ALU’s 365 of Untrieds – Glitter Gal Blue Holographic Nail Polish
365 of Untrieds is my personal challenge to weed through the polishes in the ALU stash that I’ve been wanting to try but just haven’t gotten around to.A few days ago, Melissa from The Daily Nail was asking about “linear holographic nail polish” on Twitter. I had to scratch my head as I’ve never heard of holos being referred to as “linear.” Who comes up with this stuff?
Apparently “linear” refers to holographic polishes that create intense rainbows or a prismatic effect on the nail as compared to holographic glitter that flashes multiple colors but doesn’t create a rainbow pattern. This style of holo nail polish is becoming more and more rare as whispers of holo pigment price increases are heard throughout the nail industry. More recently a Twitter discussion of foreign nail polish brands led me to my bin of non-US untrieds, specifically the Australian Glitter Gal Blue holo nail polish. |
Formula & Application: Glitter Gal nail polish does not list its ingredients on the bottle or the website so if you have any ingredient or allergy concerns, I would suggest contacting the company. The tiny bottles look like they are sample sized at .3oz but they come with a nice, long full size brush. The bristles are dense but flexible so they easily fan out to provide a perfect three stroke application.
The polish is somewhat sheer but buildable. It took me three thin coats to get it opaque. But what I loved is the smoothness of the formula. Some holos apply streaky, which is why Nfu Oh has their special Aqua Base, but the Glitter Gal holo is perfect. I flowed on very thin and even over all three of the base coats I tested it on; CND Stickey, Gelous & Nfu Oh Aqua Base. It dried flawless every time.
Glitter Gal Blue is a punched up sky blue packed with holographic shimmer that creates a rainbow effect on the nail. I’d say it is darker than OPI DS Sapphire but lighter and less denim than China Glaze 2NITE. The closest I could come to finding a base color match is China Glaze Kaleidoscope Him Out though GG Blue is more vivid and holo. It wouldn’t do this polish justice to only show it in natural light so I snapped a shot in the sun as well (see below).
Bottom Line: If you’re a holo addict, you’re going to love this. The formula is spot on and the holographic glitter is plentiful. This color looks amazing on its own and layered so it gets two thumbs up from me.
365 of Untrieds Stash/Share Verdict: Just try to take it from me… STASH!!
Glitter Gal nail polishes are available via the Glitter Gal website and various international stockists. See their website for details. US shoppers can find Glitter Gal polishes on ebay from seller Llarowe, who I found listed on the GG website. Glitter Gal nail polishes retail for $14.99/ea for a .3oz bottle.
Have you tried Glitter Gal nail polishes before? Are you a holo fiend? What is your favorite holographic polish? Anyone know the origin of the term “linear” to describe this type of prismatic finish?
Disclosure: A product sample was provided by Glitter Gal. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
Lisa N.
Ms Meatballhead
Birdie
Spa pediccure chairs
LOVE!!! Amazing!
Golden Rose and Golden Rose Paris are great holos, cheap too, free shipping over $20!
great
i like holo
This looks close to Sally Hansen Blue Aura from the long-discontinued Magicals line. I found mine at a Dollar Tree about 3 years ago, so some might still have luck finding it.
I completely forgot about Blue Aura. I just pulled my bottle out and the base colors are similar though Blue Aura is much more opaque due to the metallic pigment in it so it’s not quite as vivid but pretty close.
This color is amazing! I love it. I’ve been to their site a few times and I’m always tempted to buy the holographic polishes. They have an awesome selection.
I’m not sure who came up with the term linear, but I know the non-linear ones are called “scattered” holos. I guess like the Milani ones. It’s hard to find a holo polish with a strong holo effect so I’ll have to look into buying some of these.
I love holos, and I love blues. How can I escape from loving this?!
Fiona
Gorgeous, and the blue is so vivid! I wonder how hard removal is?
Oh it’s not difficult at all. No scrubbing or soaking needed.
All of the GG polishes I’ve seen are just incredible!
So pleased to see your discussion on the NYTimes Website!
http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2011/06/30/why-did-wild-nail-polish-go-mainstream-10/nail-polish-is-the-new-lipstick
This is way, way pretty. I bought China Glaze Electra Magenta and Virtuous Violet, the only 2 holos I own.
The word linear comes from the Latin word linearis, which means created by lines. Nfu.on holos shows it better. This Gal is pretty too!
I THINK linear (“of or having to do with lines”) refers to the appearance of the colors in the reflected rainbows as straight lines of distinct colors, while holo glitter particles don’t form the smooth banded lines of colors.
This is such a pretty polish.I bet it would look great layered overanother nail color too. Your swatches look amazing!
