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Hi friends! I have been blogging about nail polish for 4 years this May and when I tell you all it never stops feeling weird talking about seasonal releases outside of their respective season. Currently, here in Connecticut, we have about 6 inches of snow on the ground, with more snow coming tomorrow yet in the nail polish world, it’s time to talk about spring nail polish collections!
As someone who isn’t the biggest lover of spring releases, I went into swatching China Glaze’s spring offering this year with some trepidations. For spring 2024 we have the Meadow Dreams collection which I assume is inspired by springtime meadows. Personally, I am pretending that it’s inspired by the meadow scenes from the Twilight Saga movies!
Official promotion for this release hasn’t yet started but it has started popping up for sale at online retailers. My favorite places to shop new China Glaze releases are Beyond Polish (use code NicoleLovesNails to save an additional 10%) and Polish Pick (tell them Nicole Loves Nails sent ya!).
Live Swatch Video
China Glaze is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 14ml bottles, 7 free and cruelty free.
Fields of Lilac
Description: a pastel purple creme
Fields of Lilac had a pretty good formula, it doesn’t like being overworked so as long as you apply carefully you’ll be just fine with it.
While I am officially calling it a pastel purple, I did notice in natural lighting it leaned a little bit towards periwinkle with a tiny drop of grey to it. Pastel cremes aren’t really my jam but I do think this is a pretty color.
My photos show Fields of Lilac in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. This is likely to be a 2-3 coater depending on personal application style.
Lavender Haze
Description: a pale purple base with a glowy green to orange shimmer
Lavender Haze as someone who isn’t the most fond of pastels, I loved how glowy the shimmer looked in this base! On the first coat, this looks a little iffy but I found it builds up really well.
Formula wise, this is a little finicky but not bad. I found it applied best for me with normal to thicker coats while floating my brush on. If you use a lot of pressure you’ll find your brush picking up previous coats.
The shimmer in this polish does show some brush strokes when wet but they largely disappear as the polish dries. I found my camera was able to pick up the brush strokes a lot better than my eyes could in person.
My photos show Lavender Haze in 2-3 coats plus glossy top coat. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on your application style and personal preference.
This is not a dupe for China Glaze Bloomphoria. I have a side by side comparison of the two polishes in my live swatch video review.
Meet Me In The Meadow
Description: a pale spring green with green to orange shimmer
Meet Me In The Meadow has the same shimmer as Lavender Haze. I didn’t expect the orange color shift to translate well but it does show up at extreme angles. And like Lavender Haze, the shimmer is a little brush strokey but it sure is glowy!
Like most of the other colors in this release, this is not the type of polish that you want to overwork. Again, floating your coats on and being mindful of your brush strokes is the best route.
My photos show Meet Me In The Meadow in 3 coats plus glossy top coat. I am going to call this one a 2-3 coater depending on personal preference and application style.
Mystic Garden
Description: a pastel green creme
Mystic Garden had a surprisingly good formula. I expected it to be super chalky and unpleasant to work with but it was actually really good!
The polish does tend to run down the stem of the brush but as long as you remember to wipe it off before applying you won’t have any issues with flooding your cuticle crevices.
My photos show Mystic Garden in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. This will be a 2-3 coater depending on yor application, I had one finger than needed a third coat.
Picking Wildflowers
Description: a pastel orange with green to orange shimmer
Picking Wildflowers orange is probably one of my least favorite pastel colors but paired with that glowy green shimmer I was really digging this color.
The formula and application was pretty much the same as the other pastel shimmers in this release.
My photos show Picking Wildflowers in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.
What A Dream
Description: an off-white creme
What A Dream is the polish in this release that I was least interested in, I just can’t get excited over an off white creme. This is a slightly yellow/tan leaning off white.
Formula wise, this was very much on the thicker side. It self leveled kinda slowly but did self level. I feel like I really should have just add a dash of thinner to this one.
I found the thickness made this pretty opaque. If you want to use it as a base for nail art, one thicker coat will make you good to go. I did notice this seemed to dry down pretty dang slowly. I am not sure if the thickness was the reason for the slow dry time or what but it was noticeably slow.
My photos show What A Dream in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. While I do think this was opaque on me in two coats, I had an issue while top coat that the top coat brush kept picking up the polish making it look a little patchy.
Final Thoughts
I went into swatching this collection knowing that I wasn’t likely going to be falling in love with any of the polishes. I am just not a pastel girl. Well except when we’re talking pastel neons but regular pastels aren’t really for me.
I feel like while I didn’t struggle doing my full hand swatches, I noticed when doing my live swatch video that these are a little bit finicking in the application. I feel like if you don’t have a good technique down for applying nail polish that you will probably struggle a bit getting these to apply evenly and easily. The 3 stroke method as well as floating will be your best bets for getting these to look good.
Based on the promo images, I had expected Picking Wildflowers to be a lot more vibrant than it was in person. While I don’t think this was a bad release, I also feel like it could have been better.
China Glaze
14ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
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Sale Information
The Meadow Dreams collection should be starting promotion fairly soon. It should be available in all of the places where China Glaze is sold such as Amazon, Sally Beauty, Walmart, Rite Aid, PolishPick, Head2Toe Beauty, 8ty8Beauty and Ulta.
If you would like to purchase this release at a discount as well as support the blog, consider shopping on Beyond Polish. You can use my affiliate code NicoleLovesNails to save an additional 10% on your order.
