Nails Inc. The After Party Glitter Nail Polish Trio Holiday 2012 Swatches and Review

I noticed that the Nails Inc. After Party set has been on clearance for quite a while on Sephora.com and it's still not sold out. I'm actually kinda surprised about that. I bought my set right when it came out 'cause it looked so amazing with all that glitter and holo and stuff, I swatched it and even wore the colors a bunch of times, but for some reason never posted about it??  Whatever, it's still on sale and I'm posting about it now.  Look.  Glitter.

 Nails Inc. Covent Garden Market.  

A multi-size, multi-color glitter in a clear base.  Reminiscent of Lippmann Happy Birthday but not a dupe.

Nails Inc. Disco Lane.

A black creme base with tiny holographic glitter.  Dries rather gritty but evens out with an extra coat of topcoat.

Nails Inc. Soho Street.

My favorite of the three.  A red jelly base with medium-sized chunky red glitter.  I am always drawn to these jelly-glitter reds.  I can't help it, they're just so cool.  They look like lava!

And, just for fun:

One coat of Covent Garden Market over Soho Street.

The formula on these isn't great, but it's tolerable.  Not smooth and dreamy like the Nails Inc. creme formula, these glitter shades are on the chunky and clumpy side.  I needed to be careful to let each coat set before applying the next or I ended up with thick spots.  Three coats of each.  Dry time is average and all the shades need at least two coats of topcoat.  Soho and Covent chip quicker than Disco.

So, yeah, this is still in stock at Sephora, $19 marked down from $25, and they're full-sized polishes.  Pretty good deal for Nails Inc.  Not the best application or durability, but the colors are fun.

New Nails Inc. Special Effects Mirror Metallic Collection Swatches and Review

The latest addition to the Nails Inc. Special Effects line: Mirror Metallic. Mirror Metallic polishes have a shiny, reflective, chrome-like metallic finish with some wicked duochrome color shift. The Mirror Metallics line will be expanding with in the next few months (two new colors are listed but unavailable on Sephora's website*), but is currently available in two colors; Cheyne Walk, which is a purple duochrome metallic, and Stratford, a champagne pink duochrome metallic.


Nails Inc. Special Effects Mirror Metallic in Cheyne Walk. This is a purple metallic that shifts from darker, cooler, more blue-toned purple to warmer, sightly lighter red-toned purple, with orange, yellow and green flash at extreme angles. This is very similar to Deborah Lippmann's Mirrored Chrome polish in Private Dancer, just with a slightly frostier finish and more duochrome. I have a hunch that the upcoming China Glaze No Plain Jane polish from the New Bohemian collection will be similar as well.


Nails Inc. Special Effects Mirror Metallic in Stratford. Stratford is a shiny mix of pink, champagne, gold, green, yellow and orange with a reflective metallic finish. The duochrome effect of this one is very strong and it shifts quite dramatically with changes in angle and lighting. Again, similar to one of the Deborah Lippmann Mirrored Chrome colors: Sugar Daddy. The duochrome on this one is stronger and the finish is a little more frosty. May also be similar to the upcoming China Glaze shade Swanky Silk.

The formula on these was decent, but not perfect. They weren't too thick and dry, nor were they watery and runny, but they still had an odd texture. Airy, oily, almost foamy, even. The unusual texture made it tricky to get the polishes to apply in a flat, even layer on the nail. I needed to wait at least five minutes in between coats to avoid bubbling and ensure a flatter, more even result. I used three coats of each and I like them best at three. The dry time is average and they look good even without topcoat.

I like these. Yes, they are similar to the Deborah Lippmann Mirrored Chrome polishes, but with a few distinct differences. The most obvious difference being the price; $9.50 for the Nails Inc., $18 for the Lippmann. The other differences I can see are that the Nails Inc. have stronger duochrome, but they don't seem to dry as flat/smooth/chrome-like as the Lippmanns. The Nails Inc. Mirror Metallics seem to stay a little frosty and a kinda puffy after they've dried. Nails Inc.'s creme formula is nicer than their shimmer formula, but these colors are really very cool and a much more affordable alternative to the very pricey Lippmann chromes. I have not seen the China Glaze New Bohemian collection polishes in person yet, but I assume that there will be a few near-dupes in there as well.

