Don’t let China Glaze Ride the Waves fool you! In the bottle, it just looks like your standard medium blue nail polish, but it’s so much more than that. (It’s like a surfer dude who can also give people a run for their money during a philosophical debate!)
So you can imagine how surprising it was when it turned out to be a jelly lacquer!
I have a soft spot for jellies because they have more depth than your typical creme or shimmer polish. It has that ‘squishy’ look.
Since I don’t have any dupes of this particular blue jelly polish, it scored major points in my book.
China Glaze Ride the Waves Pictures
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Natural Light
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China Glaze Ride the Waves Swatches
All swatches have:
- Seche Clear Crystal Clear Base Coat
- 3 coats of China Glaze Ride the Waves
- Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Flash Photos
Natural Light Photos
Claim: TRUSTED
√ Dark ocean blue
Key Notes
- Name: China Glaze Ride the Waves
- Collection: China Glaze Summer Neons Collection
- Press Release: Click here to see the China Glaze Summer Neons Collection press release
- Colours Available in the China Glaze Summer Neons Collection: Ride the Waves, Love’s A Beach, Hang-Ten Toes, Beach Cruise-R, Under the Boardwalk, Splish Splash, I’m with the Lifeguard, Sun-Kissed,Orange You Hot?, Surfin’ for Boys, Flirt Tankini & Pink Plumeria
- Amount: 14 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
- What I Paid: Nothing! (My friend let me borrow her nail polish for this manicure.)
- Where to Buy: NailPolishCanada & Sally Beauty Supply website
China Glaze Ride the Waves Review
Colour
As you can see, Ride the Waves by China Glaze truly is a deep ocean blue, and even though it’s a refreshing and fun blue, it most certainly isn’t a retina-burning neon.
Then again, whenever a blue’s included in a neon collection, it never actually looks neon. It must be something about the pigment. Even blue highlighter markers don’t make you squint like the yellow or pink ones do.
Finish
To my delight, Ride the Waves by China Glaze was a jelly polish, so it has that squishy feel. But because it’s a jelly, it also is on the sheer side. You can see Visible Nail Line (VNL).
Application & Formula
This applied very easily and was simple to control. However, because I applied thick coats and didn’t wait long enough in between, I got a lot of bubbling on every nail.
Normally, this would really bother me, but oddly, I actually liked the bubbling on Ride the Waves! You see, the colour reminds me of the water, and the bubbles just made it look more like water! Haha! In fact, I think that if I ever do fish nail art, this would be the perfect base colour because I can get it to bubble again.
Okay, so if you never like bubbling (which I thought was my stance before this colour), just apply thin coats and be more patient in between coats. 😉
Pros
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Cons
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Final Verdict: 8/10
I don’t have another blue this exact shade that’s also a jelly polish, so China Glaze Ride the Waves gets the thumbs up from me. Even when it behaves badly and bubbles, I’m still scoring it high! Looks like I have unconditional love for it…hehe. Seriously, it looks really lively on your nails, and the depth you get from this polish is worth the VNL!
Did you get any colours from this collection? Have you ever had a polish bubble and you still loved it? Do you ever go surfing?
Hi Mary,
Love the blue nail polish. Blue is my fave color. I won’t be buying this one because I have 1 or 2 that look simmiler. Great job as always. Have a great day and weekend. :~)
Hey Melissa!
You have other blue-jelly polishes? Please share! What are their names? I need to track them down.
Sorry, don’t know if they are jellies or not. I just have a lot of Blue OPI and Sally Hansen. How do I tell if they are jelly or not?
Jelly polishes usually look extra shiny and are usually sheer (although some are not). The colour is saturated and it has depth. Think of the way gummy bears look. Something like that. If it’s just a creme polish, the colour is flat, and it doesn’t look jellyish.
Mary,
I don’t think that any of the ones I have are jelly, it just that I have colors simmiler. Would love to buy this color but money wise I have to pick and choose. Thank you for explaing jelly colors for me.
No problem. 🙂 And even if you were a billionaire, it’s still very smart to pick and choose so you don’t wind up with dupes.
I have this whole collection I love all the colors this blue is very pretty it’s a great color looks good. I’m still waiting for the safari collection to come out cant wait to see it.
Hey Samantha!
Luck you that you have the entire collection. It’s a great one!
Oh yes – On Safari looks like it’ll be really exciting! 🙂
I loooove this one. The moment I heard this was a jelly I knew it was a must have in the collection for me. Even though its not neon I think it still goes really well with the collection, its a great ocean blue…and whats a summer without some ocean.
Frosso recently posted: China Glaze Pink Plumeria
Hey Frosso!
Agreed – clear blue waters remind me of the summer, too. 🙂 Need to go swimming more!
Gorgeous blue!! Too bad about the bubbling though.
MariJo recently posted: Kleancolor – Holo Chrome
Hey MariJo!
Yup…this polish bubbled so much on me that it thought it was a witch’s cauldron. :S
Back in the days of being young and single 😉 I would have loved to have an intellectual conversation with a surfer dude 😉 … now I just watch (joking joking). I am still trying to persuade myself that jelly’s look good on me and it takes a lot for me to make an exception for a jelly and let it live in my Helmer (I’m territorial that way) lol.
I DO love the shade of this blue though 😀
Marta recently posted: Cult Nails – Evil Queen
Hey Marta!
When I think of an intellectual surfer dude, Luke Perry’s “Dylan” character from 90210 comes to mind. Haha! I wonder what you’d talk with him about. I’d probably discuss poetry with him. 😉
Haha, did you just add the “(joking joking)” part because your husband was looking over your shoulder as you were typing that? 😛 Hehe!
Allow me to end the debate for you: YES, jellies look awesome on you, Marta! 😀 I don’t think you can do any wrong in the polish world. Even if you tried, it would be a masterpiece.