Category Archives: Finish: Holo

China Glaze Holiday Joy 2012 – Holo Glitters Swatches & Review

China Glaze Holiday Joy 2012 – A Gift For You Shot Glass

China Glaze has just released their Holiday 2012 collection, called Holiday Joy. It consists of 12 polishes, and I believe all are available individually, as well as in a variety of sets. I found them at Sally Beauty yesterday, and purchased the set with the two scattered holo glitters, which also includes a shot glass. The silver holo is called Glistening Snow, and the gold is Angel Wings.

China Glaze Glistening Snow, Angel Wings

Here is a swatch of Glistening Snow, blurred to show sparkle. On the left, I have one coat over OPI Dating a Royal; on the right, I have three coats alone. No topcoat – it’s very gritty (more on that later)

China Glaze Glistening Snow

Here is China Glaze Angel Wings. On the left, three coats alone, on the right, one coat over Nails, Inc. Belgrave Place. Again, blurred to show sparkle, and this time it does have topcoat (not that you can tell, it’s so blurry!)

China Glaze Angel Wings

Like I mentioned, it is VERY gritty without topcoat – here is a close-up of three coats of Angel Wings without topcoat:

It takes 2-4 coats of topcoat to smooth it out, depending on how may coats of the China Glaze you use, what topcoat you use, how thick your topcoat coats are, etc.

And, here is my NOTD! This is one coat of Zoya Zuza with one coat of China Glaze Glistening Snow, again blurred to show sparkle. It has two coats of topcoat, but I’m going to add a third, because it’s not smooth enough for my liking.

Here it is un-blurred – much prettier blurred, don’t you agree?

You can see all 12 of the China Glaze Holiday Joy polishes on Vampy Varnish. Will you be picking any of them up?

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Nail Art For Short Nails: Stamping Over Neutral Holo

OPI DS Classic stamped with Cheeky Plate D

My nails are super short nubs right now due to a split and filing down to match – they’re always short, but this is shorter than usual. I was playing around yesterday, and I think that this combination works really well on them; using a base color close to my skintone keeps it low-contrast and de-emphasizes the short length, and the sparkle and delicate stamping adds interest. As in the caption, this is OPI DS Classic stamped with an image from Cheeky Plate D.

Because of the scattered holo sparkle, this is especially great in the sun. In the shade, it’s more muted but still pretty.

I bought Cheeky Plate D from a local nail supply store, I’m not sure of the best place to buy online. It’s a great quality plate – it was very easy to stamp the images.

In other nail polish news, I’ve been busy swatching all of my nail polish on swatch sticks. I did all of my frankens last week on mini swatch sticks (again from a local beauty supply), and yesterday my giant ebay order of regular sized swatch sticks arrived. I spent a couple hours yesterday and managed to swatch most of my cremes/jellies/sheers/shimmers, and today I’ll be swatching the glitters, duochromes, flakies, and other special finishes.

Almost 150 swatch sticks – mostly cremes

Linear Holo Nail Polish Comparison

TKB Magic Holographic, Starlight & Sparkles Starlight, Glitter Gal liner holo topcoat (plus OPI for size comparison)

Today, I have a comparison of three different linear holographic polishes for you; TKB Magic Holographic mixer, a Spectraflair topcoat made by the indie polish maker Starlight & Sparkles, and a commercial polish; a Glitter Gal holo topcoat labeled GGNP707H (probably very similar to this Glitter Gal silver holo at Ninja polish). These are all silver linear holos that can be used as topcoats or worn alone (though if I’m going for a silver holo look, I prefer to layer them over a silver foil).

When I first swatched the TKB Magic Holographic mixer, it wasn’t very holo at all. Then, I read that when Spectraflair polishes have too much Spectraflair in them, they aren’t very holo – it needs to be diluted enough for the holo-ness to work. For those that aren’t familar, Spectraflair is a linear holo pigment. So, I have two swatches of the TKB Magic Holographic mixer; one at full strength, and one diluted with suspension base (I think it’s about 50/50 Magic Holographic and suspension base, though I don’t recall exactly – sorry!)

