Forget Snap & Pop because it's all about the CRACKLE

I have to be honest. When I first saw that crackle polish was making a comeback, my initial reaction was, "Eh".  I saw the Black Shatter that was released with the Serena Williams and Katy Perry collections and thought it was cool, but may not be for me....that is until I saw Black Shatter over Katy Perry's "The One that Got Away".  I caved and got the OPI Black Shatter.  THEN I saw that China Glaze released a colored Crackle collection!!! "Must have!!" Unfortunately, I was way behind this release and it was already sold out in all my usual spots, so I figured I'd wait until the demand died down for them.

"The Polish Powers-that-Be" must have wanted me to add some crackle in my life because I unexpectedly got a hold of the majority of the collection.  It's a funny story actually.  I stopped at a local (not my regular) Sally Beauty to pick up a styling drape/cape for when I cut my son's hair.  I figured I'd check out the nail polishes in case any of the crackles were there, but if not, why not check out if there are any interesting colors I could add to my collection.  I didn't see any display for the Crackle polishes, but got a few regular polishes and the cape.  When I go to the cashier, and she starts ringing me up, she looks up and says to me, "You want some crackle?" In turn I ask, "YOU HAVE SOME??!" She then says, "Yeah, we have a whole bunch behind here. The only one we don't have is the purple one."  She brings out a bottle of each, and I tell her I'll take all of them except the black since I already have a black one.  She mentions, "I ask all the girls that come in if they want them, and I saw your basket and knew you'd probably want some.  Everyone came in looking for them when we were sold out, and now nobody asks since they think we don't have them anymore."  She totally made my day.  I told my hubby, when I got back in the car, and he laughed and said, "Almost sounds like she asked, 'You want some crack?'"  My husband the comedian.

Okay, enough with the jabber...here's Crushed Candy over two coats of Orly's La Vida Loca.  (I first attempted to put CC over KP's Teenage Dream, but I didn't like the result.  Not enough "pop" in my crackle")

Total 80's retro look and I LOVE IT!!!!

Love the CG Crackles as much as I do? What have you done with them lately?

My first Epic FAIL

Ulta was having a buy 3 get 1 free deal, so I decided to purchase most of the polishes from Orly's 2010 Sweet Collection.  I decided against getting Cotton Candy and opted for getting Velvet Rope instead.  Purple plus glitter??!! No brainer.  Two weeks ago, I finally decided to wear it, and low and behold, I now have buyer's remorse.   Take a look:

Granted this photo was taken without a top coat, but not even a coat of Seche Vite could save this one in my opinion.  While I LOVE the color, the glitter KILLS it.  There's no sparkle, just chunks.  The polish isn't jelly so instead of the glitter coming through, the more the polish is layered, the glitter ends up getting covered.  It's like the glitter was thrown in as an afterthought, when it would have been better just to leave it out all together.  I love Orly, and this is my first real disappointment.  Ugh :(

Submission for Polish Hoarder Disorder's Weekly Challenge - Color Accent

One of the blogs I regularly follow (and my fave by far), Polish Hoarder Disorder, does a weekly challenge.  Up until now I've always liked watching from the sidelines, but not participating, either because I don't have the time (deadlines are usually Friday at midnight), the resources (haven't purchased that Konad Stamping Set), or the "know how" to send in a submission.  However, her challenge this week is a "Color Accent" mani: use grey, black, white and ONE color as an accent.  The deadline is tonight instead of last night, so I figured, "I can TOTALLY do this one."  Mind you that I've never done any sort of nail design before, and my skills as an artist are the next step up from "caveman drawings", so this is really my first time doing anything outside of just putting polish on my nails.  (It's been years since I've even given myself a french manicure!!!)  Anyhow, here's my submission for the challenge:

I used American Apparel's Factory Grey as my base, Orly's La Vida Loca as my accent color, and then Sally Hansen's nail pens in Black and White to fulfill the other two polish requirements of the challenge (strangely enough I don't have bottles of black or white polish).  My idea for the design was "a car's racing stripe".  You know, you see a beautiful Mustang or other muscle car with this nice wide white (or some other colored) stripe going up the center of the car....I guess I watched too much of "Pimp My Ride" when it was on MTV.  LOL

While it's not quite to my liking (the perfectionist in me kept saying "You can do better"), I figure it's pretty good for a first try.  I LOVE the color of La Vida Loca, which is why I chose it as my accent color.  I had some other candidates, but I figured this is a unique color, and since my design is so simple, I had to add something special to make it "pop".  What do you think?  Is this something you'd wear?  I'd like to try it again once I've perfected the technique and do a comparison :)