2 True Crystal Nail Polish : Shade 2 Vampish Red

Let me introduce you to a rare gem in my collection: 2True Crystal Nail Polish in Shade 2, 'Vampish Red'.

Do you remember when I reviewed 2True's gorgeous limited edition turquoise and purple Crystal polishes, HERE and HERE? Both times, I was blown away; they had awesome formulas, applied beautifully, dried smooth and sparkly, and looked and wore like they cost one heck of a lot more than the £1.99 (3 for £5) I paid for them. Vampish Red, an almost metallic looking, vivid cherry red (it looks a little more pink toned in real life than in these pictures) is every bit as great as they were; it went on a treat, dried nicely, and with only two layers plus one of top coat, it's survived two days of housework, showers, bleaching my hair without gloves on and washing the dog, and there isn't even any tipwear yet.

I absolutely love this polish and I currently have it on both my fingers AND my toes. It looks great with my sandals (not that I can wear them outside the house since it's peeing down with rain and so cold I've had to turn the heating back on, but still). It has this lovely inner glow, too - I love when a polish does that, don't you? Although this range was supposed to be limited edition, the last time I was in Superdrug they still had all four shades. I'd definitely recommend you snap this one up pronto while it's still around!

Ebalay Glow 003 - Purple Translucent Glow

Good morning! I have something really fun to show you today.

You'd be forgiven for thinking this just looks like a slightly different version of the Beauty UK Mauve Flash polish I showed you last time; that's because it IS Mauve Flash. I used it as a base coat for this little chap here:

Introducing Glow 003, by Ebalay. (Don't mind the blob on the lid, it had a bit of an incident on the way here from KKCenterHK, who sent this to me for reviewing. It's alright now, though). Glow 003 is the unimaginatively named purple version of their range of glow in the dark topcoats. Yes, it looks pink in these pictures, but that's just because my camera doesn't enjoy purple in the same way I do. Imagine this colour, but a bit more purple-y.

Glow 003 is the most translucent purple known to man. Don't even bother trying to layer it up to opacity, it just won't happen. But then again, it IS a topcoat, so I wasn't expecting to be able to do that anyway. On opening the bottle, I have to admit my heart sank, because it's so thick (it wouldn't even drip off the brush) I didn't know how I'd ever be able to get it onto my nails. I was worrying about nothing, though; it went on just fine. Appearances can be deceptive, I guess.

The thick formula didn't stop it from drying quickly, either. I used two coats here. Close up, you can see tiny little transparent particles suspended in the purplish base; they aren't glitter, or shimmer, and I did wonder what they were for. They give your base colour a slightly milky effect, but otherwise you can't really tell you're wearing this. 

Switch off the lights and the particles reveal themselves: they're glow glitter! I was surprised how well this polish glowed, since I've seen swatches of other glow in the dark polish that weren't anywhere near this bright. For some reason, my camera couldn't pick up the brightness as well as my eyes could - all of this pictures are much less glowy than reality. In fact, my first pictures were frustratingly black - I could see the glow, but not photograph it. Just to see what would happen, I charged the bottle and my nails up with a UV blacklight for maximum glow. The result was amazing! In real life, the UV-charged glow was insane. If you wear this polish in a nightclub, you might need sunglasses to shield your eyes against your own nails! When I took pictures of it, the shots looked more like the glow you get from normal light (and which I'd failed to capture before). I guess my camera just loses a lot of the glow, but at least I can show you what it looks like to the naked eye now!

Again, this is what you'd see with the naked eye if you'd stood in your kitchen and held your hands up to the light, then turned it off. Imagine this ten times brighter and that's what you'd see on a blacklit dance floor.

Isn't it fun? Obviously this is a bit of a novelty polish, I mean you have to turn the lights off before you can appreciate what's special about it. And I don't often go to nightclubs so I can't really make use of the cool dance floor effect. But I really liked the purple glow and it was fun to play with in the dark. I could see people having a great time with this at Halloween.

Ebalay Glow 003 is available HERE from KKCenterHK. It's priced quite reasonably at £5.63 (just over $9.00), but right now everything on their website is 25% off for their 5 year anniversary! KKCenterHK also offer a 10% discount until the 31st January 2013 to anybody using the code glitter-mountain at the checkout. (Use of this code does not benefit me in any way)

Disclaimer: this polish was sent to me as a free sample for consideration. My opinions remain my own and are unaffected by this.