I feel like this is the drugstore score of the century... I can't remember the last time I saw true holos from a drugstore brand... Sally Hansen Magicals? Nail Prisms had a couple holos too. But the last time I saw a Magical for sale in a store was 2003? That seems so recent, I wonder if they were old stock.
Sorry, I think my train of thought derailed. Back on topic... Milani holos. AWESOME. Love them. They rock. Pics.
3D. Gold holo. I didn't let these all dry enough before taking the pictures... It was cold and I was in a hurry! It's a lot more holo than this, but the funny thing is... It looks almost more holo under artificial light than it does in sunlight. Bizarre. Love it, though. Nice gold shade, not too warm for my skintone.
Cyberspace. Check out Dexter Douglas, nerd computer ace... Went surfing on the internet and was zapped to cyberspace! That's totally what this color blue reminds me of, and it is named cyberspace...
Digital. Kind of a mauvey-pink holo? It's pink and I still love it. I love the little jewel-like holo particles. So nice.
HD. Your standard silver holo, yet somehow... it's different. The particles are different. I'll get to that in a minute.
Hi-Res. Pretty purple holo! It's a light purple, but it's still purple. I wish there was a better dark purple holo out there... But yeah... super pretty...
Hi-Tech. Bright green holo. THIS IS NOT COLOR ACCURATE. My camera wouldn't pick up the crazy bright yellow-greenness of this polish. It is amazing. My absolute favorite of the bunch, and so far, my favorite green holo. I have never seen a holo with such a bright color. It's like... a super bright lemon-lime shade, not bright enough to be neon but the closest I've ever seen to a neon holo. It looks amazing at night because the yellow-green color stands out even more. The holo effect is really strong on this one too. If you get a chance to see this one in person, please do, my pictures don't to it justice.
The holographic effect in these is great. It's not like the China Glaze OMGs or the OPI Designer Series holos. It's a bit like the China Glaze Kaleidoscopes, but still different. It's closest to Ozotic holos- lots of larger flecks of hologram foil with a few tiny chunks. It looks likes pieces of holo glitter, but it's not glitter. It's perfectly smooth.
The other nice thing about these holographic polishes is that they're nice in low light/indoors/at night. A lot of holographic finishes turn into a frosty looking metallic when there's no light shining on them. These don't. These look sparkly and bright. Like a slightly prismatic foily glitter. I think that's why I like these so much compared to others.
The hologram effect isn't as strong as the OMGs or Kaleidoscopes, but it's still pretty strong. Stronger than the Color Club holos. It's that scattered type holo more like Kaleidoscope, not the linear smooth kind like OMG.
Like I said above, I didn't wait until these were fully dry to take my pictures, so it dulled the hologram effect a bit. They don't look like too much in the bottle, either. They really shine on the nails, though.
Formula was good. Not patchy with bald spots like I had anticipated. A little thin but densely packed with holo particles. Most only needed two coats, but I did three just because I'm like that. They dry super fast. Wear is good, too. I made it two days without chips... I didn't wear it longer than two days, though. The reason I mention the wear is that I don't get great wear from a lot of holographic polishes, but these seemed okay.
The only downside about these is the price. They're not expensive, but $4.39 seemed a little steep for drugstore. Not that they're not worth it... And they're not anywhere near as bad as Sally Hansen.... but when you can get China Glaze for $2.60 and OPI for $4.48-$5, it seems like a lot for drugstore polish. But, I'm not complaining, it could be worse. I just don't like the way all the drugstore brands are raising their prices to be almost level with salon brands.
Milani also had holographic shadows and lipgloss to coincide with the release of these. I got two of the shadows and one of the glosses. The shadows aren't actually holo- the packaging is confusing. It's covered in holo glittery things so it kinda looks like the holo is inside the package instead of just on it. It's also not really eyeshadow. It's basically glitter gel with some multicolored glitter. The bases are slightly tinted, but not tinted enough to wear them alone as color. They're not bad, but they're not as good as I hoped they were.
The lipgloss is Milani's answer to MAC Dazzleglass. I got a fuchsia purple one and I like it a lot. It's a little too sheer for me, but the shimmer effect is great and it's even kinda duochromey/iridescent! Smells nice too, like orange and cream.
These items (polish, shadow, gloss) were all on the permanent display! So that's good news. There were also a line of new neons just above the holos on the display but I didn't grab any. They're all in opaque colored bottles, which is weird. Maybe I'll go back for some. They didn't jump out at me when I saw them, but I won't know until I wear one...