China Glaze On Safari Collection: Tourist

Hello!!

Earlier today my China Glaze On Safari Collection came in the mail, and I've been hustling to get some swatches together for you, along with a review. I've managed to get through one half of it, the 'Tourist' half. Let's get to it! All pictures are two coats with China Glaze's Fast Forward top coat, except the glitters; in those cases I have one coat and no topcoat.

First up is Kalahari Kiss:

Kalahari Kiss in the shade

Kalahari Kiss in the sun

This is a beautiful neutral, light camel creme. I don't normally look good wearing this type of color, but I really like this one. Plus it went on smoothly and covered extremely well, another issue I often have with this type of color--and if I had been careful, I might have been able to get away with only one coat. I'll certainly wear this again.

Next up, Desert Sun:

Desert Sun in the shade

Desert Sun in the sun

Desert sun is a terra cotta muted orange creme that makes me think of butterscotch. I love butterscotch. Great. Now I'm hungry.

The application on this one was a little thinner than Kalahari Kiss--it definitely needed two full coats. But it applied smoothly. This is why I love China Glaze--great colors and great application.


Next is Call Of The Wild:

Call Of The Wild in the sun

Call Of The Wild in the shade

 Call Of The Wild is a dark chocolate brown creme. Indoors, it almost looks black, but outside it's definitely more brown. The formula on this was thick and on the edge of goopy, but it leveled out well, and covered in two coats. To be honest, this is the one color in the collection I'm not wild about. Get it? 'Wild' about? hahahaha. Okay, it wasn't funny. I'll stop.

Next--Adventure Red-y:

Adventure Red-y in the shade

Adventure Red-y in the sun

I ADORE this color. I have lots of reds, so I figured this would be 'Ah yes, another red, put it with the others'. But it's not. It's a deep red creme; indoors it can appear almost brick. It's not too bright or cheap looking, and the formula went on like a dream. I love it.

On to the glitters...I'm Not Lion!

I'm Not Lion over Kalahari Kiss in the shade

I'm Not Lion over Kalahari Kiss in the sun

I didn't expect to like either of these glitters; I thought they'd be too much like some I already have. And neither of them am I over-the-top in love with. But I was pleasantly surprised that they both have small holographic glitter in them, along the lines of Fairy Dust and Golden Enchantment (you can see it here in the bottle). This gives them a little extra bit of oomph that I like. And, they are very small glitters, smaller than most of the glitters I have. Unless you look closely at them, the individual colors don't jump out at you, but rather create an overall effect together. I'm Not Lio n has different shades of silver and gold, while I Herd That has gold and red-orange particles.

I Herd That over Desert Sun in shade

I Herd That over Desert Sun in the sun

In the bottle, this looks like it might be too much like Electrifying. But it's not; the glitter is much smaller and gives a different look.


And finally, here they both are over Call of the Wild:

Left: I Herd That, Right: I'm Not Lion

You can see here that the glitter is very small, and it's hard to pick out individual particles. In terms of formula, these are great if you want to wear them alone or completely cover whatever nail you're painting. If you want to use them for layering over another color with some of the undercoat coming through, you're going to have a harder time. If you go overlap strokes at all, you will get full coverage. My suggestion would be to sponge it on and cover it with a top coat.

I'm off for now--I'll be back soon with the other half of the collection, and to sum up my feelings about it. :)

Thanks for stopping by,

M.

(the products in this review were purchased with my own money.)