China Glaze: Hunger Games

Hi all!  I posted this one WAY late, didn't I?  I apologize!  Rough day and all lol  Tonight I have China Glaze Hunger Games to show you!  I am not going to comment on which district these represent for two reasons.  1) Most of the names don't fit AT ALL.  I added stickers to these with the original names on them.  They fit much better.  However, I don't know if it would be smart to talk about those much, so I won't.  2) You've probably already either read the descriptions a million times, or figured it out.  That said, I will ONLY be commenting on the color and formula.  All swatches are two coats and no top coat, unless otherwise stated.

First is Dress Me Up.  This is a simple nude cream polish that actually works really well with my skin tone!  Who would have thought.  It is a pink leaning tan.  Very appropriate for work.

Foie Gras is a nice taupe.  We've seen in the past that China Glaze does taupe well, and this is no exception.  The bad part, though, is that it actually reminds me of foie gras!  That won't stop me from wearing it.  It looks very nice on!

Mahogany Magic is kind of strange to me.  I can't think of how to describe it!  It doesn't look like wood, though.  Maybe a pudding?  I don't know.  I DO know that it is a yellow based brown.  I'm not sure if I like the color or not, but it doesn't clash with my tone, so we'll see!

Hook and Line is a pearl metallic.  The base is a sheer silver which gives it that pearl effect.  It actually smoothed out very well, but it was still brush stroke-y.  Not sure how I feel about it.  This took three coats to achieve the color you see here.

Fast Track is, surprisingly, one of my favorites.  It's a nude, but a nude with a twist.  A very light, almost cream, colored base that has gold shimmer in it.  Heavy gold shimmer.  This is beautiful in the sun!

One of the two glitters in this collection is Electrify.  It consists of red and gold glitter, which actually almost make it look like there is orange as well.  You can see in my swatch though, that there is no orange.  On my index and ring fingers I layered one coat over Fast Track, and the middle and pinky fingers have two coats.

The other metallic in this collection is a gorgeous copper color called Harvest Moon.  While I like it, and have nothing else like it, I've seen plenty of shades like this before.  It's still pretty, though!

Riveting, if you have in fact read other blogs, was the surprise fan favorite.  The promo pictures looked nothing like this!  Even my mom thinks it is beautiful... and she thinks I have addiction issues so she tries not to encourage me...  Riveting is a red based orange with a strong gold shimmer.  It looks just like fire!

For me, another surprise in this collection came in the form of Agro.  The promo pictures showed a lighter green that I wasn't very interested in.  What we got was more of a mid-tone green with gold duo chrome.  Kind of.  Indoors, it's a darker green with yellow shimmer.  Outdoors it is a slightly lighter green with yellow flashes or, in strong sunlight, the color changes completely.  It can't be defined!  :)

What can I say about Smoke and Ashes?  For me, this shade was both a triumph, and a disappointment.  Strange, I know.  On the one hand, indoors it looks exactly like it's promo picture.  Very very dark blue with blue and green duo chrome micro glitter .  Outdoors, it looks like a slightly less dark blue with blue shimmer.  I guess I expected the glitter to stand out a little more.  BUT it is a very gorgeous color if you can get over it's almost blackness!

Stone Cold is a shimmery steel grey matte.  The formula on this was very smooth, and I love the color, unfortunately, it doesn't last very long.  At all.  I'm talking two hours.  So, you definitely have to sandwich this one!  That really bums me out since one coat provides full coverage.  :(

Last, but certainly not least, we have Luxe and Lush.  LaL is a mylar flakie that is meant to make your nails look crusted in jewels.  Or, something like that.  Very similar to that.  The flakie pieces are much larger than in other top coats with mylar, and that fact does give the polish a jeweled look.  They flash just about every color you can imagine, and would work great with anything!  This is one coat over Stone Cold.

The Hunger Games collection was very hit and miss for me.  While all of them look nice on me, and are actually nice colors, *geek alert* I'm not sure how many I would have bought if they were not HG related.  I know I would not have grabbed any of the first four, and Electrify and Stone Cold wouldn't have been much more likely, although I must confess I have a soft spot for those finishes!  I have no doubt in my mind that the rest of the collection would have come straight home with me, though.  So it really is divided.

The formulas on these were really hit and miss as well.  As I said, most of the creams were nearly perfect, as always.  Hook and Line was watery and streaky, and took more coats.  Stone Cold was a liiiiiitle bit thick.  Of course, that can be fixed.  As well as any problems with the rest of them.

Overall, I think this is a nice collection.  It has a good variety of both work appropriate, and fun, colors to choose from.  I'm just not sure it fit the theme as well as they had hoped.  For example, if I were making a polish based on The Capital, it would be as flamboyant and out there as I could get it.  Maybe a super bright teal or something.

If you are interested in these, you can buy them at various etailors and supply stores.  Prices range from $3-$8 depending on where you get them and where you are!  (Another pet peeve of mine.)  You can also check out http://chinaglaze.com/ for more info.