Although Topshop Gone Fishing was a lovely polish on its own, I felt the itch to layer China Glaze Graffiti Glitter (from the Glitz Bitz ‘n Pieces Collection) on top.

China Glaze Graffiti Glitter is emerald green and black, so I thought this would show a good example of how you can do a tone-on-tone look, as opposed to the high-contrast look I did earlier with yellow polish and Mosaic Madness.

Since you know I looooove green nail polish, I was thrilled with the outcome of this manicure. (I can never get enough green. I could meet a Little Green Man and still want him to wear a green shirt. Yup – insatiable greeeeen fiend here, reporting for duty!)

China Glaze Graffiti Glitter Pictures

China Glaze Graffiti Glitter Swatches

All swatches have:

• Essie First Base (Base Coat)
• 2 coats of Topshop Gone Fishing (This was provided by PR.)
• 1 coat of China Glaze Graffiti Glitter
• Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat

Natural Light Photos

Flash Photos

Claim: TRUSTED

√ Bold emerald green glitter with black Bitz ’N Pieces

Key Notes

• Name: China Glaze Graffiti Glitter
• 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 Graffiti Glitter Review

Colour

There’s so much going on in Graffiti Glitter by China Glaze! You’ll see small, medium, and large glitter pieces. The largest are black, and the small and medium glitter are both black and emerald green. There are also some long bar glitter, which is black.

Everything is suspended in a clear base polish, so you can virtually layer this baby over anything.

I like how you can slick on Graffiti Glitter, and it completely transforms the manicure. It’s great for when you don’t have time to give yourself a fresh manicure, but you want to spice up what you’re already wearing.

Finish

Graffiti Glitter is a dense glitter polish, so the finish isn’t smooth like a creme lacquer. There was some texture, but after I applied a top coat, it wasn’t too bad.

The next day, it seemed like the polish was top-coat hungry because I was able to feel some of the texture come back.

If you are a stickler for having absolutely smooth and glossy nails, I suggest doubling up with top coat, but make sure that you don’t use two coats of a quick-drying one or you could get major shrinkage. Try using a regular top coat and then the quick-drying one.

I noticed that the largest glitter tended to curl slightly on my nails. It wasn’t to the point where I found it unwearable. I noticed that the middle sinks a little. It didn’t really bother me, but if you want all the glitter to be flat, that might annoy you.

The bar glitter was also really long and tended to want to stick out over the free edge of my nail. So I had to use the polish brush to push them back. (If this happens to you, you also have the option to file down the glitter so it’s not sharp. But only do that when the polish is dry.)

Application & Formula

Graffiti Glitter by China Glaze isn’t the easiest to apply. I found that the glitter pieces tended to clump up on the brush, and then I had to put in more effort to space out the glitter. And sometimes I would only get the small glitter to coat my nail, but then I had to fish out some of the larger pieces and the bar glitter and dab them on my nail.

If you have difficulty applying a regular polish, I don’t recommend you use these because it can be tricky to apply. However, if you paint your nails often and have encountered difficult-to-work-with polishes, you can give this one a go. It takes more work to get it to look right, but the result is really cool – almost like a dinosaur-egg effect, but blingy.

The polish also dried very quickly on its own, which is always nice. By the time I finished painting the last nail on my second hand, the first nail on my other hand was practically dry!

Pros Green & black glitter & ‘bits’ makes for cool, funky layering Refreshes an existing manicure to give it a whole new look Dries quickly

Cons Glitter pieces tend to clump up on the brush & that makes it tricky to apply onto the nail Largest glitter curls a little

Final Verdict: 7.5/10

I liked Graffiti Glitter, but because the pieces tended to clump up on my brush, it took longer than usual for me to paint my nails. I do, however, love the look it creates!

What would you layer under China Glaze Graffiti Glitter? Do you like the tone-on-tone look or something with high contrast? Can you forgive a polish’s formula if you like the end results?