This is one of those posts where I chose a color based on the glitter I wanted to put on top of it. I have a remarkable number of toppers to get through, given that we’ve established that I’m all weird about mismatched glitter. I mean… okay.
As far as I can tell from some casual research, the “nail care market” has been undergoing insane growth since about 2008, with a 32% increase in profits in 2012. Analysts were upset because 2013 was “only” showing 19% growth (I’m playing a bit loose with dates, but roughly). The market is starting to saturate, with some people declaring the nail polish fad to be drawing to a close, although in actuality if the market stabilizes at its current sales rates there’s a hell of a lot of nail polish going out into the world. In fact, since 2008, nail polish recession sales outpaced the famous “lipstick effect” that I had never heard of. (Short: during recessions lipstick sales rise, as women put off bigger pick-me-up purchases.)
Meanwhile, there are only so many colors the human eye can differentiate, and even fewer that most people care about. The number of nail colors is further limited by chemistry – there are only so many body-approved, stable, acetone-soluble, mutually compatible, etc. pigments. So, there are only so many nail polish colors. Hence, finishes. Glitters, shimmers, cremes, glass flake, flakies, textured polishes… I know I’m missing a zillion variants.
Why the economics lesson? Because there’s huge money in continuing to produce nail polishes that differ from previous ones. (Well, and also because I’m something of a pedant.) Anyway, even given my sharply limiting preferences, there’s always something interesting to buy, and often it’s new toppers.
Enough lead-in? Yeah, I thought so. Here’s Sinful Colors Opening Night.

Which, all things being equal, is a very nice, very shiny, very dark teal. I don’t think I have anything similar.
Nice, anyway. In indoor lighting it’s much darker, but not so much that you can’t see flashes of color. Chosen, as I said, to complement…
Wet n Wild Slap the Bass:
While the glitter is almost invisible, it does make the polish quite a bit brighter. Mostly it makes it look like a very well-lit Opening Night. I really liked the effect on myself, especially as the light failed.
If you’ve ever wondered why it’s sometimes Wet-n-Wild, sometimes Wet n Wild, sometimes Wet’n’Wild, and so on: it’s because they themselves are inconsistent; I mostly just copy from the bottle.
If you wondered why “Slap the Bass” is a name for a teal glitter, I can’t help you. I can tell you it’s funnier if you assume they’re talking about the fish, though.**
** Yes, this is the part of the post I spent the most time on. Do you suppose they’re actually going to give me a PhD? It seems… unlikely somehow.