Finger Paints Twisted: a flakie comparison

For my first post back I wanted to do something fun, and what's more fun for a nail polish junkie than a flakie comparison?!

Ever since I saw Jen's swatches of the new all-flakie Special Effects Collection from Finger Paints (now available at Sally Beauty), I knew I wanted the shade Twisted. Luckily my local Sally Beauty had just put out the display when I walked in and there were two bottles of Twisted still available (if you want Twisted, I would get down to your local Sally ASAP because I'm sure that's the one that's going to sell out first). These polishes retail for $5.99 or $4.99 if you're Sally Club member and, as of the time of this post, the Special Effects collection is not available on the Sally website.

As Jen so perfectly put it, Twisted is the "crown jewel of awesomeness" in this collection because the flakes aren't dominated by orange/bronze or blue/green; they are truly rainbow colored!

If you'd like to see all of the colors in this collection with awesome swatches, definitely check out Jen's post. I thought it would be fun to compare Twisted to every other flakie in my collection, and instead of just painting these polishes over black, I thought I'd include a royal blue shimmer and also a nude, just to give you an idea how these flakies look over other colors.

So I swatched all of my flakies over the following polishes:

Left to right: Wet n Wild Ink Well, OPI Mod Hatter, L.A. Colors Wired

 And here are my flakies:

Left to right: Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (original), Finger Paints Twisted, Sinful Colors Green Ocean, pa AA37, Sally Hansen Glass Slipper

First, here they are over Wet n Wild Ink Well. I used one coat of each flakie and NO top coat for all of the swatches in this post:

As you can see, Hidden Treasure is dominated by orangey-bronze with golden-green on the outer edges. Twisted is truly multi-colored and less dense than Hidden Treasure. Green Ocean is strictly teal and blue.

The flakies in Green Ocean are big and chunky, while the flakes in the PA polish are more delicate (although mainly teal and blue as well). Glass slipper is straight up silver when worn over black.

Next, over OPI Mod Hatter:

Obviously wearing any of these flakies over a nude shade will product a much more subtle effect. Of the three combos above, I think my favorite is Twisted. I do love Green Ocean, but since there's a slight green tint to the base color in Green Ocean, I DON'T love how it turns Mod Hatter into an unflattering yellowish shade.

I really like the PA shade over Mod Hatter--the flakes of green look luminescent and glowy. 

And finally, over L.A. Colors Wired:

Over this blue, I think my favorite combo of the bunch is Hidden Treasure.

I'm not really feeling any of the above three combos, to be honest. I don't think the blue base does anything for the green and teal flakes in Green Ocean or the PA shade. And even Glass Slipper looks kind of dull over this particular blue.

If you're interested in any of the above flakie polishes, here's what I can tell you:

• The original Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure (not to be confused with the recently released other version) is no longer available in stores. I'm sure you can still pick it up on ebay but it will cost you a pretty penny. If you missed out on Hidden Treasure when it was in stores, try Essie Shine of the Times from the Luxeffects Collection.

• Finger Paints Twisted ($5.99) is part of the brand new Special Effects collection which is now available at Sally Beauty (in-store only as of the time of this post).

• Sinful Colors Green Ocean ($1.99) can be found during St. Patrick's Day in special displays like this (last year this display hit Walgreens in February). I believe it also made a reappearance in the summertime, but I haven't seen it in the core collection display (I could be wrong though--check your local Walgreens).

• PA AA37 ($5.99) can be found in-store at Mitsuwa Marketplace and various online Asian beauty retailers.

• Sally Hansen Glass Slipper is a core collection polish that is part of the newly revamped Diamond Strength line. I bought mine at Rite Aid but I know it's also been spotted at CVS and Walmart.

I hope this helps my fellow flakie lovers out there. What's YOUR favorite flakie?

Some of the polishes featured in this post were given to Nouveau Cheap for previous reviews.