Application was nice. The consistency is creamy and quite fluid but not thin, with good flow over the nail. It likes to go on in thicker coats and takes a little while to self-level (a good topcoat takes care of this issue). Pigmentation is good with a bit of streaky sheerness at one coat and 100% opacity at two. This polish is very well-behaved on application and easily manipulated with China Glaze's relatively long-bristled flexible brush, so cleanup was minimal and easily done with no staining or polish tendrils left behind. Spontaneous dries in very good time to a smooth glossy finish.
Photos show two coats of Spontaneous over treatment and basecoat with a topcoat of Seche Vite.
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Spontaneous |
This is one of my favorite medium purples, along with Barielle A Grape Escape and OPI A Grape Fit. It's just so agreeable -- applies like a champ, dries quickly, photographs well... what's not to like? The milky quality it has gives it a slightly muted look but it remains a nice bold purple nevertheless. And it's great for layering.
To that end, I decided to layer China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over it in honor of Mardi Gras. Marry a Millionaire turns out to be one of the best unintentional Mardi Gras glitter polishes I can think of. It was released as part of China Glaze's Eye Candy 3D Glitters collection for winter 2011, a set of six polishes each named in homage to Marilyn Monroe. All of these are true glitter polishes that can be layered to opacity or near opacity.
Marry a Millionaire is officially described as an "alluring amethyst with multi-tonal fibers." It's a glorious feast of tiny hex glitters in purple and lavender and silver multichromatic mini bar glitters that have a gold/green/blue tonal shift, all in a purple-tinted suspension base. It applies easily but not evenly, so there's a bit of pushing and manipulating that needs to be done to attempt an even looking coat. I didn't do much of that, actually, and consequently there are patches with more glitters and patches with less. In person, with the mini bars pointing randomly hither and yon and all of the blingy spark-throwing twinkle going on generally, it's not really a thing. I did have some instances of glitter pile up plus a few mini bars per nail that overshot the free edge, as is their wont. I tamped most them back into the herd but you may notice a determined few that would not be denied their 15 minutes.
Marry a Millionaire dries very quickly to a surprisingly smooth, only very slightly textured shiny finish. No topcoat hungry grit on this puppy!
Photos show one coat of Marry a Millionaire over the Spontaneous manicure above with a single layer of HK Girl to seal it all in.
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous on the nail, Marry a Millionaire in the bottle |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire, macro shot in the bottle |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
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| China Glaze Marry a Millionaire over China Glaze Spontaneous |
I had the good fortune to be present for two subsequent Fat Tuesdays as a rowdy young twenty-something in the 80s and I can tell you truly that this combo is entirely occasion appropriate.
Laissez les bons temps rouler!
love,
Liz
This is gorgeous, Liz! I never would have thought to use Marry A Millionaire for a Mardi Gras mani, but it's totally perfect, especially when you see the mix of green and purple in your close up shots. Unfortunately I didn't do a Mardi Gras mani. My nails are painted green since my mind is on St. Patrick's Day but at one point I took it off and painted one of my nails with China Glaze Grape Pop with OPI Sparkle-icious layered on top. I wasn't totally in love with that combo so I removed it. Anyway, I like your Mardi Gras mani. Maybe next time I'll figure out what polish to wear.
ReplyDeleteThank you, Melissa! I'd set these two aside to use together and by sheer luck happened to get to them the day before Mardi Gras -- that's providence for ya!
DeleteBreathtaking!!! What a gorgeous shade of purple. This is one of those staples that should be permanent in any collection. And who'd a thunk holographic bar glitters could be so awesome. Perfection!!
ReplyDeleteThanks, girlie! That's exactly what I think about this kind of purple, it's a staple. Bright enough for spring and summer, nice for fall too, true to the nature of a classic royal purple.
DeleteOrly makes a holographic bar glitter called Sunglasses at Night that is just as populated with glitters only they're longer, you know the one? I suspect it would be kinda hair raising (ha!) to apply but I can't help myself, it's a huge lemming.