Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Nail Polish Finishes

Came across an awesome post that describes nail polish finishes.
And this will help me alot. So I wanted to share it with you dolls.


1. Creme - A creme is one of the most popular finishes we know.

This is just a plain color without any glitter, shimmer, etc added to it.
The finish is glossy and smooth.

2. Jelly - A jelly is just like a creme, but the main difference is the
substance: more jelly-like. They tend to be sheer but they make
up for it by being xtremely glossy.

3. Shimmer - The shimmer finish is a colored base with shimmer
added to it, most of the times that color is silver but we're seeing
contrasting colors more often.

4. Glass Flecked - Glass flecked polishes look like they contain
small glass particles, often mixed in a jelly base. The finish is very
smooth, yet sparkly.

5. Neon - You could say neon describes color, not finish. But most
neons do have a particular finish, very bright colors that often dry semi-matte.

6. Frost - A frost is a very fine shimmery polish with obvious brushstrokes.
These kind of finishes are losing popularity and mostly seen in older polishes.

7. Pearl - The pearl finish is quite similar to the frost finish,
but it has a more pearly sheen to it.

8. Foil - Foil polishes often have a metallic base color with very fine
glitter added to it. The finish is very smooth yet sparkly.

9. Metallic - Metallic finishes make your nails appear like metal.
Metallic polishes are especially popular in copper, gold or silver.

10. Glitter - Glitter is one of most flashiest finishes. These glitters are
often put in a jelly base. The amount of glitter can vary a lot. Sometimes
you'll need top coat to smoothen the surface.

11. String Glitter - Mostly glitter in a clear base so they're often
used as a top coat. String glitter consists out of glitters in rectangular
shapes, often in silver or iridiscent colors.

12. Round Glitter - Just as string glitter, these are mostly used as
a top coat. The glitters in this clear base are round shaped.

13. Square Glitter - Another glitter top coat, but with glitter
in the shape of squares.

14. Hex Glitter - A very popular glitter shape: hex or hexagonal.
These are very popular and more common these days.
Often used in regular glitter polish as well.

15. Shape Glitter - This is a glitter top coat
 containing anything
from stars to hearts and diamonds (rhombus).

16. Matte - This finish dries completely matte, no shine whatsoever.
These dry quickly and sometimes end up being streaky.
Handlotion is to be avoided because it decreases the matte effect.

17. Satin - Satin finishes end up matte as well, but not entirely matte.
There is still a slight shine, but not enough to classify it as glossy.

18. Suede - Just like mattes, suedes are completely matte.
Suedes contain shimmer though, so that's what sets them
apart from regular mattes.

19. Holographic - Holographic polishes contain rainbow colored
glitter, which changes color on the reflection of light.
This finish is very obvious in sun light.

20. Holo Glitter - Holographic glitter in a different color base.
The glitter is often more sparse and while it does change color
upon different light, there is no rainbow effect to be seen.

21. Flakies - Flakie polishes consist out of a jelly base with very fine
opal (often duochrome) particles in it. They're mostly used for layering
as the jelly base is often sheer.

22. Duochrome - Duochrome polishes change color on the reflection
of light. True duochromes are very obvious and often show 2 colors,
but sometimes even more.

23. Iridiscent - This finish is often confused with duochrome or shimmer.
An iridiscent finish is a color that flashes a different color. These are not
obvious enough to be a duochrome.

24. Sheer - This is a half transparent finish, often used in French manicures
to show off the white tips. A lot of sheers are salmon, nude or pink.

25. Water - This is a strange and not that well known finish. A water finish
resembles the characteristics of a jelly, but is less opaque.


If you want to see picture examples of the finishes
head on over to the original post by Michèle over at Lacquerized.
Thank you Michèle for this awesome post!
__  __  __

And that is a "Piece of Pie" - Thank you for reading!

5 comments:

  1. OMG , thats a very useful post .. thanks for sharing it ..

    de-jeeya.blogspot.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. i didnt even know that many polish finishes existed! or maybe what they were called. i just thought it was gloss and matt and some gloss with bits of shimmer/glitter!

    thanks for this, its very conprehensive
    xoXo -B
    Breezeybree BBlog

    ReplyDelete
  3. Yes Michèle over at Lacquerized has done a great job!

    ReplyDelete
  4. I am searching for this type of posts. I really like it. Thanks for sharing.

    Elizabeth
    square glitter

    ReplyDelete
  5. You are welcome. Sure is worth sharing

    ReplyDelete

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