Here is part 2 of the Layla Hologram Effect polishes.
Pictures first, chat chat after.
Please note that I fought with the sun all day taking these photos, running outside anytime the clouds parted long enough to take some sun shots. So most of these are actually way more holo than these photos show, because the sun was partly covered with washed out clouds for many of these photos.
Flash Black - charcoal grey seriously linear holo.
Ocean Rush - mid toned blue holo.
Retro Pink - light pink holo.
Ultra Violet - Lavender holo.
Ok ok, so now lets get into the nitty gritty stuff.
Formula. To start with, I gave these bottles a good shake cause I felt like the holo powder needed a good mix. The balls in these polishes really rattle and the polish sounds very thin. Looking at the polish, it does seem thin, but it's not runny. You can easily layer a thick coat on and it will dry really fast.
Application.When I applied the polish the holo particles seems to be floating and dancing all over the place in the wet polish, it was strange to watch. It wasn't streaky but it was definitely weird application for the first coat. My recommendation is, ignore what it looks like as it's going on, and just paint your nails as usual.
The second coat went on perfectly. I was expecting the same balding issues that you get the Nfu Oh and Gosh Holos, but no, this was just perfect on the second coat.
All my swatches show two coats, with no base coat or no top coat. So sorry, I can't tell you if top coat dulls these.
Wear. I've been wearing Flash Black for a full 24 hours now, with no base or top coat and I am totally amazed that I don't have chips everywhere. Nfu Oh and Gosh holo are terrible for wear unless you do a holo sandwich (ie two coats of holo, then top coat, then holo coat, then top coat). This polish has lasted very well. I do have some tip wear on the outer edges of the nail, but nothing noticeable, especially as Flash Black is a darkish polish.
Where to buy. I purchased these directly from
Layla Cosmetics in Milan Italy after an email recommendation from Tuli from
Prettify our nails - Thanks Tuli!! They cost €11.90 each and the site says that international shipping is €30 (or €15 for orders over €80). I also purchased some Layla Magnetic polishes at the same time, so my order was over €150. But at checkout it said free shipping. SWEET!
I'm not sure at what value the free international shipping kicks in, but it's worth thinking about if ladies want to do a group order. And what I discovered is that is wasn't just free regular post, it was DHL tracked. I ordered my polishes on Wednesday night, received tracking information on Thursday and got the polishes delivered on Tuesday. Less than a week! I'm super impressed by that service!!
Overall impression. The colours, the holo and the wear on these totally make them worth the €12 (converted to $14.80 AUD) I popped on each bottle. Yeah, I know that seems expensive, but when in Target today and I was looking at Revlon polishes for $15.95, I feel like these are a total bargain for what you are getting. I'm tempted to get backups.
So there you go, let me know if you have any questions.