Wednesday 13 November 2013

China Glaze - Your Present Required - Christmas 2013

China Glaze's Christmas collection for 2013 is called Happy Holiglaze, a bit of a silly name, but somehow it suits China Glaze. The Christmas gift sets this year are also gorgeous! I am on a bit of a budget for nail polish right now. However I have allowed myself to get 1 color from the new China Glaze Christmas 2013 collection, (for now hah...)

Update: I have now gotten my second bottle from this collection. It's called Just Be-Claws, and you can find the review here.

I have seen some colors that have drawn my attention (All wrapped up, Bells will be Blinging), but I decided to get Your Present Required, which has caught my eye immediately ever since I saw the promo shots appear back in august. I am usually not that bothered about China Glaze glitters, especially many of the recent launches, but this one.. I just love the color combi, it's so spectacular and pretty! Totally after my liking. So I ordered this baby, and I was not disappointed! Less talk, on to the polish!

Your Present Required 81395 - This is a glitter explosion in a clear base formula. There is so much to see and find inside of this glitter! A little treasure box! This is going to be a long list, but here goes: I see large hexagonal glitters in bight blue, purple (can't call it fuchsia, it leans more purple than pink), copper, gold and white, and also some sparse really big white ones. I also see small hexagonal glitters in white, gold, green, pink, silver and copper. Then there is some teensy tiny glitter inside too in gold and white. I might have still missed out on something else hiding in there!

China Glaze - your present required
China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - your present required
China Glaze - Your Present Required





The application is pretty fantastic, glitters are picked up very easily, I applied 2 thin coats right on top of each other for below swatches (didn't wait to dry so I can move them around after my liking). They spread out very nicely and evenly, and with 1 top coat your nails feel reasonably smooth. Zero sticking-out-glitter (you know what I mean). Drying time pretty decent too, and it doesn't drag the base coat even though I applied it when my base coat was still quite wet.

Removal.. well.. it's still a glitter, so you can imagine yourself =P You'll have to soak it a bit and then scrub hard. And off course, glitter everywhere after removing it! On your clothes, your floor, your pet's fur, your husband's clothes.. you get the general idea.

I think if you wanted to, you could apply multiple layers and make an almost full coverage with just glitter, but I prefer to layer it over some nice colors. Easier to remove afterwards too! To show you how it looks over different colors, I have made a skittle mani! I used as much variety with colors I thought might be nice or interesting to see. I absolutely love this glitter, it goes well with so many colors! I'm very happy I got this over all the other nice colors available for Christmas this year.

Here are some shots of all colors together that I've tried it on, gives you a bit of an overview. I applied this polish in the evening, so no sun. These two pictures were made the next day, so there is some chipping around the cuticles. I am sorry about that, but they are so much more true to color under the sun!

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Skittle under the sun



China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required  - Skittle under the sun






































All below photos are made under artificial light without flash. All are finished with 1 layer of China Glaze Fast Dry Top Coat.

Your Present Required over Pink - I think this goes well together, but I would probably not wear it again. It doesn't make the purple and pink glitters stand out enough. A lighter pink might be better. Looks nice overall, but I just want to see more of the glitters.

I used China Glaze - Fuchsia Fanatic for this swatch. For a full review of this color, you may click here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Pink

















Present Required over Yellowgreen - I love this combination very much, the pink/purple looks so sweet on this soft mossy coat of green. Like a colorful pebble. Very fantasy/fairy tale-like! Truly love it.

I used Trendsetter for this swatch. I really love this color. I have done a full review on this color, you may view it here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Trendsetter

















Your Present Required over Green - I love love love this! Just as much as the previous one with Trendsetter. I know, I'm prejudiced because I love greens. But I think purple and pink go so well with green, and I really love this combi. Like sea jewels on a bed of weeds. All colors of the glitter come out really nicely too. I will definitely wear this again as a full mani.

Hmm.. what's with that stray blue glitter at the edge of my nail, what are you doing there?

I used China Glaze - AGRO for this swatch. I have not done a full review yet, but I want to! This is a beautiful dark green shimmer from the 2012 Hunger Games collection, released last year's autumn.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Green

















Your Present Required over Yellow - Hmm, no this is not really my cup of tea. Doesn't really compliment the glitter well enough. Maybe a brighter yellow would've looked slightly better.

