bltn | starrily liminal dreams nail polish: collection swatch & comparisons

Added: 2026-05-12

[00:00:00]Hello, hello, hello, hello. Welcome to my channel. My name is Yanelli and today I'm bringing the first installment of my Better late Than Never series. So, this is essentially what it is, Better Late Than Ever, a series where I release swatch videos that I have recorded already on collections that have since passed and may or may not be available at this time and date. So, for our first video, I have here Starly's Liinal Dreams collection. Now, this collection was sent to me in PR, but like I filled out a form on Starly's website to be considered to receive samples. They didn't specify what samples. They did ask if I had a preference, and I said no, not really. And they sent the Limal Dream set. And the form did have a requirement in there that you will be providing an honest review of whatever samples you get. And this is that long overdue review that uh Starly gets. It is not sponsored, not paid, but I did get the products from Starly themselves.

[00:01:04]I did not pay for these. All thoughts and opinions will remain my own honest truths as is with all my swatch and reviews. Okay, so yeah, I got the collection sometime in December of 2025.

[00:01:15]I didn't swatch it until January of 2026 and I didn't edit it until April/May of 2026. I'm sorry, Starly team. Now that that's said and done, this collection consists of eight polishes.

[00:01:32]And if you know, you know that there's potentially an additional one that's technically part of it, but it's kind of like Easter egg of sorts on this date.

[00:01:42]The only thing available right now is Dream Logic and that mystery polish I've yet long enough. Let's get into the swatches. First up, we have Artificial Sun. And this is an iridescent flake topper that's just between blue and yellow predominantly, but at certain angles you can see some pink. Now, as you can see, this topper has irregularly shaped flakes. You have some that are small and you have some that are rather big. And I got curious as to how buildability of this is. So I only did two coats. Uh I guess Pacionelli did not want to do three, but I think a third coat would have definitely covered up again a majority of them, especially if I gotten big flakes like I did on the second coat. Overall application is very smooth. The flakes don't really fight me unless they want to go half off and half on on the tips of the nail. Removal should be relatively easy. You can soak it off, scrub it off, or peel it off.

[00:02:35]And this polish dries down smooth, so I only needed one coat of top coat for a smooth, even finish.

[00:02:44]Moving on, we have Deja Vu. And this is a muted orangey red with ships of orange, red, icy blue, pink, and purple, which many of them you can only see in different lighting/ angles. The first coat was very, very blood orange coated.

[00:03:00]This was spaghetti Tupperware to the extreme. However, applying that second coat really deepened that tone, but overall formulation was really nice. I only needed two coats, and I can see brush strokes within the shimmers, but otherwise, it's self-leveled out nicely.

[00:03:18]It has a smooth finish to it, so I only needed one coat of top coat. Removal wise, the only thing that I could see squaring up to you is honestly the shimmers. Like, if you scrub it off, some of the shimmers might stick to your skin. And of course, I wanted to see how it looked topped in the black, gray, and white as well. Over black and gray.

[00:03:36]Really enjoy it over white. It's exactly how I envision me getting Spaghettiio sauce on my white t-shirt. Moving on, we have Flicker. And I'm not going to lie, on the label underneath the bottle, due to the font that they used, the L and the I merged for me initially, and I dead ass thought this was [ __ ] So, this is a warm golden yellow and the base color of it like a light honey or amber like color and it has these really vibrant green shimmers going throughout as well as yellowy shimmers. I'm not sure how to describe it. It almost gives it a metallic look of sorts. The green shimmers do shift predominantly between green and an icy blue of sorts. Pink shift is detectable but only at extreme angles. Just like the others, dries down smooth. removal should be easy. The main thing that could be annoying is the shimmers. Over black, I get the green shimmer most and then the gray kind of dilutes the tone of it, so it's a nice muted color. And then over white's a fun pastely yellow of sorts. So, it could be a great topper. Moving on, we have persistent realm. And this is a light pastel seafoam like green with orangey and pink shifts going throughout.

[00:04:50]Something interesting about this one.

[00:04:52]For some reason, I guess I needed three coats compared to the other two.

[00:04:56]Honestly, I'm more shocked at the fact that I needed a third coat for this one versus the yellow one. With the second coat, I could still see my nail moon really nice along with my nail line. And I felt like I wanted that third coat to provide a higher coverage. Like the shimmers wasn't as intense as flicker was because flicker was very distracting. Like I felt like I barely saw any nail line, but with this one, I definitely did. Overall, similar to the others, it had great formula and self-leveled out nicely. Shimmers show brush stroke removal should be easy.

[00:05:27]Now, something fun that I noticed while swatching is that this color perfectly matched my Snuggie. So, this was my twin here. This color, for some reason, was like my favorite of the collection. I really thought deja vu might be the one, but I think it matching with my Snuggie kind of altered some wiring in my brain.

