SpaRitual Kaleidoscope Collection Swatches, Review & Comparisons
SpaRitual is unleashing a rainbow of color on us with their upcoming release, the Kaleidoscope Collection. A set of twelve hot shades that include everything from bright white to neon pink and dark purple in a range of finishes.
As much as I’ve been digging the blue, green and yellow pastels that have come out recently I’m really happy to see a collection that is pastel-free. This entire collection is filled with bold hues which seems a bit unusual for SpaRitual. They tend to mix more conservative, serene colors with their unique creations but this collection is anything but safe. I have six of the twelve shades to show you so check them out after the jump! |
Crystal Eyes is one of the polishes I was most excited about. I love blues and this one is gorgeous but unfortunately it seemed a bit familiar. Thus the comparison below.
Crystal Eyes is a dead-on dupe of Orly Calypso Breeze. The picture makes the Orly look a bit darker but trust me, the colors are IDENTICAL. I don’t think the SpaRitual had finished drying when I snapped this. Dry, they are twinsies. They even apply the same. So which one you choose depends on which formula/bottle you prefer.
Illume is another color that ended up letting me down thanks to an Orly dupe. This jelly-ish purple is gorgeous but a bit on the sheer side. I ended up using FOUR COATS which is just unnecessary, especially when there’s a twin out there.
Illume has an identical twin sister in Orly Charged Up only the Orly is more pigmented. I only needed three coats of that to match the SpaRitual shade.
Optical Illusion is a swamp thing green glitter that applies on the sheer side but builds up to a fun, funky color. Actually, this would be a good fit for the OPI Shrek collection, no? Just as a warning, when you start applying it, the base coat looks a lot like pea soup but keep going it gets better. Though what’s odd is that in the bottle Optical Illusion looks like it could be a duochrome but on the nail that effect disappears.
Golden Gleam has a warm burnished gold but the silver metallic shimmer keeps it in the neutral gold zone so cool toned girls shouldn’t be too afraid. It’s got that great foil-like finish that I love in metallics and the pigmentation is good. Only two coats for me.
Lustress is another foil-like metallic shimmer. In all honesty, this one seemed pretty meh in the bottle but on my nails I got a kick out of the coral tone. You all know this isn’t my usual color family but I’m making an exception for this one because it resembles a FingerPaints color I regrettably gave away.
Outside of the dupe issue, Color Trip is my one true disappointment in the collection. A bright rosy pink neon, I applied three coats and still have VNL. The one bright side is that even though it dries to a satin finish (as you can see on my pinkie nail), when you add top coat it has a jelly-ish quality that I’m sure some of you will love. What totally confuzzles me is that SpaRitual calls this a purple neon and like Essie Perky Purple I don’t see how in the world this could ever be labeled a purple.
The rest of the collection includes Flashback, Solaris, Imaginarium, Twinkle, Looking Glass, White Light
Bottom line: Optical Illusion is a must-have in my book since I have nothing like it. If you prefer the SpaRitual formula and don’t own Orly Calypso Breeze, check out Crystal Eyes. With all the great purples that have been coming out, Illume is a pass not only due to its lack of pigmentation but its unoriginality. The foil metallic shimmers are definitely gorgeous and worth a look. I’m also hoping to snag a bottle of Twinkle in the near future because it looks stunning.
The SpaRitual Kaleidoscope collection launches on May 1st 2010. You can find SpaRitual online at SkinStore.com and AveYou.com and in salon and spas nationwide including Canyon Ranch, Mandarin Oriental and Spa Halekulani. Or try the locator at SpaRitual.com.
What do you think of the Kaleidoscope collection? Any faves that you’ll be picking up?
Disclosure: Product samples were provided for review by SpaRitual. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
i kind of did this weird gasp when i scrolled down to optical illusion…so i think an involuntary reaction like that means i should add that color to my slowly growing collection. (:
wow its seems as though they’ve upped their game i love the deeper colors the purple i already have orly charged up, optical illusion looks good twinkle too.
It is disappointing..but considering Orly owns SpaRitual, not a total surprise on the dupes
I adore the blue, gold and green! Even if the blue’s an orly dupe, it’s still uber-duper pretty!!
Thank you for the comparisons, really helpful. Do you happen to know of anywhere in the NE Ohio area that carries Sparitual polish? The closest location that come up on the Sparitual locator is Detroit. I don’t know if that really means nowhere around here carries it or if they just aren’t listed on the site. Thank you!
I like the colors. It’s playful and not wanting to be taken seriously.
Gorgeous collection of colors!
Illume and Crystal Eyes don’t look very Kaleidoscope-y to me! I’ll pass on all but might change my mind about Twinkle! Hope you get that soon, I’d love to see it
Swamp green is my favorite nail color! And it sparkles! Woop!
Oh it’s so pretty!! I <3
Oh my gawd. I’m a sucker for blues and Chrystal Eyes is pretty but Optical Illusion rocks my socks off! I want it right now and I have no clue where to get it in the Netherlands, so thank you for making me search like a crazy person!
oooh swamp green glitter, that is lovely and I have a feeling there is a salon near me that does Spa Ritual. The others are a bit blah and I just hate those pink/purple ones (last 2), they just seem so old fashioned. That said the same salon does Orly polish and I do love that purple cream but would go for the Orly version based on your review. Can see the pastels hitting the polish drawer and not coming out for a while again now!
Really like Optical Illusion, how many coats did you do?
~Emily
Optical Illusion and Color Trip (with the top coat) are my faves in this collection. Absolutely stunning! I would defenitely add these on my shoppinglist, if I hadn’t just ordered some awesome colors and spent way too much money.
Thanks to your great reviews and swatches, I’m getting China Glaze’s Yell-O-Neil, a couple colors from the Rebel Debutante collection and oh-so-many others.
Thanks for the swatches. I’m feeling meh about this set (the colors, not your great blogging), but looking forward to hearing more about Imaginarium, Solaris and White Light
Hello! I’ve been reading this blog for the past two years and this is my very first time commenting. =D This blog actually first introduced me to the world of beauty blogs lol. I have a question, have you ever come across the nail polishes from a brand called Inglot? They opened a store in NYC not too long ago and I wondered if you ever reviewed them. Since the layout has changed, I can’t find the label bar anymore lol.
Have you heard about the whole OPI not letting etailers sell their nail polish? i was just on transdesign and it said that they were liquidating their entire. this is crazy! why would OPI do this? You’re really high up on the nail community, right? You can talk Suzi and OPI out of this madness, right?!
Your swatches are always so dangerous…I just ordered Optical Illusion, and a couple of others from previous entries you had posted. Thanks for the links to the retailers!
if i can get my hands on some, i would get looking glass, twinkle, lustress, and optical illusion.
I love them all. You could sell ice to the Inuit. That’s how good your pix are. You represent a danger to a person’s wallet.
Optical, Golden and Lustress have my name on them!
Btw, can they not spell “lustrous” at Spa or is it one of these whimsical names?
Diannpes, thanks for that heads up. I’ve always enjoyed Spa Ritual colors but I didn’t know that.