My brilliant idea was to create a fish scale looking manicure, with the luscious Kiko 270 I got from Roze recently - thanks to one of my Italian readers I now know to look on the Kiko website for the actual names of the polishes, and this one is called Paillette Acqua Sparkle. Anyway, I first did one coat of Essence Prism@tic White (yes, again! that's how much I liked it), then I did a gradient of three coats of the Kiko. You can see the result. Not too opaque. Of course it doesn't help that these glitters are semi-transparent, and because they're also iridescent, which I love, the camera can't catch them decently. Apparently my cameras work completely different frequencies than my eyes do.
Well, this couldn't stand... This aggression, maaan! (Extra points for anyone who catches the reference here.) So I brought out the white crackle, I mean, White Shatter, from OPI, that the Swedish distributor recently sent me for review. And suddenly: #WIN.
I figured out a way to get the iridescence and the teal flash of the Essence to stick somewhat to the camera lens, by shooting in dreary weather and using a different camera setting. How hot is that?!
You may also consider this post the first part of my reviews of the OPI Shatters that I know you've seen a million times already. I have given up on doing interesting and semi-fast swatches to put in one single post, so I'll try to spread them a little, preferably using them in some a little more innovative combinations. The White Shatter is very basic, cracks well and is no problem- It's ...white.
Also, for my own OCD peace of mind I had to go through what crackle polishes I actually have, and make a wheel. I thought it would be fun to show you. Before I show the wheel, I just have to show you this:
This is a black crackle polish from Kelier. It took forever to dry and crack, and when it finally did, this is what happened. Most just fall off. But it's a neat picture.
On to the actual wheel. Because some crackle polishes do not crack on plastic, I did one coat of Diamont before applying the crackles, then I topcoated them all as well. The Kelier is of course still disastrous. You may magnify this photo to get a detailed view - it's rather big.
1. Kelier Crack Polish in black
2. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Black Tag
3. OPI Black Shatter
4. China Glaze Crackle Glaze Cracked Concrete
5. OPI Silver Shatter
6. OPI White Shatter
7. China Glaze Crackle Glaze Lightning Bolt
8. OPI Navy Shatter
9. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Spraycan Blue
10. Depend Cracked Effect 5002
11. OPI Blue Shatter
12. OPI Turquoise Shatter
13. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Subway Green
14. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Yellow Crew
15. Depend Cracked Effect 5004
16. OPI Red Shatter
17. IsaDora Graffiti Nails All City Brown
I don't really like all of these, and most of all, for some reason I don't like shimmery crackles. They look too busy to my eyes. I could use another green crackle, a teal one and maybe, maybe a pink one, but after that, I think I'm done with these.
I know many of you are sick of crackles now, and in some aspects I am too. But I keep pushing myself to find them useful for slightly different combinations. Navy over white and turquoise over blue... I'm tired of those combinations. And you?
Swedish word of the day:
tvångssyndrom -noun obsessive compulsive disorder
I really shouldn't joke about this.
I like disaster over 'crackle/win.' I think you did catch a lot of it in your camera...least my HD screen is telling me so. The color wheel on your crackle references is great for those wanting to compare.
ReplyDeleteThe trick for the Kelier is that it has to be applied over wet polish (and it breaks (like lightning) on the nail instead of cracking like the rest of the shatters that you have on your wheel)
ReplyDeleteI like the Kelier, but it is finicky!
I like the fishscale idea - I wonder if you used a darker base polish if the glitter would show up better and look more like scales? Your end result is pretty, though!
ReplyDeleteAhhh my sister picked me up that Isadora Subway Green crackle when she was in Sweden but I haven't been able to figure out what color to wear underneath (trying to avoid white for some reason). I'm fairly tired of crackles/shatter/etc... but not 100% sick of them yet.
ReplyDeleteI also own Subway Green and can't figure out what to have under it! Haha :) I also have the shimmery blue from Depend and I think that's actually my favorite. I got the snot green one too just for fun but I haven't used it yet :P
ReplyDeletemy CoverGirl crackle cracked like that when i first put it on because i applied it over dry polish and it needs to be applied over wet polish. i actually love how your fishscale manicure turned out!!
ReplyDeleteGreat use of crackle, though I do think it looked pretty before too -- more coats!
ReplyDeleteWow I love that photo of the black crackle - very unusual. Thank you for showing us that wheel! Such a great way to show all the colors. So glad I found your blog - just followed!
ReplyDeleteIf you want green crackle polishes I really recommend Depend Cracked Effect. They have a teal/green/turquoise polish (5011) and a yellow/olive/green one (5010). I have them both (and all the other shades :-) ) and I really like them. Better formula than IsaDora.
ReplyDeleteThat's awfully handy information, I can add I made the same thing while I had the similar dilemma like the guy that is writing.http://www.healingpatches.com/
ReplyDelete