Thursday, October 3, 2013

China Glaze I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion was released by China Glaze last summer as part of its On Safari collection for fall 2012. It's a true glitter polish with a clear base dense with microglitters in gold and silver holographic. The total effect is a delicious light champagne, very glitzy, with rainbow sparks of color thrown out by the holo microglitters.

This polish applies smoothly and evenly and is self-leveling. It's evenly sheer with one coat and I was happy with the opacity achieved by two. The only con to its application comes with clean up. It's one of those polishes that immediately disperses microglitters everywhere when acetone hits it, so be prepared to see some sparkly skin in my photos.

Dry time is pretty fast as you'd expect from a glitter polish like this, with the also expected sandy finish. It looks great that way, kind of like crystalized champagne on your nails, but I went for the glitter under glass look. I used two coats of Seche Vite, letting the first one dry before adding the second, to satisfy the topcoat-hungry sandy finish and enhance the suspended effect of the microglitters.

Photos show two coats of I'm Not Lion over treatment and basecoat plus two coats of Seche Vite to finish.


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion


China Glaze I'm Not Lion

I'm Not Lion seems like an awesome special occasion polish, especially one where the lights will be low and it's sparkle can come alive. In sunlight, whoa! It is totally sparkletastic with every color of the rainbow flashing from the holo microglitters. I dig the neutrality of the gold and silver combined and totally adore the effect of the lively colorful microglitters in the mix. Matted out it would be super wearable for a gold glitter. Useful too for gradients, nail art, stamping and accent nails. 

I'm not sure what an appropriate accent nail would be for this manicure... gold? Silver? Hmm. Let's see!


China Glaze I'm Not Lion with Zoya Ziv accent nail


China Glaze I'm Not Lion with Zoya Ziv accent nail


China Glaze I'm Not Lion with Zoya Ziv accent nail


China Glaze I'm Not Lion with Zoya Trixie accent nail


China Glaze I'm Not Lion with Zoya Trixie accent nail


China Glazed I'm Not Lion with a england Princess Sabra scattered holo accent nail
China Glazed I'm Not Lion with a england Princess Sabra scattered holo accent nail

Ok so definitely NOT silver, but gold would work,  the scattered holo gold too (though this one has a touch of green to it), maybe even better than the straight gold metallic. That Ziv had a great formula, btw. One coat coverage, minimal brushstrokiness.

That was fun and puts me in the mood to swatch more China Glaze glitters. I have a bunch, I should go start herding them into my swatching chute....

love,
Aunt Liz




2 comments:

  1. Another one that looks like it'll be a pain to remove ;) But it's beautiful, so definitely worth it! With the topcoat it looks so deep and gorgeous! It looks amazing with the gold/silver/holo accent nails too.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lucy! ;-> I use the foil method to remove glitters like this and the removal itself isn't as much of a pain as the amount of time it takes to do it. After a couple of glitter manicures, removing non-glitter polishes is actually a pleasure!

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