Estessimo Tins Seductive Amethyst nail polish review

Regular readers may be aware of my quest to find every single holographic nail polish in Hong Kong. I just can’t enough of my rainbows in a bottle – it’s such a magical concept that taps into my inner holographic-sticker loving child. The latest on my hit list to show you: Estessimo Tins Seductive Amethyst.

I’ve already told you a bit about Estessimo Tins (known to my boyfriend as Snils and who knows, he may be correct!), a Japanese brand that specialise in creating glitter bombs for the nails. Most of their polishes are the old-fashioned type with pieces of actual glitter sparkling away inside them – like The Neptune and The Splash Blue which I have previously showed you – but they do have a few holos hiding in the wings too.

Seductive Amethyst is one such specimen and it is GORGEOUS. It’s a medium purple colour, slightly pink-leaning, that on its own is the exact colour I picture amethysts being in the first place. Tip in those holo rainbows and it becomes an even more magical prospect.

Unlike the famous China Glaze OMG holographic polishes, which produce a strong rainbow effect that sort of radiates round the nail in ripples (nail geeks call these ‘linear holos’), Seductive Amethyst produces a ‘scattered’ holo effect – little bursts of rainbow scattered all over the shop.

Holographic polishes are different from the old glitter polishes because, through some nail polish magic, they don’t actually feature glitter pieces submerged in the lacquer – even though the scattered ones, like these, really look like they should! Instead, the rainbow glitter seems to just exist as part of the polish itself, meaning you get a smooth (and easy to remove) finish but with a just as beautiful bling to your buck. It really is totally reminiscent of those kaleidoscopic rainbows I saw in stickers in my childhood; substitute Pokedex cards or Pogs or whatever was your childhood magpie equivalent!

I find Estessimo Tins’ longer handle easy to control and its brush is nicely-sized – somewhat equivalent to China Glaze’s but a little bit thiner – and spreads nicely. Seductive Amethyst was super-easy to apply in two quick-drying coats and delivered a flawless holographic finish. It’s a rainbow-dusted amethyst purple that looks like it belongs in fairytales.

But where this beauty really comes alive, when all the rainbows come out to play, is in super-bright sunlight… and thankfully, that’s one thing Hong Kong does well! It’s like rainbows are dancing off your nails! It’s searingly, blindingly, mind-blowingly brilliant. I could not stop staring in awe at my claws.

Beautiful, bountiful, bouncing rainbows at my very fingertips and in my fave shade, purple – seriously, what more could I ask for? Seductive Amethyst didn’t even need to bother with a chat-up line, it had me at hello… or should that be holo!

Looks good with: bright sunlight, not minding if you bump into stuff because you’re staring at your nails
Drying time: 5 mins
Coats required: 2
Chips: 2 days

Estessimo Tins Seductive Amethyst, Winter 2006 More Jewellist Collection