The Summer collection from China Glaze is called Summer Reign, and as a collection, the color options are pretty impressive. We asked Heidi, part of The Nailscape swatcher team, to give us her take on the collection, the individual colors, and how everything wore for her. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Here’s Heidi! (and you should totally follow her here):

Chroma Cool is described as a silver metallic chrome. To start with, the brush was half the normal size. This had a decent formula but the brush made it more difficult to work with, leading to more brush strokes. Opague in two coats, shown with top coat. This would make a great base for nail art. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

High Standards is a golden metallic chrome. Easy to work with, two coats with top coat, but as expected for a metallic, it was streaky. I’m pretty fair skinned so sadly, this color washed me out. Would be fantastic with a tan, or for some summer toes.

Sultry Solstice is a neon orange. This is three coats and still VNL (visible nail line.) so I would recommend wearing it with a white undie unless you like the jelly look. This dried semi-matte but personally I like it better glossy.

Sunset Seeker is a red-orange matte. I did two thin coats that wouldn’t level out so I added a third & hoped for the best. Again, I’m not crazy about the matte finish so I added top coat. I wore this overnight & ended up with terrible staining. I have pretty porous nails but having used my normal base coat & only wearing this for about 17 hours, I didn’t expect this level of staining. Be warned. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Flame-Boyant is described as a bright red creme. This was another three coat application but had a better formula. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Rosé My Name is a magenta shimmer. FINALLY! Flawless application & perfect coverage with two thin coats. The little flecks capture the light & make this such a gorgeous polish. It held strong and had not chipped four days later but I’m an addict so I had to change it. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

I Truly Azure You is a blue shimmer. Another amazing application with just two coats. I had a hard time photographing this color. I don’t have anything even remotely close to this in my collection. It reminded me of the blue-raspberry part of Bomb Pop popsicles but brighter! It lost a bit of its shine on day three but had minimal chipping. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Simps Fa-Blue-Less is bright, blue & beautiful! It is so jelly and squishy looking. The formula is the thinnest of the collection with the potential to flood your cuticles if you aren’t expecting it. The shine on this beauty is out of this world. I only added top coat to my pinky and ring finger and I couldn’t notice a difference. Can you? CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

All Glammed Up is a mint creme that is opague in two coats and formula was easy to work with. Though I’d personally gravitate towards this color more in the spring and not so much in the summer. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Emerald Bae is a green creme. Another flawless formula and even better, this could be a one coater! I used two thin coats with top coat. I wore this for two days and had some chipping on my square edges and when removed, it left a small bit of staining.

Summer Reign is a bright purple shimmer. The shimmer was underwhelming when compared to the others in this collection. Thin and easy to work with, this was opague in two coats. It dried semi-matte and was just ok as is. I added top coat and it came to life! CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES

Sun-Set The Mood

While the colors are beautiful, the multiple coats leave a lot to be desired. I have my favorites but I’m a bit disappointed with this collection overall. With neons come matte finishes, and as always, we recommend a base and top coat. CHINA GLAZE SUMMER REIGN SWATCHES