China Glaze Off Shore Collection: Live Swatches and Review

Hey polish lovers!  If you're here with me today, I think you're in for a treat.  I was stalking head2toebeauty til these polishes were released because they looked absolutely gorgeous...and they are!  I'm talking about the Summer 2014 China Glaze collection of creams: Off Shore.  If you're interested in seeing my first impressions, live swatches, and recommendations then you can do that here:

As for the formula of these polishes- after first impressions and now working with them for a bit- I will say the formula is pretty darn good.  There are a few that are a tad thin, and there are a few that were a tad thick, but for the most part it is a well-rounded ON POINT collection.  It just has a color for everyone's tastes.  They're all beautiful creams which I really liked about it.  I don't know, I'm just in love with the range and feel of this collection.  Let's get to some swatches:

Seas the Day is a cherry red cream that just leans a bit little strawberry.  It's like a cherry/strawberry hybrid...mmmm yum!  Because of this hybrid it has a way of making the color so much more casual than your traditional va-va-voom red, which makes it totally fit into this collection.  This is two coats, and all the swatches I'm going to share today are without top coat.

Stoked to Be Soaked is an orange cream that leans a bit yellow.  Honestly I liked this better on than in this picture, but you know me- I don't really care for orange polish.  That being said- its formula was impeccable and if you do like orange polish, you will love how easy this one is.  AND on the nail it looks like an actual orange...the fruit that is.  This is two coats.

If in Doubt, Surf It Out is slightly more complimentary on my skin than its orange sibling, but still not loving this color a ton.  It's a light orange that leans peach, but regardless of my taste in the shade of this polish- it also had an easy formula to work with and I definitely have nothing to complain about.  This is two coats.

Sun Upon My Skin is the only polish I did three coats for in this collection.  It was just a bit away from opacity at two coats and i wanted you to be able to see this lovely color in its full form.  I love, love yellow polishes and this one is sweet, but still playful.  It's like they took a pastel and buffed it up a bit.  I really love this shade and if you have the dry time needed to get three coats on your nails, you will love this one too!

Next we have Be More Pacific, and it's like the brother of the yellow above.  This is two coats and it could have maybe done a third, but it was right there on the line so I left it like this so you could see what two coats looks like.  It's definitely passable and this shade of lime green is so unconfrontational and pleasant, I just love it.

Shore Enuff is the first one I swatched that dried semi-matte.  This one, as you can see, could also be worn at three coats, but I've shown you two here- which I think you can get away with.  Normally I love polishes when they dry matte; I feel like leaving them in all their matte glory lets them be who they are.  However, with the polishes in this collection, maybe it's because they aren't fully matte, I think they definitely can benefit from a shiny top coat.  This color....people, is so delicious.  It's this really bright, like deep pistachio green. It's the bit of blue in there that really pushes this one over the top for me.  I am absolutely in love and a little top coat will make this pop!

This first pink is called Feel the Breeze and lemme just say, it's a bit thick.  This was one of the only ones I had trouble with application.  However, I think that it's definitely workable, you just have to keep it in mind when you're applying and not have too much polish on the brush.  This pink is probably my least favorite from the collection(even more than the oranges) just because I'm not crazy about the shade and formula, but I am not a big pink polish fan to begin with.  I just feel like there are a million shades like this out there- this brightened and warmed ballet pink.  I've shown you two coats here.

 This darker pink, Float On, is a little more up my alley.  The formula was great and super easy to apply.  This is another one that dries semi-matte, but other than that, it's just your basic medium bubblegum pink.  Nothing that special here but if you love pinks then I think you'll really enjoy Float On.  This is two coats.


We are getting to the part of the collection that I had to say, "be still my beating heart" with each application- I loved these shades so much...Ok, with that out of the way:

This polish is called Dune Our Thing, and it's showing up more pink here than it really is.  We have another hybrid here, it's a fuchsia/plum hybrid, so imagine just a bit more plum in there.  This baby applies like a dream; it is so creamy and easy. I simply love it.  You're looking at two coats.

Thank you China Glaze for putting these last three polishes in the collection!  This is X-ta-sea and its just a gorgeous deep violet that is not so deep when its on the nail that you can't tell it's purple.  It's a bit uneven on the first coat, but after the second it's seamless.  This is shown without topcoat, as are the rest, but I think add a topcoat and this is going to be bangin'!

This pacific blue shade is called I Sea the Point and was one that I was most excited about.  Let me just tell you off the bat- this is another one that can be a bit tricky, and not for the same reasons as the light pink. This one is not too thick, but it does dry quickly, so you have to get just enough on your brush to successfully do the three stroke method if you don't want bumps.  You can probably see in this swatch that I didn't quite accomplish this feat, but I feel confidant that I can totally do it next time now that I know what i'm working with.  Doesn't this color just make you want to put in the effort?  This is another semi-matte polish so definitely slap on a topcoat.  You're looking at two coats.

Last up we have Wait N' Sea which is a gorgeous teal.  This one is fab!  It's a little sheer at the first coat, but you're looking at just two coats so you can see that you can easily build it up.  This one had an easy, breezy formula- no issues with application at all- I love it!  Another homerun!

I have loads of comparisons for these polishes you guys.  For example- when I was looking at the medium green(Shore Enuff) in the bottle, it looked just like the Electropop collection's Gaga for Green, but on the nail they are totally different- Shore Enuff is way brighter and blue-toned.  That's just one example- if you want to see some dupes or comparisons for these polishes, just let me know.  As for now, I hope this helped you with narrowing down what you intend to pick up.  I cannot say enough how much I love this collection.  I can't think of one from China Glaze that has come out in recent years that I was so pleased with its range of colors and consistency of formula.  Please let me know which is your favorite and if you pick any of these up.

I hope you're having a great day everyone and I will see you back tomorrow!

Song of the Day: Phoenix- Trying to Be Cool

Over and out