Review: Del Sol Color-Changing Nail Polish from Walgreens

When I walked into my local Walgreens the other day, I literally gasped when I saw this:

Del Sol Color-Changing Nail Polish and Accessories

Do you see the size of that nail polish display?? My jaw dropped! Have you heard of Del Sol before? I had never even heard of this color-changing line of nail polishes and accessories (click the image to enlarge and see the earrings, bracelets, headbands, barrettes, etc.) until I saw this display!

After doing a little research on the 'net, I discovered that Del Sol is a Utah-based company that actually has its own chain of retail stores which are popular in resort-type locations like Aruba, Curacao, Jamaica, etc. In fact, I'm ashamed to admit that I didn't even know there was a Del Sol store right here in my hometown (at Seaport Village, for all you San Diegans).

Anyway, I'm delighted to see that they've branched out and started distributing their polishes and accessories at Walgreens (in addition to what you see here, Del Sol also makes color-changing t-shirts, flip flops, shorts, sunglasses, tote bags, you name it). It's nice that we can all see some of these goodies in person now!

So here's the deal. Del Sol products are designed to change color when you go out in the sun. Now, really, even though the polishes retail for $7.99 a bottle, how could I NOT try one? (Luckily for me, I had a few Walgreens Register Rewards in my wallet which helped reduce my price to $5.99.)

(Note: in this review, I am going to try and answer every single question that I, myself, had about this product. I know I had a TON of questions about how this polish would work, so I tried very hard to address everything here. But if I missed anything, feel free to ask questions in the comments!)

It's hard to see in the above pics, but I'd say about 80% of the colors available are pretty frosty. Which is why I didn't buy a green or blue polish (I'm generally not a frosty nail polish kind of gal). But I did see some lovely shades that had flashes of irridescent color and I was really drawn to a sheer coral that flashed violet, but I decided to go with a lovely red glitter called Heartbreaker. Note: there are three glitters in this collection. One is silver (which turns hot pink in the sun), one is red (which you will see in a second) and one is blue (which turns green in the sun).

For my first experiment with Del Sol Heartbreaker (a lovely, red jelly with red and gold microglitter), I decided to use Orly Bonder base coat and three coats of Heartbreaker. Two coats yielded decent opacity but three coats really made it beautiful. Since I didn't know if a top coat would interfere with its color-changing capabilities, I only applied my Sally Hansen Mega Shine on one hand, leaving the other hand without top coat.

After I painted my nails, I had to see if the color-changing might occur if I just held my nails up to a lamp inside my house. Nope! I held one of my hands underneath a bright lamp for several minutes and no change it all.

Then I decided to try immersing my hand in hot water to see if maybe heat would change the color. Nope!

You really do have to be out in the sun for the change to occur. I think that's pretty neat!

So here is what my nails looked like before I went out in the sun, and then after (the first set of pics below were taken with flash):

(click images to enlarge)

Please note: in these two pics, I am wearing Sally Hansen Mega Shine Top Coat over Del Sol Heartbreaker. So to all of you who might be worried that a top coat will interfere with Del Sol's color-changing magic, it's not a problem at all! You can definitely use your top coat with this polish and still experience the color-changing effect.

Now, it's hard to see, but the little hibiscus flower on the bottle is supposed to show you what color your nails will change to when you go out in the sun. Obviously it's not exactly accurate in this case, but I think my nails definitely turned a distinctively different shade, don't you?

There is also a little sticker on the top of each bottle that tells you what color you can expect to see when you go out in the sun. Here's the top of Heartbreaker:

This next set of pics were taken without flash (before sun and after sun):

If you enlarge this pic, you will see that the pic on the left is of the hand I painted WITHOUT top coat. It's definitely gritty to the touch, but I'm happy to report that just one layer of my top coat made this polish look and feel perfectly smooth.

Also, what I really love about Heartbreaker (and I'm assuming this would be the case with all three of the glitters in this collection) is that once the color changes, the color of the GLITTER does not change. So in other words, the glitter becomes more apparent when you go out in the sun. I love love love the contrast of the deep berry jelly mixed with the red and gold microglitter (the pic on the right). In person it's gorgeous!

It's also interesting to note that the entire bottle of polish changed color when I brought it out into the sun to take these pics (compare the bottle on the left to the bottle on the right!).

Which brings me to the actual color-changing process. OMG, this is the coolest part of the whole Del Sol experience. When I first walked outside into the sunlight, I immediately started staring at my nails, and they literally changed color before my very eyes! It's not a slow, gradual process that takes forever--it happens pretty quickly, but you can actually watch it as it's happening! Also, the change is very uniform (it's not a spotty or uneven transition). When I watched it happening, it was as if it occurred in one smooth, continuous motion. How neat is that?

Now here's the only fault I find with this polish so far. I noticed that, on day two of my manicure, the hand WITH top coat started to peel. And when I say peel, I mean I could peel off the polish in sheets. BUT, the hand with no top coat? It's still on and it's wearing like iron. So perhaps it's just that my Sally Hansen Mega Shine doesn't play nice with Del Sol? I don't want to assume that ALL top coats are going to cause peeling, but I just want to tell you that it happened in my case. I will definitely try it with another brand of top coat and see how that works.

I think Del Sol is perfect for a fun, playful, summertime nail look. I mean, who doesn't want to change their nail color without having to remove it? All you have to do is go out in the sun! I can imagine that children would have fun with this polish as well. I can't wait to paint my little niece's toes with this and see her reaction to the "magic" when we go out in the sun!

Do you already own any Del Sol products? Have you seen this display at your local Walgreens yet? Are you intrigued? I'd love to hear from you in the comments!