This is the last thing I picked up when I was in New York and had access to NYX makeup. It was $1.50, and it looked so awesome in the bottle that I couldn't resist getting it (didn't even really try, honestly). It looked like a rainbow-filled glittery miasma of glory. I'm happy to report it looks just as awesome on my nails. Like, I'm planning on wearing it indefinitely because it's just so awesome. Bored in class? Just look at my nails. Feeling stressed? Check out how my nails sparkle! Feeling sad? But my polish changes colors! Seriously, unbelievably awesome. Possibly the best purchase I have ever made (excepting food, of course). I wore it over Sonia Kashuk Blank Slate (which I'll be reviewing soon); the first day with just one coat of glitter, and the second day I added another. I liked it best with 2 coats, because the level of sparkly glowage was just unbelievable, but 1 coat was plenty to see the effect, and less gaudy for those sensitive to such things. Now then, brace yourselves for a deluge of pics (and enlarge them for a better view of the sparkle!)...
Spot Light is really aptly named. It comprises holographic sparklies and larger holographic hexagonal glitter pieces in a clear base, and the combination of big and small glitters makes for an incredibly vibrant and alive look. Even with the miasma of pictures above, I didn't manage to really convey how dynamic this polish is. Depending on the angle the light hits them at, the glitters shift from red to orange to yellow to green to indigo blue, and since the polish isn't smooth and the glitters lay at different angles, I can make my nails have all the colors of the rainbow at once. HOW AWESOME IS THAT?!
Also, it glows. Or seems to. And not just under sunlight! Indirect light, inside light, dim light, fluorescent light––it's all awesome. My fingers look like they're encrusted with magical rainbow jewels. Bottom line: I am completely infatuated. I now have plans to wear this over every polish I own, because it's guaranteed to make them even more awesome. Mmm...
Like all glitter polishes, this one is tricky to apply and even harder to remove. Getting the hexagonal glitter to be evenly placed is a challenge, though using the brush to move them works fine (you could probably use a toothpick or something similar, too). It takes a long time to dry, because it's so thick, and you have to wait a few minutes between coats so that you don't move around the glitter that's already been placed. I topped it with a thick coat of Out the Door quick-dry topcoat, but it still took 5+ minutes for it to be touch-dry and it was dent-proof after a couple of hours (I don't know precisely how long before it's good to go, since I wasn't willing to try testing it and ruining my hard work, but after 2 hours it was fine). Also, even with a thick coat of topcoat, it's still a little bumpy, so if you want a smooth feel, you'll have to do a couple of layers of topcoat. Taking it off was a veritable nightmare; I had to leave remover-soaked cotton balls wrapped in aluminum foil on my fingers for 5 minutes, and even with that it took vigorous rubbing and a lot of pressure to get the glitter off. Low maintenance it is not, but did you see those pictures? There's a lot I'll put up with for glowy holo gorgeousness.
Worn with base and top coat, it wore for 5 days on my very crappy, peel-y nails with minimal tip wear and no chipping. If you have healthy nails, I'm sure you could get it to last longer than that, and perhaps without tip wear!
Overview
$1.50-$1.99 for 0.43 oz, available from Cherry Culture and select stores (I've only been to one in Manhattan, but their distribution is wider than that, though near impossible to get a handle on)
Quality: 9
Effectiveness: 5 (I'm assuming its purpose was to be a holographic glitterbomb, which it definitely succeeded at)
Ease of Use: 1.75 (application is a pain, removal is even more of a pain)
Senses: 4 (a little bumpy, even with topcoat)
Pigmentation: 5 (I think it's supposed to be a glittery topcoat, so it's fine in that respect)
Duration: 5
Consistency: 3.5 (thick)
Price: 5
Value: 5
Grade: B
If I were grading based on how much I liked it, this polish would get an A++++++++!+!+!+!. But this blog has more integrity than that, so I must account for its shortcomings. In spite of them, though, I highly recommend this polish if you like glitter, holo, or have a soul. You will not be disappointed.