[00:05:45]And then I really enjoy this over black and gray. Over black, you see the shimmers are now more on the red leaning versus pinky orange. And over gray, of course, it just mutes it ever so slightly. Very nice. Moving on to false awakening, and this is a light blue base polish with yellow to light orange ships going about. Now, I dubb this anime water color. As I build it up gradually in three coats, it slowly started reminding me of like the way water kind of looks like an anime. It's very I don't know. It's so pretty to look at.

[00:06:19]Like this is the water with the sun kind of bouncing off of it, you know? It's so pretty. I like it a lot. It falls awakening vibes. Uh I don't know. Maybe I don't really know the correlation with the name and the color. Maybe there is none actually. Now I feel like I could have gotten away with it in two coats, but I felt like I could still see like my nail moon and nail line rather prominently. But in three coats, it low-key felt the same way as the second coat. So maybe this is one that I would probably wear a creamy base coat with it. And I of course needed to show it over black, gray, and white. I love it over black. I love seeing the shimmers so prominently. Over gray, it's like its muted version. And over white, it's giving like not neon per se, but also a little pastel. I don't know. It's very vivid. Next up, we have Dream Logic. And this is another blue, but the tone of blue is very different. It's a little bit more saturated, a little bit deeper in my opinion. And then the shimmers are more on the pinky purple side with at extreme angle showcasing some green and yellow orange of sorts. Now, this one captivated me because it has a certain underglow effect going on that I absolutely adore. When this shade of blue has that underglow effect of sorts, it was just I love it a lot. I did do three coats predominantly out of curiosity. I did feel like maybe two coats I could have gotten away with it because I really didn't see much of a difference between the two coats and three coats. Removal is the same as the past once I swatched should be easy. And of course, it dries down smooth as well.

[00:07:55]Of course, over black, gray, and white.

[00:07:57]I love it. Over black. Oh my god, you can see the shifts in the holo better.

[00:08:02]Oh, sorry. Hey, there's holo in here, too. Oh my gosh. And then over gray, it's so pretty, too. Over white, you kind of get a yellowish tint to it. It's kind of looking how False Awakening looked over white, honestly, just a little lighter, maybe. Moving on up to Somnia. It is a light baby pink with a blue shimmer throughout. You've seen this variant many of times. Something that I immediately noticed with this shade is that it is more of a milky consistency compared to a sheer consistency like the other ones I've swatched with that. It also felt like a thicker formula. It gave like it wanted to be a creme polish, but it didn't provide the performance that I expect with a creamy creme essentially. Like I needed three coats just to kind of cover up my blotchiness that I had for my indentations and whatnot. Removal wise, it should be simple, similar to the other ones. Texture- wise, it dried down smooth, so I only needed one coat of top coat. Now, you may have noticed some yellowing of sorts on the nail, and that is due to the shimmer. For some reason, blue shimmers tend to have a yellow hue to it. And it definitely shows up more in lighter colors, and you'll definitely see it even more so when I showcase it over white. Over white, you can see that it's almost a yellowy tint to it with the blue shimmer against the light. I really enjoy it over gray. Over black, you can kind of see that this was not meant to be like used as a topper of any sorts. Rounding out the collection, we have here reality shift, and this is the magnetic amongst the collection. And this is a light purple polish with a silver magnetic pole and blue/green shimmer going throughout. So on the first coat, you can see that light purple going up out. However, on the second coat, as I was doing the finger wiggles of sorts, I was blinded by the light quite literally. And because of that, I couldn't really see any imperfections amongst the light reflecting off the silver. So I kind of left it at two coats. And honestly, I wouldn't be inspecting my hand this closely anyways. So for me, two coats was enough. And then unmagnetized in two coats. You can see that it's predominantly just silver going throughout and then at certain angles it's purple. When in the velvet effect I did do three coats. I started to notice that the blue and green shimmers are more prominent. And then in the cat eye effect they're even more prominent. And again I did three coats cuz I like to do three coats for magnetics and magnetizing just the last coat. And then of course I needed to showcase this over black, gray, and white. And over I mean the silver just kind of really overpowers honestly. But over white you can see the purple base color much better than in the other two. But you can kind of see it over gray just ever so slightly. Overall it kind of gives a cool finish effect throughout these cre.

[00:10:37]So moving on to comparisons for artificial sun. I have here holo tacos lunar unicorn skin and island pea spotlight. I feel that unicorn skin is a little bit closer. However, the density of the topper is much higher with Unicorn Skin versus Artificial Sun. And I feel like the flakes are also much bigger. Then for deja vu comparisons, I have here Mooncat's Lost Preventions and Moon Cats Love Bomb. I feel like Lost Preventions is like the closest in terms of shade color. It's a little darker than how Déja Vu is. Love Balm doesn't have that like sheerness effect that I can see with Loss of Vengeance and Déja Vu, but also Loss of Vengeance has I would say slightly bigger shimmer particles, but also the shift of it is more of a green versus that icy blue that is prominent right now. And Love Bum just feels a little too muted for comfort. For Flicker, I have here Mooncat's Mariah's Melody and Holo Tacos Boom Toasted. Now, immediately obviously they're very different. Boom! Toasted is more like flaky metallic flakes. I don't know how to describe this [ __ ] Anyway, Mariah's Melody is a much paler yellow and it has more of a green undertone, whereas Flicker is that like very nice almost honey amber type of shade. It's very pretty. Not to say that the other two aren't. Obviously, I like them, but there's something about Flicker that's just a little bit more captivating in my opinion. So, then I thought of comparing it to more warmer yellows/ golds, if you will. And I have here Holo Tacos, Sunshine Crush, and Holo Tacos Bottled Service. Now, I would say Sunshine Crush is maybe the closest. It's still a richer color, but also Flicker is very much in the jelly category, whereas Sunshine Crush is full coverage. So, that probably has something to do with the way the color is presenting itself.

