Crackle Gradient- Everbella Shatter Crackle

Hello everyone!

Today I have something that I have been wanting to try for a while! A gradient using crackle polish!
Gradient manis can be tricky so I didn't know how well crackle polishes would blend to create a gradient effect.

This idea started when the lovely Florence over at Everbella sent me a nifty crackle polish kit for review. 

The kit came safely packaged in a corrugated box which was shipped in a bubble mailer  

Base color, Crackle polish, and Top coat

The crackle polish kit comes with a base color which varies, a crackle polish, and a small bottle of topcoat. The base color I received is a nice shimmery apple green and the crackle I was sent is BH14- Dark Green.
Everbella has more than 30 shades of crackle polish! a crackle for every occasion :D

From everbella.com Click to enlarge and see each in detail!

 Each of these crackle come in a kit (with base polish and topcoat) for only $4.99 which is a really good deal. Of course, you're probably wondering about the quality of the polish for that price right?
Well I'm going to show you swatches of the crackle further down, but the base polish was surprisingly good. The formula was a little thick but it applied nicely and the whole thing was opaque in 1 coat! The only real downside of this polish is the strange smell it has. I remember someone remarking that is smelled just like silly string, and truly it does. It's a mild chemically smell that goes away once the polish dries.

Now the crackle!!

Here is the final look of the mani:

I created it using 4 different crackle polishes and made 2 different gradients :)

Funky Fingers Teal Scales, X&D BH14, China Glaze Oxidized Aqua, Funky Fingers Silver Scales. The base color I used is Sally Hansen Brisk Blue

Funky Fingers in Teal Scales is dark green with load of glitter. It crackled decently well but it wasn't the best of the bunch! It must be applied over polish for the crackle effect to appear.

X&D in BH14 is dark green and dries to a matte finish. If you add topcoat, a subtle green shimmer emerges! the swatch on the nail wheel has no topcoat while my fingers above do so that you can see the difference :) This one took the longest to crack but had the nicest effect and formula overall. It did stain when I applied it over white polish but had no issues with it over Brisk Blue. This one does not need to be applied over polish to crackle!

China Glaze in Oxidized Aqua is light green metallic with small blue glitter. The formula for this one was very runny and didn't crackle as well as the others. I must be applied over polish to crackle.

Funky Fingers in Silver scale is a shimmery metallic silver. The formula on this one was pretty runny as well. It also tended to crackle in larger chunks. It must be applied over polish for the crackle effect to appear.

To create your own crackle gradient, all you need is a least 2 colors (preferably in the same color family) of crackle polish and a base color!
Take one of your first crackle and apply it from the cuticle side until half way down the nail. Then quickly take your second color and apply it a little bit above where the first color finished and drag it down to the tip. This should slightly blend the 2 polishes together. The crackling effect will take care of the rest!

Here is a nail wheel where I fooled around with some color combinations

As you can see, even though these are all different brands of crackle polish, they all seemed to blend together nicely!


I picked my 2 favorites from the wheel: Silver Scales to Oxidize Aqua to BH14 and BH14 to Teal Scales to create my gradient look

This is a really easy way to get gradient nails since the crackle polish breaks the whole thing up. It make the lines between the colors disappear! if you want to try this for yourself, you can pick up some great crackle polish at Everbella's online store: Everbella.com. Don't forget to use the code on the sidebar to get 10% off any item!

What do you think of the crackle gradient?

Until next time ^_^

*This item was sent to me for review, however, I provided my honest opinion of the product*

Drugstore finds!

Hello everyone! 

this is just a quick picture post of some of the stuff I recently got at the drugstores around here

Found these Revlons at Walgreens and CVS. I was on the hunt for whimsical but no such luck. However, there is nothing like glitter polish to make up for that!

