China Glaze Whirled Away over a bright purple

China Glaze Whirled Away over Island Girl Aloha Luau,
 sunlight

It appears China Glaze has been paying attention to the surge in popularity of indie polishes in the last year. The proof: its new glitter from the Cirque Du Soleil collection. Whirled Away is a combination of large black hex glitter, black bar glitter and huge white hex glitters in a clear base. It should sound familiar, since a series of black and white glitters has been around for months from different indie vendors. For a comparison of a bunch of these type of black and white glitters, check out this incredibly thorough post at Chalkboard Nails.

I knew I wanted to layer Whirled Away over a bright color, and I ended up going with one of my favorite new polishes of late. Island Girl Aloha Luau is a bright, nearly neon purple with a silver shimmer. It’s super vivid and saturated, the perfect backdrop for the simple colors of Whirled Away. Join me after the jump to find out what I thought of the glitter, plus a few more pictures.

China Glaze Whirled Away over Island Girl Aloha Luau,
 sunlight

When I initially heard negative comments about the formula on China Glaze Whirled Away, I dismissed them. I had quickly tested the polish over a few colors before I sat down to swatch it over a full manicure and hadn't noticed any issues. Once I did a real swatch, I saw where all the complaints had come from. The clear base is super thick, and I had already noticed that the white hex glitters were elusive and had to be fished out separately.  The formula seemed gloopy and thick on the nail, and even a thick layer of topcoat over it couldn’t even out the look.  It’s not the most difficult polish I own, but it’s definitely a trickier one.

I added it over Essence Modern Romance for fun as well. I just applied it, without bothering with glitter placement. You can see that only one of the 3 nails got any white glitter on them. 

China Glaze Whirled Away over Essence Modern  Romance, natural light lamp

I showed my nails to a non-polish savvy friend, and she said that they reminded her of balloons. I guess in that sense, Whirled Away is aptly placed in the Cirque collection.  I am glad that a mainstream polish maker is paying attention to the indie trends and offering a polish like this at an affordable price. I only wish the execution of the polish had been a better. However, I’m glad to finally have a fun black and white glitter like this in my collection.

China Glaze Whirled Away over Island Girl Aloha Luau, natural light lamp