‘Anchors Away’ is the new Spring collection that China Glaze has just released, which includes 12 lacquers in a variety of hues and finishes; from creme to glass-flecked, muted to bold, there is something here that will appeal to everyone. In order that I give you the best in-depth review I can, I have broken down the collection and thus today I bring you 4 of the shades that I refer to as ‘the neutrals’. All swatches are with Sèche Natural base coat and 3 coats of polish, no top coat.
‘White Cap’ is a sheer pearly white, with tons of delicate gold micro shimmer. It can almost be considered an iridescent hue because of the golden flash to it. While it is sheer, you can build up a fairly decent opacity and the shimmer keeps it from being able to see too much visible nail line. The formula was amazing with a wonderful brush and the finish was smooth, despite the glittery bits.
Because ‘White Cap’ reminded me of another similar shade, CHANEL’s ‘Pearl Drop’, I swatched them to compare. While they are both white frosted polishes with golden shimmer, that’s where the similarity ends. ‘Pearl Drop’ is significantly more opaque, with slightly more visible brush strokes and less shimmer throughout, giving it more of a pearl’s lustre. ‘White Cap’ has the same base colours, but in a much sheerer format and with a lot more gold going on. Photo above: index & ring fingers – White Cap, middle & Pinkie fingers – Pearl Drop.
‘Knotty’ is another sheer polish, but this one is a complex mix of camel and blush with silvery, palest pink and some light green glass flecked shimmer throughout. It seems to lean slightly yellow, but the incredible shimmer keeps it from being a boring light taupe. This shade has excellent depth and it will definitely suit a variety of skin tones. Once again, the formula was superb.
Looking at the bottle, I would have sworn that ‘Sunset Sail’ was a creme but upon viewing the pictures, I realized that it has a secret shimmer! This is an interesting nude shade with peach undertones and the delicate silvery micro shimmer not only lend it depth, but elevate it far above ‘mannequin hands’ into something definitely more wearable. Application & formula…what can I say? Awesome with nary a brush stroke in sight!
I would have sworn that I had something similar and the closest I came was with Deborah Lippmann’s ‘I’m Not That Innocent’ and MAC’s ‘Blissed Out’, but ‘Sunset Sail’ falls somewhere between the two. While the bottle colour between the Lippmann polish and the China Glaze seemed almost identical, the Lippmann turned out to be not only paler, but the formula was significantly thinner and slightly streaky; the MAC was a thin formula as well, but the hue fell slightly darker, albeit a close match in tone. The major difference was that neither of the other 2 polishes had that secret shimmer and so seemed a little flat when next to ‘Sunset Sail’. Photo above: Index & pinkie fingers – Sunset Sail, middle finger – I’m Not That Innocent and ring finger – Blissed Out.
‘Pelican Gray’ is a soft-washed dove grey. Once again, what I thought was a creme polish turned out to have that inner secret shimmer! I love how it’s not that noticeable to the naked eye, but lends such depth to the final look. The shade itself reminds me of tiny beads of rain on a pane of glass; I am totally having a grey moment right now and this one is clean, simple and so romantically beautiful. Needless to say, the formula was incredible and seemed basically self-levelling. Love it!
From the greys in my stash, the closest I found was MAC’s ‘On The Prowl’ from their Hello Kitty Collection of a few seasons ago. The two seemed somewhat similar, but when swatched, you can see that the MAC seems to have a slightly greener undertone when compared to ‘Pelican Gray’, which definitely looks bluer. While thinner in consistency, the MAC formula still gave decent coverage but once again, looks almost 2-dimensional next to the shimmery beauty that is ‘Pelican Gray’. Photo above: index & ring fingers – Pelican Gray, middle & pinkie fingers – On The Prowl.
Final thoughts: The first 4 of this collection, while neutral shades, are anything but boring. The formula is beyond excellent and the addition of that something extra, be it inner shimmer or glass flecks, gives each shade a unique cast. In line with the more delicate side of the season, these colours seem to best represent the promise of Spring and I feel that they are all wearable yet modern hues. Stay tuned for the next segment of swatches!
*Disclaimer: Product samples were sent by the company/PR for my unbiased consideration.
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