Swatches!

TKB Magic Holographic, Starlight & Sparkles Spectraflair topcoat,
Glitter Gal holo topcoat (with flash)

silver linear holo polish comparison, swatches

Same order – sunlight

As you can see, I inadvertently swatched them in order of how strong the holo effect is. The the undiluted TKB Magic Holographic is very dense and opaque, but not very holo. The diluted TKB is more holo, the Starlight and Sparkles Spectraflair topcoat is even more holo, and the Glitter Gal is the most holo. The Starlight is most suited for use as a topcoat, since it is the most sheer.

The TKB is $3.25 for .5oz, but since it’s best diluted, you really get about 1oz of polish once it’s prepared. The Starlight & Sparkles polish is currently out of stock due to Spectraflair unavailability earlier this year, but the Etsy page says Issa, the owner / polish maker expects to have it back in stock by the end of the year. My bottle was $5.50 for 5ml, and it was also sold in 15ml bottles, though I’m not sure of the price. The Glitter Gal polish (9ml) was $14 at -->Llarowe -->, but this similar one is $11.50 at Ninja Polish.

NOTD: Layla Flash Black Hologram Effect Nail Polish

Layla Flash Black – shade

Layla Flash Black – sun

Just a quick post of my new favorite nail polish, Layla Flash Black. It’s one of the new Layla Hologram Effect Nail Polishes, which are available in Ulta stores and at online at Ulta.com. The Layla Hologram Effect polishes are the strongest holo polishes I have ever seen – they’re really fantastic!

There are eight colors, and the polishes are $15.50 each (which is pricey!) but luckily you can use the $3.50 off coupons that Ulta always has on them, which brings down the price to $12.

This post contains affiliate links. For more information please see my disclosure policy.

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Layering Nail Polish: Awesome Silver Holo

I’ve posted before about how I love layering nail polish to create awesome new combinations. I thought it would be interesting to try and layer my new Glitter Gal holographic nail polish over a super-sparkley silver foil, Zoya Trixie. I didn’t know how it would turn out, but I hoped it would be sparkly, holographic, and awesome. And it was!

In indoor light or shade, it’s a sparkling, very pretty silver foil – very similar to Zoya Trixie on it’s own.

In sunlight though, it really shines – it’s a linear, extra-sparkly silver holo. The picture really doesn’t do it justice – there’s a really lovely rainbow effect.

with flash, but the holo effect is even better in sunlight

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Glitter Gal Holographic Top Coat GGNP707H Review, Swatches, Photos

I recently discovered the amazing nail polish website -->llarowe -->, which sells a variety of hard to find nail polishes. Although I found it when trying to find a way to buy Brazilian nail polish (which llarowe sells), I ended up buying just one polish for my first order – Glitter Gal GGP707H, which is a silver linear holographic polish that can also be used as a topcoat.

IT IS AWESOME. My camera went kind of crazy trying to capture the awesomeness – I don’t know how all the nail polish bloggers do it! Here are some of the photos that turned out best.


Glitter Gal Holo alone

Alone, the nail polish is fairly sheer. I see that as a benefit, because that means it can be layers to create all sorts of different colored holo polishes.


Over Nails, Inc Belgrave Place


Over Essie Bobbing for Baubles

The polish dries at a normal rate – not fast or slow – and to a perfectly smooth finish. I don’t usually use topcoat, and I have no special need to with this polish. I’ve been wearing this for a couple days now, and the wear is really excellent; I used my normal base coat, -->Essie First Base -->. Normally I would have chips or peeling by now, which would lead me to remove the polish completely, but instead my nails look completely perfect.

I highly recommend this polish!

p.s. My commenting system isn’t working correctly right now; please click on the timestamp if you want to leave a comment or read comments!

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