This legacy post has been given a facelift because it still hurts my heart. I loved this damn color! Content has been edited for clarity but opinion and, as far as I can tell, the status of the product in question are the same.
Raise your hand if you’ve been hurt by a reformulation! Maybe it was New Coke. Or the use of HFCS in place of cane sugar in everything in general. Your recently-repurchased signature fragrance not being so signature anymore. Pantene doing Pantene things. Innovation in general is a good thing. But we’ve all experienced product changes and came to discover that new is not always improved.
Take nail polish, for instance. Certain shades are so well-known that they have their own cult of personality. If you’re here, reading, you can probably name at least half a dozen OPI shades off the top of your head without Google’s help – and that’s saying nothing of other brands.
Flip Flop Fantasy
It’s a bright, rich neon coral creme from their 2010 Poolside collection. Or, well, it was. A friend wore the Gelaze version of Flip Flop Fantasy for her wedding last summer; it seemed peach then, but I chalked that up to the occasional difference in the gel versions of shades. Alas, it wasn’t because it is gel, it was because China Glaze changed the shade entirely.
It’s a completely different color, now, in both RNP and gel. Chit Chat Nails shared images of both bottles, complete with the same item codes…
Flip Flop Fantasy – Chit Chat Nails (now defunct)
It isn’t slight. It’s intense.
I am luckily in possession of the old formula – a striking, vibrant coral. But who knows how long it will be usable? I’ve owned it for four years. (2018 Update: It went to hell in a handbasket later that year, RIP.) Even in good condition the formula is tricky; I doubt this is one that will be easily revived with polish thinner.
Fans are perplexed. The consistency and application seems to be about the same, but what sense does it make to change the color entirely while keeping the name? ‘New,’ Flip Flop Fantasy is now a peachy shade. Is it pretty? Yes, of course! But Flip Flop Fantasy it is not. New is not always improved, and is, sometimes, disappointing. China Glaze really has an outstanding range of colors and finishes at a friendly price point (less costly than OPI and Essie, and more consistent as far as wear than Essie, too). I do like them, but unfortunately they really missed the mark with this change.
Return of the Neon
According to this post from Chalkboard Nails two years ago (not a typo), China Glaze was supposedly getting Flip Flop Fantasy back on track. Unfortunately, I’m not clear what her source was on that – she is a professional, so maybe she has insider info us mere mortals can’t access. That said, if China Glaze was heeding our collective cry for coral twofour years ago, I’d expect to see the correct color in shelves by now.
Alas.