Warning: There are a lot of photos, I like to be thorough.
This is old news really but since I realized I'd never written a store review for Glitter Unique and given the woman her due, I decided to write it now- better late than never, right? By this time I am sure most frankeners know about the store Glitter Unique even if they haven't bought anything but my first dealing with the company was when the shop just opened and Nikki contacted me about trying out some of her glitters. What has made Glitter Unique, well, so unique, was that all her products were selected specifically for use in nail polish at a time when it was difficult to find solvent resistant and larger sized glitters. Since that time she has expanded her inventory greatly, adding more colors, shapes and finishes like matte as well as duochrome pigments and effect flakes, all at reasonable prices. These are not items that can be found at my favorite pigment company, TKB Trading.
Nikki has told me that since then, most of the inventory has changed and she's switched suppliers so I can't show you what I bought then but she has generously sent me another sampler so that I may show you some of current products Glitter Unique has in stock. I also have my most recent order to show you. But first, let me tell you about my original order.
For my orders in April 2012, I bought the glitters that had been sent to me as samples because I liked them so much I had to have the 1/2 oz. The only glitter I used that was a bleeder was the Lemon Holo and, once Nikki was notified that it was, it was pulled from the inventory. Not only that, she was very apologetic and refunded me for that particular glitter, something she didn't have to do. Outstanding customer service.
My most recent purchase, ordered last week, was an ounce of the Green-Gold Effect Flakes which are absolutely beautiful. I would compare these to TKB Trading's Reflecks pigments in terms of size and sparkle and since there is no green in the Reflecks Collection, the Green Gold flakes compliment them nicely.
Shipping was very reasonable, $2.32 and was done quickly. I placed my order on the 13th around 4p and it was here by the morning of the 16th., sooner than I expected. My flakes were double bagged and neatly labelled.
These are beyond sparkly, almost lime green in color with gold sparkles, best captured in the slightly blurry photo below.
Shown here, on the left, is of the Green Gold flakes swatched on paper, to the right the small bottle of polish I made with them, a simple mixture of Glamour Base and flakes.
Included in the sampler Nikki sent me were some more of her Effect Flakes and one color shifting pigment. Rainbow Pearl, Gold and Indigo Flakes are in the top row, Midnight Sparkle, Tango Red Flakes and the Magenta-Violet Pearlescent color shifter in the bottom and the Hot Pink Flakes off to the right.
In my sampler were also a selection of holographic glitters and two matte glitters although I would say they are more pearly than matte- matte to me implies no shine.
This is old news really but since I realized I'd never written a store review for Glitter Unique and given the woman her due, I decided to write it now- better late than never, right? By this time I am sure most frankeners know about the store Glitter Unique even if they haven't bought anything but my first dealing with the company was when the shop just opened and Nikki contacted me about trying out some of her glitters. What has made Glitter Unique, well, so unique, was that all her products were selected specifically for use in nail polish at a time when it was difficult to find solvent resistant and larger sized glitters. Since that time she has expanded her inventory greatly, adding more colors, shapes and finishes like matte as well as duochrome pigments and effect flakes, all at reasonable prices. These are not items that can be found at my favorite pigment company, TKB Trading.
Nikki has told me that since then, most of the inventory has changed and she's switched suppliers so I can't show you what I bought then but she has generously sent me another sampler so that I may show you some of current products Glitter Unique has in stock. I also have my most recent order to show you. But first, let me tell you about my original order.
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| The New Sampler |
For my orders in April 2012, I bought the glitters that had been sent to me as samples because I liked them so much I had to have the 1/2 oz. The only glitter I used that was a bleeder was the Lemon Holo and, once Nikki was notified that it was, it was pulled from the inventory. Not only that, she was very apologetic and refunded me for that particular glitter, something she didn't have to do. Outstanding customer service.
My most recent purchase, ordered last week, was an ounce of the Green-Gold Effect Flakes which are absolutely beautiful. I would compare these to TKB Trading's Reflecks pigments in terms of size and sparkle and since there is no green in the Reflecks Collection, the Green Gold flakes compliment them nicely.
Shipping was very reasonable, $2.32 and was done quickly. I placed my order on the 13th around 4p and it was here by the morning of the 16th., sooner than I expected. My flakes were double bagged and neatly labelled.
These are beyond sparkly, almost lime green in color with gold sparkles, best captured in the slightly blurry photo below.
Shown here, on the left, is of the Green Gold flakes swatched on paper, to the right the small bottle of polish I made with them, a simple mixture of Glamour Base and flakes.
Here they are shown on the nail sticks I made, over a black nail on the left and a "natural" color nail on the right.
Below are more bag shots, in pairs. These, as well as those above, were photographed under my Ottlite.
These Hot Pink flakes are a vibrant, bright pink with a purplish-blue interference although its not visible in this picture. The Magenta-Violet Pearlescent pigment has the same coloring and interference but with a much finer particle size.
The Gold flakes are every bit as metallic and golden as you could imagine and I look forward to creating a polish with it. What's not visible from the photo are the colorful sparkles in the Rainbow Pearl, a lot like a Disco glitter mix would have, they are not solid white.
The Indigo are a nice medium blue color with moderate sparkle. Midnight Sparkle is more complex than the pic reveals- there are what looks like orange, pink and purple highlights in this.
Tango Red flakes are somewhere between red and orange in color and as metallic in appearance as the Gold, another I can't wait to use.
Swatched on paper...
And Hot Pink flakes next to Magenta-Violet Pearlescent, both of which have some color shifting ability.
In my sampler were also a selection of holographic glitters and two matte glitters although I would say they are more pearly than matte- matte to me implies no shine.
Sky Blue Holo Hex .025", Violet Holo Square .035", Pink Holo Hex .040" and Bright Pink Holo Hex .025". Like all holographics glitters, these are very bright in color with rainbows showing from certain angles.
The Turquoise Holo Shreds are very cool and one of the more unusual glitters I own, the perfect shade between blue and green. The Black Opal mix is what you would expect from a glitter with such a name- black with flashes of green, orange, and purple coming from the different sizes of glitter.
Shifting Rainbow Short Slices. Maybe not obvious are the orange, green, yellow, purple and blue colors that show up, reminiscent of Christmas decorations or Easter (to me).
And my personal favorite, Holo Rainbow, a mix of different colors and sizes holo glitters. Every color of glitter you could want, all holographic. Be still my little heart.
Swatched on paper to show more detail
All of the items I've shown you are available from Glitter Unique right now in package sizes ranging from the 1/2 ounce all the way up to 4 ounces and you can buy them all in a sample size if you want to try them out first. Buy with complete confidence knowing Nikki has tested her glitters to make sure they stand up well in suspension base although some bases may have a slightly different effect. Glitter Unique also offers a rewards program with your registration that makes every purchase worth a little more.
I've been busy taking photographs and writing the review that I haven't had the time to make many polishes from the other flakes and glitters but that just gives me a reason to write another entry later. -MK
OMG, the flakies are so gorgeous! They look really smooth too. I take it it's not as painful as removing a glitter polish?
ReplyDeleteI haven't actually used them to paint my own nails yet- doing laundry and house cleaning is less than ideal for a fresh manicure. I have mixed up some bottles and swatched the polishes on my nail sticks though and can tell you all the Effect Flakes have a very low profile and dry perfectly smooth even without a top coat.. I may be wrong but I wouldn't think they would be any more difficult to remove than any other pigment.
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