Crackle Polish Challenge #6 - Sparkly Snakeskin

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #6

Featured crackle application:
Using crackle polish over areas of a pattern to accent the stamped design

Featured crackle polish:
Sally Hansen's Crackle Overcoat in 'Sage Smash'

Sparkly Snakeskin Mani

Polishes Used:
Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat 'Sage Smash'
China Glaze 'What are you A-freight of?'
Essie 'Take it Outside'

Plate Used:
Moyou London Pro Collection XL - 04

Today I have a quick post to share, using the same crackle glitter from last weeks mani, 'Sage Smash'.

I was doing a little experimenting with this snakeskin design, and came up with the idea for this mani. However, the stamping on my other fingers didn't turn out really well, and I didn't like the look enough to go back and get it right (too neutral for my tastes!), so I only took a picture of the thumb, since it came out the best.

I used the crackle polish here to accent the middle sections of the snakeskin pattern, which otherwise would be all brown.  I like how it adds some green, but the cracks allow the brown underneath to show through. Using crackle polish in this way can add a little depth and dimension to certain areas of stamped images.

Polishes Used

Crackle Polish Challenge #5 - Test Mani

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #5

Featured crackle application: Using Crackle polish as regular polish by using multiple coats

Featured crackle polish: Sally Hansen's Crackle Overcoat in 'Sage Smash'

OK, so I realize that this is a little bit of a cheat since the whole challenge was to use each one of my crackle polishes to experiment with creative new ways to use the shatter effect. However, 'Sage Smash' is pretty much an exact dupe of last post's featured polish, China Glaze's 'Jade-d'. So this is my work-around from having to use essentially the same crackle polish twice!

Experiment: Crackle Glitter Polish as Regular Polish

Polishes Used:
OPI 'Stranger Tides',
Sally Hansen Color Foil 'Yellow Gold',
and Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat 'Sage Smash'

Plate Used:
Mash Nails plate Mash-49

The photo above is the result of a test I did using 3 coats of the crackle glitter polish 'Sage Smash' on my ring finger. The coverage ended up being quite nice.  If you look very, very closely, you may see minor cracks in the surface, but they are not very noticeable. I did use one coat of topcoat to add some shine, because this polish (as with most crackle polishes) dries matte. The middle finger shows one coat of the same polish, crackled over 'Stranger Tides'.

Polishes Used

In order to minimize cracking, I tried apply the polish in a way that was totally opposite of how I normally do in order to promote cracking: I used several brush strokes for each coat (maybe about 5-7), and I also tried to avoid waiting until the previous coat was completely dry before I put the next coat on. Apparently, if the previous layer is slightly tacky, the crackle polish sticks to it, and doesn't crack as much.

I also did swatches using some of the crackle polishes that I've already used in the challenge. They also worked! The following polish swatches were all applied directly to the nail wheel, with no top coat or base coat. Unfortunately, I no longer remember if it was either 2 or 3 coats that I used for these swatches:

Swatches of 3 Crackle Polishes used as Regular Polish

The gold is Nicole by OPI's 'Gold Texture, which I used in challenge #3, the silver is OPI's 'Silver Shatter' from challenge #2, and the blue is OPI's 'Turquoise Shatter' from challenge #1.

If you look really closely at the gold swatch, you can see a little bit of texture at the tip, however, it wasn't that noticeable, and I'm sure it would be even less of an issue with topcoat. 

So there you have it, it looks like it is possible to use crackle polishes as regular polish with careful application, multiple coats, and some topcoat! Of course, results may vary with different polishes, but this experiment shows that it's at least something to try out if there's a crackle polish in your collection that you love the colour of, but don't want to use the crackle effect.

Crackle Polish Challenge #4: Dark Green and White Geometric Mani

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #4

Featured crackle application: Filling swaths of negative space in a nail stamping manicure

Featured crackle polish: China Glaze's Crackle Glaze in 'Jade-d', a chartreuse glitter crackle polish.

