Deep down we’re all wishing for a little magic in our lives and color-changing gel nail polish delivers. If you’re not into gel polish, there are tons of non-gel color changing nail polish.
If you’re curious about how color-changing polish works, check out the bottom of the article where I nerd out about the science–but for now, let’s get straight to the polish.
LeChat Gel Polish has a wide range of temperature changing polish options including this tropical Atlantis shade. Their mood polish offers dramatic changes in the shade of the color, as in light blue to dark blue and white to peachy orange, but not as often from one color to an entirely different one.
I like LeChat gel polish and have featured their Diamond Hologram polish in my Best Glitter Nail Polish Shades guide. Lechat is long-lasting, durable, smooth, and often used in salons.
What I love most about LeChat is that so many of their gel polishes come with a bottle of regular nail polish in the same color so you can do some quick touch ups if you need to. Unfortunately, their color changing polishes don’t come with an extra bottle.
I’ve recently been buying and wearing Beetles Gel Polish more and more and I’m impressed with its staying power. This six-piece thermal polish set is full of light, feminine colors with lots of pinks, mauves, and one light blue. You get four glitter shades and two creams.
The set doesn’t include a top or base coat which is a shame because they have a great formula. Their top and base coat combo is my go-to when I’m doing a jelly-sandwich with regular nail polish.
Another way to really catch someone’s attention, get into reflective nail polish, although you might find it hard going back to regular glitter.
If you’re looking for color changing polish and glitter, Gellen has a nice range of glitter gels that shift depending on temperature. This set of four comes with four glitter polishes that are all temperature changing polish.
Gellen has great lasting power though the formula can be a little thicker than some are used to. Just make sure you’re using thin layers and you’ll be fine.
If you’re not sure what type of color changing polish appeals to you most, check out this Variety Set from Ur Sugar. The six-piece set comes with one temperature changing nail polish, two multichrome polishes, one holographic polish, and two magnetic nail polish shades.
This allows you to play with a sampling of finishes to decide which you like most.
Another glittery option is Modelones who have a range of thermochromatic nail polish with everything from large hex glitter to shimmery micro-glitter.
This brand has decent staying power but it definitely needs a base and top coat to get the most out of it. Modelones offers a Base and Top Coat Set, but your favorite gel base and top coat from any brand will do.
This is another polish that will be fairly thick to work with and Modelones suggests setting the polish bottles in a bowl of warm water during colder months to make the lacquer easier to work with.
In this six-piece set, you get a lot of mermaid tones with holographic glitter as well as a pink to white iridescent nail polish shimmer. Gouserva has a range of sets to choose from which I love including deeper ocean tones, galaxy colors, and just a varied mix that everyone will like.
Elite99 is offering one of the best deals with their eight polish color sets. These polishes from Elite99 have intense, bright pigmentation in a great formula that’s easy to work with and doesn’t require four coats to be opaque.
If you don’t love the colors included in this starter kit, Elite99 is offering 11 different starter kits with different nail polish combinations including all glitter, fun summery colors, and a combination of the two.
Aimeili has a small but vibrant range of color changing polish including glitters and bright candy colors. Their thermal dye is fairly sensitive compared to other brands so if you have longer nails, you’ll likely get a nice ombre of the warm and cold colors from your nail bed to your nail tips.
The formula of the polish is thicker than most so it takes a little getting used to. To get the best durability out of it make sure you’re applying thin, even layers.
These polishes are available individually or in sets.
For those who like bold colors, check out Vishine’s Mood Nail Polish. These are nice summery colors with dramatic color shifts based on the temperature of your nails.
The shifts are drastic and sensitive so you won’t have to work too hard to see results.
Temperature changing polish is by far the most popular and available, but multichrome nail polish like this Three Piece Polish Set, is another type of color changing polish that doesn’t require you to change the temperature of your hands to get see the fun.
This duochrome and holographic glitter gel polish by Perfect Summer has a multi-chrome effect where the polish is solidly one color, but if you shift your hand just a couple of inches, it’s suddenly a completely different color. At some angles, you’ll be able to see both colors and watch them switch back and forth.
I love my duo-chrome polishes because of how fast the colors can change and change back. It’s an instantaneous transition, unlike with temperature changing polish. If you’re not seeing a change, you probably just need to get better lighting.
This set comes with three mini bottles. These polishes have a different effect t when layered over different base coats. I find they look best over a base of black.
Color changing not enough? These Thermal Polishes by Supwee also glow in the dark. The six-polish set covers a full rainbow of colors that shift from darker to lighter depending on the temperature of your nails.
After they’ve charged up in the light, the polish glows brightly in the dark. For even more changing fun, the glowing color isn’t always the color the polish is when the lights are on. The red shade glows deep blue.
If you’re intrigued by the three-color temperature changes, Gel Lab has a good deal for a seven-piece set. I will say off the bat though that with the temperature sensitivity of this brand, if you have shorter nails you likely won’t be able to see three colors at once.
With longer nails, you’ve got a better chance to get that full ombre effect, but with shorter nails, you may only get two colors. Gel Lab has six different color sets if you don’t love this selection of colors so you have options to choose from.
FairyGlo is one of my favorite brands when it comes to temperature changing nail polish because their color shifts can be pretty dramatic. A lot of thermal polishes tend to be between different shades of one color, like light blue to a darker blue.
Don’t get me wrong, that’s still pretty magical, just slightly less impressive. FairyGlo has some of those as well, but they also have more unexpected shifts from light blue to dark pink or from pink to olive green. I love that.
The formula isn’t too thin and most polishes are opaque in two coats, though some may need three coats. They aren’t the fastest curing on the market at 60 seconds under LED bulbs, but makes up for that with staying power.
Individually, FairyGlo polishes are fairly cheap individually but buying them in a set saves you a ton money. These polishes come in Sets of Six and if you don’t like that color combination, there are 30 different assortments to choose from. FairyGlo also allows you to customize polish sets which is great, like this Pick Any 30 Set where you can choose any 30 color changing gel polishes so you can get the colors you like at half the cost of buying them individually.
This is another brand with dramatic color shifts including this pink to periwinkle to burgundy shade. Clavuz’s thermal nail polishes have some of the widest gradients I’ve seen with three distinct colors between cold, warm, and hot.
With some shades, the center of the gradient is more obviously a transition color, but for some, it can look like a totally separate color. A great example is this shade that goes from mint green to a berry purple to a midnight blue.
The only downside is that the Clavus formula goes on a little sheer so you’ll want to use two to three coats to get good opaque color. If you prefer to buy a set of polish for more variety, Clavuz offers a Starter Kit that includes 10 color changing polish along with a top coat and base coat.
Okay, we’ve had a lot of temperature changing polish, and this is thermochromatic too, but with a little something extra thrown in. This gel polish by Clavuz is color changing and magnetic.
Magnetic polish works by having a series of metallic particles dispersed in the lacquer. It goes on as a uniform color, but when you hover a magnet over your wet polish, it pulls those metallic bits together giving your nails an effect a little like a tiger’s eye gemstone.
It’s a neat and impressive look on its own, but this magnetic polish will also change color.
It may not be the most durable on the list, but it’s worth it for the unique effect. This set of seven polishes has five thermal-magnetic colors as well as a top coat and a base coat.
Plus you also get a magnet stick and 50 nail polish remover wraps.
There's something about color changing nail polish that makes you feel magical. Check out these best mood and color changing gel polish for fun shifting colors.
