Finger Paints Fantasy Collection Swatches

It took going to some Sally Beauty stores I'd never been to before, but I managed to find all six of the colors in the Fantasy collection from Finger Paints. Left to right: In the Clouds, Lost in Wonderland, Fantasy World, Fairy Tale, Over the Rainbow, Legendary Lore.



In the Clouds is a light blue base with so much pink shimmer in it that it appears to be lilac in many cases. I did three coats on my index and middle fingers, but that still showed a hint of nail line, so I bumped it to four on my ring and pinky.





In direct light, the blue base and pink shimmer showed more contrast.



The sheerness of In the Clounds made me think layering was a grand idea, so I pulled some creme Finger Paints to try as bases under this one and the other shades. Left to right: Beautiful Mystery, Spun Sugar, Paint Me Happy, Frosty Lemonade.



On with the layering ... below, top to bottom: four coats of In the Clouds alone, two coats over the pale blue grey Beautiful Mystery, one coat over Spun Sugar (medium purple), and one coat over black. Yep, that's the ticket, layering. The grey brought out the blue base more; the purple enhanced the lilac look, and the black let the pink shimmer shine.



Lost in Wonderland is a rose pink with turquoise shimmer. I used three thick coats for my swatch.





Here's Lost in Wonderland in direct light:



Below, top to bottom: 3 coats of Lost in Wonderland alone, one coat over Beautiful Mystery, Spun Sugar, and black, respectively.



Fantasy World is a purple-leaning pink with blue shimmer. I did two thick coats of it.





Under direct light:



On to the layering ... below, top to bottom: 2 coats of Fantasy World alone, one coat over Beautiful Mystery, Spun Sugar, and black, respectively.



Fairy Tale is a mauve with green shimmer. Yep, green. This one was three coats.





The shimmer looks more gold than green in direct light; I guess the red tones in the mauve base mute the green.



With the warmer base of Fairy Tale, I switched out one of the colors for layering. Top to bottom: 3 coats of Fairy Tale alone, one coat over Paint Me Happy (light orange), one over Spun Sugar, one over black (see, there's the green shimmer).



Over the Rainbow is a coral with purple-leaning pink shimmer. This is a three-coater.





In direct light:



Layering combinations below, top to bottom: Over the Rainbow alone (for comparison's sake), one coat over Paint Me Happy, one over Frosty Lemonade (yellow), one over black.



Legendary Lore is a warm pink with greenish gold shimmer. I used three coats for my swatch.





Again, as with Over the Rainbow, the green in the shimmer of Legendary Lore doesn't show even in direct light, but the gold does pop.



Below, top to bottom: Legendary Lore alone, one coat over Paint Me Happy, one over Frosty Lemonade, one over black (see the green?). I really like this over the yellow; it looks very juicy.



Before I finished with these, I decided to try layering some of them with each other. Top to bottom below: Lost in Wonderland alone, plus one coat of Fantasy World then another of Lost in Wonderland, plus Fairy Tale then Lost in Wonderland, plus In the Clouds and Lost in Wonderland. The differences are subtle but noticeable. These combinations remind me of the inside of seashells.



Glowing in direct light:



While trying to capture these in the sunshine, I discovered a problem with my replacement camera: it has silver trim around the lens that reflects light. Thus I get arches in my photos that I do not want. I'm not sure what to do about that; maybe I'll try painting over the trim with matte top coat to dull it out.



This collection is more fun than I thought it would be; the layering possibilities add so much. In the store, it was hard to tell some of the shades apart; the two pinky oranges looked very similar, as did the lilac-y ones. On the nail, they're much easier to differentiate, and layered over black, they're very distinct. The only drawback is they're on the frosty/brushstrokey side of shimmer. Nothing like frosts back in the day, of course, but they do require some attention when applying to look their best.

I noticed these are on the Sally Beauty website, buy one get one 50% off until May 14th.