Maychiri's Thoughts: 3D Glitter

Avon Crushed Crystals Sunset Beats Nail Enamel [Flamingo] Review

April 28, 2025

I was browsing the Focus brochure and the demo offers had this summer themed makeup set, which included some eye kajals, an eyeshadow palette, some highlighters and this line of nail polishes. Originally, I thought this would be a metallic nail polish, judging by the pictures in the brochure; I found out later that this is actually a limited edition Crushed Crystals set. Let’s be honest, I would have bought the polish anyway since the shade is called Flamingo and I adore flamingos, but learning that it’s actually Crushed Crystals made me want it even more, since I absolutely love those polishes. I already have two Crushed Crystals polishes and they are phenomenal, so here’s hoping this one will continue the trend!

Packaging: this polish arrived in a black cardboard packaging that had all the information about the polish. Inside the black packaging was this large nail polish bottle. The bottle is a rectangular clear glass one, and feels pretty heavy. The cap is black and can be sealed extremely tightly, so much that I struggle to open it, even! So you definitely needn’t worry about it spilling.

Ingredients: 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene) and nothing nourishing. The scent is like most nail polishes, although it is a bit more intense. The expiration date is 36 months after opening.

This is a magenta coloured nail polish that has silver glitter in it in varying sizes. The glitter is tiny and looks like silver dust for the most part, but there are large pieces of it as well. The colour is extremely intense and looks pretty nice on pale skin. I really like the glitter, even though I had initially thought it wouldn’t look good because of the big pieces of glitter. I thought it would look tacky, but instead, it looks fancy and cool.

The brush is a long round brush that is absolutely fantastic! It’s so easy to use, and it picks up a huge amount of polish, waaay more than you actually need. It’s big enough to coat the entire nail in just one or two swipes but is still precise enough to not get a lot of it outside your nails. Avon very rarely disappoints with the brushes they use for their nail polishes, and this one is no exception!

The formula is quite curious: it’s watery at first, but then it becomes almost creamy and gelly. It is a wonderful formula to work with though, as it is extremely easy to spread on nails evenly. It also feels very light, despite having a ton of little glitter in it, and two coats still feel really light on nails. Speaking of which, one coat is pretty much opaque and wonderfully even looking, so you could stop at that. Or you could apply a second coat which adds to the beauty of the crystal-like glitter, it will look thicker and just better all-around. I would stop there though, no need for 3 or more coats. The texture is well, glittery and sparkly, but the polish itself is matte, so you get this wonderful mixture of matte and glitter that looks so beautiful!

It also feels extremely rough and coarse, and it can get caught on clothes (tights or knitwear for example) due to the large glitter. I actually really like that it’s so textured and rough, it just feels fun to touch! Although I do tend to smooth it out on the free edges of nails by rubbing it subconsciously.

The longevity is amazing... except when you go do house-work that includes harsh chemicals (Sanytol, Domestos, and the like). It was virtually impervious to any kind of damage for the first 3 days, and no matter what I did it stayed in perfect condition. Even if I tried to scratch it intentionally there wouldn’t be any scratches. So, it’s ridiculously long-lasting. Problems arose when I went to clean my (late, RIP, you beautiful critter ;-; ) turtle’s terrarium (well, one of them, at least): the disinfectant chemicals caused the polish to start chipping off in large chunks. By the end of the cleaning my nails looked pretty ugly with the half chipped polish. Surprisingly, washing my hair did not worsen the problem, as they stayed more or less the same as the previous day. Moral of the story: try to stay away from Domestos when you are wearing any nail polish, including this one.

Interestingly enough, unlike other glitters nail polishes, this polish is terrifically easy to remove. I didn’t have to scrub hard at all to remove it entirely from my nails. And there wasn’t a lot of leftover glitter on my fingers, only a few of the bigger pieces remained. Such a huge surprise! There was also no staining of nails, despite being so intensely magenta.

