China Glaze, Stroll

 My pictures have changed in quality, haven't they?  I've taken to taking pictures in a very well-lit indoor room because I feel as though the color takes center stage and is also more color-accurate than when I take them in washed-out outdoor pictures. :D What do you guys think?

Anyway, this is China Glaze Stroll--a polish that I found in a dusty pile at one of my favorite nail supply stores in my college town.  This is also one of those colors that I've worn for a while now--it showed up in my review for LA Colors' Addict--but I've never swatched and reviewed on its own.

Stroll is a deep, warm red jelly with interspersed irregular gold glitter.  It takes three coats for full opacity and is a wonderful, glowy autumnal color.  The polish dries to a smooth finish despite the glitter and is also relatively easy to remove in comparison to most glitter standards. 

But see, here's the thing:  I like this color, and I think it's deep and sexy, but I can't help but be disappointed with the glitter thing. When a polish is described with gold glitter, I want to see gold. I don't in Stroll--not on the nail or in the bottle.  Once I start removing the polish I can see its coloring but mostly the glitter sinks too much, giving the polish a textured, slightly pinky color that catches and glows in the light. But compare that to LA Girls' Addict, whose coloring is admittedly a lot less pigmented but when close up looks like standing under a tree with red and gold leaves.  I prefer Addict by far...

But I've worn Stroll more often.

I've come to the conclusion that the real reason as to why I've done so is personal--the color matches exactly with the color of my glasses, semi-translucence and all. Sigh. Sometimes, vanity knows no bounds, huh?