China Glaze Vain Villans Halloween 2022

[Purchased, affiliate links used]

Hey friends! Today I am sharing the Halloween 2022 collection by China Glaze. Fun fact, this is actually the first China Glaze Halloween blog post that I have ever posted on my blog. Depending on how October goes, it might be the first of two China Glaze Halloween collection blog posts this year.It’ll make sense next month!

As far as I know, this collection hasn’t yet started promoton from China Glaze. I purchase this collection through Polish Pick. I will link any and all places that I can find online that has this collection for sale at the end of this blog post.

Live Swatch Video

China Glaze is a US based mainstream brand. Their polishes are in 14ml bottles, 7 free and cruelty free.

Deadly Desires

Description: a red crelly base with some kind of red flakie?

Deadly Desire had a really great formula. The base felt kinda like a crelly polish so you will want to build it up. I am undecided if the sparkle factor in this polish is a flakie or a glitter.

In person, it didn’t feel super textured so I am leaning towards flakie BUT looking at my photos I am wondering if it was in fact a bit more textured that I realized thus is a glitter.

Whaetever it is, it’s really pretty but sadly this is the only glitter/flakie in this entire release. It did have good coverage in 2 coats though so I don’t see anyone really needing more than 2 coats for it.

My photos show Deadly Desire in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. Nothing in here dried textured and removal won’t be overly difficult. I didn’t experience any staining.

Evil Queen

Description: a matte black creme polish

Evil Queen also had a good formula. It started off a bit more sheer than I like my black cremes to be but it did reach full opacity in 2 coats for me.

I found that the matte formula didn’t dry down so quickly that I had a hard time working with this. It also didn’t have that weird cracking issue some mattes had a few years back. I did get quite a few dings on my nails trying to take my photos while the polish clearly wasn’t actually dry yet.

I will say, I am pretty disappointed that this polish was in the collection. I just feel like China Glaze has reelased *a lot* of matte black creme polishes in recent years so this got a thumb’s down from me because of that.

My photos show Evil Queen in 2 coats without any top coat.

Once A Witch, Always A Witch

Description: neon lime/chartruese green creme

Once A Witch, Always A Witch had an OK formula. This was the polish I was most excited for just based on the color. It was a little disappointing due to it being pretty streaky.

I feel like all of my complaints about this polish didn’t photograph so it looks really even. But in person, there were a lot of unevenenss. On the positive side, it is super bright and didn’t need a white base so there’s that.

Color wise, I would say this is somehwere between a neon lime gree and a chartruese. It was really hard to photograph so I ended up color correcting. To be perfectly honest, I am still not 100% happy with how this one came out color wise.

My photos show Once A Witch, Always A Witch in 3 coats plus glossy top coat.

Rotten To The Core

Description: a cool toned purple creme with a blue shimmer

Rotten To The Core had a really great formula. It started off a little sheer but it built up nicely. In person, I thought I was good in 2 coats but looking at my photos, I think I should have added a third coat. For personal wear, I would likely just wear this in 2 coats though.

The shimmer in here was one of the subtle yet strong shimmers. It isn’t like an in your face shimmer but it is there.

My photos show Rotten To The Core in 2 coats plus glossy top coat. This polish also photographed very blue toned, I would say it is a cool toned almost blurple, purple shade.

Sinful Soul

Description: a matte white creme polish

Sinful Soul had a good formula. For a white, it didn’t feel chalky and I didn’t have any application issues with it.

I have said time and time again, white cremes just aren’t my thing so I wasn’t super pumped about this one. It’s not bad, but I am heavily biased in not liking white cremes.

My photos show Sinful Soul in 3 coats without any top coat. I think depending in your nail length it will be a 2-3 coater.

Twisted Sister

Description: a matte hot pink/magneta creme polish

Twisted Sister had a great formula. The base didn’t feel overly thick or thin and I didn’t have any application issues.

The base color is super bright and fun. It doesn’t scream Halloween but I can defintly see this being used for some amazing Halloween nail art.

Aside from this being a matte, I really liked this one. That’s my only real complaint but I am just not really a matte fan in general.

My photos show Twisted Sister in 2 coats without any top coat.

Final Thoughts

I wanted to love this collection. I really did. China Glaze ALWAYS has the best Halloween collections and when I saw this one I was pretty bummed to be honest. The color story is interesting. I think these will all work for Halloween nail art.

However, the lack of interesting components, having 3 matte cremes (with 2 being extremely similar to previous releases) and then the unevenenss that is Once A Witch, Always A Witch just left me feeling really disappointed.

Do I regret buying the collection? If I didn’t swatch them, yeah I would but I enjoyed being able to review China Glaze so there’s that. I am just thinking about all of the China Glaze Halloween collections of previous years and when I compare those to this, I just feel disappointed.

China Glaze
14ml, 7 Free, Vegan & Cruelty-Free
Website | Instagram | Facebook | TikTok

Sale Information

The Vain Villans collection is starting to pop up at online retailers. I purchased these from PolishPick.com. At the time of posting, it is also available on Head2Toe Beauty as well as the China Glaze website.

While this collection is not yet available at BeyondPolish.com, if you would like to shop over there using my affiliate link or my coupon code NicoleLovesNails you can get 10% off of your order. Beyond Polish has a ton of different indie, mainstream and boutique nail polish brands to shop.