China Glaze, Take A Trek

Without Top Coat.

With Gelous & Seche Vite Top Coat.

This steely blue gem is from the Holo Glam Collection. The moment my Nfu-Oh Aqua Base arrived, I put it to good use. I will tell you... Aqua Base is everything I had hoped it would be; Not only do I love the ornate little bottle it comes in but I also love the brush and the formula. The brush is a medium width flat tipped brush and it fans out over the nail nicely. The consistency applies much like my favorite base coat, Barielle's Hydrating Ridgefiller; effortlessly and with perfect precision. It made applying Take A Trek so much easier and more opaque. No issues with drag or bare spots at all. FANTASTIC!

I do have a bit of bad news though... I recently picked up a new bottle of Gelous and come to find out they replaced the brush with an extra wide brush. GAH! This is no good since I have narrow nail beds on my pinkie and ring finger. Good thing was I hadn't thrown out my old bottle so I just swapped the caps. Viola!

With the right base (Aqua Base) Take A Trek was a breeze to apply. It's night and day in comparison to my first try using Seche Clear as my base coat. This time around I didn't have to deal with any dragging or bare spots to fix. The 1st coat laid down nice and opaque. The 2nd simply gave me peace of mind. The consistency on these is a little thick and a touch goopy but I figure its because they are full of the holographic pigment; it's not bad at all. Dry time was also pretty good. I was able to go to bed shortly after applying my 2nd coat and woke the next morning without any sheet marks, smudges, or dings. In order to see if the application of Gelous & Seche Vite would dull the holo; I took a picture the next morning without top coat. I then applied a coat of Gelous and Seche Vite. I then took another photo. I don't believe the holo was affected at all. What do you think? Of course the sun was in different positions when I took each photo so I had to adjust to catch the sun but even in real life I can see a very strong linear holo. Even indoors.

I've said it before and I will say it again; I love these particular holos. I don't think I even need any of the OMG Collection. I love the small holo particles that give these polishes such a smooth foil like appearance. It's a classy holo.