All in all: just like the other Crushed Crystals, this one is equally amazing! The colour is surprisingly gorgeous and the glitter isn’t overwhelming, despite seeming like it might be from what it looked like in the bottle. The formula is lovely, creamy and so easy to use! I also love that it’s pigmented enough and even enough that just one coat is perfectly opaque. Two coats makes it look really luxurious! The longevity is astounding in general, although harsh chemicals destroy it. That shouldn’t be a surprise anyways, as harsh disinfectants tend to destroy most, if not all, of the polishes I own, regardless of the brand. Literally nothing can scratch it or damage it! Try scratching at it, or grabbing stuff with your nails, go ahead! Nothing bad will happen, I promise! The coarse, rough texture is also really cool to me, and I love to touch it to feel the rough glitter! Just note that it can get caught on clothing, particularly if it’s knitwear or nylons. I am super happy with this polish so it will get a definite recommendation from me!

Rating: 9/10

Would buy again? YES, probably

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3D Glitter

Avon Crushed Crystals Nail Enamel [Pearl] Review

November 16, 2023

Just one nail polish for today, but I promise you – this is no ordinary nail polish, oh no! This is the Avon Crushed Crystals Nail Enamel, in shade Pearl!

Oh my god – so sparkly!!! As soon as I saw this nail polish in the Avon catalogue I knew I just had to have it! This was a totally new type of nail polish for me back when I ordered it, a truly 3D surface?? Like, coarse, scratchy 3D? Wow, that sounds amazing! Now, what colour to choose... hmm, how about the light brown? That seems to be the most wearable of the bunch. Now, I am not a huge fan of glitter in general, but this is ~special~ glitter, and I just want it! I am a magpie sometimes, so I need my sparklies! Ahh, I cannot wait to finally see this nail polish! So, let’s check it out!

Packaging: like most Avon nail polishes, this is a thin rectangular bottle. The text is white, which is a very nice with the colour of this nail polish. There isn’t really much to say besides this, really. The cap, though, it is really elegant! It’s sharply rectangular and is very tall. I like the glossy finish. The cap closes so tightly that I often have trouble opening it – this is good! It keeps the nail polish from drying out too soon, which is especially important for such glittery nail polishes!

The outer packaging was made of cardboard. It’s black with a ton of text on it. The text is white, to be as legible as possible. Pretty basic, but it’s okay.

Ingredients: nothing nourishing, but also 3-free (DBP, formaldehyde, toluene). The scent is like most nail polishes, although it is slightly more vinegary. The expiration date is 24 months after opening.

The brush is a classic Avon nail polish brush: elongated, thin and very elegant. A flat brush in shape, it picks up a very large amount of polish, much more than you actually need for one nail. It deposits the nail polish pretty much perfectly evenly; the thin, long shape makes it super easy to paint the sides of the nails precisely. It’s such a high quality, amazing brush! I love it!

Ooh this is such an exquisite colour! It’s so gorgeous, isn’t it? This is a grayish rosey colour with some mauve thrown in to make it even more jewel-like. It looks almost greige but it’s definitely more rosey. It’s a super elegant and neutral colour, perfect for both everyday and formal occasions alike! And it looks so darn gorgeous on nails, all sparkly like millions of quartz crystals! The glitter is chunky and perfectly colour-coordinated to match the base colour. It’s mostly silver, which is beyond beautiful here! I frequently stop just to look at my nails with this nail polish and am mesmerised every single time; it’s truly a one-of-a-kind nail polish! Certainly among the most beautiful of them all.

The formula is super silky and smooth and just feels lovely! You can barely feel the chunky glitter! It’s just right in terms of how watery it is; it’s a bit thin, but it is not at all runny. It’s extremely easy to use because it is, honestly, almost impossible to mess it up! Such a great formula! Oh, it also dries within a minute or two and is then very difficult to actually damage (this is without nail polish drying drops, as well).

As for opacity, you might think this would be opaque with a single coat, but it is not! It is just barely sheer with one coat (you can just barely make out the nail underneath). However, the colour is not completely vivid as it should be with one coat. So let’s apply a second one, shall we? Oh, now it’s much better! The colour is proper vivid now and it is totally opaque and rich! It’s even more sparkly and glittery now, as well. It doesn’t look thick at all with two coats, but I really wouldn’t apply more than two, for multiple reasons. The texture is super glittery, sparkly and chunky, with a matte finish. This makes it look coarse, as if real crystals spilled on your nails. It’s a super extravagant finish, not for the meek of heart! But perfect for special occasions, when you need to be bejewelled!

Although, it is 3D – that is, you can feel the chunky glitter when you touch the nails; for some, this may be very annoying! I know it annoys me when I want to wear tights but it keeps snagging on the thread! So be careful with delicate knitwear/fabrics when you are wearing this nail polish!