I used China Glaze - Lemon Fizz for this swatch. For a full review of this color, you may click here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Yellow

















Your Present Required over Orange - I am not very happy about this combi.. somehow the orange really makes the blue glitters stand out, and it takes away the overall 'soft' feel that the whole combination of glitters gives me. However I am sure some people will love this glitter on orange. I think it will have similar effect when worn on bright reds. For me, I like the pink/purple hue of this glitter, so I want to see more of that when I wear it.

I used China Glaze - Free Love for this swatch. This is a color from the Retro autumn collection some years ago. It's a metallic shimmer in a beautiful brown-leaning orange.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Orange

















Your Present Required over Lilac - I think this is a really good combi, the light creme color ensures every little glitter jumps off your nail. It is a little too sweet for me, but I think it's quite pretty.Very nice for a winter manicure. I think it would look even better on a lightblue creme, like an ice queen! I'm sorry about the tiny bubbles, I didn't notice them until seeing the close-ups after transferring them.

This thumb always looks so messy too because of the uneven cuticle, no matter how much I trim it, it's really stubborn and magically crawls back in a couple of minutes. Grr!

I used China Glaze - Sweet Hook for this swatch, for a full review of this color, you may click here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Lilac

















Your Present Required over Purple - I quite like it on this medium purple, but it does make the beautiful purple glitters less obvious which is a bit of a shame. If using purple, maybe it is better to use a more different shade of purple to make the glitters stand out more. This one makes the whole thing a little dull somehow. I am sure it will look beautiful on true blues as well, but I had to choose! (only 10 fingers >.<)

I used China Glaze - Gothic Lolita for this swatch, for a full review of this color, you may click here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Purple

















Your Present Required over Light Blurple - I like this combi a lot, the harmony between the different glitter colors is maintained but it blends in with the background very nicely! I don't like it when one of the glitters stand out too much, it's the balance of the different colors that makes this glitter so lovely and I want to do everything to maintain that.

I used China Glaze - Fancy Pants for this swatch, for a full review of this color, you may click here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Blurple

















Your Present Required over Brown - The combi goes well, but like with the orange, I see too much blue. I want to see more pink and purple glitter, which is kind of camouflaged by this color. Something lighter would probably work better, I'm thinking maybe Harvest Moon. But this is actually quite nice, the longer I wear it the more I like it. Like a gem-filled rock.

I used China Glaze - Goin' my way for this swatch. I have not done a full review of this color. It's from the  Vintage Vixen 2008 Autumn collection, the same collection that brought us Ingrid! It's a brown metallic, I don't really wear this by itself but I use it for layering with similar colors.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - brown

















Your Present Required over Black - This is a bit dark for me, but I still really like how this turns out. Looks a little like the galaxy!  Though I wouldn't really wear this so fast (I usually don't wear black much, too dark for me, and this one is really jet black!) I think it looks great!

I used China Glaze - Smoke and Ashes for this swatch. I have not done a full review on this color yet, though planning to. It's a really deep black shimmer with fine green glass flecks inside. It's from the 2012 Hunger Games collection.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Black

















Your Present Required over Dark Blurple - I've done this separate swatch on Bizarre blurple a few days back to try out, since I was wearing this color as a mani. I think it's great! Where the black looks a bit too dark for me, wearing it over this dark purple gives the same 'galaxy-like' effect but a bit softer, not so stark black. I might even wear this again! Nice big photo, so you can admire all the sparkle =X

I used China Glaze - Bizarre Blurple for this swatch. You may find the full review of this color here.

China Glaze - Your Present Required
China Glaze - Your Present Required - Dark Blurple


























Your Present Required over Teal - I think it goes really well with teal, don't you think? Pretty Christmas-sy too! Even if it is a little dark, it complements the glitter really well.

I used China Glaze - Exotic Encounters for this swatch. I did this as a full manicure, you may find the full review here.

china glaze your present required exotic encounters
China Glaze - your Present Required - Teal














I must admit the glitter colors are not that Christmas-sy, but the shades are lovely for snowy and cold days, especially when worn on snowy colors like blue and purple!

This was kind of a try, I haven't really seen people swatch a glitter like this, but I hope this review was useful for you in deciding whether or not to get this beauty and to see the different looks you can create with this glitter.

My favorite combi's are: Trendsetter, AGRO, Bizarre blurple, Exotic Encounters, Fancy Pants, and though I may not wear them again, I think the brown, lilac and black are really nice too.

Not as nice: Bright pink and medium purple.

Failures: Orange and Yellow.. major failures!

Are you buying any shades from Happy Holiglaze for your friends as Christmas gifts? Or any going to be on your own Christmas wishlist?



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