China Glaze - Counting Carats 0.5 oz - #82698

Can't wait to use it.

WOW! China Glaze's Counting Carats is a super-dense gold microglitter with tiny gold hexes in a clear base. And with holographic microglitter sprinkled in. This polish GLIMMERS! It's really something special. Super-blingy! Great formula too. It was mostly opaque in two coats but three looks even better. Smooth application overall. But removal takes a bit of work, even with acetone.This polish is SO beautiful and unique. I have a bunch of microglitters in my collection, but none of them look like this one!I love it and I would definitely buy it again.

First a disclaimer: I have only worn this over a grey (read: OPI Skull & Glossbones) so the monochromatic look has affected this review!So This polish is awesome. When it's on the grey polish, in dim lighting, you can't see the micro-holo-glitter. You can, however, see the bigger iridescent bits. In bright lighting or the sun, SUPER sparkly, holographic goodness!!! And by the way, in this sort of lighting, the bigger glitter disappears, too. I'm sure this would be different if it were over something else, like, say, a black. But I've never seen a glitter completely disappear just because of the base color, if that makes sense. There's usually some sort of indicator that it's there. It's weird because it seems like your eyes are playing tricks on you. They're almost telling you "This polish is way too cool for you. You're only allowed to focus on ONE of the glitters. Sorry!!" I do love this polish, though, and I can't wait to try it over something darker to see what it does. I'm pretty confident that it's not going to have the same one-or-the-other effect. One coat is a perfect amount to cover the nail, but if you want more of the larger glitter, 2 is good as well. Love this and recommend you give it a try if you love glitters.

I loved the way the small glitters shine all the colors under artificial light. I kept looking at them all the time.The hexagonal glitters don't shine all the time and were hard to take off.

Shooting Stars is somewhat indescribable but the name is very fitting. It's an interesting mix of rich holographic glitters of different types & sizes, including large iridescent glitter particles & some glowy blue-purple ones that look like I'm staring off into a mesmerizing deep sky of sparkling stars. Excellent coverage in 2 coats -the majority of the holographic glitter is micronized to full-coverage thickness. I put this over a pre-existing gold glitter manicure & I can barely see any gold showing through from underneath. This doesn't dry shiny, so a glossy topcoat is absolutely necessary. Applying a glossy coat makes the holographic rainbow come alive & pop. Also the larger glitter particles result in a gritty, textured finish, so more than one layer of topcoat is needed to even out the surface for high-shine impact & sparkle. I love a great deal of other holographic glitter polishes, so I woudn't bother buying this one again (the larger glitter particles mixed throughout are a bit childish for my taste) unless there were no other alternatives ...but there are many, including my favorites like China Glaze 'Fairy Dust' and 'Nova', Wet n Wild 'Kaleidoscope', & Color Club 'Magic Attraction'. In dim indoor lighting the holographic effect doesn't come alive, but rather the color looks like a muddy grey silver. In direct sunlight it's like a brilliant strobe light or disco ball. In bright indoor light or spotlights/track lighting, it shimmers & sizzles with color. I still like others better, however. I'm likely to use the rest of this as a pedicure in the summer.