Mani Monday: China Glaze Ombre Set in Grape Expectations

Apologies for being MIA for a bit, health issues were acting up so I did not have the energy to attempt to blog :(  However, to make up for it, I have a nice big post of swatches!  I was intrigued by the China Glaze Ombre sets as I've always wanted to do an ombre mani but have never been arsed to find five similar colors or bother with mixing one color with white and deal with it drying up between coats/hands, etc., so this sounded like a miracle... until I bought it and realized it came with four polishes.  WTF?!  It seems ChG meant GRADIENT, not OMBRE.  I suppose considering the ombre fad it's easy to confuse the two but in my understanding at least, an ombre manicure is where each nail is a different shade of the same color whereas a gradient is when each nail has different shades of the same color blended onto it via the use of a makeup sponge.  I could be wrong.  Whatevs, it still has four awesome purple shades in the same family and I can use white for the fifth color.  The set also comes with instructions on how to do the gradient and lots of sponges for application.  I will be posting both a gradient and ombre mani done with these polishes later, as I broke a nail (of course) and now I'm down to nubbins.  So for now, have swatches of all the colors included in this set.

The lightest color is called Sweet Hook.  It's a pale, slightly blue-leaning lavender.  Pretty and springy.  I found the formula to be more watery than I'm used to from ChG.  I'm wearing three carefully, slowly applied coats in this picture.  I still had issues with streaking and it did not want to self-level, though this may be because I didn't wear any basecoat.  However, it dried seriously glossy.  I'm not wearing any topcoat, *le gasp*!  I'm actually kind of ok with the streakiness as it'll be mostly covered with a gradient mani and will hopefully be eliminated with the use of base/topcoat.  If not, I can always do a fourth coat.

The next lightest color is Spontaneous, a very pretty medium purple.  I'd call it neutral as it doesn't pull particularly red or blue.  Again, the formula is a bit watery but much better behaved than Sweet Hook with little streaking.  A bit patchy (which you can see on my pinky) so it did require three coats.  No base or topcoat again, and gloss galore.  I can see myself reaching for this one as a mani on its own.

Grape Pop is the second darkest color.  A deep, slightly dusty royal purple with a much better formula than the two lighter colors.  I adore purples in all shades and this is no exception.  I reached opacity in two coats but for the sake of uniformity, I applied three.  I find this shade pulled a bit more blue than the two lighter colors.  Another I would easily wear on its own.  Again no topcoat and shiny shiny shiny!

The darkest color is Crimson.  It's a deep, dark, blackened purple with red leanings.  I LOVE this color.  I love vampy colors in general, and combine purple with reddish vampy tones and I am in nail polish heaven!  It applied like a dream, opaque in two coats but I applied three the same as all the other polishes I swatched.  I can find nothing to criticize about this one.  Glossy and gorgeous without a topcoat, like all the polishes in this post.  I will definitely be wearing this one frequently!

At $14.99 for a set of four polishes plus makeup sponges and instructions, while this isn't as cheap as say, Wet n' Wild, I do feel it's a bargain based on the quality.  You can get the China Glaze Ombre sets at beauty supply stores such as Sally Beauty Supply.