OPI Black Spotted franken fail

When OPI Black Spotted was all the rage, I tried to make a version using easily accessible supplies (for my guess at the science behind Black Spotted, check out my post here). Unfortunately, it turned out that none of the things I tried were close enough to heptane to work, and instead I got a kind of cool-looking dirty, grungey effect, which I layered over some neons for fun. While it's kind of cool, I don't see myself wearing this again!

Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day to Me

Sephora by OPI Happy Earth Day to Me

A truly swampy yet kind of shimmeringly alive greenish-brown with gold highlights. Above is three coats; it could've used a fourth.

And because I just wanted to try the SOPI Blasted Glitters already... another ugly mani:

Sephora by OPI Blasted Turquoise Glitter over Happy Earth Day to Me 

No, I did not wear this long. The SOPI Blasted series of glitters were just weird. I can see a slight crackle effect but mostly, it looks like unevenly distributed glitter.

How to drive a manicure over the edge: Orly Rock Solid... with LA Girl Inspire... with Color Club Smash Hit

This is what happens you're lazy and easily bored like I am. Let this be a lesson to you all. 

Orly Rock Solid

Part of Orly's Mineral FX collection, it looked so promising in the bottle. Black with strong silver shimmer and a heck ton of holo glitter. HECK TON. Yet it was kind of flat (and somewhat gritty) on the nail. The black shimmer ate the glitter almost entirely. Three coats. 

Closeup of Rock Solid

LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire over Orly Rock Solid 

But I really wanted a glitter manicure that day, yet was loath to take off Rock Solid. So I decided to try out one of the LA Girl Glitter Addicts on top of it. (Btw, that collection was the most disappointing LA Girl collections ever but we can discuss that another time.) There seem to be two types of pink glitter: magenta and this old-fashioned rosy pink that seems to be the go-to pink glitter. Inspire was the latter and, as is usual for this type of pink glitter, it doesn't look so hot. I figured the polish wasn't going to be opaque so I might as well have a bit of contrast going by putting it over a dark polish, right? (Wrong.) Turns out, Inspire was even more sparse than anticipated: the above is three coats and the Rock Solid is still very visible. 

Closeup of the mess

Color Club Smash Hit over LA Girl Glitter Addict Inspire and Orly Rock Solid 

Having NOT learned my lesson -- and now having the double disincentive of removing a dark polish AND glitter -- I decided that I might as well layer on a polish that was sent to me by Color Club: Smash Hit, a black crackle. And I actually liked it better with the crackle than without. Still and all, it was pretty damn fug. 

Closeup of the coup de grace...

At this point, I had eleven layers of polish on my nails (bc, 3 Rock Solid, tc, 3 Inspire, tc, Smash Hit, tc). Well, this was just ridiculous. And kind of very unattractive. After I took this photo, I waited for the entire thing to dry and then peeled off the monstrosity off of all ten nails. (I know, I know. Gross. When you have that much polish on, once dry, it really just pops off with a little nudge.) Would it have been easier to just remove Rock Solid when I realized that I didn't like it? Probably. 

Chanel Graphite & Color Club Clean Break

Chanel Graphite

When did I start buying Chanel polishes, jeez. Expensive habit, that. Should've never started... and I come up against the same question that I have with almost about 80% of the Chanel polishes that I buy: I love the polish itself but do I think it's worth $25? (Especially since Revlon seems to be having some success with their dupes of recent Chanel colors for a fraction of the price.) I have a ton of silver and gunmetal polishes but Graphite is probably better described as pewter because of the gold microglitter that gives it a warmer appearance than most silvers. It applied well in two coats and had pretty good staying power (which I find is true of many Chanel polishes). I think this one (like Particulaire, Jade Rose and Paradoxal before it) may become a "conference" polish. It's not the most understated look but it's still elegant and can pass for professional. 

Color Club Clean Break over Chanel Graphite

A good white crackle is hard to find because most whites need multiple layers to appear anywhere near opaque. This one, which was sent to me for review by Color Club, is one of the better white crackles I've tried because it is a little more pigmented (but still crackles very well).   

Closeup of Clean Break Over Graphite

I still don't know whether I like crackle polishes or not. I think they can look very, very cool. But they can look very messy if not applied well. They also take better to larger nails, I think. It's difficult to apply one uniform layer of crackle on a small nail because usually, the brush isn't big enough to do the nail in a single sweep... and it isn't large enough that two sweeps won't overlap. So crackles are very hit or miss with me. I'm endlessly surprised that crackle caught on as a trend. It's been around for awhile but now, it's everywhere. Is it because it's a way to... double one's manicurial wardrobe at low cost? 

OPI Red Shatter over OPI Rally Pretty Pink (Serena Williams collex)

OPI Red Shatter over OPI Rally Pretty Pink

I have been so pleasantly surprised by the gorgeousness of the Serena Williams collection -- I think I may have almost all of them -- but Red Shatter was a disappointment. First of all, Rally Pretty Pink is, as the name suggests, really damn pretty. And Red Shatter kind of is a dull jelly... which just makes the manicure look lifeless. :( I wouldn't hesitate to try out Red Shatter on, say, a white creme but it seems a waste to use it on an interesting shimmery polish.

