China Glaze Poolside: Pool Party & Flip Flop Fantasy

We have some sunshine today (finally!), so I wanted to start swatching the China Glaze Poolside collection while the weather is cooperating. This six piece set of neon shades is perfect for the upcoming Summer months, and are they ever bright! I'm not a fan of neons as far as the application goes generally, but these applied pretty well. I did use a coat of white underneath, which worked much better than my first attempt over just a clear base coat.

Above & Below: Pool Party is a hot pink creme, while Flip Flop Fantasy is a vivid coral peach shade, and also a creme. I used 2 coats and that seemed to work fine on Flip Flop Fantasy, but I think Pool Party could have used 3. I wasn't able to capture just how bright these polishes really are, so if you turn these up a couple of notches, you get the idea.

Both of these applied nicely, but like most neon polishes, they dry quickly so you have to be careful to get the right amount on the brush. I found it was better to have less rather than more, and I then went back over a few spots before applying the second coat. There were a few areas that looked like they might be streaky, but they self-corrected and ended up just fine after the final coat. These shades are not quite as flat or matte as many other neons I've used, but have more of an eggshell or semi-matte finish. I did not use a top coat in the photos. So far so good on the formula--these two were both just a little on the thick side, but not so much that I felt the need to add any thinner. I'll keep swatching as long as the sun shines, and be back with the rest of this collection later today.

*Products shown in this post were furnished by the manufacturer or PR firm for review.

Posted in China Glaze , Coral , Creme , Neon , Pink