Really, you never heard of the term?
I thought everyone called these kinds linear…I hear it all the time. Linear and scattered.
But anyway, this is a great holo. A bit out of my price range, so I don’t have any, but someday hopefully.
Nope, never heard of it. It’s not an industry term as far as I know so it must have been started on the blogs/message boards somewhere. I don’t really read other nail blogs to avoid being influenced by others’ opinions so if this is a common term, it’s not one that I am aware of.
just saw your ny times piece. I was so excited when I saw that nail polish was one of the “Room For Debate” topics, and THRILLED when I saw that you contributed.
I have Glitter Gal Deep Green, and while it’s not a linear holo, I LOVE it so much. It’s the perfect green for me, and it’s brilliant in the sun.
The first time I saw the word “linear” used to describe holo was in Scrangie’s review of the ChG OMG collection. She wrote: “As you can see, the holographic effect in these is quite different from the holo in the Kaleidoscope collection. These are very smooth and straight, the particles appear more organized and linear. The holographic effect in these is barely visible under low light and indoor lighting, and they actually appear pretty flat and uninteresting unless you’re in bright light or outdoors.”
I never liked holo polishes until I noticed this linear quality, and now I cannot get enough of them. I love that Nubar Reclaim has holo that’s even visible in low lighting, but my favorite is ChG FYI. It’s subtly subversive in that it’s super calm indoors and lots of fun in the sun!
Thanks for sharing that! I never read her review so I didn’t know she described the polishes that way.
Sure.
I just revisited Glitter Gal Deep Green, and I think you need it, being the green lover that you are. The formula is so smooth and it gives new meaning to the term “applies itself”. I wish there were more green holos on the market. I need an olive, myrtle, sap, moss, fern, hunter, forest, kelly and British Racing green linear holo stat!
Definitely heard the tearm linear before.. Its usually “Linear holo’s” vs. “Scattered holo’s” on all the blogs i read. :p so many terms..
I love this! I have to have it!
Yep, I think a few Glitter Gal polishes will have to become part of my family.
I’m actually really surprised you’d never heard the term ‘linear holo’ before, it’s used quite commonly around the nail blogosphere O.o
This is a super pretty blue. I love blue but I don’t often wear it on my nails as it never seems to look right on me, but give me a blue holo and I am THERE!
I don’t read many nail blogs because I don’t want to be influenced by other people’s reviews or accidentally let their words seep into my posts. I don’t frequent the MUA nail board like I used to but when I did, that term wasn’t being used.
I have OPI DS Glamour, which, at a glance, seems quite similar to this. Would you call them dupes or just very close?
Not dupes, not even very close, just similar.
DS Glamour is slightly darker and has a slightly more purply hue to it, whereas glitter gal blue seems more aqua/dark turquoise-like, being a more yellow leaning blue. On the nail they both look gorgeous though!
Wow. This one’s really pretty. I’ve always liked “linear” holos, but I didn’t know they were called that. Now I do.
Hmm… I’m not sure. Some of these holos and duochromes are beginning to look tacky to me. Maybe that’s a sign that they’re on their way out… they just don’t feel fresh or edgy to me any more. I don’t like the rainbow effect at all… it looks a little cheap, IMO. Reminds me of the cheap polishes I used to wear as a teen in the 90s.
I have never heard of holo before…but lovin’ the crystal blue. Makes me think–beach!
These look really beautiful
Can I buy them in a brick and mortar store?
You may be able to in Australia or one of their other international stockists, check the website, but in the US the only seller is the eBay store I linked to.
I can take a stab at your ? about the origin of linear in describing this kind of holo that creates a rainbow effect. Linear means (and I take this from computer programming world as well as math/stats), a line-up going forward in a uni-directional advancement. Ex is if you could NEVER count backward EVER..you only could count up from 0, 1, 2, 3 – that’s an example of linear. There is no going backward. So with regard to a holo being linear, I am taking a stab here that it’s the same thing…the progression of the color is one after the other (like in a rainbow where one line of color is laid down and the progression goes to the next color. Rainbows are always found in the same color order (however due to the atmospheric conditions we can often not see each color – and also we see for the same reason, a blur/overlapping area of colors – but that is an artifact of the moisture in the air and other atmospheric conditions. So when a holo is described as linear, it would mean IMHO, that the colors are not a mush mix of a tumble of colors popping in and out across the surface of the nail. Instead in a linear holo, the colors would run from one shade to the next in the holo’s viable spectrum of shades it has in it. I would hazard a guess that as you turn your hand, the linear holo on your nails would flash from one distinct shade to the next shade. I am seeing a little bit of that effect in your photos in that I see a linear strip moving from cutical to tip of blue, then thin strip of red, then light green, and back to a wider strip of blue and that linear progression starts over again per what I see in your photos. The patter is repeating in a linear pattern…both in terms of it’s reproducing the same way always nail to nail – and also if you want to look at the term linear in yet another way – this holo is creating lines of color from the cutical to the tip. I am not sure if my mathematical/techno mind is reading more into what I know about linear theory and maybe some of the first part is just happening due to the effects of lighting you had. Maybe all linear holos means is they tend to run in lines from as said, cutical to tip of nail. It might be both – or one of what I tried to explain here without being too much of a total GEEK.
