Some formulas just need an extra thin layer or two to build the glow without going warm. I started doing that on my own sets, and a few that seemed coral at first settled into something closer to what you want once they were built up.
LA Colors Hyperactive is one of those rare drugstore finds. It actually delivers on the neon red promise without pulling orange. LA Colors has been around since the 80s when neon was having its first big moment, so they’ve had decades to get that fluorescent pigment formula right.
If you want a true neon red that doesn’t pull orange, Cirque Strawberry Fields is worth a look.
Madam Glam Neon Cherry Bomb is one nobody’s mentioned yet, and it’s the closest to that highlighter cherry I’ve found in soft gel. Try it on one nail with just one coat of their pink builder underneath, no white. It glows bright under the LED lamp.
Stop judging by bottle color and salon-wall swatches. Make a proper comparison card with the same base and coats, labeled, then view each one next to a true primary red.
Most so-called neon reds only look red until you drop them beside an actual neutral red. Then the coral or fuchsia bias becomes obvious, sometimes both.
Have you checked the pigment list? If there’s any iron oxide in there it’ll creep warm no matter what base you’re pairing it with. Look for PV19, or one of those rhodamine-based fluorescents, those actually stay in cherry territory.
Reds are just hard in general, though.
I think you meant fluorescent rather than neon technically. True neon is the gas tube glow and no polish actually does that. What we’re chasing is fluorescent pigment reacting to UV in the ambient light.
Reason it matters: if you search for ‘UV reactive red’ instead of ‘neon red’ when shopping indie brands you’ll find way more options. Mooncat and Cirque have both dropped fluorescent reds that don’t get tagged as neon in the search.