Friday, October 16, 2015

China Glaze - The Great Outdoors: Swatches, Review, & Nail Art

press sample 

Hello, all! There are so many great polish brands out there but without a doubt, China Glaze is one of my favorites. Seeing their new collections each season make me giddy and this Fall's The Great Outdoors had me weak in the knees immediately. I love the color palette and the mix of finishes and the theme itself is a favorite of mine (I love the great outdoors!).

There are 12 polishes in this collection, 6 creme/jellies, 5 metallics, and a glitter topper...and they all of course have seriously clever and cute names. Let's take a look!


Change Your Altitude is a pale greyed out lavender creme (at least in person it feels purple) that might be one of my favorites of this hue. It's soft and feminine, but it also feels strong and badass! I'm digging it. Shown is 3 easy coats.

Wood You Wanna? is a brown metallic foil with a really easy to work with formula. I'm not usually a fan of foils, but the color mix on this one pairs so nicely with this finish. Shown is 2 coats.

My Lodge or Yours? is a dusty mauve creme, great for the season but also a nice neutral for any time of year. Really nice formula and shown is 2 coats.

Let's Dew It is a blue to purple duo-chrome glitter mixed with silver glitters. The glitter is more dispersed in this one so you'll need a base polish (unless you are okay with visible nail line). I've shown one coat over Change Your Altitude.

Take a Hike is dark forest green creme that is another perfect creme. Love this color! Great formula and shown is 2 super smooth coats.

Pondering is a green to blue to purple multi-chrome shimmer. It has a slightly thin formula so the first coat was pretty sheer, but the second and third were nice and opaque. Shown is 3 coats.

Cabin Fever is a copper to gold to green multi-chrome metallic shimmer. In normal light this is definitely coppery more than the other shades but the subtle shifts to the other colors are nice. It has a similar thin formula to Pondering and shown is 3 coats.

Free Bear Hugs is an ox blood red crelly that leans almost brown in certain light. It's a nice formula like most of the collection and shown is 2 easy coats.

S'more Fun is a chartreuse green creme and I absolutely love that they included this color in a fall collection! It really brings the whole set of colors together and I love it on it's own as well. Shown is 3 coats.

Check Out the Silver Fox is the silver version of Wood You Wanna and it's probably one of my favorite silver foils to date. It's almost a dulled silver so it's not too shiny. Really like it. Shown is 2 coats.

Gone Glamping is what I consider the classic duo-chrome. It shifts from a gold to green and it's what I think of when I think of a duo-chrome shade. This has a similar formula to the other two multi-chromes and shown is 3 coats.

Sleeping Under the Stars is probably my favorite of the collection because it was a total surprise to me. When I first saw this in the bottle I thought it was just deep navy creme, but it actually has a subtle magenta shimmer mixed in. It's reminds me of a very mellow version Clarins 230 and it's so lovely. However, it didn't show in photos as nicely as in person. Great formula and shown is 2 coats.


Since the collection is all about the great outdoors, I decided to paint some abstract trees! I used a base of Change Your Altitude, then painted the trees with Take a Hike and S'More Fun. To resemble the ground I dry brushed on a few strokes of Wood You Wanna?

Overall, I really enjoyed this collection. Easy formula on all of them, great colors and as a whole collection it's strong and attractive to just sit and drool over.

You can purchase these now from any retailer that sells China Glaze (check out their "Where to Buy" section) and be on the lookout for their awesome new Halloween collection as well!

Be sure to follow China Glaze on your favorite social media site to stay up to date with the latest collections and releases!

Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | Pinterest

How do you like this fall collection? Any of the shades making you want to strap on your hiking boots and go find your own little place of peace and solitude in the woods? Let me know what you think!

Happy Polishing :)