Del Sol Color Change Nail Polish

Yes, that is sun, in Ireland... it was a stunning day!

We're actually enjoying a very long overdue Summer here in Ireland this year - I don't think I could personally have suffered through another "Summer" of unrelenting rain!

While enjoying some of this rare (and extremely welcome!) sunshine lately, I decided I'd dig out something I'd bought but sadly, due to our climate in Ireland, hadn't yet managed to try - the Del Sol Color* Change Nail Polish I had bought in the past.  At the time I bought three shades - likely the most popular of them all, Ruby Slipper, and two others; Knock Out and Flirt.

So what's the big deal?  Well, they change colour in the sun :-)

* I know, I know, but... American product, American spelling

So, without faffing about, let's look at the nail varnish shades:

L -> R: Flirt, Ruby Slipper, Knock Out

Two of the three of these were bought on a whim, the other, Ruby Slipper, as I've mentioned, is likely their most popular shade.

L -> R: Flirt, Ruby Slipper, Knock Out
Indoors, no flash

I wasn't terribly impressed - these are pretty harmless really to be perfectly honest.  They're so sheer that I had to whack on a few layers to try see what I was doing (and I didn't wind up with a particularly neat result):

L -> R: Knock Out, Ruby Slipper, Flirt

See?  Almost invisible, were it not for the frost of Flirt and glitter of Ruby Slipper and slight milkiness of Knock Out, these would not be noticeable on the nails at all.

Hardly there at all...

But then... bring them outside into the sun and watch the magic happen :-)

Beginning to change... [ A ]

Nearly fully changed...

The final result: quite vibrant and much darkened (and far more interesting)
L -> R: Flirt, Ruby Slipper, Knock Out

... and the product changes in the bottles too!

L -> R: Flirt, Ruby Slipper, Knock Out

So what's the trick?  These are not just generically photosensitive, they're sensitive specifically to UV light (so your standard lamp, or a bowl of hot water won't trigger the colour change, but the sun will, or a UV/black light will).  In the same vein, if you use a UV-blocking topcoat, the colour won't change (so if you're adding a topcoat, make sure it's not UV-blocking - or else creatively use a top-coat ).

How to use them?  Simple - apply them and then wander out in the sun.  For a more obvious and pronounced change, three or more thin layers are required. You'll see a reasonably quick (albeit gradual) change, and it seems to change pretty uniformly.   When you're back in the shade/out of the sun, they revert to their original shades, or at least do so initially.

The down side?  After a while, they stop changing either way (either darker or lighter).  The colour seems almost to "cure" at a mid-point, neither what they were originally, nor what they were in the sunlight, but a kind of in-between mucky (and completely uninteresting) colour in the case of Knock Out in particular - something like the photo labelled [A] above - a kind of dirty darkened-beige-almost-mustard.  Yuck.  Perhaps if I'd stayed out in the sun for a bit, they'd have cured to their darker colours (who knows, we just don't get enough sun in this country to really put these kinds of products to the test).

Del Sol is a Utah-based company, set up in the '90s which sells these nail polishes online (I purchased mine directly from their site).  They also sell a bunch of other colour-changing items (teeshirts, tote bags, etc).  Recommended if you like gadget-type things of any description :-)  Look here for more info and compare to these (Barry M Chameleon Colour Changing Nail Polish, which changes (permanently) when you add a top coat).