ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – China Glaze Blue Iguana from the Island Escape Collection
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.
Today was one of those days where I couldn’t decide what nail polish I wanted to wear. We all have those days, don’t we? I was blankly staring at bottles, sifting through Helmer drawers and feeling pretty uninspired. I haven’t been sleeping well this week so I blame my polish malaise on that. I finally started swatching a bunch of random colors on my nails, hoping to be wowed. I tried a few colors before cracking open China Glaze Blue Iguana from the Island Escape collection. When Blue Iguana first arrived it didn’t look like much in the bottle, an average blue shimmer but it turned out to be more than that. |
Formula & Application: China Glaze is a 3-Free brand with a round brush that is both medium in length and firmness with enough give to allow for ease of control. The cap is slightly tapered and made of smooth plastic that is comfortable to hold.
Blue Iguana has a semi-sheer base that looks like a jelly yet it’s thin and smooth, not at all squishy. It’s very easy to manipulate so precise application is pretty foolproof. Of course due to the lack of pigmentation in the base you see some VNL even after three thin coats. A fourth coat or an opaque base color is necessary if you want absolute opacity.
China Glaze Blue Iguana is an electric blue foil sparkle mix. Tiny turquoise metallic foil flakes swim with blue and fuchsia micro-glitter in a sea of royal blue. The fuchsia sparkles create a duo-chrome effect in the bottle and a slight purple flash on the nail. You should note that the camera lens picks up on VNL much more than the naked eye. In person it’s not nearly as noticeable.
Bottom Line: While I wasn’t feeling the island love when I first laid eyes on Blue Iguana I’m now ready to dive on in to this beauty. I’m more than willing to get over the VNL issues for what the pink sparkle brings to the party. While I rarely make an exception for a polish this sheer, it’s one worth layering or adding a fourth coat.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: I can’t resist STASHing it.
China Glaze Blue Iguana is available now with the rest of the Island Escape collection. China Glaze nail polish can be purchased at retailers like Sally Beauty Supply and ULTA and online at Head2ToeBeauty.com, TransDesign.com and 8ty8Beauty.com. Polishes retail for $3-6/ea, depending on the vendor, for a .5oz bottle.
Thoughts on Blue Iguana? Do you plan to pick up a bottle? Did you get any of the polishes from the Island Escape collection? What is your favorite color from the set?
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Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
wow this is a gorgeous color!
Ooooh this may be the polish I’ve been searching for – the one to go under OPI Katy Perry’s Last Friday Night to try and achieve that amazing bottle colour! What do you think?
I just thought the same! I’m sure it will look great!
OMG! You’re SO right! I’ve been searching for the same thing since its just depressing to see Last Friday Night sadly sitting away unused on my untrieds shelf and never would’ve thought of putting Blue Iguana with it until I read your comment. The VNL turns me off of wearing this polish on its own, but for under LFN it would be absolutely perfect for achieving the bottle color. I’m definitely going to pick this shade up now!
That’s really pretty. I’m surprised that it looks “new” to me, considering that I already have so many bright blue polishes. Also, I kind of like that it’s a little sheer… sometimes I like that look for summer, as long as it doesn’t look streaky.
Ohhh fun! I’ve had this sitting on my dressing table for the past week, trying to decide if I wanted to wear it or not (thinking I love blues, but it doesn’t look particularly special in the bottle) I’ll definitely be putting in on tonight though, excited for the fuchsia sparkles! =)
I LOVE this color and am happy to have picked it up!
But removing it… total staining nightmare. Tell me how removal goes for you, if you had staining issues and how you fixed that?
I did have some staining but Orly Cutique took care of that. Apply it to your nails and the surrounding skin, wait 30 seconds and then use a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick to remove it and the stains
I think the color is just stunning
great colour!
Stunning lacquer. I don’t mind that it shows some VNL
I think all of the China Glaze glass flecks are stash worthy. In fact. This polish plus 108 Degrees inspired me to hunt down some of the older glass flecks ChG released and I’m so glad I did.
I really like this color. It looks awesome under black shatter. The only draw back is it stained my nails even with base coat.
I have this sitting in my untrieds. I remember thinking I didn’t even really want it, but there must have been some kind of deal going on at Sally’s so I bought it anyway. Your pictures make me want to try it. I think it would be a great color for toes since it’s harder to notice VNL on toes because they’re so far away.
I really love blues, so I debated getting this one. I own so many blue polishes, and I couldn’t justify getting any more until I use up what I have. The VNL, however, makes me glad I didn’t buy this.
Love it! This was going to be my pedi today, and definitely after viewing this goodness on screen… Just picked it up together with CG Starboard, First Mate (wearing that now), Whitecap and Knotty, which I was pining for after seeing them on ALU. Lesson learned: what’s too warm for your skin tone might just work for me as Knotty looks amazing on me.
I have this color and I LOVE it. After 3 coats, I don’t have any VNL.
China Glaze never fails to have the best colors.
Thank you for swatching this! I’ve been debating for a while whether or not to get this one from the new collection, cause I’m not big on the blue polishes, but this one just looks too gorgeous to resist. I think you’ve convinced me
I’m wearing this one right now with OPI’s silver shatter on my ring fingers. Awsome!
I love blue iguana ^^
I loved this color, but Senorita Bonita is still my fave from this collection. I’m a sucker for purple polish.
I also have the staining problem with this shade. Have to admit I only wore it once due to that and the VNL. But I so like most all the flakes. I like the idea of trying it with Last Friday Night.
I just reviewed this over at my blog! Love this color– just such a beautiful blue. The glass fleck polishes are awesome. For some reason, this polish felt a little thick and goopy to me (as compared to 108 Degrees and Ahoy!) but maybe that’s just because I’m still working things out with my technique! I needed three coats to basically eliminate VNL, but I was definitely using thicker coats.
I finally put Blue Iguana on yesterday and must say that with two coats I had hardly any VNL…with three coats there is none and I got SO many compliments on this! I do use a ridge-filling basecoat so that may be part of the reason it didn’t come out so sheer on me.