless stated.

Artificial light/No top coat/No flash
Glossy even without top coat!

Artificial light/No top coat/Flash
So shiny it's making my humble point and shoot go nuts!

 Natural light/No top coat/No flash
Isn't that just a pretty deep green?

I can honestly say that this is one of the polishes that are such a joy to apply. You might expect it to be on the thicker side with all the glass flecks suspended in the polish but it's surprisingly thin enough to give you nice even coats. Because of the jelly base, thin coats will need an additional layer but two medium coats will give you full opacity. But to be honest, this is fairly opaque for a jelly! The brush works really well with the formula so that you can easily cover the full nail with a minimum of two strokes. Dry time was relatively fast and definitely in the league of other sparkly China Glaze polishes like It's Alive. As for removal, no cringing is needed as the glass flecks are nowhere near as hard to remove as glitter. Lots of sparkle with none of the pain of removal!

Natural light/Top coat/No flash
Love those flecks!

Natural light/Top coat/Flash
Hammie says: Wouldn't this look ever so pretty with a flakie top coat?

Sunlight/Top coat/No Flash
Hammie sings: "Icicles on eavesdrops and tinsel on the tree/ But it's a green Christmas for me!"

Top coat definitely amps up the awesome factor of Glittering Garland! Hammie loves the glossy finish that perfectly offsets the sparkle of the glass-flecks.


The Lowdown


The first possible duplicate that comes to mind is another China Glaze lovely, the well-loved glittery green to Ruby Pumps' red, Emerald Sparkle. I've been trying to track down Emerald Sparkle for the longest time, but I seem to have had really bad luck with finding it. When Glittering Garland was announced as part of the Holiday 2011 Let It Snow collection, I was beyond thrilled! Finally, a sparkly dark green to fill the void of missing out on Emerald Sparkle. As far as dupes are concerned, finish alone, both are different enough to deserve a place in your collection. While they look to share the same jelly base (although on very close scrutiny, Glittering Garland appears to have the tiniest bit more blue to it), Emerald Sparkle has loads of bright green glitter while Glittering Garland has glass flecks. But take heart, if you're not a discerning collector nor a big fan of green, either of the two will definitely suffice.

As for me, I'm thrilled to finally have a great sparkly dark green. The glass flecks are a fantastic modern twist to an already great formula from Emerald Sparkle. I really like that they chose a jelly base as the various layers on top of each other create a depth to the polish that a creme wouldn't have. Color me impressed that you get to play with sparkle without paying the price once removal time comes.

Hammie is currently drunk on eggnog and Christmas cheer. Between you and me, I think he's been enjoying way too much revelry *before* Christmas that I doubt he'd even realize it's Christmas already! In between mugs of drink, he did express his delight with the glass-flecked finish and the how appropriate it is for the holiday season. Feeling inordinately generous (or it could be the eggnog talking, who knows?), Hammie scores Glittering Garland:


10 Hammie Points!

Can you guess what song Hammie was singing? What are you most excited about this weekend? Whatever you have planned, wherever you will be and whoever you will spend it with, may you have the most wonderful time!

Merry Christmas from all of us at Polished Indulgence!

6 comments:

  1. Very pretty color!

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  2. Gorgeous color! I'm actually planning to wear this as a my Christmas day manicure, but I might add something to it.

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  3. Oh Hammie! That light-weight! ;)

    Carmela, this is beautiful on you. And I'm not just saying that become I'm obsessed with green nail polish, either!

    MERRY CHRISTMAS! (The Cheshire Cat also wishes you a happy holiday!)

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  4. Hahaha! We've banned him from eggnog now, but we think he's found a new drink to gorge on. D:

    Thank you so much, Mary! Biased or not, it still means a lot that you think so!

    Hammie sends the Cheshire Cat some eggnog as he rationalizes that if he can't have any, might as well live vicariously through someone else. ;) MERRY CHRISTMAS!! :D

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  5. Thanks, Marisa! I'm glad you like it. I'm sure this would look gorgeous on you. :)

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  6. Thanks, Melissa! It really is. The glass flecks are really something else. :) That sounds lovely! I hope you blog about it; I'd love to see how you'd jazz it up! In all honesty, I probably would've too, if I hadn't been saving Peridot for a special occasion. ;)

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