Holo Polishes: SH Nail Prisms vs CC Halo Hues

The nail studs were provided as a press sample. That post may be found here and you can find even more pictures of these polishes on that post. All other items were purchased by me.

 Since I recently purchased Color Club Beyond, I thought it would be fun to do a comparison with one of my oldest holos, from the Sally Hansen Nail Prisms. I chose to show off one I haven't used much yet, Ruby Diamond.

Despite being old, Ruby Diamond was really easy to work with. It was really smooth, no real problems. I did have to redo a couple of fingers because well, I'm me, and I'm messy. In short, I bumped and ruined my manicure a few times before I could even apply top coat and a few times again after applying top coat. No fault to the polish itself. One thing this manicure has taught me is that while I love the look of holo polish, it just isn't for me! It allows for zero imperfections because if it isn't flawless the holo effect really highlights every little mistake. That's not a good thing when you're naturally messy like I am.

Beyond was a little bit more difficult to work with. I believe I had trouble getting it smooth. Additionally, I found that it chipped faster than the SH.

I'm a dork so I don't remember exactly how many layers this is, but I do believe it was 2. Ruby Diamond could have been applied with just 1 layer. Beyond, however, is pretty sheer so definitely needed at least 2 layers.

Now let me talk about the holo effect with these. You can tell from the pictures, while Ruby Diamond is very sparkly it doesn't have the true holo effect you can see with Beyond. I was actually disappointed with Beyond though because I discovered it took a lot of light in order to see that holo effect.  Let me show you what it looked like in the light I viewed it in most of my day (one of the downsides to living at night, I guess.)

Actually, there is more rainbow in this picture than what I could typically see throughout my day. In general, it just looked like I was wearing a dark gray, black polish with a little bit of silver shimmer. Disappointing! I had no idea these polishes needed that much light to draw out the holo effect. I mean, I understand they need light, that makes sense, but I didn't realize it would be such a difference. I guess I'll be saving my holo polishes for the future if I'm ever living during the day again.

For comparison, here's another picture where the holo looks pretty dull. This was taken in the early morning, right by my window where the sun was shining in (not directly on my hand.)

So, I just wanted to warn you about the holo effect if like me, you're not really familiar with these polishes. Just be warned, if you live in a cave or you may be a vampire, these polishes may not be for you ;)

All joking aside, these both are really gorgeous polishes in proper lighting. As for Ruby Diamond, if you're really lucky you might be able to find a good bottle somewhere... I looked briefly on Amazon and did find one for sale but the color doesn't look correct to me. Hopefully, like me, you've held on to this precious gem since it was new!

Beyond shouldn't be too difficult to find. I purchased my bottle from Amazon.com for $7.80.