Review Of China Glaze Romantique Collection for Stamping

This is a fairly old collection that I struggled to find here in the UK.  However, I'd heard very good things about how well they stamp, so when I found them on Amazon, decided to invest in some.  I don't own all the colours, but now I've tested the ones I have, may go back for more.

Top Row (left to right): Joy, Harmony, Devotion, Adore
Bottom Row (left to right): Poetic, Emotion, Cherish

All the colours are metallics, and are pretty much opaque in one coat, though I always tend to use two regardless.  Before I show the stamping results, here they are swatched as full nail manicures:

Left to right: Joy, Harmony, Devotion, Adore, Cherish, Poetic

To test them for stamping I chose 4 quite different images, including some with large spaces to fill, some with intricate pattern and fine line etc.  Each polish was stamped a total of 4 times - 3 times on white paper, and once over black polish (OPI Black Onyx)

First up are the three purples.  Joy is the darkest colour which is a reddish toned purple, and next to the others, more of a burgundy wine colour.   It stamped immaculately, though being darker does not show as brilliantly over black as some of the other colours.  Harmony is probably my favourite of these three.  A mid toned purple which is more on the blue side than Joy.  It stamped just as perfectly as Joy, and showed incredibly well over black.  Finally, Devotion, the lightest of these three.  This is a much paler, silvery lilac purple.  Over black, it almost looks silver.  Again, stamps fabulously well.

Top row: Joy, Middle Row: Harmony, Bottom Row: Devotion

Top Row: Harmony, Bottom Row: Devotion

Left to right: Devotion, Harmony, Joy (over OPI Black Onyx)

Next are Poetic & Emotion.  Emotion is a mid-tone pink that is slightly dusky, and has an almost rust appearance in certain light.  Poetic is a light copper colour.  Again, stamping was immaculate, and like the first three tested, they had a lovely thick, creamy & opaque consistency making them ideal for this purpose.  (I left the images of Devotion on the first picture, as it seems to show it's shine better than the previous one).

Top Row: Devotion, Middle Row: Emotion, Bottom Row: Poetic

Top Row: Emotion, Bottom Row: Poetic

Finally, here are Cherish & Adore.  Adore is a wonderful Teal blue colour.  Adore is a pale green.

Left To Right: Adore, Cherish, Poetic

Top Row: Cherish, Bottom Row: Adore

To say I was very impressed with these polishes is an understatement, and will will definitely be getting a lot of use out of them.  If I had to chose my favourites, I would say Emotion (Pink), Harmony (Purple), and Adore (Teal).

To summarise:

• All are thick, metallic and opaque.  
• They stamp with ease, and do not dry so fast that you have to race to get them off the stamper.
• They handle large areas of stamped colour extremely well (see how perfect the stars image is). 
• Equally, they handle very intricate designs well and pick up very fine detailed images (see the geometric square design).  

I am very happy to recommend these to anyone looking to find reliable stamping polishes.

The stamping plate used to test these polishes is Lily Anna 07, available here: messymansion.com.au  I plan to do a review of these plates soon.