I’ve been experimenting with chrome on air dry polish for a few months now, with mostly ok results. I saw that post the other day where the poster got amazing results and shared her method. It wasn’t so different from what I had been doing but my results never looked nearly as dramatic, so I found out what powder she used. I had been using Amazon powders that were less than $2 per container, she said was using $15 per container powder from a nail supply website. I ordered the powder and the results were immediately 10x better than I was getting beforehand. Here are some photos that show the difference as best as I could photograph it. Same polishes, same technique, different powders.
The dark set (the left side of photo one the only set in photo 2) are holo taco devils advocate with holo taco magnetic taco glass bead style with the classic “glaze” powder.
The light set (the right side of photo one) is mooncat curiosity’s prey with holo taco magnetic taco glass bead style with an iridescent powder (the expensive one was orange leaning and the amazon one was pink leaning). Less dramatic especially in the photo but you can see how much more cloudy the amazon one is looking at the top of the swatches.
Just a note regarding my process, for the water based top coat layer I use homemade peel off base (a mix of clear Elmer’s and isopropyl alcohol). And I don’t have any longevity issues as long as I make sure the base color is fully cured before the chrome step. Also I find just buffing with my fingers works fine, but I do use a soft makeup brush to brush off extra powder before the water based.
So I guess I want to say if you’re discouraged at your chrome results it may be your powder. The brand of the powder is esvy, but I’m sure they aren’t the only purveyors of quality powder out there.
