I can’t even handle all the excitement I came home to today!!  Aside from the absolutely amazing hoard of fragrance samples the Jo Malone counter at the Bloor Street Holt Renfew sent me (I’m sure I got samples of every single scent they have), I also received an exceptionally excellent treat – two shades from the highly anticipated Hunger Games-themed China Glaze collection, Capitol Colours!  They arrived not a moment too soon, as the collection is slated to launch March 1st. The shades I’ve been sent are ‘Agro’ – moss green with gold shimmer, and ‘Stone Cold’ – a matte slate grey with shimmer.  Two pretty edgy-looking polishes in the bottle, I must say!  I have unfortunately still not read the series yet – though I have picked up the first book – so I can’t comment on how these reflect the story or the districts of Panem (the fictional nation’s capital).  Nonetheless, I am entirely capable of showing you swatches and reviewing the formula, so let’s hop to it!  First up is ‘Agro’:My instant thought when I saw ‘Agro’ was that it was a dupe for ‘Peace on Earth’, a China Glaze polish which came out in their Holiday 2010 collection.  In the bottle, they look pretty close but not exact – see for yourself:The differences between the two are also visible on the nail – ‘Agro’ is darker and has a more smoky tone, while ‘Peace on Earth’ has got a golden glow that radiates from within, giving it a brighter feel.  As well,  ‘Agro’s thin, easy flowing formula is better than ‘Peace on Earth’, which tends to be a tad thick, though it still applies relatively well.  I also find that ‘Peace on Earth’ has a bit of trouble with brushstrokes, of which ‘Agro’ has next to none.  Below, ‘Peace on Earth’ on index and ring fingers; ‘Agro’ on  middle and pinky fingers.Overall, I really like the tone of ‘Agro’ – likely in part due to it’s similarities to ‘Peace on Earth‘, as I’ve noted before I’m quite a fan of that shade.  ‘Agro’ is like it’s more badass cousin, and as its less golden, will look great on most skintones, warm and cool.

‘Stone Cold’ is a polish I likely would have never picked up myself, but upon learning that it was matte, I eagerly tried it on, as I’ve never owned a matte-finish polish – and also have no similar shades in my collection.  Let me just say that I am a total convert – the matte effect is absolutely awesome and I can’t stop looking at it!  Not at ALL what I expected.  It looks really tough and chic, and I totally adore it.  The formula of ‘Stone Cold’ was also really wonderful, and applied very easily – another lovely flowing polish that left you enough time to make sure each stroke was perfect, but nonetheless drying relatively quickly.  It’s also quite opaque – in the first shot above, I only have one coat on (the rest are two).  Just for you fans of the shiny finish, here is ‘Stone Cold’ with a top coat:I’m not nearly a big of a fan of this as I am the matte version – this to me just looks like your regular old sparkly charcoal polish.  Granted, the shimmer is comes alive a bit more and is quite pretty, but it loses it’s unique quality with the top coat applied – and I’m all about originality

So, there you have it my friends – two offerings from the twelve shade Capitol Color collection; one like revisiting an old friend who got a great makeover, and the other like the guy you’d thought you’d never go for but ended up falling in love with and getting married and popping out a few babies…..errr, yeah (just found out that another one of my friends is preggers [again!], which brings the tally of Summer babies-to-be up to something like 5 – THIS is what happens when you start nearing 30 my friends!! ).  I’m definitely going to pick up a few more of these shades once they’re released – I’m thinkin’ ‘Riveting’ (a bright orange shimmer) and possibly ‘Fast Track’ (soft sandy brown with golden metallic shimmer).

What shades are you lemming (if any) from the upcoming Hunger Games-themed collection?  What polish shades for Spring are on your radar?

*Products were provided for unbiased consideration by the PR company/brand.