Glitter toppers from AJ Nail Lacquer UK - Swatches & Review

Today is a really exciting day - I get to show you the four hand-made glitter toppers I won from the lovely AJ at Nail Lacquer UK! This is the first giveaway I've ever won, so this makes it doubly exciting for me.

Each of these glitter toppers was hand-mixed by AJ, and is as far as I know, nameless. Hence, I decided to give them nicknames - I needed some names for my swatch sticks, plus, they are too pretty to be nameless :)

All the glitters in this post are layered over two colours of undies, and covered with a thick coat of Color Club top coat.

First off is a mix of large red and smaller pink circle glitters, two sizes of blue hexes and larger holographic hexes that I dubbed Rule Britannia.

Rule Brittania - my first circle glitter!

I swatched it over Sally Hansen Gray by Gray and Misa I Will Survive to show off how it looks over a lighter and a darker base. The circles requires some fishing, and the base was quite goopy so much dabbing was required to get the glitter placement in some semblance of order.

Rule Britannia over Sally Hansen Gray by Gray and Misa I Will Survive

As you can see, I had some issues with bubbling due to the dabbing, and even a generous layer of top coat didn't fully combat the lumpiness caused by the thick base. I have since added a few drops of polish thinner to it, and it's behaving much better. This polish looks so much better in real life than on these photos - especially over black, where all the glitter holo goodness comes alive.


The next polish is a complex mix of neon glitters in a lightly orange tinted base, and I named it Sunshine and Daffodils. Large and small yellow-green and orange hexes, blue squares, pink hexes - it has it all. I have a feeling that the orange tint was due to the orange hexes losing colour, as I encountered some super thin colourless hexes in the base.

Sunshine and Daffodils over Nails Inc Bolton Place and Notting Hill Carnival

I swatched it over taupe rather than a darker shade, since some of the glitter pieces looked a bit transparent, and I have to say this glitter is a great way of livening up nude shades. I added an accent nail in pale yellow to show how the base tints the nail polish. Unfortunately, this means it won't work very well with cool-toned undies.

Sunshine and Daffodils - I love neon glitters

This polish was much easier to apply, and while some dabbing was still needed, it was much more amenable to my placement efforts.


Now we're getting to my two favourites. Candy Bunnies is a matte mix of small grey hexes, pink squares and rhombuses and white circles, stars and hearts. I love it.

Candy Bunnies over Nails Inc Wardour Street and OPI Nein Nein Nein OK Fine.

The application was easy - after a shake the glitter required no fishing at all, and the base is very manageable. I still got some bubbling, because I tried to spread the glitter more evenly (which required some dabbing), but in the end, it was totally worth it. Look at all the shapes!

Candy Bunnies - my first stars and hearts glitter!

I like it equally over the light (Nails Inc Wardour Street) and dark base (OPI Nein Nein Nein OK Fine), and my only regret is that I won it after Valentine's :D


The final glitter mix is my favourite one, and I am wearing it as I type this post. I named it Thicket, because it's packed with everything. I counted three sizes of matte black hexes, two sizes of blue, red, silver holo and green hexes, some orange squares and white hexes - and I may have missed a few shapes or colours, since some of my nails have a single glitter piece in a new colour.

Thicket over Sinful Colors Be Happy and Nails Inc Burton Mews

The sun came out for this swatch! Then it was gone literally 10 minutes later... I layered it over a minty shimmer Sinful Colors Be Happy, and a dark green Nails Inc Burton Mews to show off how it looks over different undies. This glitter applies like a dream, each no dabbing required, and the payoff is incredible.

Thicket - look at the holo sparkles!

 This glitter is simply perfection. In the end, I added a matte topcoat and ran around the flat excitedly, showing off the pretty, pretty glitter to my friends.

Thicket with a matte top coat.

Overall, these glitters are pretty amazing, and I am incredibly grateful to AJ for mixing them up for the giveaway. I came out of this swatching session happy with the glitters, and also convinced that good placement of large glitters is obviously a skill gained by making pacts with the devil. I may head to my nearest crossroads soon, but in the meantime I will consider using a sponging technique to help with some of the thicker bases.


Thanks for looking!