The China Glaze Glitz Bitz ‘n Pieces Collection officially comes out in February, and my oh my does it look like such a fun concept!

It was hard to pick which one to try first (yeah, Nailphile Problems!). Eventually, I decided on layering China Glaze Mosaic Madness over a fun yellow – Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights from the Selena Gomez Collection.

As you know, I love bold, in-your-face manicures, so I was going for a high-contrast look here.

The layering possibilities are endless. You could do a tone-on-tone look or even put a metallic underneath for two completely different effects.

China Glaze Mosaic Madness Pictures

China Glaze Mosaic Madness Swatches

All swatches have:

• Essie First Base (Base Coat)
• 2 coats of Nicole by OPI Hit the Lights (Yellow – Provided by PR.)
• 2 coats of China Glaze Mosaic Madness
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Flash Photos

Natural Light Photos

Claim: TRUSTED

√ Deep blue glitter with black Bitz ’N Pieces

Key Notes

• Name: China Glaze Mosaic Madness
• Collection: China Glaze Glitz Bitz ‘n Pieces Collection 2013
• Press Release: Click here to see the China Glaze Glitz Bitz ‘n Pieces Collection press release
• Colours Available in the Collection: Mosaic Madness, Glitz ‘N Pieces, Bling It On, Scattered & Tattered, Graffiti Glitter & Razzle Me, Dazzle Me
• Amount: 14 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
• What I Paid: Nothing! (This was provided by PR.)
• Where to Buy: Victoria Nail Supply, Trans Design, NailPolishCanada, Head2Toe & 8ty8Beauty

China Glaze Mosaic Madness Review

Colour

Mosaic Madness by China Glaze has black and blue glitter suspended in a clear base.

(Whenever I think of black and blue, I’m reminded of the old Backstreet Boys album by the same name. I wasn’t a fan of theirs, but in high school, my best friend was obsessed with them. On the back of her bedroom door, she had an almost full-size poster of Nick Carter, and she’d usually be playing one of their albums. It was funny how I wasn’t a fan of the boy band, yet I pretty much knew the words to all their songs because of my best friend.)

There are small and medium blue hexagons. I also saw small, medium, and large black hexagons as well as black bars.

Collectively, it really does look like bits and pieces. It’s like you went to the arts-and-crafts room and had a glitter fight!

I don’t have any other nail polish like this, so it’s pretty unique. Then again, I don’t have many indie polishes. If you have tons of those, chances are that you have many with hexagons and bar glitter.

Finish

The glitter has noticeable texture. When I put on a thick coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat, it smoothed it out nicely at first, but the next day, I could feel subtle texture resurfacing. It didn’t bother me because it wasn’t really sharp or annoying.

Keep this in mind: The more coats of this glitter polish you use, the harder it will be to remove.

I used 2 coats, so when it came time to remove this polish, I spent quite a long time scrubbing. It’s not the easiest glitter to remove, but it also wasn’t the hardest.

Application & Formula

While I really like the unique appearance Mosaic Madness by China Glaze gives my manicure, I’m not crazy about the formula or the brush.

Normally I have no problems using any sized brush. However, when you have so many different-sized pieces of glitter, and the formula is so densely packed, I feel like the skinny China Glaze brush actually made application much more challenging than it needed to be.

If they included an extra-wide brush, it would be simple to pick up all the pieces and apply them. But, because the brush was thin and some of the glitter was so large, I found that I had to sometimes dab on some glitter, and I had to re-dip my brush into the bottle several times per nail. This definitely slowed down my manicure-painting time.

Also, I noticed that sometimes even when I got the hexagons and smaller glitter to transfer onto the nail, sometimes the large hexagons and the long bar glitter would remain on the brush. To coax them onto my nail, I had to use the dabbing motion I mentioned earlier.

If you’re a beginner when it comes to painting your nails, or you just have trouble even applying a simple creme, I would not recommend Mosaic Madness because it might frustrate you.

If you paint your nails often and don’t mind putting in the extra effort to achieve a special manicure, then I’d say give this one a shot. The look is really fun, and I think it’s worth the extra application time.

It’s also worth noting that the polish dried quicker than usual.

Sometimes, I found it tricky to get the same density on every nail. You just saw photos of my left hand. (I’m right-handed, so I prefer holding the camera with my dominant hand.) On my right hand, I had one nail that had more glitter than the rest. You may run into this as well because the glitter can be tricky to control. And occasionally the bar glitter will want to hang over the free edge of your nail. You can push it back with your brush or wait for it to dry and then file it off.

Also, I noticed that the largest hexagons tended to curl verrrry slightly, but they were still wearable and not too obvious.

Pros Black & blue glitter in different sizes Has black bar glitter Creates a unique bits & pieces effect Dries quickly Can be layered over so many other colours because the base is clear

Cons Skinny brush can make it harder to apply the glitter evenly Some glitter will need to be dabbed on instead of just painted on like normal Bar glitter can sometimes stick out over the edge of your nails

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

Mosaic Madness by China Glaze is a fun, quirky glitter that can refresh your existing manicure or give a boring polish you own some spice!

While it’s not the easiest polish to apply, I still think the overall effect it creates is worth the extra effort.

What would you layer China Glaze Mosaic Madness over? Are you a fan of having so many different sizes and shapes of glitter in a single polish?