Upcoming Nails Inc. Mirror Metallic shades Primrose Park (left) and Swiss Cottage (right).

The Nails Inc. Special Effects Mirror Metallics in Cheyne Walke and Stratford are $9.50 each, available now at Sephora. Swiss Cottage and Primrose Park are listed, but are temporarily out of stock.*

*EDIT: When I posted this, Primrose Park and Swiss Cottage were out of stock. I've just checked Sephora's site again and they now both appear to be IN STOCK!! Woohoo!

(Cheyne Walk was sent for review. Stratford was purchased from Sephora.)

Nails Inc. Special Effects The Old Vic Collection Holiday 2011 Swatches and Review

The Old Vic Collection is one of three new Nails Inc. Special Effects Overglaze polish duos now available at Sephora. These are the same as the Nails Inc. Gossip Girl duos released in the UK; The Old Vic is the same as The Serena Collection.


The duo is packaged in its own special packaging that shows the finished nail look. It's a small touch, but I appreciate it. The back of the package has some suggestions for use, including a recommendation to use the flaky topcoat over white, which is one of my favorite things to do with flaky topcoats.


The set contains two full-sized bottles of Nails Inc. polish. One bottle of Black Taxi, which is a black creme, and a bottle of The Old Vic Special Effects overglaze polish, which is clear with blue/purple flakes.


Nails Inc. Black Taxi. This is just your run of the mill black polish. It's not the best I've ever used, but it's not the worst, either. It's a two-coater and takes a little longer to dry than I had expected it to.


Nails Inc. Special Effects Overglaze in The Old Vic. This is a clear base with tiny, irregular shaped pieces of clear blue/purple/slight turquoise duochrome flake glitter. The flakes in this are more subtle looking than other colors of flakes, like the red/green/yellow type of flakes in Essie Shine of the Times / Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure / Nubar 2010, et cetera. They're smaller and they're not as strongly colored. I think they look pretty cool by themselves, I'm wearing two coats here.



Nails Inc. The Old Vic Special Effects Overglaze over Nails Inc. Black Taxi. Two coats of each. See how the flakes in The Old Vic are pretty subtle, even at two coats? They're visible, they're just small and not as boldly colored. I mean, the color of them is bright, but it's not as bold or strong or noticeable as other types of 'flakie' topcoats. Note the slight purple duochrome.


The formula on these was just okay. Black Taxi was runnier than I expected it to be, but not troublesome. The Old Vic had a little bit of a runny texture, too. They didn't feel like any of my other Nails Inc. polishes, but they weren't bad. The truly bad thing about them is the dry time. These seemed to take forever to dry and when I wore them together I could still dent the polish after four hours. This has not happened with any other Nails Inc. polish I've worn. I don't know why, but the formula of these two doesn't seem like normal Nails Inc. formula.

As much as I love flaky polishes, I'm not overly impressed with this one. The flakes are really sparse and the dry time is too long. If the dry time was better, I wouldn't have any qualms about buying another one of these. These Nails Inc flaky topcoats are only available in the duo packages at Sephora, and the duos are $20 each. Slightly more expensive than buying two Nails Inc. polishes separately. I'd prefer to be able to buy the Special Effects overglazes individually, so hopefully that will be an option in the future.

I got mine at Sephora. Side note: The descriptions for these sets are sort of mixed up on Sephora's website; this one lists The Wyndham topcoat and Kensington polish, but it actually has The Old Vic and Black Taxi.

Nails Inc. Glitterati Glitter Nail Polish Set for Holiday 2011 Swatches and Review

Nails Inc. has a bunch of gift sets out for Holiday 2011, but this one is my favorite. It's called Glitterati and it's a trio of full-sized Nails Inc. glitter polishes.


