Seche Special Effects Toppers

Since I last updated from that airport hotel, I had a bit of fun with friends, then joined Mr. K at his mom's condo in Illinois and spent several days helping him pack up things there (including his late father's dresser, which felt weird). We jammed as many things as we could from the list his mom had made of what she wanted for her new home in a senior living community in Washington state into our little truck and a rental trailer about as big as the truck, then took turns driving back across the country. Mr. K, saint that he is, dropped me off at home and continued on to Washington to unload (he did have help at that end, fortunately). All that meant I just didn't have time to blog. I did manage to pop into a couple Sally Beauty stores that were strategically located near places I picked up meals for us while we worked, and noticed the Seche Special Effects toppers were on clearance at one of them, so figured I'd best get my swatches sorted out and posted.

There are three of these: Blue Opal, Holographic, and Glitter.



The back of the boxes these came in showed them over white and over black; I decided to try them over a neutral beige (Essie Less is Aura), a light blue (Fresh Paint Blue Jean Baby), a dark purple (L'Oreal Le Vernis à l’Huile Violet de Nuit), and black (Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black).

First up, Blue Opal. At the top, over beige, it looked more pink than blue, oddly enough. Working down, over light blue it just added some pearly shimmer to the base color, over purple it was blue with a purple tinge, over black at the bottom it was definitely blue.



Out of the lightbox, the shimmer in Blue Opal glowed nicely:



Of course I had to compare these to other toppers in my stash. For Blue Opal, I pulled L'Oreal The Shift Me, Wet 'n' Wild 434, Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails Balance.



Left to right, all over black: L'Oreal The Shift Me, Wet 'n' Wild 434, Sally Hansen Advanced Hard as Nails Balance, Seche Special Effects Blue Opal. First photo below is in the lightbox; second is in direct light. These are similar but not identical. The Seche has the smoothest, dense-est, least brushstroke-y finish. The Wet 'n' Wild is a deeper blue.





On to Seche Special Effects Holographic. Top to bottom: over Essie Less is Aura, Fresh Paint Blue Jean Baby, L'Oreal Le Vernis à l’Huile Violet de Nuit, and Wet 'n' Wild Wild Shine Black. First photo below in the lightbox, then in direct light, then in sunlight (two photos).









For comparison purposes with Holographic, I grabbed Cult Nails Mayhem and Starlight and Sparkles Starlight.



Left to right, all over black: Seche Special Effects Holographic, Cult Nails Mayhem, Starlight and Sparkles Starlight, Seche Special Effects Holographic. Immediately below is in the lightbox; second is in direct light, then below that is in sunlight (two shots). The Starlight and Sparkles has the strongest holo effect and the most colors in most conditions, but the Seche does look good in sunlight.









Finally, we have the inaccurately named Seche Special Effects Glitter. This is a pink shimmer. Over beige (top) it creates a warm pink. Over light blue, it makes something similar to SinfulColors Cinderella. Over both dark purple and black, it created a purpley pink shimmer.



Here are the combinations above in direct light:



I had lots of pink shimmer toppers to choose from to compare to Glitter. I settled on NYC Shimmer Blast Sweet Candy, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Color Filters Strobe, and Color Club Pearl-spective.



As it turned out, the ones I chose for comparison were all more purple than Seche Special Effects Glitter. Left to right, over black: NYC Shimmer Blast Sweet Candy, Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Color Filters Strobe, Color Club Pearl-spective, Seche Special Effects Glitter. In my defense, they looked more similar in the bottles.



If you're into layering, these Seche Special Effects are worth picking up. The Holographic isn't going to replace Starlight and Sparkles as my favorite holo topper but it's decent. The Blue Opal and Glitter apply nicely and are fun to use to transform cremes.