China Glaze Keepin' It Teal

This polish has been in my swatching bin for quite a while.  I'm gonna come right out and say it...I had trouble with the formula.  That shouldn't surprise you if you've read other bloggers' reviews.  This is the only shade I bought from the Sunsational collection because of the not so glowing reviews most of the shades got.  Today's photos are my third attempt at swatching Keepin' It Teal.  The first two weren't good enough to publish.  This is not an easy one to work with...but let's see how it went...


Keepin' It Teal is a teal jelly.

Pretty, isn't it?  I can't hate it, because it is a really awesome color, but...oh man...the formula.  This is five coats.  FIVE!  It goes on like water and is streaky if you don't sandwich it with quick dry top coat.  I tried pampering it, letting each of the first three coats dry well before adding the next.  It still bubbled!  They're tiny, like little pinpricks, but they're there.  The fourth and fifth coats obscured them enough that it's wearable, but knowing they exist...bugs me, there's no other way to say it.

Between the sheerness and the bubbles, I don't think I'll ever wear it on its own again.  Still, I had to play with it and dress it up a bit.  I stamped it with Revlon Magnetize (from the new Brilliant Strength line) and the Cheeky Happy Nails plate.

...and because it's a jelly, I put two more coats (yeah, it's that thin!) over the stamping.

I did get a little bit more bubbling on these two coats, but they're almost too small to see.  I think the jelly sandwich potential is pretty good.

Bottom line: If I had to give Keepin' It Teal a letter grade, I'd probably go with C-.  It's far from the worst formula I've ever encountered on a jelly...I'm looking at you, Revlon Hello Bali, and I'm pouting...but it is troublesome.  It's very, very sheer and prone to streaking.  Combine that with the slender, slightly soft China Glaze brush and it's problematic.  The streaking is conquerable if you sandwich quick dry top coat between coats of the color, but bubbling seems to be unavoidable.  At least it was for me.  Still, the color is lovely and the sheerness is a bonus for sandwiching or topping.  I can't glowingly recommend it at all, but I don't regret buying it.


Today's swatching and tonight's plans fit together amusingly well.  I'm swatching Sinful Colors Country Charmer shades and tonight we're going back to a local fair for more livestock petting (I'll update the album after tonight's visit) and this time the midway will be open too.  CORNDOGS!!!