[00:12:23]Otherwise, this swatch portion is making me very happy. I love these colors. For persistent realm, I have here Moon Cats, Loves Labyrinth, and Holo Tacos Moon Lagoon. Love's Labyrinth. It seemed like a seaf foamy color, but it's in the linear holographic formula, so it looks a little bit different. The closest one would definitely be Moon Lagoon.

[00:12:46]However, Moon Lagoon is more on the pastel side, whereas Persistent Realm is more of a richer color going throughout.

[00:12:52]But Moon Lagoon and Persistent Realm, they're siblings essentially. one is just a little bit more saturated than the other. For False Awakening, I thought of comparing it next to Holo Tacos Wonderlust and Mooncat's Mercury's Tears. Right away, you can tell that these are not anywhere near each other, but they do make a really nice like Skittles gradient of sorts. So, there's that going for them. And then I have here Tacos Cowboy Tears, Holo Tacos Vitamin Glow, and Holo Tacos Spy Glass.

[00:13:22]I guess Pacelli wanted to compare all of these together versus the usual three swatch sticks only. I mean, you can see it here how much different and almost aquaey Dream Logic looks compared to the other three. And I guess I thought of comparing it next to False Awakening as well and on its own versus the three and three. Okay. Anyway, Dream Logic compared to False Awakening looks much paler in comparison as well as the shimmers. They're quite different. For Somnia, I thought of comparing it next to Holo Taco's Cloud9 and Crack Polish's heart-shaped necklace. So, both of these are a little bit too pigmented compared to how pale Somnia is. And Cloud9 kind of has more of a greeny, like a lighter, much lighter blue shimmer going throughout. So, then I thought of comparing it next to more pale pink and blue shimmer variants. So, I have here Moon Cats the Living Doll and Moon Cats A Midsummer Stream. Now, a midsummer stream is very, very pale. Um, but I am also wondering if I have a batch issue because other people have noted on Reddit that my Midsummer Stream is much paler than theirs. So, my Midsummer Stream may be a defect. Who can say? Let me know in the comments if yours doesn't look like this, please. Thank you. It's too late. I purchased it years ago. I can't get money back, I don't think. And the Living Doll, I would say, is slightly close, but like the tonality of pink is just ever so slightly different.

[00:14:47]For reality shift, I have here island piece amped unmagnetized and moon's ghost ship unmagnetized. Just wanted to showcase these all unmagnetized to reality shift. But reality shift is very vivid. It it it's flashbanging us with the silver in it. But in the cat eye effect, I feel like amped is just ever so slightly closer. Obviously, the base color is very different, but I feel like the shimmer shifts are kind of close by.

[00:15:16]Not exactly, of course, but they could be cousins. And then ghost ships on her own. Lastly, I have here Moon Cats, The Glory of Innocence and Hollow Tacos Moonlight Rodeo. Trying to find a vibe of like the shimmers. I think the Glory of Innocence shimmers are very much similar to reality shift when it's magnetized. Here I'm showcasing it unmagnetized. Why did Passionelli decide to do that? I don't know. And then Moonlight Rodeo kind of had a similar color shift, but it's so faint compared to the Glory of Innocence and Reality Shift. Yeah, that concludes my swatch and comparison portion of this video.

[00:15:50]Pastionelli seems to have done things that I don't remember the reasoning behind them, specifically during the comparisons portion. I know this collection is pretty much long gone, but there is like a polish or two remaining that could be bought out. I don't know how Starly works, so I'm not sure if they plan on restocking this collection or how they do collections really. Like Starly's new to me. Starly's like this was my first impressions, first time using Starly and everything. And overall, I will say their formulas are pretty darn nice, especially with like how sheer they are. They leveled out and applied and laid beautifully on the nail, even on my dented, textured ass nail. Like, I was very pleased with that. The only one that I felt performed a little off was Somnia, which was more of a creamy consistency versus the sheer liquidy sheer liquidy consistency that the other polishes exhibited. For me, I would say deja vu, flicker, and my twin for my Snuggie and Dream Logic were my favorite. So, like half the collection was like my jive essentially. So, those were my picks. Let me know yours down below. And yeah, thank you so much for watching. Hang out with me. Don't forget to like, comment, subscribe, share, and all that jazz. And I will see you in the next one. Bye.

[00:17:11]Micro stiff by cuz I can't wiggle my hand.