Never tired GG before – never heard of GG before your blog here.
Fav holo polish: Hard one. China Glaze OMG is one. Far too many are called holos that really are multi duochromes (should be called mulichromes since duo means 2 and many polishes called duochromes have more than 2 colors they flash. I like the OPI My Private Jet – original holo. I tend to lump my holos into my duochromes – anything that flashes an effect that is different than glitter added to the polish to create color change to me is something that catches my eye! I am easy to please when it comes to polish that is created to play games with your eyes.
So now, clear as mud – UH??? Saying that makes me think of how even in a watery mud puddle we can often see holos!
Hope manufactures don’t start to put a higher price on holos. That’s just part of the business in my book. They can recoup for the extra production cost of a holo from what they make off a great selling collection – a Mad As a Hatter polish – or the first black Shatters for OPI that came out and were gone in less than 1 day from retail – pretty much the entire Katy Perry collection was goners from retail in one day. Now I cannot seem to make them go away – the shatters/crackles and all that is.
Rip off to me with regard to holos is to see it ONLY in the bottle and not on the mani/pedi.
This is a gorgoeus blue, I am loving it, I need to get this one, LOL Some reason the glitz and sparkle of this Holo is calling me…if that’s possible.
Love,
Mc Huggs
Am I the only one who remembers the Sally Hansen prismatic polishes?
OMG no, I totally remember and still have some of them. I have a few Sally Hansen Magical Nail Makeup and Prisms polishes that I refuse to get rid of.
I LOVE this polish. It’s so pretty. Only problem is, I have a hard time paying $15 for a bottle of nail polish. Unfortunately, due to lack of funds (and me just being a cheap-o), I must pass.
I’m not a fan of holographic polishes. Even in your really pretty pictures I can’t really like them. Having said that, this one looks good, but it still wouldn’t be my cup of tea.
Thanks for the great review! I’m a holo addict and went straight to the site and ordered 4 colors (shipping costs be damned). I’m anxious to get their black holo as it looks like it could be a near dupe for My Private Jet.
OMG!! I had no idea they made holo nailpolish!! I AM IN LOVE!!!!!
*GASP*!!!
this looks amazing!!! did you put a top coat on this polish?
i have nfu oh 61, and love it in bright light, but:
1) it looks dull and bland indoors
2) it chips easily BUT becomes much duller with a top coat.
did you have these issues with Glitter Gal Blue?
I did put a top coat over it because it dried a bit dull. But I didn’t notice it becoming dull due to the top coat.
WANT. I’m such a blue polish whore…
This color is so pretty. I feel like summer time is a really fun time to wear holographics because there’s so much sun to reflect off of your nail polish.
Lovely polish, lovely pic (as ever).
But honestly, who are you kidding?
You’ve been a MUA member since aeons (quite pleased to see you acknowledge that in your FAQ) and your last visit to MUA is dated 6/29/2011. This either implies you accidentally left your account open forever and happened to decide to log off on the very day you published this post, or you do use it – for Productville (np reviews are pretty useless though), to check pictures or to lurk on Boards. I’m not buying the ‘my account was hacked’ btw, and your last swap was in 2008.
It is not hard to find out when you posted (and you did post regularly before you went pro with ALU) on the Nail Board, and I’m pretty sure you also were around when for example Nfu flakies were all the rave (as of late 2009, ie long before you ‘discovered’ them), when Diamond Cosmetics were a big hit (those endless days of NB-madness about DC were impossible to miss), and also to learn about the persistent use of ‘linear’ and ‘scattered’ to describe various holo-types.
I can understand you don’t want to be influenced, but no (wo)man is an island – you, too need to stay informed about developments in the field. So don’t tell me you don’t check Scrangie, or read up on MUA’s Nail Board, since it is an international platform to be reckoned with, certainly as a far as trendsetting and the quest for new nail polishes all over the world and sharing new finds with others are concerned.
Do I detect a case of Not Invented Here Syndrome?
ps: poof as you please, you get the message. Don’t care about your readers.
