It’s day 9 of the 30 Day Nail Challenge for April and the theme is polka dots!
Today I’ve got Glow In The Dark Nail Polish from Claire’s Cosmetics to share with you. I purchased this un-named pink polish last month at Claire’s Boutique in the mall. Since the theme is polka dots I used my Konad M79 stamping plate and some black Konad polish to accent my ring finger. It looks cute and summery but let’s get to my review…
First off, the polish comes in this awesome bottle that has a light in the top! The whole bottle lights up when you press the button on top of the applicator brush!! Good packaging ploy, Claire’s Boutique! They enticed me to spend the $7.
After applying my first coat I was surprised at how sheer it was- it barely tinted my nails pink at all. So I started investigating the bottle to see if there were special instructions. Maybe I was supposed to put the polish over top of an opaque color? I peeled off my price tag- to reveal no instructions at all. I guess you are supposed to wear it by itself. But hold on! Wait… under the price tag sticker I found an expiration date! The bottle says it was manufactured in Feb 2011 and it expires in August 2013…that’s only a couple months away! Well, that would’ve been nice to know! I wish I still had my receipt- I’m tempted to write a letter to Claire’s to suggest that they not intentionally cover the expiry info!
I applied three coats and I still have a lot of visible nail line. But I figured I’d stop at 3. It dries fast though, which is nice. It has a very strange formula due to the particles of glow in the dark stuff that’s in it. It was thin but gritty and I had to paint with as few strokes as possible. If I painted over a section that was just painted- then the polish would lift off and it looked streaky and thin. Application was weird but it dried quickly so the three coats weren’t a hassle. The final result? A sheer neon with a gritty matte texture. Here’s a closeup.↓
I put a nice thick coat of seche vite over top to try and smooth it out. It still feels a little bumpy though, but no biggie. So the next question is…. HOW WELL DOES IT GLOW IN THE DARK?
It glows just fine. Nothing that I would write home about, but I’m not disappointed either. It works as expected. I wonder if it would glow more with a bright base coat underneath? Also, my bottle’s getting close to expiration so perhaps a newer bottle would glow more? I’m surprised that it didn’t glow in pink… instead, it was more of your standard yellow glow, typical of most glow-in-the-dark stuff. Wonder what it looks like under a blacklight? I had a hard time photographing this… but here’s an untouched shot of it in the dark. ↓ On the computer this pic looked okay, but on my Nook Tablet it looked so dark. Sorry, but I tried!
Overall, I do like this polish. I really love the tone of this pink. It almost has a peach tint to it and it makes me look tan! It’s so summery and tropical and the sheerness of it makes it look like a sheet of neon glass over my nails. Normally I don’t like sheer polishes- but this one reminds me of summertime so I will definitely wear it again. The glow-in-the-dark thing is fun… so why not? I’m glad I added this polish to my stash. The more I wear it the more I adore the color. I feel like I need a vacation, sunglasses and a drink with an umbrella in it!
Have you ever tried glow in the dark polish?