Dark Green and White Geometric Mani

Polishes Used:

Deborah Lippmann 'Billionaire'

China Glaze Crackle Glaze 'Jade-d'

Konad Special Polish in White

Plate Used:

Bundle Monster BM-604

Polishes Used

Overall, I like how this manicure turned out. This is the first time that I ever used 'Billionaire', and 'Jade-d'. I really like 'Billionaire' as it's an excellent alternative to black nail polish - still edgy, but with a touch of sophistication. However, I'm still on the fence about whether or not I like how the crackle glitter looks in this manicure. I think the application method of filling negative space with crackle polish is a great idea, however, I wonder if the effect might have been better with a crackle creme polish instead of a glitter.

To me, the crackle effect doesn't really seem to stand out all that much in this manicure. I feel that the glitter is already eye-catching enough, so the sparkle distracts your eye from the cracks. In addition, the dark green polish on the bottom layer shows through the translucent base of the crackle glitter, which also seems to take away from the crackle effect. Perhaps the crackle glitter would look better with a lighter colour?

I also found it hard to get consistent cracking with this polish. My thumb showed a lot of the shatter effect, my ring finger has a bit, however, on my middle finger the cracks are barely noticeable. In fairness, the lack of shatter on my middle finger could have been due to application, since I had to use a dotting tool to put it on. Incidentally, I happen to think the middle finger looks the best, due to the minimal cracking!

Dark Green and White Geometric Mani

I'm going to have to play around with 'Jade-d' some more to figure out how to use it best, especially since I actually have two bottles of chartreuse crackle glitter - this one, and another from Sally Hansen called 'Sage Smash' (see picture below). They are pretty much exact dupes, but I really love the colour so I want to find ways to use it that highlight the shade. I have an idea that I'm testing that could be a great solution for this - but more about that in my next post!!

Chartreuse Crackle Glitter Polishes: Jade-d, and Sage Smash

Crackle Polish Challenge #3: Blingy Turquoise and Gold Mani

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #3

Featured crackle application: Blinged-out crackle accent nail

Featured crackle polish: Nicole by OPI 'Gold Texture'

Blingy Turquoise and Gold Mani

Polishes Used:
OPI 'Swimsuit... Nailed It!', from the Summer 2011 Miss Universe Collection
Nicole by OPI 'Gold Texture'
Essie 'Rock at the Top'

Plates Used:
None! This is the first manicure that I've featured on this blog that does not have any nail stamping! When I was creating the manicure, I briefly thought about stamping an abstract full nail design in gold onto my middle finger, but then decided against it in an attempt to simplify things.

Polishes Used

This manicure was relatively easy to do. I painted all my nails with 'S.N.I', and then did a gold glitter gradient starting from the tips of my nails, on all of my fingers except for my ring finger. I then used 'Gold Texture', a gold crackle topcoat, to partially cover the ring finger accent nail on a diagonal. Then, I placed nail art rhinestones on the border between the two polishes.

The gold crackle topcoat effect kind of reminds me of gold leaf! In the beginning of this challenge, I mentioned that I would probably just use the crackle polishes one last time for manis during the challenge, and then use them on pedicures forever thereafter. I've already changed my mind on that for this gold crackle topcoat (at least), because this polish is so beautiful! Here's a close-up shot of it, on my accent nail:

Close-Up of Accent Nail

I am totally thrilled with the way this came out. My last mani, the 'Emoticon Mani' was super casual, and this more dressed-up, blingy manicure was the perfect change from that. In fact, I like this mani so much that it has single handedly (pun intended) rejuvenated my appreciation for crackle topcoats, and all of the nail art possibilities that they can bring when used with a little imagination and creativity!

