China Glaze When Stars Collide

Last month I showed you China Glaze Infra Red, also from the Hologlam 2013 collection. For some reason, I couldn’t stop thinking about the Hologlams (probably because I’ve mentally kicked myself before for missing out on China Glaze’s Tronica collection when it was still available!) and when Nail Polish Direct came up with an offer (£5.95 each and 10% off with code ‘LOYALTYNPD’) on the Hologlams, I couldn’t resist. So I ordered a few more – When Stars Collide, Take A Trek and Strap On Your Moonboots. Not going to lie, I WANT THEM ALL! 😛 I had a little problem with my order, they sent out Sci-Fly By instead of Take a Trek but this was quickly rectified by their attentive customer service.

I wanted When Stars Collide because I’ve never seen a mauve-toned holo before, and it really intrigued me!

For your interest, most of the photos were taken in direct sunlight or with flash, but the photo above shows how the polish appears in dull natural lighting, for example outdoors without sun, or indoors.

When Stars Collide is a mauve-purple linear holo. It’s totally fascinating because, as I said before, I’ve never really seen a holo in this tone before. The holo is quite subtle in that you really have to be in direct light to be able to see it, but when you catch it, it’s beautiful.

Application:

I had no issues with application with When Stars Collide. Unlike Infra Red, which dragged and came out patchy, When Stars Collide applied smoothly and evenly. It dried at average speed, not amazingly fast but not painfully slow – I would recommend using a quick-dry topcoat. It does actually dry quite dull, almost a satiny effect but the holo is really hard to see even in direct sunlight unless you are wearing topcoat.

I have to warn you that you really need to wear a basecoat and wrap your tips with the polish and with the topcoat on this one – I applied When Stars Collide to my bare nails and 5 out of 10 of my nails were chipped within about 12 hours – not just tiny chips but half of both my thumbnails, a big chunk off my right index fingernail and little chips on the others. True, my job does involve a fair bit of manual wear and tear but most polishes I wear without topcoat or without basecoat manage to survive the day, at least on 8/10 fingers (my right index and middle fingernails are very weak and flaky so polish never tends to stay on them long!). Anyway, just thought I’d warn you, as I didn’t have this problem with Infra Red.

What do you think of When Stars Collide? It’s still available on Nail Polish Direct, with free delivery!