China Glaze Nail Polish in Aqua Baby

I received this nail polish as a gift from my in-laws for Christmas, so I don't know how much exactly it was or from where it was purchased. China Glaze polishes come in a 14 mL (0.5 fl oz) bottle, which contain slightly less than a bottle of Orly nail polish.

This polish is a medium blue, just in between teal and cerulean. There is a hint of green in it, but [to me, at least] it's definitely more blue than green in nature. It is a creme finish and has no shimmer or glitter in it. My husband told me last night that this was an "Easter" color, not a winter color, which made me giggle. This should give you an idea of the vibrancy and pigmentation of this color. It's definitely one geared towards spring and summer.

Aqua Baby has a most interesting consistency. The first coat is half opaque and half sheer - it's very difficult to get an even color consistency across the entire nail, even if you're applying a heavy handed first coat. This polish definitely takes a good two or three coats to reach full opacity and to fill in all of the unevenness that the first few coats can leave.

I do not have problems with streaking, although I do need to be exceptionally careful during application to make sure I don't leave any parts of the nail more sheer than any others. This tends to be most problematic near the edges and tips of the nail.

My biggest quip with this polish is the wear time. I applied three coats Tuesday night and topped it with a generous layer of Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. By yesterday morning, I was already starting to see wear on my index fingers and by mid-day there was chipping on the very tips of several of my other nails. Today, large chunks are missing off the tips of my nails - definitely not attractive.

Without flash.

With flash.

I allowed for significant amounts of drying time, just because I'm so OCD about smudging and chipping with my nails, but this polish just didn't seem to want to last.

Not a very attractive manicure, if you ask me.

Ugh. So much chipping...

After removal, my nails do show a little bit of staining (even with a base coat preceding the color) - a very mild blue tinge which easily comes off after several washes. It is certainly not the worst staining a polish of mine has done to my nails, but by no means is it non-existent either.

I've read that several people had issues with the drying time on this polish, but I did not. It dried just and quickly and easily as any other China Glaze polish I own, if not faster than the average polish I own.

I do enjoy the color of this polish - it's like nothing else I own. Perhaps I will keep this as a toenail polish, however, just because my toes seem to show less wear and tear than do my fingernails. I can't stand my polish chipping or smudging, and when I see signs of wear - I am compelled to take it off, so I don't know if this one will make a reappearance on my fingernails again any time soon. We'll have to see.

By no means is this one of China Glaze's 'better' polishes. I have several others that I'd reach for long before I'd make a grab for this one, just because of the issues with the wear time and application, however, you might find that you really love the consistency and that it doesn't show significant wear for you. I just think you could find something better before purchasing this one :)

Overall, 2 out of 5 stars.
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What's your favorite China Glaze polish??