Sparkling,Facets of Fuchsia, Radiant, Smoldering

 I noticed some new Wet n' Wilds at CVS. I think the colors are the same (at least some of them...) but the bottle is new! and they now have a wide brush :D unfortunately, this wide brush is reminiscent of the Spoiled line's wide brush so it's not that great... Regardless, for $1.99 these babies were a steal! the colors are nice and the application (minus the brush) was quite nice.

Disturbia, I need a refresh-mint, Through the grapevine

 The Gem Crush collection was on sale at CVS so I decided to pick up a few of them too. I had been on the fence about these. I really liked the glitter and colors, but at $6.99 a bottle, that was just a little too much. Especially since some of these are dupes of China Glaze polishes which I can get for $3! 

Big Money, Cha-Ching, Lady Luck, Razzle Dazzler, Be Jeweled, Showgirl Chic

 These Essie polishes were found at CVS. I was super excited to see Sew Psyched there. I don't have anything that looks like it so it had to come home with me :)

As Gold as it Gets, Sew Psyched, A Cut Above

 The 2 Spoiled polishes will probably be used for frankening but Rise and Shine is here to stay! it's such a gorgeous and bright polish!

Shaken Snow Globe, Rise and Shine, I only eat salads

 Last but not least, I had to go to 2 different Walgreens but I finally found Cinderella. This is probably the prettiest color released by SinfulColors. Pastel creamy blue with golden flecks. Nail polish perfection! I strongly advise using some underwear for this polish though. It's a little on the sheer side (3 coats to opacity) but also, underwear will make it last longer :)

 If you are interested in Cinderella, I did pick up an extra bottle. It's up for swap on Makeup Alley. If you want it, just message me on there and we can work something out!

alrighty, well that's it for today!
Don't you just love drugstore finds?

Until next time ^_^

Sinful Colors Holiday Edition- Swatches and Nail Art

I have for you today the Sinful Colors Holiday 2011- WISH collection. 

As far as I am aware, all of these are part of the core collection and so are readily available to almost everyone!

SinfulColors Holiday Nail Wheel

Here are the polishes Ill be showing:

Picture from SinfulColors news release

3 coats

Out of this World- A cool silver loaded with shimmer. This one is a little bit on the sheer side... It's great layered over almost anything. Keep reading and Ill show some examples :)

2 Coats

Midnight Blue- A nice bright navy with metallic finish

2 Coats

Sugar Sugar- Shimmery bright red. A  little streaky on the first coat but beautiful on the second

3 Coats

Daddy's Girl- A violet jelly with a lot of shimmers and micro glitter. It takes a little work to get it opaque but this color is amazing and totally worth it!

2 Coats

Last Chance- A very opaque dark green creme. Perfect for nail art but, compared to all the other holiday colors, a little lacking in oomph.

2 Coats each

Fashionista- A simple silver glitter liner. Reminds me a lot of the quality of ArtDeco stripers: Not the greatest but does the job. It's great for half-moon or french manis!

Flower Girl- a warm metallic gold liner. This shade is much better, it's opaque after one stroke, something I favor strongly in stripers.

*********************************

Since these are from the holiday collection, I thought I could show a holiday/winter nail art you can achieve using only these polishes and a basic white creme.

1- (present/gift) Last Chance striped with Flower Girl

2- (snowy french) Midnight blue tipped with Out of this World and Fashionista and outlined with Sugar Sugar

3- (purple stripes) Daddy's Girl striped with Out of this World and Fashionista

4- (Christmas tree) Sugar Sugar with Last Chance tree and Flower Girl star

1- (mistletoe) Out of this World layered over white, stamped with Last Chance and dotted with Sugar Sugar

2- (holiday half moon) Last Chance with Sugar Sugar half moon outlined in Flower Girl

3- (Christmas lights) Midnight blue with Last Chance cord and Flower Girl, Sugar Sugar, and Out of this World lights

4- (wreath)- Sugar Sugar with Last Chance wreath accented with Flower girl and Sugar Sugar

1- (snow drift) Midnight Blue with Out of this World sponged and dotted snow and Fashionista accent

2- (tree ornaments) Last Chance with Flower Girl, Sugar Sugar, and Midnight Blue ornaments

3- (snowflakes) Daddy's Girl stamped with white (purple pigments bled into it...)

