Sparkly nail polish: 2016 edition
September 25, 2016 9:35 AM Subscribe
I like to indulge my inner 11-year-old by painting my toenails with sparkly polish. I recently discovered KBShimmer, which has the best, sparkliest sparkly nail polish I have ever encountered. It's making me wonder: what other indie nail polish companies are currently producing good stuff that will satisfy my need for age-inappropriate nail decoration?
Examples of stuff that I like: I Got a Crush on Blue, Snow Much Fun, Orchidding Me?. Punny names are completely optional.
Examples of stuff that I like: I Got a Crush on Blue, Snow Much Fun, Orchidding Me?. Punny names are completely optional.
Super Black Lacquers are made by Natalie Dee. Make sure you check out the pictures of the polish on the nails. HOWY CWAP. They're generally $12.
The Whale
The Bends
Spanked
Switch
posted by meemzi at 9:54 AM on September 25, 2016
The Whale
The Bends
Spanked
Switch
posted by meemzi at 9:54 AM on September 25, 2016
Mefi's own aerofish is the creative genius behind Scofflaw Varnish!
posted by misskaz at 10:32 AM on September 25, 2016
posted by misskaz at 10:32 AM on September 25, 2016
Best answer: There are a lot of really awesome indie nail polish brands out there!
I will second ILNP, definitely. Their holos are great -- and they have some amazing super-blingy polishes (check out the Ultra Chrome Flakies and Ultra Metallics especially, so so bling). They do sales for pre-ordering from collections, but you just missed the Fall pre-order. Those should be available for regular ordering soon, though. They also send out coupons for 10 or 25% off pretty regularly once you've ordered from them.
Other than ILNP, I recommend ordering from some of the stockists who carry multiple brands: I've had great experiences with Color4nails, Beautometry, and Live Love Polish. They don't carry the exact same lines, but there's a lot of overlap. (Watch for sales from all of them!) My favorite indie line is a England, which is not necessarily the most bling (their scattered holos are amazingly pretty, though). My second favorite is Femme Fatale, which has a lot of glitters and you might really like. Other pretty good bets: Emily de Molly, Cupcake. Lots of people also like Cirque and Picture Polish. For any polish, I recommend looking at a lot of swatches before you buy: some people are really great at making everything look amazing (lighting, etc.), which may or may not be what the polish looks like most of the time. And some indies have *awful* formulas, even some of the well-beloved ones, so I tend to not order more than two from a brand I'm trying for the first time.
Given the polishes you posted above, you'd probably like Lynderellas with all the shaped/large glitters, but that's a terrible rabbit hole to fall down (super expensive, hard to find, blah blah). You'd also probably like Cupcake 'Berry Good Looking'.
For non-indies: have you seen/tried the Color Club Halo Hues? They've amazingly holo (even in indoor lighting) and not at all fussy (no special basecoat required, easy to apply).
posted by lysimache at 12:45 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
I will second ILNP, definitely. Their holos are great -- and they have some amazing super-blingy polishes (check out the Ultra Chrome Flakies and Ultra Metallics especially, so so bling). They do sales for pre-ordering from collections, but you just missed the Fall pre-order. Those should be available for regular ordering soon, though. They also send out coupons for 10 or 25% off pretty regularly once you've ordered from them.
Other than ILNP, I recommend ordering from some of the stockists who carry multiple brands: I've had great experiences with Color4nails, Beautometry, and Live Love Polish. They don't carry the exact same lines, but there's a lot of overlap. (Watch for sales from all of them!) My favorite indie line is a England, which is not necessarily the most bling (their scattered holos are amazingly pretty, though). My second favorite is Femme Fatale, which has a lot of glitters and you might really like. Other pretty good bets: Emily de Molly, Cupcake. Lots of people also like Cirque and Picture Polish. For any polish, I recommend looking at a lot of swatches before you buy: some people are really great at making everything look amazing (lighting, etc.), which may or may not be what the polish looks like most of the time. And some indies have *awful* formulas, even some of the well-beloved ones, so I tend to not order more than two from a brand I'm trying for the first time.
Given the polishes you posted above, you'd probably like Lynderellas with all the shaped/large glitters, but that's a terrible rabbit hole to fall down (super expensive, hard to find, blah blah). You'd also probably like Cupcake 'Berry Good Looking'.
