China Glaze Avalanche Swatches + Nail Art

China Glaze Avalanche Nail Polish Bottle and Swatch

China Glaze Avalanche Nail Polish Bottle and Swatch

I recently read a blog post by Light Your Nails where she is working her way through the alphabet swatching polishes and loved the idea.  I have so many polishes that go unused, I don’t think to use or I wear a lot but for some reason never show on the blog.  So the alphabet of nail polish is a great way to go through my stash and show some polishes.

Alphabet of Nail Polish - A is for China Glaze Avalanche

Each week, I will share a polish from my stash.  This week, I have China Glaze’s Avalanche for you and next week will be a polish with a name starting with the letter B.

China Glaze Avalanche Nail Polish Swatch

China Glaze’s Avalanche was released forever ago and probably one of the earliest China Glaze polishes I owned.  Obviously, this is a newer bottle.  I bought the replacement after the last one became too thick to use, only to wonder why I kept it around the first time.  I love the colour, a metallic frosted lavender silver but the finish is horrible for brush strokes and it is fairly slow on dry time compared to most polishes.

I have tried a few dupes but they all lean more silver, and it is the lavender hue that makes Avalanche so wearable – if only it didn’t have the brush marks and apply with streaks.

China Glaze Avalanche Nail Polish

Even out of the bottle, you can see the slight separation of polish in China Glaze Avalanche that causes the streaky finish that is just compounded by the visible brush strokes.

As mentioned, the dry time is slow on Avalanche and I found some dents in my nails some time after polishing them.  Two thick coats or three regular coats are needed for full opacity, but thick coats reduce the brush strokes as it settles on the nail.  The wear time is decent, as with most China Glaze polishes and there were no visible chips when I removed it after three days.  Overall, doesn’t put me off China Glaze but I won’t be buying a replacement.

China Glaze Avalanche Nail Art

China Glaze Avalance Nail Art - Stamped

China Glaze Avalance Nail Art - Stamped

I bought Bundle Monster’s BM-409 stamp a while ago for the cute tree themed stamp but this design catches my eye whenever I am going through my plates so I thought it was a good time to use it.  I stamped the purple Mariposa polish (you can pick up a set of 6 polishes for $3 at Dollarama) over Avalance and topped with top coat. My top coat has suddenly become really thick (an excuse for polish shopping) so that is what caused the marks at the side of the nail.

Some of the other members of the Canadian Beauty Bloggers will also be sharing Alphabet Nails posts, check them out here:


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13 Replies to “China Glaze Avalanche Swatches + Nail Art”

  1. Too bad about the formula. I wonder if it stamps well given the metallic finish and slow dry time.

    1. The coats are a bit too sheer, I tried it over the purple I used here

  2. This color is lovely. I adore the idea of Alphabet swatching!

  3. Love that nail art! While I do adore CG polishes, it bothers me when they get older and start doing weird separation stuff that I can never seem to shake up enough!

    1. They are far from the worst for it, I have a Vinylux polish that isn’t even that old but is completely separated. Avalanche always had that weird formula though, it felt like it was separating from the day I bought it

  4. I have never heard of the Alphabet idea but I totally need to do that! I have so many and this would help me swatch them all while making it fun too. I really want to do this, thanks for the amazing inspiration!

    Avalanche is such a nice shade and I love how it looks when its on, but the application can get frustrating with the streaks.

    1. I hadn’t either, but it is so simple (at least until you try and find polishes starting with Q, X and Z lol) and easy inspiration. When I saw it on the other blog I was all why do I not do this??

  5. I wasn’t feeling this until you stamped over it. I’m not a fan of CG metallics.

    1. Their colours are so pretty but UGH the formula (which is a pity as their cremes etc wear and apply great for me)

  6. The fact that this stamped made me instantly interested even though the formula is so meh haha.

  7. I am glad you liked the idea, but I must say it originally started from Helena at Lacky Corner blog 🙂
    I kinda like Avalanche despite the brushstrokes, I am pretty sure I have something along these lines from China Glaze, too. Am I understanding correctly that you stamped over it and not with it? Because I think it would work great for stamping with!

    1. Yes, I stamped over it. I did try stamping with it but it is a bit too sheer

  8. Beautiful colour, but sucks about the streaking. I find most metallic polishes do that. essence came out with one very similar a while back. Same thing with the streaking.

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