China Glaze Up & Away Swatches

Check out these bad boys! The Up & Away collection is truly stunning and a must have. There, I said it. Sorry to say it if you have been holding out. You need them.

I had purchased what I thought were the only colors I truly needed as soon as they were available on Transdesign.com. That was only 6 colors (out of 12). Well last week I saw them all in person and my mind changed big time on four more. Yup, I bought them. I feel a bit mad! Mad, as in crazy! I'm over it. I am thrilled I have these. I already gave you peeps of some of the shades in comparison swatches but today I am finally bringing out the full spectrum. Let's get on with it!>>>

Lemon Fizz - Holy bananas. This is a must have for sure because it is a 2 coat yellow and as we saw from the banana yellow comparison swatch, it is the gold medal for brightness, whiteness and application. It think it needs a better name than "fizz". "Fizz" makes me think of "fizzle" like "sizzle or fizzle" (fo shizzle) and that doesn't make it sound as hott as it is. This swatch is 2 coats.

Light As Air - Lavender pastel creme. This is very pretty and maybe not a must have for some if you have lavender shades but I really didn't own anything like it. I love it too! This is not crazy stark pastel. Just a nice sweet, light shade to rock in the spring or even still in the winter. This swatch is 2 coats.

Re-Fresh Mint - What a gorgeous little gem. This was also compared recently and you may have a different opinion, but of all the shades we looked at this looks like a perfect mint to me. I found that trying to get this on in 2 coats was a bad idea. I had to try and make the coats a bit thicker, but being that this is a pretty thick consistency it was then too thick and looked like crap. It looks much better done in 3 thin coats, which is what is in this swatch.

Happy Go Lucky - Great name! This is a very clean, bright, sunshine yellow and the application was great. I did feel I needed a third coat to totally eliminate any streak, but perhaps you could get it on in two. Sometimes yellow looks a bit "eh" to me. I want to love but don't always end up loving it. I love this one.

Grape Pop - Absolutely the most perfect medium purple creme. Not blue sided or red sided. Straight up, middle of the spectrum, royal purple. So pretty! This swatch is 2 coats.

Four Leaf Clover - Are you serious? Buy this.

Sugar High - This is one of the babies that came home from the store after it pleaded it's case. "Oh no, I am not your average pink creme. Mm mm. I am different. I have a bright pop, but not bubble-gummy. No ma'am. I know how you feel about bubblegum pinks and that is not me. I am saturated with color and am salmon-y, making me look sophisticated and appropriate for a grown woman, not a little school girl." So I fell for it. And I should have trusted the swatches I saw because they were right! This is a wildly bright, very, very close to neon pink. That bit of salmon I thought I saw ended up disappearing and this crazy glow came instead. It is far brighter than the picture depicts. It is bright. It is loud. It is bouncing off the walls. It is on a sugar high. This swatch is 2 coats.

Peachy Keen - Yet another second chance pretty. This one never really looked peach to me at all in swatches and it still didn't in store, but that may just be the reason I took it. I think it is more of a light orange (tangerine, perhaps?) and I am obsessed with orange. So naturally, I had to buy it. Creamcicle. That is it. It is creamcicle and maybe has a pinch of peach. This swatch is 2 coats.

High Hopes - What a fantastic name! It's so optimistic. This is a bright punchy coral. I feel like I have plenty corals but for some reason, this one was necessary. I think the thing that turned me on most was that it was very bright and very orange sided. Corals are just attractive anyway. I can't imagine coral looking bad on anyone. But I warn you. This is also wildly, bright. Nearly neon. Be prepared to turn heads with this one. This swatch is 2 coats.

Flyin' High - I wouldn't recommend it. What? Oh, the polish! Right. The reason I didn't order this at first was I guess I wasn't paying attention. It seemed to me that it was just a bright blue creme. Like we don't have a million of them? Next! But then I saw her in store and I realized: Flyin' High, I was wrong about you. You aren't like the others. You are different. There is something about you. You are mysterious. You are bold. You are unique. You go places other blues won't. You are the love of my life. What? Oh. Ahem. Excuse me. The point is this is unique and not like other bright, sky blue cremes. It is darker and has a smidgen of green. I wore this one day and actually had a hard time coming up with the color. Blue? Greenish? Tealish? Robin's egg teal? Depending on the lighting it can look very blue to blue-with-a-smidge-of-green to pretty f-ing green. It is very pretty, but very annoying. Final verdict: I say blue. But I have my eye on it.

So out of a 12 polish collection I felt that 10 were must haves. That has to be the best ratio I have for polishes I have picked up from collections. Other 12 polish collections I have gotten maybe 1-3 and some I pass all together. The only other large nab I can recall is the Romantiques (Also from China Glaze. Pattern?) from which I picked up 7 out of 12. What I am trying to say to you is if you are still on the fence for Up & Away, jump off! The colors are are truly unique. Great work China Glaze! The formula is incredible; Smooth and pigmented and easy to apply. Even the lighter ones, which ended up being thick, work just fine with a little control. And like I said about Re-Fresh Mint; if you have issues with the thickness, just do more coats, but thin coats. The end result will be worth it.

These are available now on all of our favorite e-tailers and I spotted them at Ulta as well. I think it will still be a few weeks until we see them at Sally's.