Wow, assume much? It’s so lovely to be told about myself by someone I don’t even know and who clearly does not know me. I honestly never heard the term linear and if you’re going to spend so much time researching me, you would also look at my twitter account where I asked Melissa from The Daily Nail what “linear holo” meant. Do you have nothing better to do but to come here and attempt to call me out over something you are so so wrong about? I have no reason to lie or make things up and I have absolutely no desire to defend myself to you.
The research involved nothing more than logging on to MUA, click Member Search, insert Cincyfan in the little box and Hey presto.
No untie your panties and continue doing what you excel at: reviewing NPs, taking great pics, and wax lyrically about celebrities, their manis, their np lines or their manicurists.
Hahaha! “Don’t, for one minute, think that you had any effect whatsoever on my panties.” And nope, I’m not claiming to have “discovered” or “invented” that line like you laughably suggest I have with polish brands and terms. That’s from 10 Things I Hate About You.
Whoa, I think someone is a bit upset about something else and taking it out on Michelle for no apparent reason. I’m an active nail boarder, a friend of Michelle’s via blogging and her time on the nail board, and I really need to say something.
1) Michelle isn’t on the nail board at all any more. She gets a lot of PMs there because we both have friends from MUA that we keep in touch with via MUA. Don’t you have friends on MUA that you keep in touch with via PMs? I don’t think that it’s any one else’s business what she does on MUA anyways, I find it incredibly strange that you’re attacking her over this.
2) The linear vs scattered holo thing is a description that I’ve only ever seen used on MUA. It isn’t something that is used by the industry. I’ve never heard the China Glaze or OPI reps talking about scattered vs. linear. Sure, it makes sense, but since she says in the post she didn’t know what it meant, then just take it at face value. Who cares if she didn’t know?
3) I’m not sure what the deal is with people deciding that Michelle declared she had “discovered” anything. If you read those posts she says it was new to her and she was excited about them. I’m pretty sure she wasn’t active on MUA much anymore around that time, or for that Diamond Cosmetics thing, but if she was, really who cares?
4) I also have no idea why you’re declaring that she doesn’t care about her readers, because apparently you’ve decided that the only good nail polish info out there is from the nail board? And if she isn’t active on there she doesn’t care about her readers?? FYI, she gets info on stuff at the same time as Scrangie, and Scrangie has the same embargo dates for posting as Michelle.
5) I’m not sure how “not invented here syndrome” pertains to this? Used properly, that would mean Michelle ignored any trends simply because she wasn’t the first one to discuss/post about them. Clearly that isn’t the case.
Thanks so much for the review and link to my site. I am selling these polishes in my Ebay store until I have the time (which is always my enemy) to get a website established. Wish I could take pictures like you do!!! Just gorgeous!
Hello!
I have (and can use, like you) the Nfu Oh Aqua Base). But what I am really wondering is what brand/kind of top coat you used.
P.S. I just bought the Glitter Gal nail polish from Llarowe! You (and your gorgeous pictures!) talked me into it!
I used the Nfu Oh base as I mentioned in the post and Out The Door top coat from Sally’s. And yay!! I hope you love the polishes.
Ahh so expensive! but so pretty! guess I’ll have to go Nfu Oh!
I ordered a few colors of this from the ebay seller you referenced. So far I have received the green, and I love it! It went on so smoothly and has great depth and shine.
The ebay seller is first-rate, too. She shipped the first color superfast, and informed me that the others were due in shortly. She has been great at keeping me updated, and I am very happy.
P.S. You are totally responsible for my overspending on nail polishes lately! (I mean that in only the best way.)
Oh my god that is beautiful!!! D: I would love it but that’s… a little pricey ):
Ordered this a few weeks ago & just received it yesterday! Can’t wait to try it!
(But, my bottle is shaped differently than the one in your picture. It’s square instead of round. Still the same amount inside, though).
I have some square ones but the square bottle has holo glitter and doesn’t give the prismatic effect. Interesting that they’re putting the blue holo in square bottles now.
As always you do such amazing reviews! I love that blue on you Michelle! I have the Deep Green, Dark Purple and Copper. I just wanted to share with you and your readers that there is now another choice on US places to buy from. http://overallbeauty.com is now offering a few Glitter Gal Holos. In fact I am waiting on my first shipment to come in.
oh well..
I was wondering what other Glitter Gals you got in your un-tried group? What your thoughts about the Red, is it a real red red or more towards the pink end of red?
Again T\thanks for doing an amazing review and I so wish I could take photos as soon as you do!
Kim
Love this even more than the green in the same line! Being a natural blonde, porcelain skin with pink undertone, blue eyes–this is for me! I love it and will probably end up with it. It’s pricey but I now have a few Dior polishes so have thrown caution to the winds before!