China Glaze Galactic Gray Review + Swatches

Hello!

So my midyear break is now over, I should have plenty of time to to devote to my blog now that I won't be moving around quite so much. Today I have China Glaze Galactic Gray, a charcoal holographic polish, so excited about this one!

China Glaze Galactic Gray

Galactic Gray is part of China Glaze's 2013 Hologlam Collection which featured 12 holographic polishes. these were brought in because of the fandom of the previous 2 holographic collections they released. I acquired this and another polish from the same collection whilst in Melbourne. there's a store in North Sunshine (Oz Nails and Beauty Supply) that sells a lot (and I mean a lot) of polish, at really good prices. apart from China glaze (which are all $6 each), they have OPI ($8 to $13, including the new Coca Cola collection), Orly (from $5, including the Baked Collection) and quite a few others like Morgan Taylor. I was in polish heaven, but of course there was too much choice so I only walked away with 4 polishes. Kinda kicking myself right now. Oh well.

China Glaze Galactic Gray - Sun

Sorry about the over exposed photo, not sure what happened there. Onto the polish. Galactic Gray is a brown charcoal linear holographic polish that really comes to life in the sun. The holo particles are extremely fine, producing a very smooth rainbow effect. However there is pretty much no shimmer in the shade.

China Glaze Galactic Gray - Shade

It doesn't look like much without the sunlight. The formula of this polish is quite thick, but easy to use. Bald spots will occur if you go over the same area too many times without waiting in between coats. There were minimal brush strokes once the polish dried, which is awesome because I cannot stand those!  However I can see the ridges of my nails in the somewhat metallic finish of the polish, so beware of that.

China Glaze Galactic Gray - Sun

The polish requires 2 coats to become completely opaque, as the first layer is somewhat streaky. I had minimal cleanup with this and found polish to remove easily and dry quickly. It dries to a satiny finish, so top coat is a must if you like the glassy look. 

China Glaze Galactic Gray - Sun

even though I can see ridges, I love the look of this polish. The rainbow effect is quite strong in the sun without drowning out the colour of the polish. Dark holos are hard to achieve as the colour is generally greyed out a bit, but I think Galactic Gray stays true to it's charcoal roots. I can't get over how pretty it is!

What do you guys think of these China Glaze holos? I'm loving the subtle rainbows and they're awesome for stamping too!

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