L.A. Girl 3D Silver and Black Illusion

This was that big post that would have been up on Friday.  I got absurdly sick on Thursday night while I was writing it and I only just started feeling ok again on Monday night.  Hooray for stomach flu.  Three of the four of us got it.  It even made my partner a little sick, which is rare.  Nothing tastes as good as the first normal thing you eat after a weekend like I had, and the pulled chicken sandwich I had for dinner was heavenly.  This post got pushed back again because of what I found yesterday.  I recovered just in time, it seems.  So happy to be back swatching again.  I went FOUR days with naked nails.  Horrible!

I posted my picks from the L.A. Girl 3D Effect collection back in....holy crap that was March!  I kept getting drawn back to the dwindling displays at Rite Aid stores and I wound up buying 3D Silver and Black Illusion too, despite having likely dupes.  I'm such a sucker for scattered holos!  My ancient camera doesn't do the best job with them though.  Some of these are far from my best photos.  Sorry!


Black Illusion has a black jelly base with large holo particles.

LED light

I love twists on classic black.  Sure, you can layer a holographic top coat over black, but it just isn't the same.  Two outstandingly smooth, easy coats of Black Illusion have a depth that layering just can't match.  I did a comparison of top coat over black vs black scattered holo in my review of Zoya Storm.

natural light

It's not the boldest thing ever in natural light indoors, but the soft rainbow effect is still pretty.  I said it before, but if you're somewhere sunny, these would be amazing!  I'll just have to wiggle my fingers under my little LED lamp.  And wiggle I shall!

LED light - *wiggle wiggle wiggle* (See? I do have thumbs!)

I knew this was going to be a dupe for Zoya Storm, but I bought it anyway.  I'm a sucker.  Total sucker.  I don't even mind.  The really funny part is that Black Illusion and Storm are such strong dupes that I'm not really sure who's who in my comparison!  Curse you again, stomach flu.

LED light

I didn't make a note and it's been almost a week since I took this photo, so I'm just completely stumped.  One nail has Storm and the rest are Black Illusion.  I wanna say that Storm's on my middle, but it might be the ring.  I really think Storm is the middle because the particles are very slightly smaller.


3D Silver is large holo particles in a clear base.

over Wet n Wild Silvivor - LED lighting

It's really more of a topcoat than a stand-alone polish, so I wore it over Wet N Wild Silvivor.  This is one coat of 3D Silver over three coats of Silvivor.  The effect isn't the boldest, having almost a pastel look, especially in natural light indoors.

over Wet n Wild Silvivor - natural light indoors

I'm not sure I'd wear it over a silver base again.  There's so much more you can do with a scattered holo top coat.  It is pretty though, and very summery in a way.

over Wet n Wild Silvivor - direct sunlight

I did do one nail of it on its own.  Far too sheer for my taste.

LED lighting

Bottom Line: Your chances of finding these in a Rite Aid are getting slim, but it's worth a look.  Some Rite Aid stores around here have what's left of this collection on clearance, but it varies store to store.  I own five of the eight shades and I'd recommend them all.  The formulas are especially great.


....but wait...there's more!  I own so many scattered holo or holo glitter top coats that I decided to compare eight of them over black to show the differences.  Some of them are available at pretty much any drugstore, others are long gone, but I figured it was worth contrasting a bunch.  I have a few more, I think, but eight is plenty for now.  First up are the less dense glitters, followed by denser glitters and scattered holos.  The end result of very fine holo glitters is similar to scattered holos, but not *quite* the same.  The biggest difference is that glitters have uniform shapes and sizes as opposed to the irregular shapes and sizes of holo particles.  Glitters don't dry as smoothly though.  Both comparisons are one coat of each polish.

I-Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond * M-Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope
R-FingerPaints Sparkle And Snowflake * P-Nicole By OPI Wink Of Twink

I never like to give bad reviews, but I'm really dissatisfied with Orly Shine On Crazy Diamond.  It's so watery and sparse.  It also has a stronger smell than any other Orly I own.  Makes me wonder if I got a bad bottle or something.  Wet n Wild Kaleidoscope is the only one of these eight with varying sizes of glitter.  It's worth the 99c it costs.  FingerPaints Sparkle And Snowflake is dense yet goes on smooth and is one of my favorites of this type...but it was LE last xmas and your chances of finding it are getting slim.  Nicole by OPI Wink Of Twink layered way better than I thought it would.

I-Piggy Polish Glitter-azzi * M-L.A. Girl 3D Silver
R-OPI DS Coronation * P-Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment

Piggy Polish Glitter-azzi was my favorite holo topper, and I still really like it.  It was an Ulta clearance bin find last summer.  It has the same xmas lights twinkle as Sparkle And Snowflake, but larger and not as dense.  L.A. Girl 3D Silver is great for layering!  Wow!  The holo particles are very large and bold.  It also applies very smoothly and evenly.  OPI DS Corronation has much smaller particles, so the flash isn't as strong.  I think it looks better over lighter bases because it covers so densely.  Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment is my favorite holo glitter.  This is just one coat and it's so intense and sparkly!  It's from a few years ago, but I found it at Five Below a few months back.

These four are all so great in their own ways that I think they deserve to be seen at another angle.  The rainbows are much more obvious this way.

I-Piggy Polish Glitter-azzi * M-L.A. Girl 3D Silver
R-OPI DS Coronation * P-Nicole by OPI Make A Comet-ment

Bottom Line: 3D Silver can absolutely hold its own among my collection.  It's that perfect balance, dense enough to only need one coat, but not so dense that it obscures the base color.  It has a major advantage over the glitters because its flatter particles don't need as much top coat to smooth out.  I'm very impressed!


Two bottom lines in one post?  I couldn't think of another way to do it!  I have another comparison post coming up soon and it's just as sparkly.  See you then!