Particle Effects failing

Im trying to implement particle effects in the game im designing for android using corona but for some reason they just look like crap

im trying to make something that looks slick for example the shield around the stick figure in an old flash game made (screen shot below)

http://imgur.com/oL3SbVV

here is what is happening when i try do particle effects in corona

http://imgur.com/SvVjJTe

the circles arent perfect circles when i make them in corona and there resolution seems alot lower

tldr: how do i make high resolution (if thats the word) particle effects in corona like i did in flash

thanks for any help really appreciated