4- (candy cane) Sugar Sugar striped with white (red bled too!) and Fashionista

There you have it! You dont need expensive polish to make pretty nail art. SinfulColors retail for about $1.99 and are available at Walgreens (online and in store) and  Cherry Culture as well as many other retailers.

Until next time ^_^

*these were sent to me for review*

Etude House Swatches- part 2

On to part 2 of the Etude House polish swatch-apalooza!

This time I have some Shimmering and Sparkling members of the LUCIDarling collection

Sparkling Music Box Mint, Shimmering Blue Sherbet, and Shimmering Tender Mint

Tender mint, Blue Sherbet, and Music box Mint- all 2 coats

Tender mint, Blue Sherbet, and Music box Mint- all 3 coats

As you can see the Sparkling polish have a foil effect while the Shimmering ones are cremes with some micro flecks.

I recommend 3 coats for the Shimmering polish while I think that the Sparkling can easily get away with 2. Overall the formula for these is very nice. Not too runny, not too thick. The brush is also a nice medium size so a couple of swipes is all you need!

4 coats

Tender mint is reminiscent of Dress Maker by Milani. Tender mint is a little lighter and some of the micro flecks are pearly silver unlike dress maker. I prefer Tender Mint because it is shimmery-er but that's just my opinion :) It does run on the sheer side so 4 coats is a pretty safe bet to reach opacity.

3 coats

Blue sherbet is also really gorgeous! is has the same pearly silver flecks as tender mint but in a pretty baby blue shade. I've never seen a polish color like this, so I can't give you a comparison, just trust me on this: It's gorgeous! Blue sherbet is not as sheer as Tender Mint so 3 coats cover up any visible nail line.

2 coats

Finally there is Music Box Mint (also sometimes posted as Mint or Orgel Mint? I dont know....). It is a gorgeous foil sparkley polish in a greyed out green shade. It applies like a dream and only needs 2 coats to be fully opaque!

Etude House Swatches- Part 1

I've received a lot of requests for some swatches of Etude House. These polishes can be hard to get, mostly if you don't live in Asia. You have a few options: Ebay, Etude House USA website, or swapping. However, if you're going to work that hard for a bottle of polish, you probably want to know what it looks like before you invest yourself in it.
I certainly do not have all of the Etude house polishes. Not even close. But I do have a few, and I am happy to show them to you and tell you what I think about them.

Today we begin the Etude house swatches with my favorite- Spangles

Etude House nail wheel!

Spangle is what Etude calls their glitter polish

Pink Topaz, Silver Diamond, Crystal Gold, and Ruby Purple

Here are 4 of the 9 available Spangle polish from the LUCIDarling collection by Etude House
Aren't they cute?

Pink Topaz- 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats, 1 coat over white

Pink Topaz is the sheerest of the Spangles. It's a pink jelly with loads of pearly glitter

Silver Diamond- 1 coat, 2 coats, 1 coat over black, and 1 coat over white

Silver diamond is my favorite spangle. It's opaque after 3-4 coats and it is made entirely of micro glitter and small hex glitter in silver.

Crystal Gold- 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats, and 1 coat over black

Crystal Gold is silver diamond's sister.... It becomes beautifully opaque after 3-4 coats and is made entirely of micro glitter and hex glitter, this time in a flattering shade of yellow gold

Ruby Purple- 1 coat, 2 coats, 3 coats, and 1 coat over black

Finally there is Ruby Purple. It's made of micro fine glitter, almost like glitter dust, in a magenta purple. There are also some purple hex and stars in this. The only downside of Ruby Purple is that is never quite gets opaque. I'm sure with enough determination, one could achieve it, but if you layer it over plum, it's amazing!

I hope this was helpful!

Until next time ^_^