ANLAC Precious Ones v. See Sheer + Glass Bead Pro review

My ANLAC order came in just after my Glass Bead Pro arrived, so I decided to do a skittle to compare ANLAC’s new See Sheer collection to the Precious Ones collection (home to the famous/infamous Fuyu polish.)

Prep: Nailtiques 2+ x1, LynB ridge filler x2

Lacquer, from left thumb to right thumb – all 2 coats except Fuyu, which got a third:

• Moonlight (SS)
• Fuyu (PO)
• Aki (PO)
• Natsu (PO)
• Haru (PO)
• Hey Jade (SS)
• Ash Blue (SS)
• Lavender (SS)
• Pale Mauve (SS)
• Peachy (SS)

QDTC: Cuticula Limitless

Technique: Magnetize each coat of lacquer for at least 30 seconds, magnetize TC for 30-60 seconds on left hand, around 2 minutes on right hand. I didn’t time anything, I was going on vibes.

Conclusion on the polish: I LOVE the new collection! Most are a bit less saturated than the Precious Ones polishes, and that allows a little nuance. I definitely see how they consider this a follow-up to PO.

My favorites are Ash Blue (which has a pink/red shimmer) and Lavender (which has a green/blue shimmer). I think Peachy and Moonlight will probably be great as a toppers – the polish is smooth and self-leveling enough that you could definitely get away with one coat over a different polish. My least favorites from the new collection are Pale Mauve and Hey Jade, but I think they mainly suffer in comparison to my two favorite shades from the Precious Ones collection. My tier ranks across both collections:

• S-tier/God-tier: Fuyu (hard to top this one – it’s one of the best polishes on the market today)
• A: Ash Blue, Lavender, Haru
• B: Moonlight, Peachy
• C: Everything else

On the Glass Bead Pro (from ExtrusionArts on Etsy, a motorized glass bead tool): using this tool is the first time I’ve actually had a glass bead manicure retain a tight bead. It’s been about 24 hours since I completed this look, and the fingers on the left hand still have a distinct bead, rather than dispersing across the whole nail. The big game-changer is how easy it is to keep your finger in the machine until the topcoat is truly touch-dry. I simply don’t have the patience with any other tool. The franken-magnet with the horseshoe on top of the 5D tool on top of the lab stirrer was SO LOUD, I simply could not use it. The Glass Bead Pro is nice and quiet.

I happen to like the dispersed look on a lot of my polishes, and this will do that too, if you leave your finger under for less time!

The only real fly in the soup is that the space underneath the magnet for your finger is not adjustable, and my thumb barely fits. I had to redo both thumbs because the first time I bumped both on the way out. It’s also more difficult to get the thumb positioned correctly because you simply cannot see how it’s oriented. My bead ended up in some weird places before I figured out how to do it correctly. I do have fairly large hands for a woman though, so my guess is that lots of people won’t have this problem. I think in the future I’ll simply use a different tool for my thumbs. Manually spinning something for two fingers is much more manageable than for all ten!

This is a battery-operated device, and I don’t yet have a sense of the battery life. But I use rechargeable batteries anyway, so that’s not an issue for me. (IKEA has good ones for a decent price!)