Capital Colours from China Glaze

Yes, I know it's long overdue and many of us have moved onto brand new collections but I'm still going to put in my two cents on the remaining Hunger Games polishes from China Glaze I picked up a while ago.

Fast Track is a light gold shimmer that became a favourite of mine pretty much after I applied the second coat.  If you're looking for a subtle and simple hue with a good amount of shine that you can sport just about anywhere, then FT is a great choice.  It may need a third of fourth coat if you want to achieve bottle colour but I like it with just two.  I didn't experience any application problems and it dried quickly as well.

 

When summertime comes around, I cannot resist a good metallic polish, particularly a really nice bronze like this one.  When I looked at Harvest Moon in the bottle, I felt very sure that I was going to be having some serious streaking problems but fortunately, none of that happened.  This red toned bronze went on smoothly and I got about 4 days of wear out of it before my tips started peeking out.

 

Smoke & Ashes was extremely difficult to photograph.  The blue/green/black shimmer was a super thick polish that took extra time to dry and was surprisingly difficult to remove.  Some of the shimmer particular didn't come off without buffing and even after that I still have a few stubborn pieces that I don't think will disappear until the nail grows out.  I like how it looks but I don't like the hassle...

 

Blurred So You Can see the Shine!

Since I found that Smoke & Ashes was such a pain to remove, I don't know what I was thinking when I layered the Luxe & Lush flakie top coat over it.  I'm always going to buy a flakie polish when I see one.  They are in surprisingly short supply in the GTA and I much prefer them to glitter polish. So as much as I like its broken glass look, I had to use nail glue remover to get it off...Yuck!!!

 

Now about the movie...

I went to see the Hunger Games not out of a burning desire to see it but more out of a feeling of obligation.  I've spent too many years complaining about the lack of female action heroines (well, just a lack of good female characters period) and it would have been hypocritical of me not to go see it.  Plus I had a rare amount of spare time during a weekday afternoon, so why not take in a $7 movie?

While it's not one of the best movies I've ever seen, it's far from the worst too and frankly, if I was 12 years old, I would've that it was the very best movie ever made (until The Avengers came out) because Katniss is a smart, compassionate & noble ass-kicker who despite having two love interests, she pays more attention to the fact that people's lives are at stake.  I never got the feeling that she has deep feelings for Peeta, she's just not the kind of person who would leave some weakling in a hole to die all alone. At least it's the anti-Twilight.  If I had a tween daughter, I'd sleep better at night if she was into this as opposed to that sparkle vampire/ugly werewolf claptrap.  At least she might be more understanding of the fact that, guess what?  Life is hard and most of the time it's a huge struggle!

Dress Me Up from China Glaze

 When I look at Dress Me Up from China Glaze's Hunger Games collection in it's bottle it looks like a warm & dusty pink but once I get it on my fingers it takes on a much browner tone.  I suppose that it's because of my olive skin tone but this is still one of my favourite types of polish colour.  The formula was thick but not as thick as Mahogany Magic which made the application a lot easier to apply and it dried quicker than MM as well.  You can see a bit of wear in the polish but that after three days.

I have been roaming the streets of New York for the last few days.  Not to shop but to visit my family and get a much needed change of scenery...

And that scenery beats the CN Tower, hands down!

I'm glad that I bought my polishes from the Hunger Games before I got here because for one, I haven't seen them anywhere I've been shopping and two, I don't have the inclination too look too hard for them when confronted by Pershing Square's Truffle Potato Chips...

Yes, I ate the whole plate!

Mahogany Magic From The Hunger Games Collection

Looks like China Glaze is becoming my go-to brand when I looking for poop coloured nail polish.  Last year they gave us Trendsetter, the polish my cousin so aptly described as "baby poop and barf mixed together and then it flew in some one's mouth".  This year brings us Mahogany Magic from the eagerly awaited Hunger Games Collection.  I found quite a few nail bloggers comparing the tone to well, poop and I'd have to say that I'd wholly agree in the observation.  That doesn't mean I don't like the colour!  I do but it is not for everyone.  If you have a very pale complexion then I might say that MM is not for you.  I like it a lot but the formula was not my favourite.  It was really, really thick and if you take a look at the top of my thumb, you can see how that led to some problems with application.  A thick consistency to a creme polish can be a good thing but if it's too thick, you'll lose the ability to control the little details of an application.  But it was sturdy and lasted 3 days without a nick.

China Glaze`s Hunger Games Polish Back On With A New Name: Capital Colours

Looks like China Glaze & Lionsgate Films settled out of court quickly as the Hunger Games Collection is back on with some name changes from the first promo images.  Two things stand out to me in this image: One, Colours is spelled in the proper English way and coming from an American company, I find it a bit odd.  Two, it`s interesting to me that the colours in the image of the character are not featured as a polish in the collection.  That`s too bad because that is a lot of purple going on there and I would have picked up a polish colour that looks like the flower she`s wearing.

More Cross Branding With Nicki Minaj & The Hunger Games

It looks like that nail polish cross branding is still in high gear with the recent announcements of OPI’s Nicki Minaj Collection...

And the apparent but currently unconfirmed by Lionsgate China Glaze “Inspired by the Motion Picture” Hunger Games collection.

I guess it makes sense to tap into the preeminent pop culture pieces of our times.  I haven’t read The Hunger Games (and to be honest, I probably never will) but what little I know of the Katniss character, she doesn’t seem like a girl that has time to do her nails all that often.

As far as I’m still concerned (with the notable exceptions of the recent Wonder Woman & Venomous Villains collections from MAC) it’s the actual quality and the appearance of the polishes themselves that I’m primarily interested in, because that’s what people first notice when they notice your polish.  People will say “Oh, that’s a nice colour” not “That polish reminds me of Fozzie Bear!  I have the sudden urge to say Wocka Wocka!

And with that in mind, is anybody out there looking to pick up a polish or two from these upcoming collections?  Here are the details for the Nicki Minaj collection from OPI:

Metal 4 Life - shimmery gunmetal gray
Pink Friday - iridescent Barbie pink
Save Me - rainbow glitter-infused light blue
Fly - neon sky blue
Did it On Em - fluorescent lime green
Super Bass - deep plum, shatter polish

Now, the phrase “iridescent Barbie pink” was definitely a turn off when I read it but Pink Friday looks great in the promo image and I’m pretty sure that’s the polish I’ll buy from this collection. 

And here are the details for The Hunger Games Collection from China Glaze:

Primrose - inspired by Prim
Rebel - inspired by Gale
Catnip - inspired by Katniss
Coal Hearted – inspired by District 12
Joined at the Seam – inspired by The Seam
Fight to the Finish – inspired by the night sky the Tributes look into
We Could Runaway – inspired by forest Katniss & Gale hunt in
Baker’s Son - inspired by Peeta
Cinna-mon – inspired by Cinna’s gold eyeliner
Fire in Flight - inspired by the Flaming Mockingjay
Heat of the Moment –  inspired by the costumes Katniss & Peeta wear into the Arena
Flaming Gems – inspired by Katniss’ interview dress

I have absolutely no idea what any of those above descriptions of “inspiration” mean but Primrose, Baker’s Son & Flaming Gems are the colours I’ll be checking out once this collection makes it into the stores.