What do you think of Spot Light? Have you tried any NYX nail polishes? Any other colors you think I should try?
Bottle in the sunlight, out of focus to show the crazy sparklies
And even in focus you can see how shiny it is!
The only shot I managed to get of it in the sunlight, when I stuck my hand out of the window in my office during a brief window (bahaha) of sunshine
This is what it looks like straight-on; at any other angle, you can see the holo
Like this one, which is blurry and has bad light, but completely shows how it freaking glows like a neon glowstick
Angle shot
Another super blurry photo to show the glowiness
Check out how the hexagons shine!
Underwater pic (a trick I learned from Goose's Glitter), which would be better under sunlight, but it was night and it's just under the fluorescent light in our kitchen. Even so, check out how some of the hexagons are glowing!
ETA: Okay, I finally got around to wearing it by itself! Wow! And even more than that, I wore it for 5 days––a freakin' lifetime by my standards (this is in part because I wanted to test for duration, and in part to put off the painful process of removing it for as long as possible). I actually really like it alone; I did two coats over base coat, and it just makes the ends of my fingers glisten and glow ethereally. I'm really excited to try it over white and/or silver for a wintry manicure. Keep in mind that, in the photos below, I took them with my phone in inside light (because winter has hit here in the Pacific Northwest, and the sun is playing hide-and-go-seek, and winning), so they don't show how really rainbowy glorious it is.
Two coats of Spot Light in inside light
Same as above
Also, it glows. Or seems to. And not just under sunlight! Indirect light, inside light, dim light, fluorescent light––it's all awesome. My fingers look like they're encrusted with magical rainbow jewels. Bottom line: I am completely infatuated. I now have plans to wear this over every polish I own, because it's guaranteed to make them even more awesome. Mmm...
Like all glitter polishes, this one is tricky to apply and even harder to remove. Getting the hexagonal glitter to be evenly placed is a challenge, though using the brush to move them works fine (you could probably use a toothpick or something similar, too). It takes a long time to dry, because it's so thick, and you have to wait a few minutes between coats so that you don't move around the glitter that's already been placed. I topped it with a thick coat of Out the Door quick-dry topcoat, but it still took 5+ minutes for it to be touch-dry and it was dent-proof after a couple of hours (I don't know precisely how long before it's good to go, since I wasn't willing to try testing it and ruining my hard work, but after 2 hours it was fine). Also, even with a thick coat of topcoat, it's still a little bumpy, so if you want a smooth feel, you'll have to do a couple of layers of topcoat. Taking it off was a veritable nightmare; I had to leave remover-soaked cotton balls wrapped in aluminum foil on my fingers for 5 minutes, and even with that it took vigorous rubbing and a lot of pressure to get the glitter off. Low maintenance it is not, but did you see those pictures? There's a lot I'll put up with for glowy holo gorgeousness.
Worn with base and top coat, it wore for 5 days on my very crappy, peel-y nails with minimal tip wear and no chipping. If you have healthy nails, I'm sure you could get it to last longer than that, and perhaps without tip wear!
Overview
$1.50-$1.99 for 0.43 oz, available from Cherry Culture and select stores (I've only been to one in Manhattan, but their distribution is wider than that, though near impossible to get a handle on)
Quality: 9
Effectiveness: 5 (I'm assuming its purpose was to be a holographic glitterbomb, which it definitely succeeded at)
Ease of Use: 1.75 (application is a pain, removal is even more of a pain)
Senses: 4 (a little bumpy, even with topcoat)
Pigmentation: 5 (I think it's supposed to be a glittery topcoat, so it's fine in that respect)
Duration: 5
Consistency: 3.5 (thick)
Price: 5
Value: 5
Grade: B
If I were grading based on how much I liked it, this polish would get an A++++++++!+!+!+!. But this blog has more integrity than that, so I must account for its shortcomings. In spite of them, though, I highly recommend this polish if you like glitter, holo, or have a soul. You will not be disappointed.
What do you think of Spot Light? Have you tried any NYX nail polishes? Any other colors you think I should try?
