I’m slowly working my through trying out some new glowing Serum No5 polishes. Next up was this wonderful purple Ultra Violet! This is one of five Serum No5 polishes I got from Fabiana.

I’m just obsessed with glow in the dark polishes at the moment.  The polish itself is a little thicker to work with, but can also be a bit sheer so you need to be patient with the application.

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

It has a lovely silvery shimmer which you can see on the nail as well as in the bottle.  The first photo shows it better I think.

I feel like I need to apologise for the finish around my cuticles and a bit of tip wear. It’s not up to my usual standards. I painted the base colour the day before I photographed and added the nail art. My bottle of top coat (Seche Vite) had thickened a little, so by the time I got these shots the polish had dragged back from my cuticles a bit. Washing my hair accounts for the tip wear.

Being Serum No5, of course it glows!! I charged it up under a black light for this, it looks more purple in the low light than it does normally, I saw it as a creamy colour after natural daylight exposure.

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

Ultra Violet from Serum No5

Because I hate plain nails I added some gold triangle water decals from NPW. I got mine from Hobbycraft but you can get them online too.

Glowing Up by Keely's Nails

Glowing Up by Keely’s Nails

Glowing Up by Keely's Nails

Glowing Up by Keely’s Nails

My application of the triangles was a bit wobbly – I used cold water instead of lukewarm and they didn’t come away from the backing very easily.

Glowing Tips

What have I learnt from this design?

  • Make sure all your polish is in top condition – I added thinner and topped up my bottles of top coat this week
  • Photograph straight away (I didn’t want to compromise so I waited to get access to my photo set up)
  • Use lukewarm water for water decals
  • To get the best glow in the dark photos, I charge my nails (and the bottle) under a LED lamp designed for gels. I then head to a dimly lit (not completely dark) area and photograph there.