China Glaze Crackle Cracked Medallion

I know, I think of all nail polish fads, the crackle may have become one of the most overdone. I only have a few crackles, but I was definitely excited about the China Glaze Crackle metals. I think after these I'm crackled out. Gold,bronze,black, & white will probably be the extend of my crackle purchases. :P

Cracked Medallion over Barielle Falling Star

Cracked Medallion is a bronze metallic crackle.

Awesome possum! Yes, I just said that. I love how this looks like gold leaf  over the polish. This crackles nicely, unlike some other brand of metallic crackle that stinks -cough- Sally Hansen. I obviously have nothing more interesting to say about this other than I love the look of this. This is a work of art on your nails.

Happy Thursday!

Republic Nail Golden Crackle Skittles

After I tried yesterday's Sally Hansen Antique Gold Crappy Overcoat. I started to worry that all gold crackles would have this similar formulation. I went into Walgreens, not really looking for anything, and found a end cap display of this random brand of crackles called Republic Nail. They had a handful of colors including gold,silver, neon orange,blue,purple, hot pink, and possibly some others. Plus, they were only $5 which is a good price. I picked up the "Golden" shade and carefully and skeptically examined it. I wasn't convinced this would be what I wanted, but I bought it anyways....

Golden Crackle

Top to Bottom layered over: Revlon Royal, Rimmel Midnight Blue, Essie Smooth Sailing,  & Revlon Grape

Top to Bottom layered over: Cult Nails Captivated, OPI Mermaid Tears, OPI Planks A Lot, & Revlon Mock Snob

Now we're talking! I was pleasantly surprised. This gold was more pigmented. The major winning point of this one is the formula is a million times better than the Sally Hansen! This really crackled, and it was the right consistency. It wasn't too thick or too thin, it was just right :D.

There is a downside to this, it stinks...literally. This smells very chemically, which probably means the greatest stuff isn't in this.That doesn't necessarily bother me, but I know that is important to others. Also, it may not be easiest to find. I only found this at 1 Walgreens out of the 5 closest to me. If there is a Walgreens you count on for good finds I'd check that one out!

Happy Thursday!

Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold Crackle Overcoat Skittles

When the crackle craze hit, I wasn't pretty neutral about them. I discovered OPI Black Shatter and fell in love. I'm picky about crackles. I'm not interested in every crackle color under the rainbow, but those crackle colors like black,silver,white..colors that go with any other color are up my alley!

The instant I caught on somewhat to the crackle craze I knew I wanted a gold crackle. I LOVE the look of lapis lazuil. Gold and blue or gold with any cooler color is one of my favorite combinations hence my RBL Dream Color idea. Needless to say, I was anxiously anticipating a gold crackle. This is where Sally Hansen Antiqued Gold Crappy *cough* Crackle Overcoat come in.

Antiqued Gold

Top to Bottom Layered over: Revlon Royal, Revlon Mock Snob, OPI Mermaid Tears, & OPI Planks A Lot

This sucks. I hate it. Nevermind hate, loathe is more appropriate. Let's start with the color. This is a very pale gold. In some lighting it looks silver rather than gold. This also is more of a sparse particle gold, so it ends up looking like sheer pale gold glitter wash in some spots. I was hoping for more of a chrome-like crackle. The formula in this atrocious. It is difficult to work with. In some instances it's too thick and in others it's too thin. It doesn't crackle well leaving lots of sheer glitter over the base color.

This is purely my opinion, and I must say I'm probably bias. I've been eagerly anticipating a gold crackle, so I had an idea in my head what I wanted it to look like. I'm very disappointed in this sorry excuse for a gold crackle. I'm sorry Sally Hansen, but this sucks!

Tomorrow I will have for you the opposite of today, a great gold crackle! Also, I'm looking forward to the gold and bronze crackles China Glaze is coming out with. Check out The PolishAholic's post to see swatches of those!

Happy Wednesday!

China Glaze Crackle Crushed Candy

When the crackle polishes first came out. I wasn't really interested in having all the colors, but after I saw some swatches I know I needed them. I know this combination has been done before, but it definitely made me *need* Crushed Candy!

Crushed Candy over China Glaze Midnight Kiss

Crushed Candy is a robins egg blue creme crackle.

I absolutely LOVE this combination. You know what this makes me think of...

