Hold the polish!
I’m going to announce something crazy: China Glaze It’s Alive from The Haunting 2011 Collection just might be my favourite green nail polish ever!
Considering that I’m a green-lacquer fiend, this is really saying something. Honestly, it’s just perfect, and the 2 different kinds of glitter put the icing on the delicious cake.
Last week, I was in a mad rush to paint my nails and then head out the door. This is pretty rare for me because I’m a nocturnal painter.
The night before, I removed my polish and was going to paint my nails, but I was so tired that I just fell asleep. So the next day, I scrambled to paint my nails before leaving the house.
I quickly grabbed a bottle of It’s Alive, a colour I had been wanting to try ever since I bought it many weeks ago.
It was love (and lust) at first brushstroke!
I will definitely need to purchase a back-up bottle of this because I plan to sport this many times. It’s my Holy Grail green!
P.S. Happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Canadians! 🙂
China Glaze It’s Alive Pictures
China Glaze It’s Alive Ingredients
China Glaze It’s Alive Swatches
All swatches have:
- Nubar Foundation Base Coat
- 2 coats of China Glaze It’s Alive
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Direct Sunlight
Direct Sunlight
Direct Sunlight
Direct Sunlight
Direct Sunlight
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Natural Light
Flash
Flash
Flash
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Sunlight
Natural Light
Flash
Claim: TRUSTED
√ Vibrant green glitter
Key Notes
- Name: China Glaze It’s Alive
- Collection: China Glaze Haunting Collection
- Colours Available in the Collection: It’s Alive, Haunting, Crimson, Near Dark, Ghoulish Glow & Black Mesh
- Amount: 14 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
- What I Paid: $2.95 USD
- Where to Buy: 8ty8Beauty, Head2Toe Beauty, Nailsupplies & wherever new China Glaze collections are sold
China Glaze It’s Alive Review
Colour
By now, I think it’s safe to say that some of my favourite greens are reminiscent of geese poop. (Hey, don’t mess with nature, right? Umm…right.) And on the bright side, at least it’s not scented polish. 😉
It’s Alive by China Glaze is a swampy kind of olive green that’s more military and less fresh meadow. While greens make me swoon like a fool, this is the kind that makes my heart skip a beat and then pump out some dope rhythm.
I think that what I love so much about this particular shade of green is that it isn’t cheery like lollipops and gumdrops. Hehe, I’m not a Debbie Downer (at least not all the time), but sometimes you just don’t feel like a bright green. You want something slightly more mature, but not too stuffy. You want something chic, something more neutral…and something that makes you go insane every time you look at it! 😛
Finish & Grittiness
This seems to be a jellyish polish jam-packed with 2 different-sized glitter (micro glitter & larger hexagonal glitter). Because of all that glittery goodness, it’s not super smooth like a creme polish, but it’s not very rough or scratchy like most glitterbombs. It was decent, and with a top coat, that helped to smooth it even more.
This baby, however, tends to eat top coat a bit. What does that mean? After you put on your top coat, it looks really smooth, but when it dries, the glitter tends to soak up the top coat and the slight texture reappears.
Some people suggest that you use a regular or cheap top coat, wait for that to dry a bit and then apply a fast-dry top coat or a higher-quality top coat to cover that for a really smooth finish.
Honestly, I was fine with the slight texture, so I only used one layer of top coat, and I was over the moon. This baby sparkles, catches the light, and really is a stunner. It looks better in person than in my photos! And what’s really cool is that even though the glitter is green like the rest of the polish, when it catches the light, it looks almost golden. Love it!
Application & Formula
I have to say that my bottle was on the very-thick side. We’re talking gooey madness! But…I really didn’t care because the colour blew my mind (as if you couldn’t already tell!).
Each coat had to be very thick. Even when I tried to apply thin coats, it was impossible with the formula I got. Of course, since I was in a rush, I was pretty worried that because of the thick coats, it would take forever and a day to dry. Not so!