Longevity is outstanding! Under normal circumstances nothing can damage this nail polish, no matter what you do! It stays for up to a week without any chips, with the only damage being traces of new nail growth. So this is bloody fantastic! I managed to somehow chip it... don’t ask me how. I have no clue! And it wasn’t a small amount of chipping on a few nails, either! I was callous with my nails I’ll admit, so maybe I shouldn’t be so surprised. However, this colour hides damage so well that I only noticed the chipped off parts when the nail polish started getting caught on my clothes. So it’s really not a big deal if you chip this nail polish as it is barely visible anyways.

Oh, also, over time, the scratchy, rough surface of the polish will get sanded down to an almost smooth one. This is especially evident on the free edge of the nails as it no longer gets caught on so many fabrics as when it’s fresh. Don’t worry though, this doesn’t affect its appearance at all!

Oooh, this is the part I have been dreading. Removal. All these chunky pieces of glitter are, naturally, very difficult to remove. Normally, you have to scrub for ages before you even break through the polish, let alone remove it. And then scrub even more to actually remove the polish. And then scrub even more to remove the last few remaining pieces of glitter. This is, of course, not good for the health of the nails. It’s also the reason why I don’t wear glittery nail polishes too often, because I have sensitive nails that don’t like it when I scrub them as if they are a dirty plate. I honestly expected it to be this hard to remove. Oh well... but wait!

There is a way to avoid all this suffering for your nails! And it’s very simple: you just need some remover, a cotton pad and a small glass or cup. Pour some remover into the glass and just soak your nail in the remover for a minute or two, then soak a cotton pad in remover and just press and swipe. It should come off much more easily this way. There is still some scrubbing required to remove it completely but it is much gentler on the nails. So it wasn’t a painful ordeal this time, and it didn’t take a long time to remove this way. So it’s not actually horrible – as long as you know some tricks!

All in all, this is actually a fantastic nail polish! The only thing that actually bothers me is how difficult it is to remove, but since it was plenty obvious it would be like that given the chunky glitter, I am not too surprised. Besides that, it’s all great! The precise, long brush that applies the polish perfectly evenly – hell, the formula that is basically impossible to mess up! Like, even if you really aren’t skilled with nail polishes, it’s super easy to make it look professional. I would advise applying two coats as it is a bit sheer and pale with just one; don’t worry, the formula is light and relatively thin so it won’t feel thick at all with two. The colour and texture though! Oh. My. God. Like, this is literally bejewelled! It’s so sparkly that it looks like you have real crystal dust on your nails! This is chunky glitter that doesn’t look cheap at all, it looks pretty expensive actually! And it is such a gorgeous light nude colour perfect for any occasion, especially formal ones! I adore the finish, the matte finish makes it even more like crystals! Oh, and you can actually feel the glitter; it’s rough and feels scratchy, which, I’ll admit, is a bit annoying, but it feels so darn fun to touch! This does also mean that it frequently gets caught on fabrics, so be careful if you are wearing sensitive fabrics such as knitwear or tights! With time this rough, scratchy surface gets sanded down to an almost smooth one without affecting the sparkliness of the polish. It takes about 2-3 days for that, but then your clothes should be safe from this nail polish! As for the longevity, it is usually incredible, with nothing being able to cause chipping or any other sort of damage. However, I somehow made it chip from day 3 onwards; by the end it didn’t look too good on a few nails. No idea how I managed this. In any case, the combination of extreme glitter and the light colour helps disguise the damage. So, am I happy with this nail polish? Oh am I! I am overjoyed with it! I am in love with it and it’s sparkling gemstone-like finish and the gorgeous colour! Truly, these are crushed crystals! Only, it’s a more quartz-like colour than pearl, no? I’d say this first foray into the world of textures nail polishes was a hugely successful one! Hmm, there are a few other colours that seem really nice... might want to check them out later. Yep, this nail polish absolutely earns its recommendation, it’s fricking awesome!

Rating: 8.5/10

Would buy again? YES (despite being a nightmare to remove, it is gorgeous!)

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Avon Crushed Crystals Sunset Beats Nail Enamel [Flamingo] Review

Avon Crushed Crystals Nail Enamel [Pearl] Review

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