Deep dive: the worlds brightest glow in the dark polishes

As a glow in the dark polish lover, I was immediately drawn to these Snail Works polishes advertised as “the worlds brightest glow nail polish”.

Snail Works is a small brand so there aren’t many swatches and comparisons of these polishes, so I thought I’d make one for anyone else that’s interested.

Snail Works sells 3 glow in the dark (GITD) polishes:
1. Vegan Glow Worm Extract (VGWE), applies like a white creme and glows green
2. Vegan Firefly Extract (VFE), applies like a baby pink creme and glows orange
3. Vegan Lanternfish Extract (VLE), applies like a baby blue creme and glows blue

They glow in the dark from normal light, no UV required. I “charge” them by shining my phone flash on them before taking photos.

In order of brightness, VGWE is the brightest, followed by VFE and the dimmest is VLE. All 3 dry down slightly matte.

Pic 1 & 2, left to right: VLE, VFE, VGWE.

💚Green glow comparisons💚

Vegan Glow Worm Extract is advertised as the brightest glow polish full stop. Below I’ve compared it to Mooncat’s What A Brilliant Nose (discontinued from their nightmare before christmas collection) and Holo Taco’s Glow In The Dark Taco (in 2 layers over their white creme Not Milky White).

All of these are very good quality glow polishes. It’s hard to see on camera but VGWE is slightly brighter in person, followed by HT and MC. In the light, VGWE is also the most white, with HT’s GITD taco having a slight green tint.

Pic 3 & 4, left to right: Snail Works VGWE, Holo Taco GITD taco over not milky white, Mooncat What A Brilliant Nose.

🧡Orange glow comparisons🧡

I only have one other orange glow in the dark polish to compare to, and unfortunately it’s not a very bright one. Below I have Vegan Firefly Extract next to Zombie Claw’s Don’t Save It For A Rainy Day (PPU), which has a very disappointing glow compared to the swatches.

I’m happy to say VFE is not at all disappointing. The glow is a fiery bright orange/yellow and charges very easily. My camera isn’t great at picking up the colour of the glow, but in person it definitely looks yellow-orange.

Pic 5 & 6: left to right, Snail Works VFE, Zombie Claw Don’t Save It For a Rainy Day.

💙Blue glow comparisons💙

Below I have Vegan Lanternfish Extract compared to Lucky 13 Lacquer’s Watch How I Soar (PPU).

Interestingly, VLE is the only Snail Works glow polish that isn’t advertised as the “brightest”. VLE is a bit dimmer and grainier than the other extracts. It’s still slightly brighter than the other blue glow polish I own.

Pics 7 & 8, left to right: Snail Works VLE, Lucky 13 Lacquers Watch How I Soar.

🗣️Conclusion & opinions💅

These polishes are very pricy at £21, which is double what I usually pay for a bottle of nail polish. You can get the bundle for £50, or £16.6 per polish, which is what I bought.

All 3 glow strong and you will see them glow faintly throughout the night without charging. They are indeed the brightest in my collection for their respective colours so I can’t dispute their “world’s brightest” claims.

VGWE and VFE are my favourites. They are very bright and fun, and the creme formula is nice. I think Holo Taco’s GITD taco over a white creme is a fine substitute for VGWE, but VFE is harder to dupe at the same brightness. VLE is my least favourite since the glow is less impressive and it was the only one I had issues with the formula. It might have been a coincidence, but I had to add like 50 drops of thinner to it.

All 3 polishes are very fun to use in nail art since they apply opaque like a creme. You can use them to add glow in the dark details (like using VGWE to make little Halloween ghosts) or combine them for fun effects (VLE and VFE make a sunset look that glows like fire and ice).

Snail Works excites me since it looks like they’re trying to push boundaries with their formulations. They have a more gruff mechanical aesthetic which is also relatively unique in the nail polish world. The price point is high but I’m excited to see what else they come out with. I also picked up their metal coat polish, which is unlike anything else I’ve worn. Let me know if you’d like a review of that one!

Thanks for reading 🙂