5 Best Holographic Nail Polishes & Top Coats 2023
The Best Holographic Nail Polishes and Top Coats are:
- Cirque Colors (The most vivid & high quality holographic top coats)
- Color Club (The polishes with the most vivid holographic effect)
- ILNP (Ideal for doing nail art)
- Born Pretty (An affordable combo set of holographic polish)
- Starrily ( A premium holographic polish)
What are Holographic Nail Polishes
Holographic nail polishes are polishes that contain specialized micro-particles called SpectraFlair. These particles are mini prisms that create a sparkling multicolored rainbow effect on your nails. Citation.
The rainbow effect can be either scattered or they can have a definite or linear form. I will explain more about these effects later down so keep on reading.
1- Cirque Colors
Cirque Colors are one of my favorite brands of polishes, they make some of the most amazing and unique blends of nail polishes and top coats.
And their Holographic Top Coats are one of the best Holo Top Coats I have ever used.
What are Holographic Top Coats
Holographic Top Coats are top coats that add a sparkling rainbow holographic effect to regular nail polishes.
They instantly turn your favorite polishes into holographic ones and they can add sparkly life to your nail art.
Now, in my opinion, Cirque Colors holo top coats do an amazing job of adding this holo effect.
Note
Holo Top Coats are great but to truly get the most amazing holographic rainbow effect you need to use Holographic Polishes, so if you are looking for that scroll down to the next set of polishes.
Pros of Cirque Holo Top Coats
1- They Create Stunning Holographic Designs
Cirque Holographic Top Coats are amazing at adding that vivid and colorful rainbow effect to your nails.
Now as I mentioned earlier Holographic Nails can either be Scattered or Linear.
And Cirque Colors has two great top coats to create either one of these effects.
Linear Holo Top Coat
Linear Holo polishes tend to have more of the micro-fine particles that are packed tightly together.
This allows them to create a solid and uniform rainbow effect on your nails. With the linear effect, you can see a clear rainbow.
See how the rainbow is in the image below
Scattered Holographic Top Coats
Now Scattered Holos create what look like dispersed mini rainbows, they are more like shiny rainbow glitter.
They tend to have fewer SpectraFlair particles but these particles tend to be more dispersed in the polish.
You can see how it is in the image below and you can compare it to the linear ones.
2- Easy to Apply
Cirque Top Coats have a nice smooth mixture, not too thin or too thick making them super easy to apply.
Just ensure you shake up the bottle before applying so that the mixture can be ideal.
These are regular polishes not gel, so you wont need a UV or Led Lamp to dry them.
How to Apply
I usually use two coats over your polish which should give you that amazing holographic effect.
3- Very Safe & Heath Conscious
Cirque Polishes are some of the safest polishes on the market.
Their polishes are vegan and animal cruelty-free, meaning no animals were used to make or test them.
And Cirque formulas are completely non-toxic and they do not have any toluene, formaldehyde or DBP. Citation.
They are dedicated to making their polishes as safe as possible.
All of Cirque Polishes are handmade in Brooklyn, New York. Citation.
4- Very Tough
Cirque Holo Top Coats are pretty durable and should last you for 6-7 days, of course, this depends on the amount of activity that you do.
Cons of Cirque Holo Top Coats
1- Very Expensive
Cirques Holo Top Coats are premium polishes they cost almost twice as much in comparison to other popular holographic Top Coats.
This high cost comes from the fact that these polishes are handmade in the USA, which tends to have high labor costs.
And Cirque also uses more premium ingredients to make its polishes which cost more.
Where To Get Cirque Colors Holographic Top Coats
I usually get them on Amazon you can click on the link below to see the current prices.
Cirque Scattered Holo Top Coats
Pro-Tip:
Holographic Top Coats show more brightly when used over dark colors.
Dark colors tend to absorb light whilst the holographic particles refract the light outwards this gives the perception that holo particles are extra sparkly.
This is just like how stars seem more bright in the night than during the day.
Cirque Colors Holographic Polishes
Cirque also has some really great holographic polishes with a wide variety of colors to chose from.
My favorite is their Silver Scattered holo polish you can click to see it on Amazon.
I also love their holographic glitter polish you can click to see it on Amazon.
