NOTD: Icing Lucky Luis & OPI Black Shatter

Today I have another crackle/ Shatter mani for you. What can I say? It's nail art that anyone can do. I remember back when Cover Girl came out with crackling polish. I remember thinking it as the coolest thing. It's fun for me to watch trends come and go and come back again. I must say the new version of the crackle/ shatter polishes is so much better than the old version. The old formula used to flake right off. It created a really cool pattern but I desperately needed a topcoat or else you'd find flakes of polish all over. I remember the old crackle polish was also nearly impossible to remove. I used to just pick at mine and make it flake off because I hated fighting with it. You practically needed a grinder to get the darn stuff off. Okay, maybe that's a slight exaggeration. My point is the formula on the new crackle polish is phenomenal. I have heard of some people having issues with it getting thick or "crumbly" in the bottle. It's always important with any polish to make sure you tighten the cap so it's completely closed. Please do not throw away your thickened "glue consistency" crackle polish (or any polish for that matter) is it safe to used Nail Polish thinner to rejuvenate thickened polish. It will not ruin your crackle polish. Please do not use nail polish remover or acetone to thin you polish ONLY USE NAIL POLISH THINNER.

The base color I used was from Icing. It's called Lucy Luis. Lucky Luis is a spring green jelly. It's a lovely polish but after I applied four coats I still had a very noticeable visible nail line. A lot of people are not bothered by this but I didn't like it with this color so I added OPI Black Shatter.

NOTD: China Glaze Shower Together & China Glaze Broken Medallion

Today's NOTD (Nails Of The Day) is a crackle mani. I used China Glaze Shower Together as my base color and China Glaze Broken Medallion crackle polish. I'm not generally a fan of gold colors for anything really but since Broken Medallion leans very copper I absolutely love the contrast between these two polishes. I Know a lot of you are sick of crackle/shatter manis but I still love them. I think it's all about finding new and interesting color combinations.

NOTD: Nebulae Nails

Today I'm going to show you a bit of nail art. Now you may think nail art is difficult and should be left to the professionals but that is simply not true. Nail art can be easy. This nail art was so simple. All you need is a base color, I used Wet n' Wild Nocturnal. After you paint your nails with your base color you simply sponge on the other colors. Nebulae can be all different colors. For my nebulae I used Orly Out Of This World, Orly Lunar Eclipse, Zoya Valerie, and Zoya Edyta. I took a plain makeup sponge and ripped it in half to give the edge I was going to use for stamping more texture. If you don't rip the sponge you'll end up stamping with a flat edge and you won't get the soft "fluffy" look of a nebula. Using one color at a time I dropped a few drops of polish on a paper plate (do no use a Styrofoam plate! The polish will "eat" the Styrofoam) and dipped the ripped edge of the sponge in the polish. I dabbed off a bit of the polish to make sure I didn't end up with a huge blob on my nails.  Then I lightly pounced the polish with the sponge on my nail. I did not completely cover the nail, I just added a little of each color but pouncing the color on with the ripped edge of the sponge. If you think you've added too much of the nebulae colors you can lightly go over the nail with the sponge and a bit more of your base color.  Once you get the look you're going for you can add a few stars like I didn't. For the stars I just used a toothpick dipped in a small amount of Wet n' Wild French White Creme. I added a coat of Seche Vite top coat and there you have it... Nebulae nails. I love this look and it's so simple. The next time I do this look I think I might add a little bit of holo glitter.

Sally Hansen Extreme Wear Night Lights

First of all please excuse my tip wear. I made spiced pumpkin syrup from scratch last night after I did my nails which trashed my mani. Cutting up pumpkins is not a mani friendly activity. Anyways, on to the polish...

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Night Lights. Night Lights is a sheer charcoal jelly base loaded with wonderfully sparkly holo glitter. The picture shown is one coat of Night Lights over two coats of China Glaze Liquid Leather. Liquid leather is a semi jell black polish.  I adore Liquid Leather. It is my favorite black polish. It dries incredibly shiny even without top coat. I decided to layer Night Lights over Liquid Leather because I thought the darkness and opacity of Liquid Leather would really make the lovely holo glitter in Night Light pop. As you can see in the pic, each individual jewel of holo glitter is screaming for your attention. It's even more stunning in person. No comps this time because I do not have anything that would hold a candle to Night Lights. Truly a polish to make any polish junkie speechless.

OPI Designer Series Jewel Swatches & Comps

OPI Designer Series Jewel. Jewel is a goregeous polish. It is a duochrome. Depending on what lighting I'm in I see a heavily red based purple with cranberry shimmer, a cranberry base with coordinating shimmer, or a rich bronzey brown with cranberry shimmer. At the right angles, I can even see pink shimmer. I could not stop looking at this polish yesterday. I kept tilting my hand at different angles in the light to make the different colors come out. Jewel reminds me of the leaves changing on a red leafed maple tree, perfect for the Autumn mood I've been in

OPI Designer Series Jewel Comps. I had a heck of a time trying to find a polish to compare this too.  Jewel is really unique in my collection. I tried to comp the most prevalent base color, the rich bronzey cranberry color. Essie It's Genius on index and ring, OPI DS Jewel on middle and pinky. Not even close. Now I do think Jewel may be close to OPI Canadian Maple Leaf, but I do not own it so I cannot say for sure.

Look At What I Found: Jesse's Girl JulieG Collection

No swatches this time. I just want to share with you what the display looked like in case you're looking for it.  I found this display at Rite Aid. All the colors look fantastic. Well done JulieG!

Borghese Rapido Castello Blue Swatches & Comps

Castello Blue. I originally picked this color up because it reminded me of a Wedgwood necklace I have. It also reminded me of a gloomy sky. Castello Blue is a light toned dusty blue. Not "baby blue" by any means but still soft and delicate but with a small shot of grey that makes it a little edgy. I had no problems with application and dry time was a cinch. Picture shown is two coats.

Castello Blue comps. Index and ring finger are Castello Blue. Middle and pinky are Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Gray by Gray. This picture is two coats of each polish. Gray by Gray was the closest shade I had to Castello Blue and while they have their similarities they are not even close to being dupes.