China Glaze Hunger Games Collection Swatches and Review

Good morning my fellow lacquered lovers! It feels great to type that, it's been almost a week since I last blogged! So sorry for my absence as of late but sometimes, life just gets in the way! However, I haven't stopped swatching so get ready for a LOT of awesome polishes coming your way! Today, I have a collection that was released at the beginning of last month but since it's connected to a movie that just was released last weekend, I hope I'm not too late!  :)

The China Glaze Hunger Games Collection came out as a tie in to the movie that was just released.  For those of you who are fans like I am, you know that the movie was based on a book (the first one in a trilogy) by Suzanne Collins.  This collection consists of 12 colors, each relating to one of the 12 districts that exists in the fictional country of Panem in the book.  Now keep in mind that the book takes place in a post apocalyptic world where everything is pretty dreary and depressing so the colors reflect a more neutral palette.  I figured it might be fun to show you guys the polishes in order of the districts they represent!  Now, without further ado, on to the polish!

 Above:  1 coat of Luxe and Lush over 2 coats of Agro

Above:  1 coat of Luxe and Lush over 1 coat of Stone Cold (District 1 - Luxury)

First up is Luxe and Luxury which is a flakie top coat!  Yay!  This is the polish I was most excited about!  District one makes the luxury goods for the Capitol in the books so it makes sense that this is a glitzy polish!  Luxe and Luxury is orange, blue and some purple iridescent flakes set in a slightly milky base.  The base doesn't really change the color of the polish beneath it but the flakes are gorgeous!  I love this one, it's a great way to dress up a manicure!  The cool thing about it is that it doesn't need to be over a dark color to shine like most flakies, in fact, it looks better over slightly brighter colors!

Above:  1 coat of Stone Cold (District 2 - Masonry)

I was so excited to see a matte in this collection!  Stone Cold is a gorgeous dark grey matte polish with a ton of shimmer to it.  And it's a one coater!  It looks absolutely stunning on.  The only problem is I found the wear time to be pretty short.  I put it on last week and I had chips in less than 12 hours.  I know that's an issue with mattes but usually I can get at least a day out of it so that was a bit disappointing.  However I'm determined to keep trying with another base coat!

Above:  2 coats of Riveting (District 3 - Technology)

Riveting is a gorgeous bright orange!  I love that it kind of looks like a jelly and kind of like a glass fleck but is perfectly opaque in 2 coats.  I now want China Glaze to make a polish like this in ever color!  Riveting is incredibly vibrant and full and pigment and ended up being a favorite from the collection!

Above:  2 coats of Hook and Line (District 4 - Fishing)

Hook and Line is a silvery grey polish with a frosty finish.  As you can see, the brush strokes are very visible when you apply this polish due to the frost finish.  The pewter color of the polish is really pretty but the brush strokes make me a little crazy!  However if you don't mind the brush strokes, it is a very pretty color.  It's opaque in 2 coats and went on very smooth.

Above:  2 coats of Electrify (District 5 - Power)

Electrify is a glitter!  It's a clear base that is PACKED with gold and red small glitters.  What's great about it is that it's pretty much opaque in 2 coats!  There is definitely more gold than red so the overall look is mostly gold with speckles of red in it.  I wasn't sure if I would like this but it almost gives the effects of your fingertips being on fire which looks pretty neat!

Above:  2 coats of Fast Track (District 6 - Transportation)

Fast Track is a beige polish with a ton of gold tiny little flecks in it.  This is my kind of nude!  The gold flecks make it looks like it's glowing from within which I love.  I think this is a great neutral polish to have in your collection for times you want a more subdued polish but don't want to be boring!  I really like how subtle it is but still really pretty.  The formula was perfect, opaque in 2 coats and easy to apply.

Above:  2 coats of Mahogany Magic (District 7 - Lumber)

For some reason my camera refused to capture Mahogany Magic properly.  In real life, Mahogany Magic is a yellow based brown.  Very yellow based.  Not a good shade for girls with a lot of yellow in their skin tone like me but definitely unlike any other brown I own!  The formula was a bit thick on this one but was easily opaque in 2 coats!

Above:  2 coats of Dress Me Up (District 8 - Textiles)

Dress Me Up was originally named after the character Primrose in the book and it worked perfectly for her, not sure about for textiles but let's not get hung up on semantics.  Dress Me Up is a dusty rose shade, fairly neutral but with slightly warm tones so it would compliment any skin tone.  The formula was similar to Mahogany Magic, slightly thick, but fairly easy to work with and opaque in 2 coats.

Above:  2 coats of Harvest Moon (District 9 - Grain)

Above:  2 coats of Foie Gras (District 10 - Livestock)

Foie Gras is a purple/taupe shade that definitely leans more towards taupe than purple.  It is surprisingly almost exactly the shade of foie gras which is a bit weird but it works!  I like this for a neutral but not boring shade!  Foie Gras had a great formula, opaque in 2 coats and easy to work with.

Above:  2 coats of Agro (District 1 - Agriculture)

Agro was another stand out from this collection for me!  Agro is a gorgeous medium green with a bit of olive overtones that's packed with gold shimmer!  I love how multidimensional it looks on the nail!  This was honestly prettier on the nails than in the bottle.  The formula was good, opaque in 2 coats, lots of pigment, but due to the metallic nature you need to be a bit careful so it doesn't look streaky!

Above:  2 coats of Smoke and Ashes (District 12 - Mining)

Last but certainly not least is Smoke and Ashes.  This polish is amazing!  The base is a blackened blue (I think, it's very possible it's just black but I think it's the tiniest bit blue) with blue AND green flecks!  It's so unique!  I love how much depth and dimension it has because of the flecks!  The formula is great, opaque in 2 coats and lots of pigment!

So there you have it, the China Glaze Hunger Games collection.  I'm a big fan!  I wasn't sure how I was going to like it since a lot of the colors seem more Fall based than Autumn, but there are some real beauties in here!  This collection is available now and runs from about $3-$7 depending on where you buy it!

What did you think of this collection?  Any must haves?  Any dupes?

Please note some of the polishes in this post were sent to me for my unbiased review.  For further information, see the disclosure policy above