Pushing my luck: Reordering the china Glaze 12-for-£12 Mystery Box...

A few days ago I wrote a błog post about  finding this deal by a third party seller on Amazon UK - 12 full sized bottles of China Glaze nail polish for £11.99, with free shipping. The catch? The shades and polish types you'll receive are randomly picked each time, so if you already own China Glaze polishes then there is the chance that you could end up with something that you already own.

In the original post I recommended that fans of China Glaze nail polish try this offer out, because you only really need to get two new-to-you bottles that you like the look of to get the £12 out of the deal. Plus; as well as getting lovely polishes for yourself, you are basically getting birthday and Xmas pressies to give to family and friends without spending any extra money.

Since receiving my box I read a customer review, on the Amazon product page, where the customer said that she got It's Alive in her 12 polishes. I've been lusting after It's Alive (I relapsed into nail biting a few years ago & totally missed China Glaze's 2011 Halloween collection) but don't want to pay Evilbay's inflated prices for it, so I thought that I'd try my luck with another Mystery Box.

As other customers have asked [via the Amazon Q & A page for this product] if reordering the Mystery Box results in getting any product repeats, I decided to make a blog post about my experience so that if anyone Googles for info on this product, then the post might help them decide if they want to place another order or not.

Will I end up with getting the same polishes again? I emailed the seller last time, and know that they pass the order along to their warehouse staff to fulfil it, meaning that the people who pick out the 12 polishes probably aren't the ones who know that I've already bought the same product before. So I'm guessing that I'm going to get some repeats from my last last order, but will I get at least two new-to-me shades? And what are my chances of getting It's Alive?

I only got two repeats the second time around; the so-bright-it's-almost-neon blue jelly Isle See You Later, and the burgundy-with-gold-micro-glitter vampie Stroll. These were two of my favourite shades in the last box so I'm very pleased to save these same shades to use as Xmas pressies - I know that my sister will love them.

See my original post for swatches...

I'll get the other polishes I'm not fussed about out of the way - the three crackles. Based on the Amazon reviews it seems like everyone will get some crackles, so I knew that they were coming. This time I got Black Mesh, Cracked Medallion, and Cracked Concrete, so at least they're different shades.

My black Barry M shatter polish has gunked up, so I'll chuck that out and keep Black Mesh. I said before that I don't wear crackle polishes often so I shouldn't keep any more, but I'm already picturing which shades would look the best under the grey. However the golden bronze one is not being opened & swatched as it's definitely going in my Xmas box - those kinds of colours don't go with my colouring.

I'm using three coats of OPI's Cream In My Coffee

 (it's a renamed edition of NOPI Others Pale By Kim-parison) 

underneath the crackles.

And now let's move on to my main motivation for buying another Mystery Box. What were the chances that out of all China Glaze's individual polishes in all of their collections that I'd get the one I wanted? I've said before that I don't like yellowish green, but yeah, this is a China Glaze Halloween yellowish green. Totally different. I was surprised, but I DID get It's Alive...

... Plus I also got Crimson, which is from the 2011 Halloween collection too. Despite the name, this is actually a blackened eggplant creme. I own plenty of similar shades already, but the blog reviews for this polish mostly agree on how good the formula for it is, so I'm happy to get it.

I got two reds; first out of the box was Revolution [Operation Color, autumn 2008], which is a tomato red creme. A very nice shade, but I already have a few polishes that look similar to this, so Revolution is going to live with my red-polish-loving Mum. 

The second red shade I got is Go Crazy Red [Joy To The Girl - winter 2006, now core]. It is a warmer, slightly-pinkish red with golden shimmer running through it. Again it's a lovely shade, but I already own similar shades, so it's another birthday/Xmas pressie for mum.

Sorry - no swatches here either, as I'm not opening them as they're presents.

(l-r) Revolution, Go Crazy Red

A shade that immediately caught my eye before even being unboxed was Custom Kicks [Kicks collection, summer 2009] - a beautiful teal, with golden shimmer running through it (my camera wouldn't pick the shimmer up). Nothing to add - I can't wait to get brighter weather, so I can wear this to full effect. 

Another polish that looks great, and I can't wait for a bit of sun to wear, is this blue holographic polish. Take A Trek [Hologlam collection, spring 2013] is a lovely dusty blue shade, with subtle holographic effect running through it. I've nearly bought this polish before so, needless to say, I'm thrilled to get it.

There was only one polish that I'm not sure if I'm going to like or not, and that is In The Rough [Texture collection s/s 2013]. It is a satiny texture polish, which is a finish that I didn't get in my box last time. The greenish yellow shade of the polish isn't doing anything for me, but I have Bump In The Night and love the hard wearing formula, so I'm curious to see if this is also hard wearing.

So; am I happy with this box, and would I recommend repeat orders to other people? 

Yes and yes - I think that it's likely that everyone will get some repeats in their orders, but there was more then enough new-to-me shades to make this more then worth what I paid for it. Plus my Xmas shopping has now already started...

I'm wearing Sally Hansen Pacific Blue
 (the original formulation) in the photos on this page.

This is why the box looks 

battered in the other photo...