Swatch & Review: China Glaze Fast Track

I came home with my ginormous polish haul last Friday only so disappointed that my evening plans had been canceled because it meant I could sit down and start swatching my new pretties right away...only I was distracted by a sudden, desperate need to give this blog a makeover. So, hey, new layout! But when I needed a break from over-obsessive Photoshopping ("Hmm, this bottle isn't quite red enough...no, wait, now it's too red...") I took some time to try out some of my new polishes, starting with Fast Track, representing District 6 (Transportation) in the China Glaze Hunger Games collection.

Fast Track is an interesting polish. It has a tendency to go "mannequin hands" on a lot of people, but I could not resist the gorgeous, golden shimmer in that bottle.


The formula was great, if a little thin. Even the first coat showed a lot of its gold highlights, but the rest of the colour practically faded into my skin tone. The second coat was quite a bit better. Still smooth, still shimmering all pretty and golden. Nearly opaque, despite the thinness of the formula. I still wasn't really seeing the tan colour very much against my skin, but with some VNL still showing on a couple of nails, I decided to keep going. I'm glad I did, too, because the third coat made a big difference.

Some find the colour a little disappointing for such a great shimmer, but the more I looked at it on, the more I liked it. The polish looks a little darker on me than the first coat or two suggested it would (probably some combination of the slightly olive undertones and my so-pale-I'm-practically-translucent skin), and I'll likely still layer it next time to see if it'll pop a little more. But you know how the shimmer in a bottle doesn't usually translate as strongly to the nail? Fast Track does not have that problem.

This isn't going to be a colour for everyone, but it could be a great polish for work or other situations in which you can't wear too much colour or glitter but still want a nice sparkle to your nails. It's eye-catching, but it's not overt. And since the amazing shimmer is obviously Fast Track's strongest feature, I like that the rest of the polish doesn't try to compete with it. It makes for a nice contrast.

Fast Track isn't my favourite polish ever, but with as large a collection as China Glaze did for The Hunger Games, I like that they had room to try something this unique.