Holo Month Day 6: Layla Mermaid Spell (and comparison)

After purple holos, blues are my next favourite so it's no surprise how much I love Mermaid Spell! As with all the other Layla Holograms, this light blue holographic polish is crazy holo. It's the smooth linear kind, much like the Nfu Oh and Make Up Store holos but not a fine/smooth as the China Glaze OMGs.

This is three coats of Mermaid Spell and all pictures were taken under my table lamp.











No matter how many holographic polishes I own, I can never get enough and I will never get sick of tilting my hand at all sorts of angles (especially when the sunlight hits) to see the holographic rainbow shining through!

The only other light blue holo polish I have is OPI DS Sapphire and it was the first DS polish I bought. As you can see, DS Sapphire has a different kind of holographic effect, similar to the kind you would get with Spectraflair. The particles are much bigger and the holo effect less obvious but the rainbow does tend to appear more vibrant. Colour-wise, DS Spphire is a much cooler and paler shade of blue than Mermaid Spell.

This is three coats of each polish, taken under my table lamp.



Another thing I just noticed about DS Sapphire is the subtle purple sheen that can be seen only at certain angles. It's not very obvious but if you look closely at my middle finger nail, you can see that ever-so-subtle sheen right down the middle.


The next two pictures were taken under sunlight (yes, the sun finally came out).




Now you can see how holo DS Sapphire really is! It also appears to be closer in colour to Mermaid Spell under strong sunlight. I guess the holographic particles took over and the base colour had to take the back seat.

If you're loving Mermaid Spell, stay tuned for my review of Ocean Spell, coming up next! :)

Holo Month Day 5: Layla Jade Groove (and comparison)

Today, we have Layla Jade Groove, a super duper light green holographic polish. Jade Groove is super holo, more so than Coral Glam, Retro Pink and Ultra Violet, however, I'd say that Mercury Twilight is still a tiny bit more holo.

This is three coats of Jade Groove and all pictures were taken under my table lamp.











I didn't really have any other light green holo polishes besides Glitter Gal Green / Glossy Moss, another almost-silver holographic polish so it seemed apt to compare the two! This is three coats of each polish.





I think what's on everyone's mind though, is how Jade Groove compares to Mercury Twilight right? Since the Jade Groove is so light it appears almost silver, is it really that different from Mercury Twilight? Well, you can be the judge.





To me, there is a difference. Jade Groove obviously has a green tinge to it but if you do a regular-person test, they'd probably be unable to tell the difference from a distance, especially when they'll be more focused on the crazy holoness of the polish, rather than the colour. Still, if you're a holographic fan, you won't want to miss out on Jade Groove.

Wow, we're more than halfway done with the Layla Hologram series already! See you again for swatches of Mermaid Spell, coming up next!

Holo Month Day 4: Layla Ultra Violet (and comparison)

Purple holographic polish. Three words that will always make my heart skip a beat. Seriously, how do you not drool when you see this?

This is three coats of Layla Ultra Violet, taken in artificial lighting.









Love. Love. Love.

I dug around my Helmer a bit for light purple holographic polishes for this comparison and I came to a conclusion that I do not own enough light purple holos.

This is 3 coats of Ultra Violet, 3 coats of DS Original and 2 coats of my SF franken Copy Cat (a play on DS Original, in case you didn't catch that one).





I hunted around for DS Original for the longest time and I was so happy when I finally managed to buy it from Gwen (a fellow Singaporean blogger), who had a spare bottle and was kind enough to sell it to me! DS Original has a more spectraflair finish as compared to the super smooth finish that Ultra Violet has and somehow the holo effect on DS Original appears warmer and brighter. Colour-wise, Ultra Violet is definitely cooler.

As for Copy Cat, I used a finer grade Spectraflair when I was frankening the shade (SF-14) so the particles are smaller and give off a smoother finish. I also added a few drops of China Glaze Millenium to give it a somewhat frosty finish. It actually is pretty holo as can be seen here so you can only imagine how holo Ultra Violet is!

You know what? I'm going to go out on a limp here and say this is my favourite polish out of the eight Laylas I have shown / will be showing you. What can I do? My defenses are so weak when it comes to purple holos.

Stay tuned for Jade Groove though! I may not love it as much as I love Ultra Violet but it's still kickass nonetheless! See you then! :)