Shortly after I was finished painting the last finger on my second hand, the first finger on my other hand was already pretty dry! That was fast! It was almost like the polish knew I was in a hurry. (Okay, maybe not, but…just work with me here…) And then after a second coat and with a fast-dry top coat, I was out the door. This polish is great for a speedy manicure as long as you can deal with the thick formula. (Perhaps a little thinner next time is in order.)
Pros
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Cons
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Final Verdict: 10/10
It’s Alive by China Glaze is a winner in my beauty book! 😀 The colour and the glitter combination is pure genius! Add extra Awesome Points for it being really fast-drying and highly pigmented. I’m sold on this one. As far as I’m concerned, this is the star of the China Glaze Haunting Collection.
What are some of your favourite swampy olive greens? Are you also loving this colour or is it too much like geese poop for ya? Have you decide what manicure you’re going to sport for Hallowe’en?
It’s Alive is my new favorite, too! I have been loving Uh-Oh Roll Down The Window as well. I have pretty much decided that I am going to do The Nightmare Before Christmas for Halloween.
Tera recently posted: Muppets Collection The Glitters
Hey Tera!
Yes, Uh-Oh Roll Down the Window is another great geese-poop green I love!
OH WOW! I can’t wait to see your Hallowe’en manicure. Will it feature all the characters or mainly Jack? I’m so curious and excited!
Love this color! Even though it does look like geese poop. The fact that it’s a glitter means I need to get this. I haven’t decided what polish I’m going to wear for halloween yet. I’m thinking of doing nail art but haven’t picked a particular design yet. Too many ideas, not enough nails.
Hey Katie!
This is a polish that’s even better on your nails than in the bottle. Truly spectacular!
Hehe, “too many ideas, not enough nails” – SO TRUE! I’m sure you’ll do something really cool. 🙂
This is one of my favourite greens, too. A matte topcoat makes it perfect for me; I just love the look it creates.
Hey Brandi!
I’ve never yet tried using a matte top coat over any glitter polish. Not sure why I haven’t. Maybe I just forget. But from lots of photos I’ve seen online, glitters are breathtaking (in a new way) when they’re worn like that.
I am pretty much in love with this, but I tend to really go nuts for China Glaze’s Halloween collections. This year is no exception, It’s Alive is such a beauty! These types of greens are always my favorites. Have I mentioned I love your writing style?
Nicole recently posted: Focus On Black: China Glaze Haunting
Hey Nicole!
I agree with you – China Glaze really hits it out of the park for their Hallowe’en collections. I loved a lot of colours from last year’s collection. From this year’s, I only got It’s Alive and Haunting. The others are near-black shades that usually look pretty black on me anyway, so I just skipped them.
Awww…I’m glad you enjoy my writing style. Writing is my biggest passion, so I take that as the biggest compliment someone can give me! 😀 THANK YOU!
I got this one and love it too! My favorite Halloween polish by far!
Maribeth recently posted: Orly Birds Of A Feather "Nite Owl" Nail Polish
Hey Maribeth!
It’s such a brilliant polish. Glad that you also really love it! 😀
hahaha scented geese poop would be pretty bad! I love this color too! Surprisingly, this was easier to find than liquid leather!
Hey Vivian!
Yeah, I don’t even want to stretch my imagination to guess how horrible that would reek. ICK!
That IS very strange. I thought for sure It’s Alive would be sold out and Liquid Leather would still be around. But at least it’s good for you! 😀
Definitely agree with you that this one is one of the prettier green glitter polishes ever! 🙂 I felt so bad when I had to take it off to do more swatching. But I didn’t realize how much I’d love it. That jelly base is ah-mah-zing! It almost feels like a squishy jelly sandwich (or candy manicure as OPI calls it) without going through the layering process. Love!
FYI, I got my bottle from Sally Beauty; it came with the Haunting collection 4pc set. I think they have it on sale for $14.99 for the whole of October so if there are anyone out there who has a Sally Beauty fairly close by, best to pick one up sooner than later. 🙂
Carmela recently posted: OPI Movin’ Out and Happy (Canadian) Thanksgiving!