Illamasqua force - a 'WTF?' polish

(Ho ho ho, a Star Wars joke, bet you didn't see that coming!)
Since we've had a rare few days of sunshine, and since I now have a car, I took the opportunity to go to some of the National Trust properties nearby. They're basically rural stately homes that are preserved by a charity and they're generally speaking lovely - Packwood House, where we went last week, is a favourite. It's a Tudor manor house, originally erected in 1480, which was much restored in the 1920s and 1930s by a chap called Graham Baron Ash, who was a deeply enthusiastic restorer and spent an enormous amount of money doing up this house and others nearby.

Anyway, I promise I am going somewhere with this tangential history lesson. Aside from the fact that it's an interesting and beautiful place to visit, it also has some lovely interiors and a stunning garden. The colours gave me lots of ideas for manicures I wanted to try (nail varnish being my artistic medium, and all...). This is the first 'NT-inspired' manicure - I wanted to take the colours from the French tiling in the bathroom:


I decided my best bet for a match would probably be Illamasqua Force, a dusky mid blue, with white crackle layered over the top. However, I forgot that Force is an...idiosyncratic polish. Basically, it doesn't behave itself. The Swatchaholic has already commented on how it changes colour with Seche Vite. In my experiments today it behaved even more weirdly. Here it is on its own, with no top coat. This is a very colour accurate shot, IMHO. It has an unusual grey-violet undertone to it that makes it unique amongst my (large) collection of blues.




Fugly pic time! This shot shows what happens when you layer white crackle over the top. You can see a) the bits I didn't clean up (intentionally, to show you - sorry for the fug) where white crackle is not on top of Force, and is white; b) where it went over Force and turned pale blue; and c) how they've both deepened considerably to a royal blue/lavender combo with the addition of top coat (Lumos, since you ask). What a weeeeeeird polish.



Here's some proper pictures:

So that...uh...totally didn't work. The final effect is nothing like the tiles! Just to show that CG white crackle doesn't normally change over blue, here it is over Orly La Playa. (I know, I know, claw-hands and an iphone picture, I'm spoiling you today). Force is...odd.

China Glaze Fault Lines Crackle over Huemorista Hidden Rainbow

I wasn't ready to take off my Hidden Rainbow mani so I put ChG Fault Lines over it.

China Glaze Fault Lines over Huemorista Hidden Rainbow

Errr. This was not pretty. Is there a reason this dried so dull and cracked so sadly? C'mon, it was a purple shimmer crackle! That's practically a formula for gorgeous, no? :( This is one thick coat of Fault Lines.

Fault Lines over Hidden Rainbow

Yeah, doesn't look better in closeup... at all. Yuck.

Essie Smooth Sailing and OPI Navy Shatter

I never thought that eBay would be my preferred outlet for buying any nail polish but gotta say, it does me well for Essie. (The trick is to, um, buy a lot and order from a seller who has a great combined shipping deal.)

Essie Smooth Sailing

Photos just don't do this justice. It's actually a kind of chunky iridescent shimmer that sparkles blue and pink and purple and is so very, very, very pretty. Great application, two coats. This is the third day of wear.

Closeup of Smooth Sailing

You can sort of see the great shimmer in this photo. Just imagine it all over the nail...

Essie Smooth Sailing and OPI Navy Shatter

Am loving the jelly crackles. Some people might be annoyed that there's such a difference between one and two coats of the polish -- the discrepancy is most obvious on my middle finger -- but I kind of like the variation it gives to the polish. At one coat, it's obviously a blue jelly; at two, it turns more into dark navy (almost black but not quite).

Closeup of Smooth Sailing and Navy Shatter

Essie Braziliant and OPI Blue Shatter

Hey, I'm alive, I exist. Really. Summer has FINALLY arrived for me -- except not really because I do actually have a ton of work to do and am going to France in two weeks for a conference -- and I have a pretty substantial backlog of NOTDs that I have to post! (Plus a lot of swatching to do... alas, I don't think I'll be able to resume swatching until after I get back from France.)

Essie Braziliant

This was such a disappointment for me. It was this really bright orange in the bottle with this fabulous magenta shimmer... and then I put it on and discover that it just looks coral in most lights. (Oddly, once I uploaded the photos to blogger, it looks a lot more red...) You can see the magenta up close (though I wasn't able to capture it in the photos) but it just sort of mixes with the orange and turns into coral... and I just don't look good in most corals. Application was great though: two coats. This photo was taken on day 2 or 3.

Essie Braziliant and OPI Blue Shatter

My SO took one close look at my nails and asked, "Why did you choose this color combination?"

I answered, "Because it's the ugliest color combination."

He replied, "OK. Just making sure you knew that."

