[Purchased, affiliate links used]
Hello my friends! So today I have the Fall 2022 collection from China Glaze. This one is inspired by all things coffee and is made up of all brown toned neutrals. I went into buying this collection knowing full well that neutral cremes were not my personal cup of tea (no pun intended) but I was still curious about how these would perform.
I purchased this collection through the China Glaze website but it seems to be available in a variety of places as well as the brick and mortar shops. As per usual, I will have links at the end of the post if you would like to pick these up.
And since this collection is inspired by coffee, I do want to mention if you would like to support my blog (or YouTube channel) I now have a Ko-Fi page! I have been asked by several people if there were ways to monetarily support all things Nicole Loves Nails so I set up this page with those people in mind.
I will also be making a channel membership for Youtube in the coming months. Please do not feel pressured in any way to send me anything! This is just for people who are financially able to. Any money sent goes to purchasing collections to review, equipment, and various monthly costs to run this show. 32
Now that is all out of the way, let’s just get into this review. I’ll be going in lightest to darkest order just because that’s what I feel like doing.
Live Swatch Video
China Glaze is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 14ml bottles, 7 free and cruelty free.
Coffee First, People Later
Description: a beige creme
Coffee First, People Later had a pretty bad formula. It’s rare for me to flat out say the formula of a polish was bad but I just didn’t like this one. It was very thin and very streaky. Even in 3 careful coats I still had a lot of unevenness.
Admittedly, the base color for this polish is really light so I expected some streakiness but not this level of streakiness. I don’t feel like all of the light spots showed up in my photos at all but there were a lot of them in person.
I would say the color of this polish is a very pale beige leaning towards an off-white. My photos show Coffee First, People Later in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Hug In A Mug
Description: a caramel cappuccino colored creme
Hug In A Mug had an okay formula. It wasn’t as bad as the previous polish but it still was rather thin. I was surprised that I kinda liked how this one looked on me. As I said, colors like most of these aren’t my thing but I did like how this one looked on my nails.
I do not know what color a “caramel cappuccino” looks like so I can’t say if the brand’s description is accurate or not. I would say this is a warm toned beige with some peachy undertones.
My photos show Hug In A Mug in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Mocha Mama
Description: a matte mocha creme
Mocha Mama had a good formula. It was on the thinner side and fairly streaky so depending on your application, this one will likely be a 2-3 coater. I did find that if I went in for thicker coats, coverage was better than with thin/normal coats.
Color wise, this isn’t really my thing but overall it isn’t a bad polish. I would say it is slightly darker than Hug In A Mug and doesn’t have that peachy undertone.
The brand calls this a “matte mocha” but when I was swatching it, it didn’t seem to dry down matte. I’m not sure if “matte mocha” is a coffee term that I don’t understand or if this was actually supposed to be a matte polish.
My photos show Mocha Mama in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. This one reaches full opacity without any light spots or streakiness.
Caffeinated and Motivated
Description: Columbia in a cup creme? (this is what China Glaze called it)
Caffeinated and Motivated had a good formula. It was thinner than I would have liked but it wasn’t so thin that I would call it watery. I do like the base color on this one.
It seemed to dry a bit darker than it looks in the bottle. It reminded me a bit of Holo Taco’s Magical Mustache but they aren’t dupes. The Holo Taco has a much better formula FYI but it is also no longer available. I have no idea what “Columbia in a cup” means but I would call this a medium warm toned brown. Not quite milk chocolate but close.
I like the color of this polish but it was very thin so in two coats it was not completely opaque on me. If you have longer nails this one is likely going to be a solid 3 coater to cover up any visible nail line. Shorter nails will probably be good in two coats.
My photos show Caffeinated and Motivated in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
Brew That
Description: a chocolate brown creme
Brew That had a pretty ok formula. It wasn’t as thin as some of the other polishes in this release. This was the only polish in the entire release that I was able to get opaque on me in 2 coats.
I couldn’t make heads or tales of the description China Glaze has for this polish so I just went with chocolate brown. I fully recognize that chocolate comes in a variety of shades of brown but that’s as good as it is going to get.
My photos show Brew That in 2 coats plus glossy top coat.
My Broomstick Runs On Coffee
Description: a rich bold bown-black creme
My Broomstick Runs On Coffee had a super thin and watery formula. It starts off very sheer and very streaky so you will want to build it up.
This was the polish I was most looking forward to so this was the biggest disappointment for me. I really don’t see why a creme polish so dark would take 3 coats to reach full opacity. If this was a jelly, I would give it a pass but it’s not so I won’t.
I really wanted to love this polish but the formula was so thin and sheer that it’s just a big nope for me. I will say that this one is so dark that in lower lighting it will appear to be black.
My photos show My Broomstick Runs On Coffee in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
China Glaze
14ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok
Final Thoughts
I would be lying if I said I wanted to love this collection but I did want to at least like it. I was surprised that I did like how several of the colors looked on my nails. Looking at all of the polishes in the collage was also appealing to me.
However, the formulas on these polishes were just not my favorite. I would dare say the application for the most part wasn’t good either. These were just way too watery/thin for me. I will fully admit that I generally prefer my creme polishes to be on the thicker side (think Night Owl Lacquer or Holo Taco cremes) with 2 coat coverage. I just can’t get down with 3 coat creme polishes in such not-for-me colors.
I was also super disappointed that Mt Broomstick Runs On Coffee was so ridiculously thin. Like I really wanted that one to be my favorite but again, for such a dark color that isn’t a jelly, I just don’t get why it’s so sheer.
Even though I was very disappointed by both this release as well as the Halloween collection for this year, I still love me some China Glaze. And am really excited about their holiday collection which looks really really fun!
China Glaze
14ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok
Sale Information
This collection is currently available in all of the places where China Glaze is sold. I personally purchased this collection from the China Glaze website.
If you would like to pick up this collection, or any other China Glaze polishes, and support my blog, please feel free to check out Beyond Polish where I have an affiliate link/code. If you use code, NicoleLovesNails you can save 10% off all of the individual polishes on the website.
I also have some affiliate links to Sally Beauty and Ulta both places where China Glaze is sold online.
