Blue Flash. Every single polish in this collection impresses me, but this one especially. There are a lot of medium blue glitters out there, yet this manages to be unique. The different tones of blue glitter combined in this polish give it incomparable depth and interest.
Gems (one coat over black). I didn't manage to get a picture of it alone, but I think it looks best layered anyway. This is one of the two Jewel FX glitters in this collection and I believe they're meant to be topcoats. Right away you'll notice that this looks a lot like Deborah Lippmann / Lippmann Collection Happy Birthday, and it does, with a few minor differences:
Left to right (pinkie to index):One coat of Milani Gems over black
One coat of Lippmann Happy Birthday over black
Two coats of Milani Gems
Two Coats of Lippmann Happy Birthday
The main difference is that Milani Gems is missing the pink glitter that makes Lippmann Happy Birthday so pretty. The pink glitter really does make a difference in the end result. The second major difference is that Milani Gems doesn't have the small square glitter that Happy Birthday has. Despite these differences, they do look really similar on the nail. I slightly prefer Lippmann Happy Birthday, but if you don't want to shell out $18 for chunky clown puke glitter, then I'm sure Gems will satisfy you. Just for reference, here's Happy Birthday over black:
Gold. That's right, just Gold. Simple name. The second of the two Jewel FX topcoats in the collection. This is the hardest to apply polish in the collection but the results are really cool. It's quite difficult to get the large gold plate hexagon glitter to lay exactly right, but when you do, it looks crazy awesome. Armor plated! Great for layering, if you can distribute the glitter evenly:
Here's one coat of Gold over Purple Gleam. So disco. Love it. I've also worn this over Revlon Royal and it looks equally nice over a creme.
Gold Glitz. A mix of warm and cool gold glitters accented with a little red-copper. I love the depth and complexity of these glitters. The color mix makes them so nice. It's not just all one color in these and it makes a world of difference! This one also looks pretty familiar:
Doesn't it? This is the new OPI Ulta Exclusive Gift of Gold... which I was told wasn't happening this year... but then it was... Yeah, more on that later... But it does look a whole heck of a lot like Milani Gold Glitz!
Purple Gleam. Yeah, it's pretty much completely awesome. As if you expected me to say otherwise about a purple glitter. But, seriously, this purple glitter owns all. It doesn't look like any purple glitter I've ever seen. It's a lighter red-toned purple, almost more of a dark fuchsia, with some true purple and some BLACK (!!!) mixed in to give it depth. Really, there's nothing else like it and I'm considering buying 2,394,875 backups. The lighter purple really pops against the black microglitter and it sparkles like mad. The waitress at dinner last night flipped out over it, too...
Red Sparkle. A unique red glitter! No, it's not a Ruby Pumps dupe, either! Yes, I'm excited about this. Light and dark red glitter with what looks like some extremely tiny black microglitter. If it's not black, then it's really dark red. This looks so awesome in person. I almost skipped this one because I thought it would be just another plain red glitter. It's not. I'm glad I got it.
Silver Dazzle. This isn't really as much of a silver as it is a grey. It's silver and grey glitter with black microglitter. Yes, black glitter. And it looks incredible. Polish companies, are you taking notes? Black glitter is awesome. This polish has a definite blue tint to it. Very shiny and sparkly with all the sliver in it. And, oddly enough, I think it looks way better at night in low light than it does in sunlight.The formula on these was great. They claim to be one coat coverage, but I found that I needed two. They were really opaque for a glitter and if you did a thick enough coat I think you could settle for one, but I'm not a fan of super thick coats. All of these are two coats of glitter with topcoat. They do really need topcoat, too. They dry very gritty and semi-matte. You can get these completely smooth and glossy with two coats of Gelous plus a topcoat of Seche Vite (or whichever thick quick-dry topcoat you prefer). I've worn these as full manicures like that and they remained perfectly smooth for three days. After the third day it seems like it absorbed the topcoat and became less smooth. Isn't that weird? The dry time on these is really fast so you don't have to worry about doing extra coats of topcoat. I had no application problems.
Removal is a pain just like any other glitter, but if you have one of those scrubby acetone jars, you won't have any trouble removing them. The glitter in them is very fine and not chunky so it doesn't stick to your nails as strongly. You will probably have little glitters stuck on your skin after removal, though, so just go over your nails again with a remover-soaked cotton ball or scrub your hands in the sink.
If you couldn't tell by my gushing review, I'm totally in love with these. I am really absurdly excited about these glitters. I could go on and on about them. I almost didn't get a few of these because they looked so normal under the store lighting, but once I got them on my nails I knew I was wrong. These aren't normal. They are AWESOME. The varying tones and intensities of the glitter in each polish makes them very special and so much better than a plain single-tone glitter. Really, just look at them! They look like treasure chests full of jewels, or piles of rhinestones. Soooo goooooood. *drool*
So, yeah, these completely rock. Way to go, Milani!
