Review: My picks from the China Glaze Monster's Ball collection

(All products purchased by me.)

Hello!!

Okay everyone! You knew it was coming!! Here are my picks from the China Glaze Monster's Ball Halloween 2013 collection. Well, to be honest, it's all of the polishes except one, really. :)

First is one I've already shown you in some nail art, and one that I absolutely adore. Bump In The Night is a black textured polish with a ton of creepy texture, perfect for any dark scene you want to set in your Halloween nail art:

China Glaze Bump In The Night, one coart, artificial light

And here it is with topcoat, if you prefer a bit more gloss with your texture:

China Glaze Bump In The Night + topcoat

I mentioned before that I don't normally care so much for the textured polishes that don't have some sort of bling to them--I much prefer the Zoya Pixie sort. But this is a definite exception, and I can't think of a better textured polish to have in a Halloween collection. The formula on this is amazing--one coat and you're done.


Next up is Howl You Doin', a gorgeous melange of orange and grape glitters in a deep Merlot jelly base:

Halloween or not, this is a gorgeous glitter polish, and I love it. The orange glitters read red at some angles; this makes the polish not just scream 'Halloween!', but also be a unique blend for other purposes, too. The formula is great, practically like it has no glitter at all. I will be wearing this throughout the year, guaranteed.


Keeping up the trend of traditional Halloween colors done with a twist, we have Boo-gie Down, a clear-based topper with black, white, and muted orange glitters or various sizes:

China Glaze Boo-gie Down over China Glaze Trendsetter, artificial light

This is one brushed-on coat with a little bit of fishing and dabbing to get the large glitters. What makes this polish special, I think, is the type of orange glitter here. This isn't a bright hit-you-over-the-head orange, so while it can be worn for a muted, adult Halloween look, it is also something that can easily be worn the rest of the year.


Finally we have Bat My Eyes, a zombie-esque blend of green-gold glitters in a black jelly base, with a few very subtle floating muted orange bar glitters just to keep you on your toes:

Bat My Eyes, two coats, artificial light

 

Again the formula here was surprisingly good, and applied almost like a non-glitter polish. I love the look of this for Halloween, but I'm not sure how much use I'll get out of this the rest of the year. It is different enough from similar polishes from past Halloween collections (Cast A Spell, It's Alive) that it's worth getting, but close enough that you can skip it unless you're a lover of this sort of look (which I admittedly am). Not everyone is as enthusiastic as I am about zombie-chic.

There is one other glitter topper in this collection, Fang-tastic; it's a mix of blue, purple, and green glitters that didn't really speak to me. In addition, China Glaze has included their glow-in-the-dark topcoat along with the collection, and because I missed it last year, I grabbed that, too. In the past it's been available for a limited time only, so you might want to grab it while you can. :)

As always, I really enjoy this Halloween collection from China Glaze; I feel like they've elevated this a bit, making most of the polishes both classically Halloween and very wearable for other times of the year, as well.

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you're having an awesome Sunday! :)
M.

(All products purchased by me.)