Holography: Holographic Nail Polish Defined
Photo of holographic foil by Miodrag Kitanović from Pexels
Updated 2024.08.08
If you love the magic of rainbow prisms, and enjoy watching your nails glitter in the sun, holographic nail polish might be for you.
At first glance, holographic nail polishes seem to be just glitter nail polishes given a special name.
But upon closer inspection, holographic nail polishes are a unique type of glitter nail polish that includes certain pigments that split and fragment light, creating multi-colored prism effects that respond to your environment.
Holographic polishes are defined as nail polishes that create a rainbow effect by scattering light in a prismatic way.
An example of a holographic pigment is Spectraflair, which is a pigment made of aluminum and magnesium fluoride.
According to Viavisolutions, SpectraFlair pigments are multilayer flakes that give paints, coatings, plastics, textiles, and packaging the ability to change color when viewed from different angles.
They are used in automobile paints, architectural design, sports equipment and now, nail polish.
Due to these pigments, holographic nail polishes are known for their ability to reflect rainbow light no matter what the base color, which is what makes them so magical.
Photo of a single stream of light passing through a prism by Daniel Roberts from Pixabay
Who invented holographic nail polish?
Holographic polishes are commonly thought of as being invented by Cristine Rotenberg, the creator of Holo Taco, a nail polish company specializing in these special glitter lacquers designed for the nail.
However, while indie brands may have popularized the trend, mainstream nail polish brands like Chanel, OPI and Sally Hansen have been using prismatic pigments for years. The earliest mention of holographic in polish is referenced in 2007.
In the nail polish world, you may have seen certain types of holographic polish mentioned, such as Linear Holographic, Scattered Holographic, Holographic Flakes, and Holographic Glitter.
The different effects of holography depend on how smooth the layer of holographic pigment lays in the polish, and thus, the nature in which that polish reflects light.
Linear Holographic polishes have a smooth layer of this prismatic pigment, and thus tend to refract light in optical lines when exposed to sun or flash.
As LabMuffin explains in her post on the topic, generally, the smaller the particle size, the flatter the pigment lays and the more linear the holographic effect and vice versa.
You can find the different grades of holographic light pigments available in the general industrial market here to give you an idea of the variety.
So, who doesn’t love a good rainbow prism?
When you apply it to nails, you easily can see why holographic nail polishes are gaining popularity.
What Is Holographic Nail Polish? over photo of holographic foil by Miodrag Kitanović from Pexels
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