China Glaze – Sea Spray (swatches, review & comparison)

When I recently reviewed China Glaze’s ‘Anchors Away’ collection (part 1, part 2 & part 3), the only shade that I left out was ‘Sea Spray’…I was saving the best for last! This lacquer is an understated pale blue/grey hue with subtle silver shimmer running through it. What I love about this type of shade is that while it has a pastel-like look to it, it’s also edgy and modern without ever coming across as too girly. All swatches of ‘Sea Spray’ are with Sèche Natural base coat, two coats of lacquer, no top coat.

The dusty look of this polish is what attracts me; the delicate silver shimmer swimming in its depths, while not readily apparent in the bottle, rises to the surface once applied, giving your nails an almost reflecting pool look. The grey undertones can make this colour pull a little cooler, but this type of muted sky blue is versatile enough to be worn by basically all skin tones. The formula was richly pigmented, requiring only two coats for full opacity and even though it was a touch thick, it still applied very easily and was as self-levelling as the rest of this collection. Dry time was also quick, with a lovely shine to the finish. Did I say how much I LOVE this colour?!

Of course, the first thing I thought of when I first laid eyes on ‘Sea Spray’, was this was a twin to OPI’s ‘I Vant To Be A-Lone Star’ (IVTBALS) from their recently launched Texas Collection, and while there are several similarities, they are most definitely not the same. For starters, IVTBALS is much more sheer, needing three coats to reach the same opacity, and its shimmer is definitely denser, giving it a more silvered appearance. The other big difference is that while they are both in the same tonal family, ‘Sea Spray’ looks so much bluer when they are side by side, whether seen in sunlight (top photo) or indirect light (bottom photo). Swatches are: index and ring fingers – ‘Sea Spray’, middle and pinkie fingers – IVTBALS, no top coat.

Just for fun, I wanted to see if there was anything I could layer over bot ‘Sea Spray’ and IVTBALS that could add even more visual interest, while not detracting from their delicate and spring-like prettiness. For ‘Sea Spray’ (index & ring fingers), I chose to layer one coat of ‘White Cap’ on top (from the same collection) and even though I wondered if the silver shimmer of ‘Sea Spray’ would clash with the golden shimmer of ‘White Cap’, I actually ended up loving the mix, which gave not only a new depth to the colour, but an unexpected other-worldy radiance to it. Going in another direction, but still in keeping with the same ethereal theme, I layered one coat of OPI’s upcoming ‘Silver Shatter’ over ‘I Vant To Be A-Lone Star’ (middle & pinkie fingers), and was captivated by the lacy effect; looked like crystalline icicles had formed on my nails! Both lovely and so completely different from one another….mesmerizing, no?!

Final thoughts: For me, ‘Sea Spray’ is the hands down winner of the entire Anchors Away collection, although if I were to be completely honest, I also loved every other shade…it’s just that I am partial to these understated grey/blue lacquers. Apart from the formula which was superb, I believe that this is a colour you will not get tired of seeing and will work equally well as a pedicure polish; just picture it against tanned skin! Even though it’s a Spring hue, the grey in its base keeps it from being to overtly pastel and will help it transition easily to Fall, or beyond.