Review and swatches: China Glaze Anchors Away

After not so exciting winter collections, I was really glad to see interesting limited editions for spring.

China Glaze’s sailor collection called Anchors Away is gorgeous. It was hard to resist all those beauties, but in the end I chose First Mate, White Cap and Sea Spray while Maestra picked up Ahoy! and Starboard.

China Glaze Anchors Away collection

I knew Sea Spray would be mine as soon as I saw promo pictures. I love the combination of blue and gray color. And since I was determined to show you gray and blue side of this polish, I spent a lot of time photographing this shade. :D

I find this polish intriguing whether it looks blue (shade) …

China Glaze Anchors Away: Sea Spray swatch by parokeets
China Glaze Anchors Away: Sea Spray (2 layers+topcoat)

… or grayish (artificial light).

China Glaze Anchors Away: Sea Spray swatch
China Glaze Anchors Away: Sea Spray (2 layers+topcoat)

The finish is a little bit complicated. Polish applies similar to pastel ones (but better) and it looks creme. Then came the shock. I was eating lunch with Maestra, when she asks me how I like the shimmer. What shimmer? Sea Spray actually has a tiny shimmer that reminds me of particles found in metallic polishes.

China Glaze Anchors Away: Sea Spray shimmer in bottle

I know dark creme blue polishes are nothing spectacular, but I fell in love with  First Mate on the spot. I would say this is almost perfect dark blue for me. I used one coat + topcoat as the polish is really pigmented and applies nicely. What I did not like is the visible tip wear the same day I applied it. I’ll try with 2 coats next time to see if that makes a difference.

China Glaze Anchors Away: First Mate swatch

What intrigues me the most in White Cap polish is an interesting shimmer suspended in a milky white jelly base. Sparkle is a combination of regular shimmer/glitter and flakies. You can see gold, green, coppery-orange sparkles. And when I applied White Cap on the nail wheel I saw that there are blue particles hiding in there too.

China Glaze Anchors Away: White Cap swatch
China Glaze Anchors Away: White Cap (3 layers+top coat)

I wondered if I could use White Cap for layering, so I applied it over all the polishes in Anchors Away collection we ordered.

China Glaze Anchors Away: White Cap layered swatch
China Glaze White Cap over: Sea Spray, Starboard, Ahoy, First Mate

I’ll definitively be buying more shades from this collection. If nothing else then I’m getting Maestra’s Ahoy!. :D

Maestra prepared swatches and comparisons for Ahoy! and Starboard so please read on.


Ahoy! is probably the most popular shade in this collection. It’s a raspberry shade with a jelly base and irregularly shaped gold glitter. Interesting shade. I totally understand, why people love it. But I’m not crazy about it. Yes, I like it, but that’s it.

China Glaze Anchors Away: Ahoy! swatch

China Glaze Anchors Away: Ahoy! swatch

China Glaze Anchors Away: Ahoy! detail

I wondered how Ahoy! would look layered over black and how it’s compared to OPI’s Let Me Entertain You from the Burlesque collection. Here’s the comparison.

Comparison: China Glaze Anchors Away - Ahoy over black vs OPI - Let Me Entertain You

Comparison: China Glaze Anchors Away - Ahoy! vs OPI - Let Me Entertain You

Let Me Entertain You is darker, which is a good thing for me. It also has glitter that flashes purple. All in all, I like LMEY better.

Starboard is a grass green shade with creme finish. It’s the perfect shade of green. Not too yellow toned and not too blue-toned. There are two coats in the photo below.

China Glaze Anchors Away: Starboard swatch

I couldn’t find a dupe for Starboard in my collection of nail polishes. Ciate’s Stilletto is the closest I have.

Comparison: China Glaze Anchors Away - Starboard vs Ciate Stiletto bottle

Comparison: China Glaze Anchors Away - Starboard vs Ciate Stiletto swatchWhat are your thoughts on this collection? Any favorites?

This post is also available in SLOVENŠČINA.

38 thoughts on “Review and swatches: China Glaze Anchors Away”

  1. Imam eno vprašanje – a je First Mate zelo podoben Barry M Indigo ali je čisto druga barva? Zelo nerada mam namreč zelo podobne barve v zbirki :blush:

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  2. I love this collection! I just got my order or Sea Spray, Ahoy!, and White Cap. First Mate looks amazing and if I didn’t already have something similar, I’d pick this up as well!

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  3. Ooooh I want First Mate, it’s what I thought Dating A Royal would be! And White Cap, and Starboard, I have nothing like them (despite owning about fifty greens :yes:

    Thank you for including the comparisons! :thumb:

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  4. I’m falling more and more in love with Starboard which I didn’t like at all when I saw the bottle. Can’t wait to get mine in the mail.

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  5. Ahoy! is really pretty, but in my opinion it reminds me of Strawberry Fields which I already own. What do you ladies think, would you be willing to do a comparison between the two?

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  6. Ravnokar sem dala na nohte Below Deck. Že drugič v manj kot dveh tednih. Mislim, da še ni bilo takega laka v moji zbirki. Ok, ne, Rampage sem tudi dala gor dvakrat zapored, se mi zdi, potem se pa že konča. Naročenih imam 5 lakov iz te zbirke, s tem da sem se zdajle čisto zaljubila v kombinacijo Starboard in Ahoy! z White Cap, tako da zna biti da si kdaj kasneje nabavim še tega, super layering kombinacija!! :stars: Sicer pa sem zaenkrat nosila Starboard in Below Deck in oba obožujem, čeprav mi Below Deck dela preglavice pri nanosu. Starboard je pa za mojo dušo green junkija pravi balzam. :wub:

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