See The Shining Light - Rainbowland Collection Glam Polish Review

Yes, these are my toys. No, they are not from when I was little.

I remember reading somewhere when I was quite small that Capricorns tend the age backwards - they start off alarmingly serious children, and slowly grow up into ridiculously childish pensioners. Being a Capricorn and thus an alarmingly serious child, I thought this was total bunkum, but nowadays I wonder if there was any truth to it. I've found myself getting more and more comfortable with the things I tried to pretend I didn't love as a child - whereas once I could read books I pretended I didn't like cartoons anymore, now I will happily collect VHS copies of HR Puff'n'Stuff.

Does anyone else remember how completely trippy this show was?

Like approximately 50 billion other little girls, I grew up on Rainbow Brite. You wouldn't have guessed it from my twenty year obsession with black, but when I was tiny I was absolutely obsessed with this oddly proportioned little princess. After a while I decided I was clearly too clever and sensible for something so silly, but now I've come back around to embracing the charmingly naive ideals it represents, the idea that friendship and good ol' fashioned effort can solve everything in twenty minutes. I know it's not true, but this cartoon reminds me of when I was small enough to think that was how the world worked. It's the same reason I watch shows like Star Trek - sometimes I need a bit of soft, soothing, naivete to round out the edges of being a grown up.

So now you know all this, I'm sure you can imagine how excited I was when Glam Polish announced they were doing a Rainbow Brite tribute collection. I got my hopes WAY up over this collection, and it did not let me down. I have four to show you, so strap in guys, this is going to be picture heavy.

I.Q is a beautiful purple jelly confection of small lavender and light pink dots, with big holographic dots as well. For those who didn't watch the cartoon, Rainbow Brite and her little posse of (collectable) friends all had sidekicks named Sprites. I.Q belonged to Shy Violet, who's colour scheme was...wait for it...violet! Okay okay, it's a show for kids, don't expect TOO much. Anyway, the point is, this polish is great. I didn't have any trouble getting any of the glitter out, which is really unusual for ones with the big holo dots in them. Those little suckers can be quite elusive, but I had no problem with I.Q. These pictures are all two coats of I.Q over one coat of Love Thy Polish Miss Priss.

Direct sun, so you can see how blinding those holo dots are

Inside light, to show how beautifully the dots float in the jelly base.

Twink is actually a little too white for my taste - which is kind of funny because Twink the character, Rainbow Brite's own Sprite, always used to annoy the piss out of me. "We caaan't do this" waah wahh etc etc. Childhood grudges aside, the formula of Twink is lovely. This was two coats over one coat of Illamasqua Scorch, but you could most likely get away with two coats on it's own. Twink pulls off the remarkably delicate balancing act of being pigmented enough that it doesn't look washed out, while still showing off the glitters. And there are plenty of glitters to show off - pink and purple micro glitter, black diamonds, purple hexes, and two different sizes of pink holo dots!

Nite Sprite is kind of a blue version of I.Q, but with more razzamatazz. I didn't actually remember Nite Sprite from the show, but a little digging reveals he was an extra Sprite that was presumably added to the cast to serve some sort of plot mechanic - or maybe just to sell more toys. Regardless, he's a dark blue Sprite, who is in charge of making sure the stars shine. I'm guessing this is why there is so much silver in this polish, and it's a great touch. It really makes this one stand out from the others, turning it into it's own thing rather than just a colour swapped version of the other jellies in the collection. Nite Sprite has large holo dots in a dark blue jelly base, with a generous lashing of silver hexes and what seems to be silver micro glitter as well. My only quibble with this one is that the formula seemed a mite thinner than the others, so I had some trouble fishing the dots out. Even with the shake and dab method, it still took quite a bit of effort to get out at least one dot for each nail, and that was a bit disappointing.

In sunlight, as you might have guessed from the incredible flash off the holo dots.

Inside light, to show off the lovely silver shimmer.

Last but definitely not least is Lucky - I'm going through a big teal phase at the moment, so this is far and away my favorite from this collection. It's a beautiful green jelly base, filled with turquoise, green & melon dots, as well as a smattering of itty bitty turquoise square glitter. The colours in this one just go together so perfectly, I really didn't want to take it off again. These were two coats over Sinful Colours Savage - however I do NOT recommend you copy this, as the Sinful Colours stained my nails something DREADFUL. I put it on over a coat of Duri Rejuvacoat, and it just soaked right through. Horrible stuff! But Lucky is perfect, and wonderful, and with a coat of a teal polish that ISN'T Sinful Colours Savage it is magical.

Ugh, look at those rainbow reflections off the holo dots! Gorgeous.

The whole Rainbowland Collection is available from Glam Polish, if you're in Australia. However, if you're outside Australia, they will also be stocked very soon by Mei Mei's Signatures who ship worldwide. Tweet