like magic

OPI - Planks A Lot

China Glaze - Haute Metal Crackle Glaze

3 reasons why I love shatter/crackle finishes:

1. They are designed to look good messy. You'll always end up with something decent.

2. They crack the best over creme shades, which in my opinion are the easiest to mess up (dents, dust, bits of cotton wool stuck to your nails... one of the reasons why I dislike creme finishes).

3. They can fix any of your messed up manicures! (Also supported by the reason explained in parenthesis above.)

Okay so yesterday was a harrowing experience with the friggin' bottle of shit - Northern Lights Hologram Top Coat. Guess I'll just use it on my mom from now on cos she keeps short nails. Her theory is that the NL topcoat becomes frosty over parts of the nail which aren't in contact in skin and that's why it happened to my long nails. Doesn't make any logical sense to me so... whatever it's hers for good.

So yes anyways, look at my right hand! The one I didn't mess up. Crackle Glaze totally saved my left hand too in a swift 15 minutes! :-) Impressive, really. The 3am me was completely sold. Now I don't regret buying so much Crackle Glaze! (Ok, only 2, but still.) I have Haute Metal and Tarnished Gold, as well as the Black, Turquoise and Silver OPI Shatter shades.

The downside is that such formulas get really goopy with time. A personal quick-fix I've found to revive these polishes:
1. Fold a cotton pad into a little 'V' shape and dip the tip into nail polish remover.
2. Place the tip of the cotton 'V' over the neck of the bottle of shatter and squeeze such that the drops fall nicely into the bottle.
3. After about 3 to 7 drops (depending on how much formula you have left) quickly re-cap the bottle (it will get goopy all over the stem of the brush and on the tip!) and shake up!
The formula may be slightly runny if you squeeze too many drops (just keep it under 10) but it'll be fine after application :-)

This is just my personal experience with Shatter polish, I haven't had to do this for my Crackle Glazes so try it at your own risk? Anyways it's a known fact that Shatter shades don't last! This is just my attempt at trying to lengthen the life of my polishes!

x, Ish

lost city

OPI - Black Shatter

China Glaze - Atlantis

This polish pair is beauuuutiful! Goes so perfectly together. I love how the little glitters from Atlantis peeks cheekily out through the cracks.

I also did four 'accent' nails (because they didn't stand out more than the shattered nails but I liked the mix and so did everyone else) using a black base and Atlantis for a french tip. I didn't use OPI's Black Onyx or CG's Liquid Leather... I used a brandless black polish my mom bought in the US for 3 for USD$10 - such a good deal, glides on like butter and opaque in one coat!

Removal of the glitters was decent. Glitters are notorious for their stubbornness towards polish removers. This one wasn't too bad. Perhaps the real test is when I try to remove OPI's Rainbow Connection from my toes!

Ps, I layered OPI Rainbow Connection over OPI Planks A Lot and it looks really good, because Rainbow Connection contains all sorts of coloured glitter except for purple, and hence the glitters can stand out against a dull purple. Try it :-)

Pss, thanks Iris for suggesting the french accent nails! They turned out amazing and I received so many compliments yesterday and today. I think my initial idea of OPI Silver Shatter over a black base would've been overkill!! So thanks babe ;-)

x, Ish