But I love it. I would not mix blue and orange in any other situation but my nails but I just love this shatter *coughcrackle!cough* mani. This was taken on Day 2 of the shatter mani (which would be day 4 of the Braziliant mani). I used one coat of the blue shimmer shatter and it crackled beautifully. Why can't all crackle polishes crackle nicely? (Oh, and it wasn't clumpy. Thank goodness.)

Braziliant and Blue Shatter closeup

So I have a question for y'all: I have several boxes that are CHOCK FULL of nail polishes that I need to get off my hands. (I'm sure there will be more after my annual summer de-stash.) Some are older, some are more recent. The vast majority have only been used once; a small fraction have had 1/4th decanted from them. Most cost between $1 and $10. Many, many different brands. I do plan on selling the ones that I paid many pretty pennies for individually (though I won't charge pretty penny prices, I promise) but there are at least 300 polishes that don't fall into the "oh man, I spent too much on this one polish, I have to recoup this loss" category. I just don't have the time to sell all of them off individually.

I know my $10 (+$5 shipping) small flat-rate grab-boxes have been popular in the past. But even selling these polishes by the dozen is a daunting task. Would there be any interest in my selling medium flat-rate grab-boxes? I need to pack one up properly to see how many I can fit into a single box but I estimate it to be between 40-50 polishes. The price will probably work out to be about $1.50 a polish (plus shipping), a good mix of brands, colors and finishes guaranteed. (And seriously, no one will get a box even half full of polishes that cost me less than $3.) It's a steep price but for those who want to build their stash quickly... I mean, it's a stash-in-a-box. Open it up and voila, a decent-sized stash for a fraction of its retail price.

If I do go with the medium flat-rate grab-box idea, after selling a few, I'll probably be offering small flat-rate grab-envelopes (which can reliably hold 20 polishes, price TBD). ...there's plenty of nail polish to go around!

A tale of two polishes

Or, how to ruin perfectly good mani. I just cannot leave things alone.

This is Illamasqua Caress, a gorgeous baby blue creme. Easy two-coat application, smooth finish, stunning colour. When they do pastels right, they really do them right, and this is a fabulous example.



I managed to leave it all of two hours before deciding that what was clearly missing was a bumpy, draggy, horrible topcoat to frakk everything up. Lo! What's that I spy? It's Barry M Blue crackle!



I hesitated to show you this one because it was SO AWFUL. I still don't know how it's so bad, but it dragged the base polish everywhere, dented it, didn't crack properly, and was still really bumpy and gritty after two coats of lumos. Some days I really, really hate myself for doing stupid things like this to perfectly lovely polishes. I took it straight off because I was too embarrassed to leave the house with such a revolting manicure...*shame face*

On the plus side, this used up two polishes in my no-buy challenge.

TiNS The Neptune and China Glaze Lightening Bolt Crackle

TiNS makes the most incredible glitterbombs. Alas they are fairly expensive and rare in the US so I have to rely on... well, an MUAer by the name of TerribleTerra. She gets tons of polishes from Asia, sells the ones she doesn't want... and over the years, I must've purchased around 100 polishes from her. Nearly all my Asian polishes -- with the exception of the ones I purchased this year from Taipei -- are from her.

TiNS The Neptune

Cobalt blue jelly, chunky (but not in a dull and icky way) with different sizes of holo glitter. This was two coats and on the third day of wear (as you can see from the tipwear/shrinkage). Most TiNS glitter polishes sparkle without the benefit of actual sunlight. I. just. love.

Close-up of The Neptune

ALL sorts of holo glitter: larger hex glitter, smaller round glitter, square glitter... glitter galore!

TiNS The Neptune with China Glaze Lightening Bolt on top

This didn't turn out as well as I hoped it would. Part of it is that the white crackle never quite looks as opaque as one feels like it should. Part of it was that the contrast wasn't striking enough.

BUT! Take a peek at this pic. I wish all the nails turned out like my ring finger:

Crackle polishes were made for macro mode, don't you think?

Winning Duo - OPI Spark de Triomphe + White Shatter

OPI Spark de Triomphe and White Shatter are two polishes newly introduced in one of the Serena Glam Slam duos released for the French Open. (Spark de Triomphe...get it? *eyeroll*)

Spark de Triomphe deserves kudos for being amazing all on its own! It's a gorgeous combination of gold and silver that needs to be seen in person to be fully appreciated, but here it is...

It's packed with different sizes of glitter...

My favourite are the larger discs of glitter that seem to sit on top of the polish - it looks completely jewel-encrusted...

When I initially purchased the duo, I fully intended to swap or give away White Shatter, but I tried it for fun and ended up really loving it!!

Spark de Triomphe peeks through the cracks - so when you coat your nails in a couple layers of topcoat, the end result looks like an opaque white stone with veins of gold sparkle running through it - a gorgeous gemstone.

This duo is a total game-set-match style win for me! (Maybe it will be for Serena as well?) I expect that Spark de Triomphe will be on my toes many times this summer...and maybe even on my tips if I need a glittery pick-me-up! And now that I know I actually *like* the White Shatter, I'm excited to try it over some pastels.

What are your thoughts on the Serena French Open duos? Are you planning to pick any of them up?

kittytokaren