China Glaze Crackle Metals

UPDATE: I haven't been painting my nails very often during the last few months. In January I got UV Gel nails applied, and silly me, I thought it was the nice easy on your nails soak off color gel. Boy was I wrong. I had them on for bout 2 weeks and loved them, but I picked up playing the violin again and had to cut my nails short. When I went to the salon to have them removed I was shocked when the nail tech took out one of those drill files to remove the gel... and most of the surface of my nail bed. Needless to say I was traumatized for a few weeks, until I got used to my new ultra short paper thin scuffed up visible pink nail surface peeling nails. I have still painted my nails from time to time, but they are nowhere near how they used to be. The good news is that the damage is ALMOST done growing out but it will be sometime in the summer until they are back 100%. 

Today I ordered China Glaze Crackle "Broken Hearted" from Sally Beauty Supply. I have "Lightening Bolt" and "Crushed Candy", but I am dreaming of a nice yellow (IMO, the "It" color of summer 2011) with some pink crackle layered over it.

While on my search I came across this information. China Glaze is releasing a metallic crackle line!! I know OPI is releasing a few more shatter colors, but only one metallic (silver, which comes out in May). I wonder how the formula is going t be on these. I heard some complaints about China Glaze "Fault Line", which was a purple with a metallic sheen. A few people said that it might have been due to the metallic finish. I guess only time will tell for these ones! 

I am super excited for the gold and aqua ones!

Tarnished Gold - Gold Metal Crackle

Cracked Medallion - Bronze Metal Crackle 

Platinum Pieces - Silver Metal Crackle 

Latticed Lilac - Lavender Metal Crackle 

Haute Metal - Pale Pink Metal Crackle 

Oxidized Aqua - Aquamarine Metal Crackle 

Pictures and info courtesy of:

http://poshnail.blogspot.com/2011/04/china-glaze-crackle-metals-preview.html

Five Year Old Makeup Guru!

I love this girl! So cute! I want her to review some sparkly pink nail polishes! :)

Cosmic Confetti Cake

A franken made with 1/2 Essie "Nude Beach" and 1/2 Ulta "Starstruck". I added a top coat of Starstruck because I wanted more of a holo glitter finish.

OPI "Pirates Of The Caribbean"

I'm very excited for the "Silver Shatter" and "Stranger Tides"!

**The above picture courtesy of Claire from www.thebeautyscoop.co.uk**

Check out some swatches here:

http://thebeautybite.blogspot.com/2011/02/opi-pirates-of-caribean-on-stranger.html

OPI "Femme De Cirque"

For the sheer polish lovers:

"So Many Clowns...So Little Time" - a pale cream with a hint of pink

"In The Spot Light Pink" - a soft candy pink

"I Juggle Men" - a very sheer translucent white with blue duochrome-y micro glitter

"Step Right Up" - a sheer pink

White and Silver Shatter by OPI!

I'm kicking myself for not running to Ulta on January 24th when they told me the Katy Perry Collection and Black Shatter would be in stock. I have since gotten 2 of the colors I wanted, "Not Like The Movies" (I love it!) and "Last Friday Night"(I'm a little disappointed). But I'm still drooling over "Black Shatter". At first I thought I could live without it. But as I organize my polish collection, I am finding all these colors that I feel would just go GREAT with the shatter effect. I finally caved into the desire. I'm looking online to buy "Black Shatter" right now as I post this. :)

I came across some interesting information. OPI will be releasing a white and a silver shatter polish in April! I am aware that China Glaze is releasing a Crackle Glaze collection, but I hadn't heard about these follow up Shatter colors from OPI.

The White Shatter will be paired with another color in a Serena Williams Grand Slam collection. Check out that awesome gold color! I love white and gold polish combos! :)

*Edit*- The gold polish is called "Spark De Triomphe", a cool toned dense gold glitter with sparse larger glitter mixed in.

What do you think? Do you like the return of the shatter/crackle polish trend?

DUPE ALERT!! Happy Birthday vs Gems

I have been on a serious glitter kick lately! I think the OPI Burlesque Collection got me started!

After I found the dollar store BSN glitter that reminded me of Deborah Lippmann's "Happy Birthday" I decided to go out and seek the real deal. I was considering spending $18 for the full bottle, but then I saw a cute little set of 3 mini DL polishes that came complete with a mini plastic carry case for $25. The colors were: "Happy Birthday", "Wicked Game", and "Dark Side of the Moon". While I am happy I finally got my hands on some DL polishes, I am SOOOO happy I didn't buy the full size of "Happy Birthday"!

I was at CVS yesterday and I saw a new display from Milani called Rockstar Heavy Glitter. The first one that caught my eye was "Gems". It was $4.99 and I knew I had to get it (along with the other glitters in the line)! These new Milani polishes are advertised as being a one coat glitter. Sounds good to me!

Here is a quick comparison between the two:

"Gems" is more dense with glitter than "Happy Birthday". The different sizes and colors of glitter are exactly the same except "Happy Birthday" has pink hexagonal glitter, while "Gems" does not. This is barely noticeable and only a true nail fanatic would notice such a difference.

Overall I think Milani did a great job with this color. I am surprised, but I think I like the Milani version better!

EDIT: If we are not basing it on price, I think I like Deborah Lippmann version better. Since it less dense than "Gems", "Happy Birthday" is better for layering over another polish. Although it isn't too apparent in my swatches, "Happy Birthday" has more of a rainbow confetti feel than "Gems". "Gems" has more of a Christmas feel, which I don't really care for. (Yes, I am a slight Grinch.)