Multichrome nail polish, also called duo-chrome or chameleon nail polish, is nail lacquer that is a different color depending on the angle you view it from. The shade might be pink at first but then turn to aqua if you move your hand. I love color changing nail polish of all kinds so let’s check out the best multi-chrome shades around.
Birefringence by ILNP is a polish I got a sample of years back and is still the polish I break out when I’m explaining to someone in person what a multichrome is. It’s a beautiful, trendy cobalt blue polish that flashes to amethyst purple. It’s a very oil-slick color that has hidden shades in its shifting as well but blue and purple are the main colors.
This is a two to three coater and is quite sheer on the first coat, but trust that it does build up to be fully opaque. “Birefringence” is a term used to describe materials, most often crystals, that have two or more refractions as light passes through them leading to optic changes so it’s a nice name for a duochrome like this.
Tomorrowland by Cirque Colors has the stunning emerald color of jewel beetle wings that shifts to royal blue and pink. While obviously not a natural color for fingernails, this lacquer draws on the beauty found in nature for its inspiration. Think shiny beetle wings and iridescent butterflies.
You’ll want two to three coats with this one for full brilliance. Buying Cirque Colors polish supports an American indie brand and their lacquers are cruelty-free, vegan, and 10-free.
Obsidian by KBShimmer is a black multichrome polish that shifts to red, bright orange, copper, and gold. I like the way the brand describes it as a lava flow where the lava cools to a black on the surface but underneath red hot.
I got to test out a media sample of this shade (with no promise of a review) and it’s going to be a real fall favorite of mine. I love the dark oxblood feel of it and the surprising flash of gold in the light.
KBShimmer has great staying power and is vegan and cruelty-free. See Obsidian in action with this YouTube Swatch Review Video.
Burnt Out by Color Club looks like a brand new shiny penny with a secret. The bright pinky copper shifts to a warm chocolate on one end of the spectrum and to bronze, orange, gold, and then green-gold on the other end of the spectrum. It’s a stunningly reflective metallic, enough that I’d say it’s nearly a mirror chrome polish. You can see the wearer’s reflection in this YouTube swatch video showing the color changes.
Color Club polishes are made in America and are vegan.
For a serious multicolor shift, check out Arsenic (As) by Atomic Polish. This flakie topper has a wide range of colors in its shift including purple, green, orange, blue, and bright pink. This is one of the closest to a fire opal look as I’ve found. Because it’s a flakie and not a glitter, this polish is easier to remove and needs fewer layers for the dramatic look you’re going for.
The polish is five-free and I’m a sucker for their atomic number, periodic table convention of naming their polishes. Plus you’ll be supporting an indie brand of handmade, small-batch nail polish made in Minnesota.
Atomic is a purple lacquer packed with multichrome flakies that layer for a faceted look like dragon scales or mermaid fins. The flakies shift in color from red to gold to green. The purple tint over lower layers can turn those flakes into a warmer copper which looks great. There’s an opal quality to the shifting but bolder and brighter. To me, this one looks like a dragon’s egg.
Cupcake polishes is an indie brand out of Texas and they make handmade their five-free polishes in small batches.
ILNP makes some of my favorite chameleon polished and Cameo Ultra Chrome is on my wishlist. It’s a vibrant fuchsia pink that shifts to purple, copper, gold, and green. The color change is bold and unmistakable with this polish and reminds me of molten glass.
ILNP formulas are easy to worth with and not streaky–a huge accomplishment for chrome-type polishes. This one needs two to three coats and has excellent staying power. ILNP polishes are vegan, cruelty-free, and made in Las Vegas, NV.
This Zoya Four-Piece Set contains two of the brand’s best multichrome options and while you could buy the two separately, these four polishes together are only a few bucks more than it would cost to buy one polish. So why not get four for the price of less than two?
Zoya’s Adina is highly metallic with an amethyst gemstone look to it and an iridescent gold flash. It doesn’t change as much as some other polishes with a violet color that shifts to a pinky magenta. It’s a combination duochrome and shimmer polish as Adina has a green-gold frost to it that adds to the metallic look.
Aggie is slightly more subtle with a metallic gold base that shifts to green and copper. It isn’t a huge change but more like a very dynamic, interesting gold polish.
You also get Monica and Debbie, two classic Zoya fall and winter cream shades.
All go on smooth and look great in all lighting. It’s Zoya so you know it’s 10-free and long-lasting.
Stay Salty by KBShimmer is a gorgeous ocean-themed multichrome with a deep sea-green teal to navy blue to purple shift. It has colors that make me think of churning waves and, in lower lighting, the more magical mermaid-jewel-tones of the darker ocean depths.
I got to test out a media sample of this shade and it has an intense shift and the colors all blend and flow together really well that it almost seems like one cohesive shade. Sometimes color changing polish, especially temperature-changing polish, can shift from extremes (baby blue to black for example), and seem like you’re wearing two different manicures. Stay Salty has the same mood to it no matter the shade that is showing.
The polish has great coverage for me at two coats and had the same impressive staying power I expect from a KBShimmer polish. KBShimmer is an American small business and its polishes are five-free, vegan, and cruelty-free.
Make any polish multichrome with this Electric Carnival Flake Topper by ILNP. It’s a clear base packed with metallic chameleon flakies which are flatter and larger than glitter as well as significantly easier to remove. The flakies have a metallic red to yellow to green shift which is striking and bold. The name Electric Carnival really suits it.
You can layer these topper polishes over any other polish color to spice up their look. They can also be worn alone using the sponge technique like you would with glitter nail polish to get full opaque coverage in one coat.
If you like the shifting blue-purple-gold look of a camp stove flame, check out Pondering from China Glaze’s Great Outdoors Collection. It has a beautiful teal to gold to violet shift that reminds me of the deep blue of flames and images of the Milky Way.
It needs at least two coats, like most China Glaze polishes, but is well worth it. It’s three-free and has a lovely shimmer.
Get glitzy with Ultrachrome by Parrot Polish. This gold chameleon polish shifts from green-gold to pure gold to bronze-gold. You’ll feel like a high-roller flashing these metallic gold-bar colors. You’ll want two to three coats for full coverage
For a unique color shift, check out Color Club’s Oil Slick Collection. It’s a deep metallic purple that shifts to magenta pink then to a classic true red and finally to a copper orange.
You have got to see this polish in motion to get the full picture of it so take a peek at this Polish In Motion YouTube swatch video. I’m obsessed with this color shift and We’ll Never Be Royals is on my personal wishlist.
Color Club polishes are vegan-friendly and made here in America.
Play with a duochrome gold leaf look with Sol Amazing by KBShimmer. The clear base is packed with irregular multichrome flakies with a bright yellow gold tone with a copper, blue, and green shift.
I love chameleon metallic flakies because you can use them as a topper to change the look of nail polish you already own. Plus they’re so much easier to remove than glitter.
I got to test out this shade as part of their summer collection and it’s really a stand-out. The color shift is eye-catching. I like it as a topper but I tend to sponge it on for full coverage and nails that really pop.
I could stare at Beautiful by Parrot Polish all day long. I love this tropical-looking gradient of cool hot pink to gold to emerald. This is a head-turning polish that will get you a lot of comments. You’ll want two to three coats for full opacity and a good glossy top coat.
