SWATCH SUNDAY—China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You

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Happy Sunday everyone! Can you believe it–the first week of October is finished–how crazy is that? It also means we’ve got our first Swatch for October & today I went with an older Fall polish that I just absolutely love: China Glaze Choo Choo Choose You.

If you’ve been around the blog for a while, you might remember I posted this polish over 5 years ago, so if you’re in the mood for some hilarious throwback, definitely check out that old post.

& now for an update swatch post for this gorgeous shade.

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For my swatches, I did my usual base coat, applied two coats of colour, & finished off with my go to top coat (Essie Speed Setter). Looking at my pictures though, I probably should have done three, because I can see a bit of nail line peeking through. The base is this Smokey grey, with a gorgeous bronze-y shimmer that transforms depending on which was you move your hand, with even the occasional flash of green.

It’s very pretty.

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For a 5 year old polish, the formula on this one is still as good as the day I bought it. The first coat goes on a bit streaky, as most polishes like this do, but you have almost complete opacity on the second coat. & shorter nails could definitely get away with just two, I just think it’s longer nails that might need 3 for full coverage.

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& naturally because I couldn’t help but notice the similarities between China Glaze Cowboy Bye (from the Gone West collection) & Choo Choo Choose You, I needed to pair the two side by side. Obviously Cowboy Bye has that beautiful holo scattered glitter, but I feel like the two bases of the shades are very very similar, which could explain why I love Cowbye Bye so much.

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What do you think about this shade? Do you own Choo Choo Choose You? What is your favourite older Fall shade that you return to year after year?

Let me know down below in the comments!

Blast from the Past — Crackle Nail Polish

I’m sure if you’ve been a part of the nail polish community for any amount of time, you’ve seen quite a few nail polish trends come & go: feather nail polish, magnetic nail polish, textured nail polish & of course… crackle nail polish.

For those who don’t know what crackle nail polish is, it was a kind of topper you would apply over already painted nails, that would crack as it dried, revealing the base colour underneath. I was first introduced to crackle nail polish back with the Katy Perry Teenage Dream collection from OPI, & though it was the most genius idea, so naturally my obsessive brain had to own as many crackle polishes as possible! Thankfully, even nail polish company & their friend seem to come out with their own version of crackle so it was easy to get my hands on a whole slew of brands, colours & finishes!

Most of my shades have long since dried up & are pretty much impossible to use, but every so often I get the urge to pull out one of my bottles still holding on & play around with it. Thank you nostalgia.

For this manicure, the polishes I used were:

  • Base Coat: Sally Hansen Bamboo & Green Tea Strengthener
  • Top Coat: Essie Gel Setter
  • My blues from my cobalt blue comparison post
  • Icing Shatter nail polish Electric Graffiti

As you can see, even though this polish is about 7 years old, it still works semi well in terms of the crackle effect (minus my pointer finger… I have no idea what happened there!) Like I said, I collected quite a few of these shades during the heigh of their popularity, but only a few of them still work to this degree. & now that my nail art techniques have improved over the years, I don’t really grab these shades like I once did.

& just for fun, I wanted to share the very first mani I ever did using this fun polish. Please excuse the awful quality in all regards (painting, photography, ect)

As you can see, the actual cracking abilities of Electric Graffiti has dwindled over the years, but for a polish way past prime, I’m impressed I can still get any crackle out of it. I feel like because the formula has thickened up a lot, that’s the reason the shatter is different. A thinner application would definitely give me a reaction much more like my throwback manicure… wondering if adding a bit of thinner to the bottle would revive it. I’m curious to find out.

what are your thoughts on the crackle/shatter nail polish trend from years past? I know some people have very strong feelings about these polishes (& how much they hate them). Let me know if you’re team crackle or hate it?