(The offerings in this blog post were gifted to me in exchange for photos; all thoughts are my own)
Hello everyone. Happy 2026! I hope you all are enjoying the new year, and I wish that 2026 brings you joy and peace.
I have Glisten & Glow’s upcoming collection inspired, by popular love songs, to show you today! This is their sixth installment of polishes inspired by your favorite love ballads. The three songs chosen this year were:
- Crazy In Love – Beyoncé
- Just The Way You Are – Bruno Mars
- Man I Need – Olivia Dean
These polishes are supremely beautiful and luscious, and are perfect for Valentine’s Day coming up! If you’d like to see a short introduction, including swatches of these polishes, click here for a reel on @duckydigits on Instagram.
In addition to the polishes, I also used Glitter Smoother and Top Coat from Glisten & Glow, both which were gifted to me.
Glisten & Glow: Crazy In Love
Price: $12.50 ($32.00 as a trio)
“Crazy In Love” is a red based jelly polish loaded with color shifting ghost flakes that shift red/pink/orange.
I am wearing 2 coats with Glitter Smoother and Top Coat.
Application Recommendations:
- Coats: 2-3; your preference, though I don’t see a need for 3 unless you have long claws.
- Top Coats: May need a glitter grabber if any texture bothers you!
- Nail Art: Beautiful on its own.
- Time: Dries quickly, but glitter grabber will make it a longer mani.
Before I get too started on my spiel: I experienced some staining with this polish after wearing for an hour or so! Wear a good base coat and consider even wearing another nail concealer on top of that. This is the only polish in the trio that gave me nail staining.
This is a very pretty polish that was psyching out my camera big time! All my shots were coming out quite orange, and it took some time to change my camera settings to capture what I was seeing in real life, but the pictures and videos got there. It’s true: this polish is incredibly fiery. But, I was very happy with the strong peek of hot pink from the ghost flakes.
I usually go for three coats when I wear nail polish, but at the second coat, I couldn’t justify another. It was already very opaque at two. The jelly formula is also incredibly juicy, and it has to be to hold all of those flakes! I can’t see anyone needing to go up to three coats unless your nails are super long.
When you finish this manicure, I would definitely recommend a glitter smoother. Now, I don’t actually think it requires one in terms of texture, as other flake-dense polishes from Glisten & Glow tend to dry smooth. However, the finish that glitter smoother leaves really benefits the sparkle of the flakes. You can see this clearly in my photos! Glitter smoother just makes a nice, even surface for the flakes to really shine through.
“Crazy In Love” in indoor, studio lighting.
Glisten & Glow: Just The Way You Are
Price: $12.50 ($32.00 as a trio)
“Just The Way You Are” is a blue-based jelly polishloaded with red galaxy holo glitter, red metallic microglitters and dark purple reflective glitters.
I am wearing 2 coats with Glitter Smoother and Top Coat.
Application Recommendations:
- Coats: 2; I think 3 would be too thick on the nail.
- Top Coats: Definitely will need a glitter grabber under your top coat!
- Nail Art: Beautiful on its own.
- Time: Dries quickly, but glitter grabber will make it a longer mani.
Phew! Look at the sparkles on this polish! The first thing I think of when I look at this polish is the quote from my favorite Jennifer, Jennifer Coolidge: “You look like the Fourth of July!” Listen – I know this isn’t a patriotic polish, but I think of fireworks when I wiggle my fingers with this on! It especially makes me think of fireworks on New Years… not sure why. Anyway.
This is a classic glitter bomb polish, so a couple of rules apply here: two coats is perfect, and glitter smoother is a must. I think three coats would be far too thick on the nail, especially with glitter smoother on top. Because there are so many glitters, it will dry very textured (you can also see this in my application reel linked in the intro). If you don’t have a glitter smoother, Glisten & Glow makes one and is always available on their site! It is a staple among many in the indie nail community.
“Just The Way You Are” in indoor, studio lighting.
Glisten & Glow: Man I Need
Price: $12.50 ($32.00 as a trio)
“Man I Need” is a red-based multichrome magnetic polish that shifts blue/purple/pink/red.
I am wearing it in 3 coats with Top Coat. From thumb-pinky: ring magnet, cat-eye, ring magnet, velvet, and unmagnetized.
Application Recommendations:
- Coats: 2-3, your preference!
- Magnetization: Non-velvet styles will make the most impact.
- Top Coats: Your normal top coat will be perfect – remember to magnetize it, too!
- Nail Art: Would make a beautiful base for nail art!
- Time: Quick dry time, but magnetization will make it a longer mani (tip: use a magnetic top coat to skip magnetizing each coat!).
If you know me, you know I love when a polish looks beautiful and if it has an inspiration I love. I do love me some Olivia Dean, who sings “Man I Need”, and I adore a gorgeous vampy magnetic polish! This beautiful magnetic pigment sits in a gorgeous wine red, almost oxblood, base. The magnetic pigment seems quite subtle in indirect lighting situations, but is very complimentary when given the light to shine. The magnetic pigment is also very easy to magnetize and is extremely beginner-friendly.
“Man I Need” will definitely be benefitted the most by non-velvet magnetization styles. I even prefer it unmagnetized when compared to the velvet-style magnetization. For reference, I have “Man I Need” in velvet on my ring finger in my swatch photos. It was very hard for me to see the blue magnetic pigment in any lighting situation for the velvet finger.
“Man I Need” in indoor, studio lighting.
Thank you all for reading, and I hope you love these as much as I do. ♥
