China Glaze crackles - crushed candy and lightning bolt

Hello! My first post here. Thank you for having me on board, I look forward to posting reams of manicure pictures and exciting all the lovely readers rather than boring all my lovely colleagues.

My early efforts with crackle polishes were, frankly, pretty grim. I tried painting it thinly, which just made it look patchy, speckly and weird. I kept trying colour combinations that seemed great in my head (navy and white, how can that go wrong?) but which looked like I'd done myself some kind of grievous injury in practice. I nearly gave up. But then I tried painting thick coats and picking complementary base colours, and now I'm quite pleased with the effect. The finish makes me think of duck eggs for some reason.

China Glaze crushed candy over Essie playa del platinum

China Glaze lightning bolt over OPI hot & spicy

The only thing I am not loving about the crackles is my total inability to apply them neatly. My only objective is getting it on thick and quick before it starts to crack. As a result it usually ends up all over my fingers. My 'swatch hand' isn't too bad, but the reason I didn't take any pictures of my dominant right hand is that it's flecked with bits of white crackle everywhere (in some frankly improbable places) and I expect my colleagues will be asking me tomorrow whether I’ve been repainting my bathroom.

Looking forward to the OPI and Models Own releases later on in the summer to try some different colours – orange, navy and turquoise are high on my list of current wants!