Blingy Turquoise and Gold Mani

Crackle Polish Challenge #2: Emoticon Mani

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #2

Featured crackle application: Taping/Masking

Featured crackle polish: OPI 'Silver Shatter'

Grey and Silver Emoticon Mani

Polishes Used:
OPI 'Silver Shatter'
NCLA 'Rock Solid'
Sally Hansen 'Silver Sweep'

Plates Used:
Moyou London Geek Collection plates 2 and 3

Polishes Used

Today's instalment of the '2015 Crackle Polish Challenge' incorporates the technique of taping/masking. I applied a piece of tape to my completely dried base colour prior to the crackle polish application, and then removed it while the crackle polish was still wet. This leaves a protected area in the shape of the applied tape, that does not received the crackle topcoat. It remains solid base-colour.

I used a triangle-shaped pieced of tape, but because of a missing area of crackle polish in the centre of the nail, the triangle looks like an arrow. Sometimes when I use shatter polishes, I'll use haphazard brush strokes that don't fully cover the nail. This leaves larger gaps so more of the base colour can show through. I did that with this application of 'Silver Shatter' polish because I find that it doesn't crack as dramatically as some of my other shatter polishes. Here's a closer look at the thumbnail (unfortunately, the best picture available was one that I took prior to cleaning up around the edges of the nail, so please disregard the excess polish on my cuticles!):

Close-Up of Shatter Thumbnail

Overall, I like how this manicure turned out. It was a very casual, understated manicure, perfect for a 'jeans and sweatshirt' day!

Crackle Polish Challenge #1: Crazy Decal Mani

2015 Crackle Polish Challenge Manicure #1

Featured crackle application: Background for nail decals

Featured crackle polish: OPI 'Turquoise Shatter'

Today's manicure is the first instalment of the '2015 Crackle Polish Challenge'!  My first idea was to use crackle polish as the background over which I would place nail stamping decals made using advanced stamping technique. The finished look is a bit clashy, but it was a lot of fun to make, and to wear!

Crackle Base

Polishes Used:
OPI 'Turquoise Shatter' and Finger Paints 'Margarita Mambo'

The teal and chartreuse crackle base kind of reminds me of watermelons! Appropriately, I have a cute watermelon wedge on my right index finger! I love the combination, however in hindsight, I should have used more neutral colours since the decals are already so colourful. A black/gray crackle base, or white/gray, black/white, or any of those colours with silver would have been nice. This might call for a do-over! Here is a picture of what the base looked like before the decals were applied, followed by a collage of all of the polishes I used:

Decals

I used 18 different polishes for the decals in addition to the 2 that I used for the base coat. I've listed them along with the decal images they were used for.

Polishes Used:
Konad Special Polish in Black was used for the outline of all of the decals

Teddy Bear Head (left thumb) - 1:

Detailed Breakdown of Polishes Used

Sinful Colors 'On the Bright Side'
Sinful Colors 'Nirvana'
Sinful Colors 'Daisy Daze'
China Glaze 'Feel the Breeze'

Lollipop (left index) - 2:
Sinful Colors 'Cream Soda'
China Glaze 'White on White'
Sinful Colors 'Decadent'

Cat Head (left middle) - 3:
China Glaze 'White on White'

Cat (left ring) - 4:
Sinful Colors 'Energetic Red'

Wrapped Candy (left pinky) - 5:
Sinful Colors 'Cinderella'

Carrot (right pinky) - 6:
Sinful Colors 'Citrine'
Sinful Colors 'Exotic Green'

Bowl of Rice (right ring) - 7:
China Glaze 'Be More Pacific'
China Glaze 'White on White'

Dog? (right middle) - 8:
China Glaze 'Pelican Gray'

Watermelon (right index) - 9:
China Glaze 'Rose Among Thorns
Finger Paints 'Louvre This Pink'
Finger Paints 'Art You Wondering'

Cupcake (right thumb) - 10:
China Glaze 'Don't Honk Your Thorn'
China Glaze 'Feel the Breeze'

Plate Used:
Moyou London Suki Collection Plate 03

Overall, I really enjoyed making the decals for this manicure. I've been wanting to use this particular Moyou London plate to make coloured decals for ages - It feels great to finally be able to cross that off my list! Also, I think that the 20 polishes that I used in this mani may be a personal record for me!