For non-indies: have you seen/tried the Color Club Halo Hues? They've amazingly holo (even in indoor lighting) and not at all fussy (no special basecoat required, easy to apply).
posted by lysimache at 12:45 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
*checks thread to see if Super Black has been mentioned* ...great work, Metafilter.
(Seriously, Nth-ing Super Black. My Other Half is quite fond of their stuff, and I will attest their polishes are even shimmer-ier than they appear in the product photos. Well worth the price tag.)
Their stuff (like the aforementioned The Bends) evokes a 90s dELIa*s catalog in the BEST way.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 12:48 PM on September 25, 2016
(Seriously, Nth-ing Super Black. My Other Half is quite fond of their stuff, and I will attest their polishes are even shimmer-ier than they appear in the product photos. Well worth the price tag.)
Their stuff (like the aforementioned The Bends) evokes a 90s dELIa*s catalog in the BEST way.
posted by The demon that lives in the air at 12:48 PM on September 25, 2016
I love seeing a variety of brands and colors, so I recently added Peachy Polish to my RSS reader.
posted by Squeak Attack at 2:51 PM on September 25, 2016
posted by Squeak Attack at 2:51 PM on September 25, 2016
Hard Candy has a good variety of glittery/confetti glitter nail polishes, like Bridal Party.
Also Pure Ice. They have so many sparkly nail polishes. My favourite is It's Complicated, it's like a party for my nails.
posted by Lay Off The Books at 3:20 PM on September 25, 2016
Also Pure Ice. They have so many sparkly nail polishes. My favourite is It's Complicated, it's like a party for my nails.
posted by Lay Off The Books at 3:20 PM on September 25, 2016
I don't know if OPI qualifies as indie, but they have some very cute sparkly polishes, such as this li'l beauty.
posted by the thought-fox at 4:12 PM on September 25, 2016
posted by the thought-fox at 4:12 PM on September 25, 2016
ILNP would be my top suggestion but honourable mention to Colors By Llarowe who do some fab sparkly holos. My Big Girl Panties is one of my all-time favourites.
posted by corvine at 4:57 PM on September 25, 2016
posted by corvine at 4:57 PM on September 25, 2016
You might like watching Simply Nailogical on Youtube. She loves holo and glitter polish and always has what she uses in the description box.
She uses Fun Lacquer a lot which includes Holo, Glitter, Multichrome, and Flakies. And if you're using something that lacks coverage definitely use the glitter packing makeup sponge method. And if you want to keep it off your skin use Simply Peel around your nail and the best peel off basecoat is UNT which means you can just peel off the nailpolish after a day or two. (Here's a test of the best peel off basecoats.)
posted by Crystalinne at 6:47 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
She uses Fun Lacquer a lot which includes Holo, Glitter, Multichrome, and Flakies. And if you're using something that lacks coverage definitely use the glitter packing makeup sponge method. And if you want to keep it off your skin use Simply Peel around your nail and the best peel off basecoat is UNT which means you can just peel off the nailpolish after a day or two. (Here's a test of the best peel off basecoats.)
posted by Crystalinne at 6:47 PM on September 25, 2016 [1 favorite]
Best answer: I am a devotee of Julep. They have lots of great glitter polishes plus many color polishes with various kinds of glittery or shimmer to them (the holographics are amazing - I just put on a blue one.) On that glitter page, I have Harmony which makes the most amazing top coat for other colors.
posted by R343L at 10:33 PM on September 25, 2016
posted by R343L at 10:33 PM on September 25, 2016
Pricier but I love Deborah Lippmann for their glittery stuff. Across the Universe was a bit of a cult hit.
posted by like_neon at 4:34 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
posted by like_neon at 4:34 AM on September 26, 2016 [2 favorites]
Seconding Deborah Lippmann. She's not an indie, I guess, and pricey as like_neon mentioned, but her polish is very high quality and always gives great results. I bought the Starlight collection that I've been hoarding ever since.
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:38 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by Squeak Attack at 8:38 AM on September 26, 2016 [1 favorite]
Scofflaw Varnish does some awesome glitter polishes (with punny names to boot). I also love Enchanted Polish for the holo-glitter look, which is more subtle but may be useful if you ever decide to make your fingernails glittery too!
posted by serelliya at 10:59 AM on September 26, 2016
posted by serelliya at 10:59 AM on September 26, 2016
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