Yes, I'm going back there again, the inspiration for my RBL dream color. The combination of cool blue,green, or purple with gold is ideal to me.  There is something very luxurious to me about this color combination. Are you listening polish companies? I hope there will be a release of a gold crackle soon because I want to put it on top of every shade of blue,green, and purple out there!

Happy Tuesday!

China Glaze Crackle Lightning Bolt

I swear, for someone who was pretty indifferent to crackles I become a devoted fan. I started out only liking the black crackle, then I moved on to the white. Now, I want all the other colors, but they're old sold out on all e-tailers so I'll have to hold off and hope they get more in. Today, I have the white China Glaze crackle for you.

Lightning Bolt over China Glaze Spontaneous

Lightning Bolt over Savina Ocean Waves

 

Lightning Bolt is a white creme crackle.

I initially didn't care for this one, but I really love it over bright or pastel colors. I think the black crackle formula is a bit better, but this is nice too. I do notice with this one where the polish "cracks" there is slight white overcast over the color underneath in some spots. This could be my own application fault though. It's not very noticable though, and I really like the effect!

Happy Sunday!

China Glaze Crackle Black Mesh

I must admit when the crackle craze started I was pretty apathetic about the whole thing. I was quickly won over by OPI Black Shatter, so I jumped on the crackle train! Here is a the black crackle from China Glaze.

Black Mesh over DS Glamour

Black Mesh over China Glaze Ruby Pumps

Black Mesh is a black creme crackle.

I think China Glaze Black Mesh and OPI Black Shatter are identical as far as how they look. I do think the China Glaze crackle is much easier to work with. I found the OPI in comparison to be thicker and had the tendency to drag against the nail versus giving a smooth coat. China Glaze definitely delivers better and for a far more reasonable price in my opinion!

Happy Saturday!


P.S. There is a special sale going on at Cult Nails today and tomorrow only. Please check out Maria's blog for details!

Valentines Day: Pink, Hearts, & Crackle!

Happy Valentines Day everyone. To be honest, I'm not anti-Valentines or really into it either. I always was annoyed by it when I was single, and when I'm in a relationship it's not a big deal.  It is a good excuse to do neat things with your nails though!

Here is the mani I've been wearing this weekend. It's OPI Pink Me I'm Good with Love My Nails Crazy For You red hearts on my ring fingers.

I LOVE Pink My I'm Good, it's such an amazing pink!

Today, I decided I wanted to spice the manicure up a bit so I added a coat of China Glaze Crackle in Black Mesh to it.

I was concerned this may look tacky, but thanks to many nail buddies out there they approve. I think it looks pretty cool! I actually prefer this China Glaze crackle to OPI Black Shatter, it is SO much easier to work with! I will be doing a separate post on China Glaze crackle soon.

Happy Valentines Day!

Serena Glam Slam Set

I have to be honest. I wasn't too excited about the OPI Katy Perry collection. I wanted Black Shatter, but I wasn't as excited as others about it. I started seeing how fast this stuff was selling online and in stores, so I decided it would probably wise to go look for Black Shatter. I found it in the Serena Glam Slam Set at a small beauty supply store, and I'm glad I did!

This set comes with two polishes. I must say I'm much more impressed with the color that compliments Black Shatter than the Katy Perry colors.

Simply Smashing

Simply Smashing is a green-yellow golden foil shimmer.

Now, I think this color is ideal to put Black Shatter on top..however, I wouldn't wear this color on it's own. It's just not right for my skin tone, but a neat color nonetheless!


Black Shatter w/ Simply Smashing

I extremely underestimated Black Shatter. I really wasn't overly thrilled about it at first, until I bought it and tried it for myself. This polish "shatters" instantly on your nails unlike other crackle type polishes that usually need some drying time before they "crack". This is also definitely a "shatter" vs. a "crackle", if that makes sense. This gives you a nice balance between the base color and shatter.

Black Shatter depending on how you use it can give you different effects. If you use a thick coat you get bigger pieces of black, while if you do a thin coat you get a more scattered thinner pieces of shatter. I prefer a thicker coat, but that's just me. This wasn't hard to work with. You do need to work fast, and try to the Black Shatter on at once without having to go over the nail again. Overall, LOVE this polish!

Happy Friday!