The whole concept behind the China Glaze Tranzitions Collection is intriguing. With the same bottle of polish, you can achieve two different colours by wearing it solo or putting on a clear top coat.

China Glaze Modify Me is the first shade I tried. I had so much fun seeing the colour change before my very eyes – it made me feel like I was pulling a nail-polish rabbit out of a ‘hat’. Ta-da!

I think this nail polish would knock the socks off The Highlander…because, y’know, ‘there can be only one’ no longer applies. 😉

When I wear this again, I think I’ll do a funky dotticure, but for this manicure, I kept it simple so that I could really pay attention to the two colours and report back to you all on what I noticed.

China Glaze Modify Me Pictures

China Glaze Modify Me Swatches

All swatches have:

• CND Stickey Anchoring Base Coat
• 2 coats of China Glaze Modify Me
• Light Nails: No top coat
• Dark Nails: 1 coat of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Flash Photos

Natural Light Photos

Claim: TRUSTED

√ Periwinkle blue shifts to indigo blue

Key Notes

• Name: China Glaze Modify Me
• Collection: China Glaze Tranzitions Collection
• Press Release: Click here to see the China Glaze Tranzitions Collection press release
• Colours Available in the Collection: Split Perso-Nail-ity, Duplicity, Modify Me, Altered Reality, Metallic Metamorphosis & Shape Shifter
• Amount: 14 mL (0.5 fl. oz.)
• What I Paid: Nothing! (This was provided by PR.)
• Where to Buy: NailPolishCanada & probably the regular e-tailers (At the time I wrote this blog post, none of the regular e-tailers had them in stock yet.) – Available in beauty-supply stores starting January 2013

China Glaze Modify Me Review

Colour

Modify Me by China Glaze is a sweet periwinkle that turns into a royal blue with a hint of purple when you apply a clear top coat. (You can use any clear top coat. It doesn’t have to be one by China Glaze.)

I really liked both colours, and they work well together. Of course, you don’t have to use them together. You can just paint all your nails the same. They’re your nails, so it’s up to you how you want to express yourself.

Periwinkle is a nail-polish shade that, for whatever reason, isn’t made as often as other colours. Heck, there seem to be more greens than periwinkle. (Hey, not that this green lover is complaining!) 😉 But…I wonder why it’s in the minority – lots of people love the shade. So, I’m happy that China Glaze ‘went there’. 🙂

The indigo you get after a top coat is strong and bold. It’s exactly the type of colour that I feel most comfortable wearing, and it’s the kind of colour that makes me admire my nails like a vain polish peacock throughout the day. (I’ll admit it!)

Finish

The interesting thing I noticed about this Tranzitions polish is that the finish with and without a top coat seem to be different! I was expecting that just the colour would change, but that wasn’t the case.

Without a top coat, the periwinkle is super shimmery and has an almost pearly finish. There were noticeable brushstrokes, but it wasn’t so prominent that it annoyed me. The brushstrokes are faint, and I think only the wearer would really notice them. Unless you have people grabbing your hands for a close look, then others will see it.

With a top coat, the indigo still shows minor brushstrokes, but to a lesser degree. On some nails, I couldn’t see any, but on my thumb (where I tend to apply polish unintentionally thicker), you can see a few brushstrokes. What’s cool is that there’s this glaze effect, almost like a jelly polish!

While both shades and finishes were fun to wear, I have to say that I prefer China Glaze Modify Me when it’s, well, modified! However, I’m pretty biased because the bold blue won my heart. Then the finish sealed the deal. Signed, sealed, delivered – I’m yours! 😉

Application & Formula

My bottle of Modify Me by China Glaze had a thicker consistency, so I suggest that you try to apply thin coats.

I have the bad habit of applying medium coats, so I got a little bubbling on my index finger. It was completely avoidable on my part, and it’s not a problem with the polish’s formula since on my other nails when I was more careful, I didn’t get any bubbling.

Don’t know about you, but wearing a shiny top coat (and a fast-drying one in particular) is a standard procedure for me when I’m painting my nails. I’m a nocturnal nail painter, so I literally go to bed right after I paint my nails. (Without a fast-drying top coat, doing this would lead to so many sheet marks, people would think you got into a fight and should seek refuge in a place with padded walls…hehe!) 😉

Soooo, only applying a top coat to some of my nails made me feel uncomfortable. I was so sure that I’d get sheet marks by the morning. (I don’t really have time to wait hours to let my polish dry and do nothing. I already paint my nails so late at night, and I need to hit the sack after.)

For this reason, I decided to paint my thumb, middle, and pinkie fingers with the top coat, and leave just my index and ring fingers ‘naked’. At least the majority of my nails would be protected, right?

Well, just as I suspected – I got some nasty sheet marks, but the funny thing is that they were mainly on my right hand since that’s the hand I use to pull my blanket when I’m sleeping and cocoon myself in the sheets.

It was pretty funny how my left hand (the hand you see on here) didn’t have any sheet marks! 🙂 YAY! The ‘nail gods’ were smiling down on me!

So, from my experience, I recommend that if you want to wear this polish solo, you should give yourself adequate time to let it dry naturally.

As for myself, I’m such a quick-drying-top-coat junkie. It feels wrong when I don’t apply it. I feel like I’m on the nail-polish version of that TV show, Cheaters when I skip it! (Random note: Whenever I watch that show, I always end up bawling my eyes out when I think of the lives and relationships that are ruined.)

Something I noticed was that after I applied Seche Vite, the second colour developed in a few seconds. It didn’t change instantly when I applied the top coat. Thought that was very interesting and fun to watch the new shade come forth!

Another thing I noticed is that if you get shrinkage due to your fast-drying top coat, the first colour might peek through. So I suggest being extra careful about applying your top coat. You may even want to use a non-fast-drying one to avoid the situation altogether! (If you go back to my photos above, you can see where the base colour wanted to say, “Hi!” on some of the nails with a top coat.)

Pros Both the periwinkle & the indigo are great shades Interesting how there are two different finishes Makes it easier to create nail art You can use any clear top coat with the China Glaze Tranzitions polishes

Cons Formula was on the thick side, so if you don’t apply thin coats, you could get bubbling & you’d have to wait longer for it to dry If you get shrinkage from a fast-drying top coat, the first colour can show through

Final Verdict: 8/10

Modify Me by China Glaze was so much fun to wear and experiment with! I really love this concept, and I hope that they’ll come out with maybe glitter Tranzitions polishes – how cool would that be?

What do you think of Modify Me and the concept of Tranzitions polishes in general? Of the two shades in Modify Me, which is your favourite?