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Heavy’s Kay Braeburn highlighted Del Sol nail polish in her article, “15 Best Color-Changing Nail Polishes,” in which she talks about Del Sol being the biggest name in sunlight-reactive products and has dramatic color shifts in the sun. Heavy provides their readers with the latest in news, sports, tech, health, gaming and more, reaching over 5.7 million unique monthly visitors.
15 Best Color Changing Nail Polishes
By Kay Braeburn
Why pick one polish shade when you can have color changing nail polish for seemingly magical nails? See the end of the article for the many types of color changing effects, like multichrome nail polish, and the science of how they work.
Please note, these are all regular nail polish but there are many color changing gel nail polish options if that’s what you’re looking for.
Sunlight Reactive Nail Polish by Del Sol
Our Review
Del Sol is the biggest name in sunlight reactive products. I bought a tote bag from them on vacation over a decade ago and it still turns bright colors in the sun. Del Sol carries a huge range of nail polish colors with dramatic color shifts in the sun.
The formula is a little thin and sheer so you’re going to want two to three coats to be opaque with this one. They have a wide range of shades including glitter and shimmer finishes.
This swatch video on YouTube shows Thistle The Day Away in the sun and in the shade.
What Is Color Changing Polish?
Color changing nail polish can mean a lot of things. The first thing most people think of is mood polish which changes in response to temperature but the color changing catalyst can also be sunlight or even just the angle at which you’re viewing the polish. Let’s go over the types of color changing nail polish you’ll find in this guide.
What Is Thermal or Mood Nail Polish?
Think mood rings. This kind of polish is made with leuco dye which is transparent at warmer temperatures but opaque when cold.
What Is Solar Reactive Nail Polish?
In solar nail polish the lacquer contains tiny crystals that become chemically excited by UV radiation–also known as sunlight. When they’re removed from light, the crystals more slowly calm down again and become invisible.
What Is Multi-Chrome Nail Polish?
Multi-chrome is something else entirely. It sometimes called duo-chrome or chameleon polish. This is a polish that appears as one solid color, but if you shift the angle of your hand a few inches it becomes a completely different solid color without needing any change of temperature or sunlight.
The pigments in multi-chrome polish are reflective and settle into layers on your nail with certain pigments lower than others so when the light hits the nail surface one way it’s one color. When the light hits it at a slightly different angle, the light is reflecting off a different layer of polish making it show a totally different color.
What About Holographic Nail Polish?
Holographic is a little bit of a controversial pick for color changing nail polish, but I think certain ultra-holographic polishes meet the criteria. Holographic nail polish isn’t reflective like a mirror–they’re refractive like a prism.
These polishes take normal white light and break it down into tiny rainbows. That is literally color changing so I’m including one in this guide.
Read more from Heavy here.