Hunger Games: Capitol Colours

I started reading The Hunger Games trilogy after a glowing recommendation from one of my lovely grad school classmates, and now fellow librarian, Katie. At the time, only the first two books were out, and I devoured them quickly, as they were really exciting, fun reads (If you haven't read them yet, you need to! Seriously!). As soon as Mockingjay was out in stores I was there to get the final installment in the series. So obviously, I'm extremely excited about the upcoming film based on the books, and looking forward to seeing how they interpret the story for screen.

Obviously with a best-selling book-turned-movie franchise like The Hunger Games, there is major merchandise to be found. Normally, I'm not one for that kind of thing but I have to admit, I was super excited to learn of the China Glaze nail polish line inspired by the film, Capitol Colours, pictured above. Twelve colours in all, each inspired (for the most part) by the various districts making up Panem (the fictional country in which the stories take place).  I received these a few days ago from the folks at NailpolishCanada.com, and couldn't wait to test out each one!

To get a feel for all of the colours, I tried out one on every finger (well, 10 out of 12). I can honestly say that I like almost all of them. The only colour that doesn't suit me (and that I don't really like, to be honest), is Mahogany Magic (L, pinky). It is a brown - which I normally gravitate to) but it has a yellow tinge that makes it look icky rather than pretty.  Overall I found that they went on great - most didn't even need a second coat although for the purposes of this post I went for a double coat just to be on the safe side. Only exception? The glitter shade - Electrify (R, index), which needed a few coats to get the desired effect but is fabulous once on!

My favourites of these first 10 - Dress Me Up (L, index), Hook and Line (L, ring), Harvest Moon (R, middle), and Agro (R, ring).

The two polishes I saved for last were Stone Cold (left) and Luxe & Lush (see the sparkly white bottle far right in the top photo), which is a clear topcoat filled with colourful sparkly flecks. Oh, and by the way? Try not to judge my sadly imperfect self-manicure, painfully obvious, right? Moving on - what is interesting about Stone Cold is that it looks at first glance like a sparkly grey, but dries so matte, there is next to no sheen at all. An interesting albeit flat colour, so I was interested to see how it would change with Luxe & Lush added as a topcoat. I know these two shots don't do it justice, but it totally changed the look, and I liked it much better. I did try Luxe & Lush over one of my trusty Essie polishes too and it looked great - it added just the right amount of sparkle.

Overall? Really happy with these polishes. The whole set or each individual polish is available here, so check them out if you want to snap them up before the movie premieres here in Canada.

I'll be wearing different shades from this line in the days leading up to the film (dorky I know, but I'm a librarian, so that makes celebrating fun books & movies totally okay!) - follow me on twitter to see photos of each individual colour.

May the odds be ever in your favour!