Turquoise stone nails using China Glaze Crushed Candy crackle topcoat

This is the first time I've EVER put on a crackle topcoat and not immediately reached for the polish remover. I love this look! It's not perfect, the crackle was a bit too lumpy so I'll need to perfect my technique, but I'll work on it for sure :)



What I did:

First I painted my nails with two coats of Nicole by OPI Not a Gold Bigger (the best gold foil EVER)

Then I dabbed on random strokes of Revlon's Copper Penny and butter LONDON's The Black Knight for some sparkle. I then sponged on a few bits of American Apparel's Meteor Shower (I can't believe I found a use for this!), then topped the whole works with a layer of Nubar 2010 for the flakies.

Next, I loaded my brush with China Glaze Crushed Candy, painted on a thick coat of crackle, and made random swipes with the brush to get it to crack in different directions.

Finally, I topped it all with two fairly thick coats of Seche Vite to try and smooth the whole thing out.

Overall I'm pleased with how this turned out. It could use some work, but it was a first attempt so I'm not going to stress too much over it :)

American Apparel - Army Jacket

A while ago, I signed up for an online coupon that got you 5 American Apparel polishes for $15. This was the only creme polish I chose out of the line up - Army Jacket.

This is a dusty olive green with a super shiny finish. Slightly streaky on the first coat, the second coat was completely opaque and lovely. The formula was nice to work with, smooth and not too thick. My one complaint would be the bottle shape - it's so thin that it felt like it was going to fall over every time I wiped the brush off.

This is two coats of Army Jacket over a base coat, no top coat applied.

2012: The Flakening

This is what will occupy me for a good part of the upcoming weekend.

All photos can be clicked for the full-sized version.

This is my basket o' flakies, eleven in total. I was waiting on the Deborah Lippmann to arrive before I started swatching, and I'm glad I did!




All polishes are layered over two coats of Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory black creme polish. I realised after I downloaded all the pictures that I didn't have any pictures of Nubar 2010 in the single coat lot - I'll have to fix that this weekend when I do this on my nails!

A few general observations:

I was convinced before I started that there'd be at least one exact dupe in this mess, but surprisingly, there isn't! The colour, size, variety, or quantity of flakies differed in each polish.

Essie Shine of the Times was the single most packed with flakies colour out of the whole bunch! I'm sure a third coat would have reached full flakedom. Second up was Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory 3D Holo.

Picture Polish Hypnotic was the sparsest on flakies, but it should build easily enough. All the Picture Polish flakies were less generous on the flakies, but this could be a good thing if you wanted a less in your face look. It also gives you more options as it's easy to layer on more flakies, but tough to reduce them! Having said that, I think you'd have to use the whole bottle of Splendour to get the same effect I got with two coats of Essie Shine of the Times.

Closest dupes: Essie Shine of the Times, Picture Polish Splendour, and Nubar 2010. You'd have to layer the last two to get the effect of the Essie though!

Most unique: Picture Polish Festival and Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo

One coat, no flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times





One coat, flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times





One coat, no flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Flashy
Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked





One coat, flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Flashy
Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked







Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour






Two coats, flash. From left to right:

Deborah Lippmann Edge of Glory 3D Holo
Picture Polish Festival
Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked






Two coats, flash. From left to right:

Finger Paints Asylum
Finger Paints Twisted
Finger Paints Motley
Finger Paints Flecked





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times
Nubar 2010
Finger Paints Flashy






Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

Picture Polish Hypnotic
Picture Polish Splendour
Essie Shine of the Times
Nubar 2010
Finger Paints Flashy





I like all of these for different reasons. Essie Shine of the Times just blew me away with how packed with glitter it was. Deborah Lippmann's Edge of Glory 3D Holo stands out for the unique colour profile - cooler with more purple and blue flashes than the others. Picture Polish Festival is a stunner for the sheer number of colours packed into it and how varied the sizes are.

I can't wait for this weekend so I can swatch these properly and get some sunlight on them!


I had extra nails left on the wheel when I finished with the flakies, so I swatched some other random polishes because hey, why not?

One coat, no flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above





One coat, flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above





Two coats, no flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above




Two coats, flash. From left to right:

American Apparel Meteor Shower
American Apparel Constellation
American Apparel Light Year
Essie Pure Pearlfection
Essie A Cut Above



American Apparel Meteor Shower is funky and different. Glad I grabbed this one!

I can't think of any reason I'd want to wear American Apparel's Constellation polish. What a mess! I'm glad it only cost me $3!

American Apparel Light Year is neat, though a bit tough to work with on the wheel.

Essie Pure Pearlfection will be fun to play with. I need to swatch this over light colours!

Essie A Cut Above - I really like this one! I bet I could get it opaque in another coat or two. I don't have a lot of polishes yet so even though it's not that unique, I don't personally own anything like it.