China Glaze in Fast Track

Indirect sunlight

Today's polish is China Glaze in Fast Track. Fast Track was released with the Spring 2012 "Colours From The Capitol" collection, also known as the collection inspired by The Hunger Games. I know some people were disappointed with this collection, but I really love it. It has a nice variety of colors and finishes, while still all fitting into a color scheme that is void of really bright, punchy colors, similar to the dystopian tone (although, if it truly was a Capitol collection, the colors should have been bright and punchy; the colors make more sense if you check out their original inspiration). Fast Track was originally called Catnip, inspired by Gale's nickname for the protagonist, Katniss Everdeen. As you probably know, there was an odd lawsuit initiated by The Hunger Games's production company, Lionsgate, that simply ended with China Glaze renaming the collection and colors, even though it remained an official partnership between the two brands. In the ensuing re-naming, Catnip became Fast Track, corresponding to District 6, Transportation. I don't know that I really see the connection between this color and the extravagant trains that carry citizens from district to district in Panem - or, more particularly, with the characters we meet from District 6 in Catching Fire, who love color - but, in any case, I really love this less colorful color.

I've been having a good run of flattering nail choices lately. My goal in swatching all my polishes is to find some to put up in a blogsale or swap, so I can pare down to a more reasonable collection, but I don't think I've found one polish to get rid of yet (maybe Lynnderella in Change). I'm a bad, bad purger! Fast Track is a beautiful nude polish that has a slightly jelly creme finish that allows the gold glass-fleck type shimmer to shine through. There is also subtle green and red shimmer that flashes in the sunlight. I can see how this wouldn't be flattering for some skin tones, but it's a really perfect shade for me for polished nails that don't look too flat, which is how the mannequin hands' nudes can sometimes look. In the bottle, the base seems to be a neutral tan nude, but on me it has a bit of a pink/rose/mauve undertone, except in indirect sunlight, when more yellow comes out of the base.

This is a formula that I would say is great for beginners. That doesn't mean it's my favorite formula - you really have to wipe off the brush to avoid getting too much polish on the nail, so I wasn't able to do coats as thin as I like - but it's a very forgiving formula. I used two medium coats and achieved opacity. If you add a third coat, the base color turns a little more grey on me. This formula is slightly runny and thick at the same time, but you have a lot of time to smooth it across the nail and fix any application errors, without getting any streakiness, cuticle drag, or ridge-forming. Worn September 12 - 16, 2012.

Direct sunlight

Indirect sunlight

Indirect sunlight

Indirect sunlight

Direct sunlight

Direct sunlight

Indirect natural light

Indirect natural light

Close-up to show the shimmer

Indirect natural light

Direct flash

Bonus! I wanted you to get the full idea of what a clean, but not stark nude Fast Track is on me. Sorry, this is the best I could get - I'm not great at selfies. But if you enlarge, you can see flashes of gold from the shimmer. I see the effect as reminiscent a nude version of celadon ceramics.

Right before I took this mani off, I added Lynnderella in Change. I'm still not into it, but I'm going to try it one last time over black. I got one low-quality photo on my iPhone:

There are many, many swatches of Fast Track. Check out some good ones by Scrangie, Nails and Noms, Nail Polish Anon,  Ommorphia Beauty Bar, The PolishAholic, All You Desire, So Marvellous, Alizarine Claws, Short 'n Chic, Vampy Varnish, and Lipglossiping. Also, for those of you thinking Fast Track resembles Essence in Irreplaceable, you're right, but they're not dupes; see My Lucid Bubble for a nail wheel comparison. There's also a comparison with Sephora by OPI in I Only Shop Vintage at Bloomin' Beauty.

So are you a fan of The Hunger Games series - books or movie? I read them before they became a phenomenon and really liked them, but I felt the third book really went off the rails. If you're interested in another young adult adventure series with a strong female protagonist, I would recommend Graceling and Fire by Kristin Cashore. If you want the next fad YA dystopia, the Divergent series by Veronica Roth has been optioned for film, even though I don't think it's as strong as either of the series' previously mentioned. As far as the movie, I love Jennifer Lawrence and most of the cast, but I don't feel the chemistry between her and Josh Hutcherson (although I still like him; see The Kids are All Right - not at all his movie, but he acquits himself well). Back to polish! Does Fast Track work for you? What are your favorite not stark nudes? Did you like the "Colours From The Capitol" collection?