Nubar Prism Collection Review (About damn time)

Can I just tell you all how much I loved hearing your favorite things to use? That was awesome. It's the entire reason I started this blog. I love talking to other people about their favorite beauty products. And now I have a mile-long list of things I want to try, haha! Thank you :)


Anyway, I finally had a glimpse of the sun just long enough to photograph these like I wanted to... Unfortunately that was two months ago! Oops. Whatever. I shouldn't feel bad about posting a collection late... But I do.



Absolute. Pretty light turquoise blue holo. This makes me think of mermaids and sparkling water. The holographic effect is subtle but adds a little bit of 'magic' to the nails.


Brilliant. Mauve pink holo. It's pink.


Essence. Warm pink-peach holo. This was my least favorite of the collection. The base is oddly dense and frosty, almost like a metallic peach frost with little holographic particles. And, as you are all unfortunately aware, dense frost base plus glitter equals chunky, lumpy-looking finish. The color isn't my favorite either. Too warm for my skintone.


Gem. Mousy grey/taupe base with warm red/brown flash and chunky holo. This one is my favorite of the collection, with Jewel coming in close second. It's holo and duochrome, suh-weeeeeeet! The hologram effect in this is different from a lot of other holos I have. It's really densely packed medium particle glitter, not smooth holo platelets like other holo polishes. It seems like it would look chunky, but it really doesn't. Maybe a little, but there's so much holo that it just looks like crazy rainbows.

Jewel. Greyed brown base with warm red-gold flash and chunky holo. Just like Gem but brown, same chunky holo particles, same subtle duochrome flash. Love it love it love it.


Prize. Reddish pink with chunky holo. I was really hoping this would be red, like a really rich deep true red, but it's not quite there. I still love it, it's crazy holo! It has the large particle holo grains like Gem and Jewel.


Spark. Warm light tan-brown holo. Sounds like an oxymoron, but I'd call this an "office appropriate holo". It's light and kinda almost blends into my skin. Very strange but still cool!


Treasure. Light lavender purple holo. This is so delicate and feminine, it's not 'me' at all but I can't stop looking at it. It reminds me of this girl I went to high school with... Yeah, that's a useful description! But really, this is an 'airy', sparkly kind of fairy-tale purple. Super cute.


These have a unique type of holo. I had anticipated them to all be that smooth, thin metal-foil-like finish like Nubar Reclaim, but none of them are. Half of these are somewhat similar to the OPI Designer Series 'light' polishes, like Sapphire or Chiffon or Shimmer. The base is a thick, translucent jelly-like finish with somewhat sparse holo particles suspended in it. The end effect is more scattered than linear.

The other type of holo in this collection is the big-chunky-particle type. I don't own too many holos like this, so I'm not sure what it most resembles. I've heard that some Japanese polishes have a similar type of holo. The closest thing I can think of that has similar holographic effect is Massini Slamming Red/Purple Medallion, but those are all glitter. These Nubar ones are not entirely glitter, they just have a ton of holographic grains all packed together. It has a slight chunky look to it, but when it catches the sunlight the holo effect is insane. Very mesmerizing.


The formula was a bit of a surprise for me. I'm very used to holographic-finish polishes being thin, dense/opaque and foil-like. These are quite sheer. All pictures here are of three coats. I think they needed all three coats as well. Two coats had just too much visible nail line for me. There isn't a consistent texture throughout the collection. Some are thick, some are thin, some dry quickly, some take a bit longer. The formula isn't bad, it didn't really give me any problems, it's just inconsistent, that's all.

My only criticisms of the collection are personal preferences. I would have liked to see more unique shades (more mauve pink holo??) and I would have also liked to see a stronger holo effect. I don't know, I just have pictures of Nubar Reclaim dancing in my head... I think it's set a new standard in my mind for Nubar!

(These were sent to me for review.)