China Glaze Spring 2015 – Road Trip Swatches & Review

ROAD TRIP!! That was the theme of my day’s off during my tenure as a ride operator at Cedar Point. Every Thursday, me and my best buds would hop in my convertible and hit the road. We would either visit our families or hit up other parks, like Sea World, Geauga Lake or Kings Island. As fun as our adventures were, the best part was driving in the car, tunes blasting, with endless amounts of singing and laughing.

The China Glaze Spring 2015 collection celebrates the memory-making fun of the Road Trip with twelve diverse nail polish shades, ranging from delicate pastels to punchy brights.

Formula & Application

China Glaze nail polish is 3-Free (Formaldehyde, Toluene, DBP). The tapered cylindrical bottle has a similarly tapered cap made of textured plastic that is comfortable to hold though not easy to grip if your cap gets stuck. If that happens, grab a rubber band.

The thin, round brush is both medium in length and firmness with enough give to allow for ease of control. Given my love of thin brushes, it’s no wonder China Glaze is on my list of Top 10 Nail Polish Brushes.

The formula tends to vary between the shimmer and creme shades. The shimmers have a thicker feel that can go on a bit streaky, requiring three coats. The cremes are more watery but better pigmented. By using a heavier hand, I could get away with two coats.

And here’s the rub. With every single polish, I had issues with application. Either the color would pool at the tips and clump up or I would get patchiness or it wouldn’t level. I had to redo a minimum of one nail with each color. I don’t know what’s going on with the formula but I’ve never had this many problem children in a collection. I love China Glaze but it was frustrating. I nearly gave up on Trip of a Lime Time. It took five tries, you guys!

China Glaze Boho Blues is a blue-leaning periwinkle creme. It’s a brighter, blue-er version of ChG favorite, Secret Peri-Wink-Le. If you have Fade Into Hue from Avant Garden, this is not as muted or purple.

China Glaze Dashboard Dreaming is a pastel sky blue with a fine pink shimmer. The shimmer is more visible in person. If you know China Glaze Sea Spray, and you should, this is not as greyed or silvery.

China Glaze I Brake for Colour is a fruit punch red. It’s even brighter in person than it does here with a cool pink undertone.

China Glaze License & Registration Pls is a rich marine blue creme. It dries darker than the bottle color with a bit of a teal undertone. It’s somewhat of a chameleon as it looks more pure blue in bright light and takes on a slightly greener tone in indirect light. I don’t own anything quite like it, Nubar Snap! has a similar but darker feel.

China Glaze More to Explore is a NEON peach creme. Neons are notoriously hard to photograph and this one is no exception. Even in the bottle it looks pretty subdued but on the nail, HELLO PEACH! It reminds me of China Glaze Son of a Peach, only leaning pink.

China Glaze My Way or the Highway is a bright turquoise creme. It’s brighter and more green than China Glaze Wait N’ Sea or Aqua Baby.

China Glaze Pack Lightly is a sweet, pinky peach with tonal shimmer. It’s an interesting color in that it’s not quite peach, not quite pink and like nothing else in my stash.

China Glaze Pinking Out the Window is a bright carnation pink. Like More to Explore, it photographs like a neon so it’s MUCH brighter in person.

China Glaze Pop the Trunk is a hot, tomato-leaning orange creme. I own nothing quite like this. It’s really unique.

China Glaze Sun’s Up Top Down is a cross between French’s yellow mustard and lemon with a subtle shimmer. Again, the shimmer is more visible in person, adding dimension. The base color is most similar to OPI Good Grief! except Sun’s Up is brighter.

China Glaze Trip of a Lime Time is a chartreuse creme. It definitely has a lot of yellow to it so it can read green or yellow, depending on the lighting. It’s bright but not quite neon. Think of it as a lighter, brighter version of OPI Did It On ‘Em.

China Glaze Wanderlust is a soft lilac shimmer. It’s a cross between China Glaze In A Lily Bit and Light As Air.

Bottom Line: As far as colors go, there are some real winners here. Pop The Trunk, My Way or the Highway, Boho Blues and License & Registration Pls are all me, all day. Love them! Even I Brake for Colour caught my attention. But the formula, ugh, the formula. It’s driving me crazy. Those colors are the only ones I would put up with the formula over but the rest, nope. Nope, nope, nope! I really hope this isn’t an indicator of what we can expect from China Glaze in the future.

The China Glaze Spring 2015 Road Trip collection is available now at retailers nationwide, including Sally Beauty and ULTA.  Online at Amazon.com, eBay.com and ULTA.com. For more info, visit ChinaGlaze.com.

Thoughts on the Road Trip collection? Which colors do you think are worth putting up with a difficult formula for? Has anyone had good luck with these colors? Maybe it’s just me.

Disclosure: Product samples were provided by reps for China Glaze. Affiliate links appear in this post. When you purchase through an affiliate link, you help support this site. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.