What can I do with all of these crackle polishes?!

Back during the great crackle fad of 2011, I jumped into the trend in a big way. At the time, I wasn't into nail stamping, so I had few other means of combining polish colours on a single nail. The ability to easily create colour combinations with nail polish was such an amazing thing, that I went on a mission to try to get as many different colours of crackle top coat as I could find:

My Crackle Polish Collection

When I started nail stamping, it gave me another convenient way to combine polishes that I love. As a result, my crackle polishes began gathering dust - a couple even dried up right in the bottle!

I currently have 20 bottles of crackle polish in my collection, all of which have gone unused for quite some time. Now, some of you may have noticed there are 21 bottles in the picture. The purple glitter crackle on the upper left, Nicole by OPI 'Amethyst Texture', is one of the ones that dried up in the bottle. I'm currently trying to save it with nail polish thinner, but it doesn't seem to be working. Sadly, it's likely destined for the trash bin :(

The other one that dried up in the bottle is China Glaze 'Crushed Candy'. It was thrown out a long time ago, so it's not in the picture above. However, you can see a swatch of this light blue crackle polish in the before picture in my 'Verdigris Mani' post.

I've decided that I should start using my crackle polishes for pedicures, as I never do nail art on my toenails, and I really need to try to use these polishes up. However, before I do that, I want to try to use each crackle polish for a manicure that I can feature on this blog. The biggest challenge with this is that since crackle polish was such a huge fad 4 years ago, sometimes, doing a full set of basic crackle nails can look a bit dated right now. I think you have to try to use a more fresh, creative approach to avoid this.

With this in mind, I want to try and experiment with some interesting ways to use each of my crackle polishes for manicures. So, I'm doing a Crackle Nail Polish Design Series! I'm going to call it the 2015 Crackle Polish Challenge. Stay tuned to see what I come up with!

Green, Silver and Gold Mani

Today I have a quick post to share part of a manicure I did!

Green, Silver and Gold Mani

Polishes Used:
Butter London 'Wallis'
Sally Hansen 'Silver Sweep'
Essie 'Rock at the Top'

Plate Used:
DRK Themes Enlaced

Polishes Used

I forgot to get a picture of this manicure while it was fresh, so by the time I got around to it, I had lots of tip-wear from cooking, and washing dishes! The 3 fingers I photographed were the least chipped. The other two fingers were painted similar to my pinky - solid green with a gold glitter gradient starting from the tips.

I was a little disappointed with this manicure. This is my first time using 'Wallis', and I had a lot of trouble trying to figure out what to do with it. The colour looks so amazing in the bottle, however there's very little contrast between the colour and my skin tone, so the look ends up being very neutral, and subdued on me. Unfortunately, neutral mani's aren't really my forte. I'm going to have to really work with this one to try and find interesting ways to use it in future manicures!

New Year's Mani

Happy New Year! Hope you all enjoyed the holidays. Today, I have my New Year's mani to share:

New Year's Mani

I went for a basic nail stamping manicure with a couple of nail art rhinestones to dress it up a touch. The base polish is China Glaze's 'Blue Year's Eve', and the stamping polish is Sally Hansen Insta-Dri 'Silver Sweep' (old formula).  The plates I used were Bundle Monster BM-H14 (the clock on my middle finger, and the fireworks on my thumb), and Cheeky's Jumbo Plate 6 'Happy Holidays' (the 'Happy New Year' script collage on my ring finger).

I really like the way this manicure turned out. A great variation that I thought of after the fact, was that instead of the rhinestones, I could have added a little sparkle to the unstamped nails with a silver glitter gradient starting from the tips.

Anyway's I'm looking forward to another year of fun nail art! Thanks for dropping by, and all the best in 2015!