Nails Inc. Buckingham Street. This is a super fine purple glitter with some tiny gold and magenta glitter accents. When I was applying this, the glitter accent looked silver. In all of my pictures, it looks gold. I don't know if it's the lighting or what, but I can't actually tell if it's truly gold or silver. The glitter in this is very fine but sandy, like superfine sugar. The coverage on this is not very good; I did five very thin coats. Reminds me a little of Nubar Petunia Sparkle and this one Ozotic purple glitter I have that I can't remember the name of because it has a number instead of a real name...


Nails Inc. Chelsea Embankment. Three coats. This is a small gold glitter in a clear base. There are a million gold glitters out there, but this one is... Not really that different, actually. It's gold, it's sparkly, it's not too gritty, but nothing about it sets it apart from any other gold glitter. It does lean a little green in some lights and the formula was nice and thin, but still... Plain gold glitter.



Nails Inc. Hatton Garden. Three coats. This is a tiny silver microglitter and a small, round hologram glitter in a clear base. There might be some larger silver glitter in here too, but there's just so much sparkle and silver packed in here, it's hard to pick out the individual pieces. This looks a lot better in real life; lots of holographic fire in this one. It's extremely gritty and lumpy, so I'd recommend giving this one a good two minutes in between coats to avoid any clumping issues and to speed up dry time.

The formula on these was good. Buckingham Street and Chelsea Embankment were thin and easy to apply. Hatton Garden was thick and lumpy, but not too much trouble. The drying time was pretty good, but none of them dried very smooth. Hatton Garden needs at least two coats of a thick topcoat, the other two would be fine with one coat of Seche Vite and then another coat of regular topcoat the next day (they eat topcoat as they dry, it's so weird).

Cute little gift for glitter lover, but I think anyone would appreciate the sparkling colors and pretty presentation of this set. The colors aren't terribly unique but they all look great on the nail. They're sheer enough at one coat for layering as topcoats but are also opaque enough to be worn alone. All three colors are extremely sparkly and shiny; no disappointing dull glitter here. They do look rather dull in the bottles, but that's just an illusion.

This is available at Sephora, $25, limited edition.

(This was sent for review.)

Nails Inc. Special Effects 3D Glitter in Bloomsbury Square Swatches and Review

I've only tried three shades of the Nails Inc. Special Effects 3D glitter, but so far this one is my favorite. Even though the new Wet n Wild Ice Baby glitter nail polish in Back Alley Deals is an exact duplicate and less than half the price, I don't regret buying the more expensive Nails Inc. version. The color is worth it, and I love it so much that I would have purchased a backup anyway, so a $3 dupe is just icing on the cake.


Nails Inc. Special Effects 3D Glitter in Bloomsbury Square. Three coats of polish, two coats of topcoat. This is a fine purple glitter and a larger, round magenta glitter in a clear base. The purple glitter is very vivid and bright and the reddish circle glitter stands out against and at the same time amplifies the purple. I'm not sure what the '3D' refers to. The polish has two very different types of glitter so it has more depth than just a plain glitter, but it also dries to a very textured finish, which could also be the 3D part.

I'm wearing it with topcoat here, but I also love how it looks without. It dries matte and gritty, but it looks gorgeous. Like superfine sugar, or colored sand. I neglected to take a picture of it in its matte form, but believe me when I say that it looks really cool.

The formula on this was... glittery. It's very thick, but I didn't have too much trouble applying it. It was easy to do thin coats, and even doing three coats of this thick formula didn't cause it to get clumpy or look too thick on the nail. Drying time is surprisingly good even without topcoat. Wears very well, too. If you do use topcoat, be aware that this is really, really gritty. Not only does it require two coats to be even approaching smooth, but it eats topcoat as it dries. What I do with this is apply one coat of Gelous and one coat of Seche Vite right away. The next day, as it starts to become gritty again, I add another coat or two of Gelous on top and that makes it completely glassy smooth.

Really love this. I love Connaught Square almost as much, but this is just too crazy purple for me to be able to love anything else more.