Hey Carmela!
I think it’s so funny how OPI calls it a candy manicure. Just like how they called the jelly finish a ‘sorbet’ finish…I think they have food on the mind a lot. 😛
Great deal on the Hallowe’en set! I only picked up It’s Alive and Haunting.
P.S. I’m so happy to see that you enjoyed OPI Movin’ Out! 😀
I love this! I have yet to pick this up, and will be looking for it next time I order online. It looks amazing on you, and I can see why this is a top-of-the-list green for you.
mellinail recently posted: Thanksgiving Arrangements and More Porcelain Berries
Hey mellinail!
This is a shade that looks amazing on everyone. 🙂 When I saw it in the bottle, it looked nice, but it was when I painted it on my nails and put a top coat on that I was blown away! You definitely don’t see shades like this often. I’m sure you’ll love it, too!
Ooh you were right it does look pretty! In natural light it almost looks like a grass texture to me. I am a bit worried by the thickness of the polish you mention because I tend to be very ( ok a lot!) clumsy with nail polishes and even more with ticker ones. About that topcoat wouldn’t a nail art sealer work? I have one and it’s pretty tick so that might even out the glitters.
In one of the sets from China Glaze I ordered there is also a Seche Vite topcoat included so I will see if it stays on for a while. Nail polishes always peel of and the tips of my nails leaving the white uncovered.
Hey Elyne!
Yes, I love the way it looks in natural light a lot because you can better see each little piece of glitter. 🙂
I’m sure that the thickness of the polish can be fixed by using some nail-polish thinner (not nail-polish remover). Glitter polishes just tend to get clumpier faster. But whenever I first try a polish, I don’t like to add thinner. It’s just one of my quirks, I guess, but I want to see what the original formula is like before I alter it.
I don’t have a nail-art sealer…unless you count the Konad Top Coat, but I haven’t tried it on anything except Konads. (However, these days, even with Konads, I tend to just reach for my Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat.) Even though Seche is really thick, I found that this glitter really soaked it up.
Do you wrap the tips of your nails? I found that once I started doing that, nail polish takes forever to chip on me. Wrapping the tips means that when you paint your nails, you also paint the free edge, too, and not just the tops of your nails. I do this with the base coat, each coat of colour, and my top coat. This often makes any polish wear like iron! If you don’t already do it, give it a try – you may be really surprised at how much of a difference it makes.
Thanks for the tip! I will try it out and see how it turns out 🙂
You’re welcome. I hope it works for you, too! 🙂
I just got this today and am sooo glad I did. I had not been convinced by seeing the swatches or reading the rave reviews, including yours. What got me to buy this is “htfobia,” the fear that you missed out on a polish that will eventually be HTF. I found it in the corner of my favorite nail place and was swayed to action by this fear. You have to admit, some of your adjectives were a bit off-putting, like “geese-poop” and “swampy.” I think the swatches and the bottle in real life made it look yellowish, murky yucky green to me, and on the nail it’s actually a beautiful olive/limey green. It’s so much nicer than I expected! I will never doubt your review again! (Unless it’s of a wine or something, LOL)
another Cristina recently posted: Sally Girl Cuticle Oil news!- or, my Sally’s jackpot 🙂
Hey another Cristina!
YAYYYYY – I’m so glad that you got this green. It’s seriously my favourite green hands down so far!
Hehe…”htfobia”! 😉
Yes, “geese-poop” and “swampy” may be off-putting to some, but when I hear green polishes described like that, it makes me want the polish. Those are just the types of greens I love the most. Grass greens, neon greens, and hunter greens are pretty, but swampy, geese-poop greens really do it for me. No joke!
Gorgeous color! I like green polish too!
Hey Aishi!
Yay for a fellow green-polish lover! *High-five*
Do you have a number-one favourite green?