Other great types of nail polishes:
Cat Eye Nails: How to DIY & Best Magnetic Polishes to Use
8 Best Mood & Color Changing Nail Polishes
5 Best Glow in the Dark Nail Polishes – Safe & Easy to Use
2- Color Club Holographic Nail Polish
Color Club makes high-quality and in my opinion the most brilliant holographic nail polishes.
They are one of the largest and most well-known brands in the nail industry and are well known for having amazing products. Citation
Pros of Color Clubs
1- Amazing Holographic Effects:
Color Club Holo Polishes will give you, in my opinion, the best holographic rainbow effect.
2- Affordable:
These polishes are reasonably priced, they are much cheaper than Cirque Polishes.
3- Very Health Conscious:
Color Club polishes are free of formaldehyde, toluene and DBP chemicals and added to that they are vegan and cruelty-free.
4- Easy to Apply:
These polishes are applied just like regular polishes no need for UV or Led Lamps to dry them.
Just apply a base coat, and then two coats of the polish and to finsh apply a quick dry top coat.
Cons Of Color Club
1- Needs More Variety in Colors
The biggest drawback of Color Club Holo Polishes is the lack of color choices and most of their polishes are primarily Linear Holographic Polishes.
Where To Get Color Club Holographic Polishes
Amazon usually has them in stock, you can click on the links below to see the current prices.
Dark Holographic Pink Color (My favorite)
Silver Color – Scattered Holographic
3- ILNP Holographic Polish
ILNP has one of the widest varieties of colors of holographic polishes to chose from
But for me, their holo polishes dont create the most stunning rainbow effects like other polishes.
Instead, they produce a more subtle and elegant effect.
ILNP Holo polishes are ideal for:
- Doing nail art since they won’t overwhelm the design
- And if you are going for a more elegant look and you dont want to look too flashy.
ILNP holo polishes also tend to be very durable being that they are resistant to peeling and chipping.
The reason their so tough is because their polishes mixtures contain less holographic particles. These Holo particles tend to make the polishes structurally weaker.
Where to Get ILNP Holo Polishes
I buy them from Amazon, you can check the links below to see some of my favorites.
ILNP Holographic Top Coat: A subtle holo top coat perfect to add on top of your nail art without overwhelming it.
A Cute Dusky Pink Holographic Shimmer Nail Polish
A bright orange color with a subtle holographic effect
4- Born Pretty Holographic Polishes
Born Pretty offers a budget-friendly combo set of Holographic Polishes.
These combo sets are great if you want to try a multicolored holographic manicure design but you are on a budget.
The main drawback for me with these polishes is that their mixture too thin and you need at least three coats to get a great holo design added to that they come in super small bottles.
But even though the polishes aren’t of a high quality I am still featuring them because they are ideal if you are on a tight budget and just want to experiment with holo polishes.
You can click to see the price of a combo set with 6 different colors on Amazon.
5- Starrily Holo Polish
Starrily is a high-end premium brand of polishes. They are an American company based in New York. Citation.
Their holo polishes are fast drying, high quality and most importantly they create very nice holographic rainbow designs.
Starrily Polishes’ main drawbacks are that they are very pricey and I think you can get the same quality from Color Club at a better price
And they also lack a variety of holographic colors.
But feel free to check them out click here to the see their Silver Linear Holographic Polish on Amazon
Tips to Make Holographic Nails Look Better
1- Use Dark Colors ideally black
Just like how Holo Top Coats look the best over a dark polish, Dark Shades of Holo Polishes tend to create a more robust holo effect.
This is because the holographic particles shine more brightly behind a dark background.
2- They Look Better Under a Direct Light Source
Holo Polishes tend to sparkle stronger when light is shined directly on them such as sunlight and halogen lights.
The more light there is the more the holo particles can refract back.
3- Merge Different Holo Polishes
To truly create an amazing rainbow holo effect I would advocate using a scattered holo topcoat over a holo linear polish.
What I recommend is to experiment and see what works best for you.
4- Shake Up the Holo Polishes Before Application
Sometimes the holo particles tend to settle and the polish wouldn’t create a consistent holo effect.
Bonus Tip
If you love unique nail polishes then I also recommend you trying Glow in the dark nail polishes and Color Changing Nail Polishes.
You can click here to learn more about Glow in the Dark Nail Polishes.
