Down the Yellow Brick Road

Well, not quite.

Today I have a couple of swatches for you by China Glaze: "Ruby Pumps" and "Dorothy Who?"

These are very similar: Sheer bases in primary colors, with loads of silver micro glitter.

They sparkle. Their names reference of of my favorite movies. And they go on like a dream. What's not to love? [ETA: all shots in this post are taken WITH a top coat. The glitter is great, but has an uneven texture. Adding a clear topcoat really makes it shine.]

First, we have "Ruby Pumps."

This is a bold, primary red. It's probably the closest thing to a true red I have in my collection (albeit it is a small one). A single coat goes on slightly pinkish. A second coat evens it out, and a third makes it just a bit darker--though in general it's not noticeable.
This shot shows the color the best, even though you can hardly see the glitter. As far as glitter polishes go, this one is pretty subtle on first glance.

For these swatches, I used three coats on every finger except my ring finger, where I have two coats over Pure Ice "Siren," just so you can see the transparency. With thicker coats, you can't really tell the difference between this color on it's own and when it's used with a base coat. Those thicker coats take forever to dry, however (30+ minutes, at least, with an hour being preferable). Thinner coats will retain transparency, though it's not obvious in these photos.

Want a really cool effect? Apply three coats of this color, then dip a q-tip in polish remover and lightly drag it over your nail, just removing the topmost layer of color to reveal the silver glitter. It looks really cool and I wish I'd discovered it before I banged up this manicure and took it off. Next time, maybe.

For "Dorothy Who" I used the same technique: 3 coats on every nail except my ring finger, where I used a base of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri "Blue By." Once again, the difference is almost unnoticeable in the photograph, and even in real life it is quite subtle.

This is a very bright blue, almost peacock blue and very attractive to my eye. The glitter is the same as in "Ruby Pumps," but unlike in the red, the glitter actually shows up as being silver in this polish, and is much more eye catching. Once again, it's loaded with the stuff, and while the polish starts out sheer it only takes 2-3 coats to build up a decent amount of opacity.
I do need to apologize; my camera does not like shiny, sparkly, or bright things. The most accurate color representation of this polish is on my middle finger in this shot. The others are far too turquoise-y.

I wore "Ruby Pumps" for three days under somewhat trying conditions (extreme heat, physical activity) and it suffered only a bit of tip wear. While it's easy to damage these colors in the drying phase, once they're on they hold up really well. "Dorothy Who" seemed to dry a bit quicker, but I think I also used slightly thinner coats on that one.

Overall, I love the colors and the formulas, and you'll probably be seeing a lot more of them here, both on their own and layered over other colors.