Sorry - it's Silver Shatter again!!

Hello :)

I know, you're probably tired of these crackle/shatter posts so I'm apologizing in advance!  I like adding shatter polishes not just to give standard manicures a twist but also extend their wear time.  I loved this icy mani so much I wore it for 3 days and had to share it. This is OPI's good ol' Silver Shatter worn over L'Oreal's steely Blue Laguna.

All pictures were taken outdoors in indirect daylight:

Thanks for looking!

Vita :)

Diagonal crackle mani with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat

I love doing diagonal tape mani's because they're so simple and striking to wear so when I saw a fabulous diagonal crackle mani on Nailside's blog (here) I just had to try it!

This is one fine coat of Sally Hansen's Vintage Violet applied over SugarBaby's lilac creme Time Out.  I experimented by applying a thicker coat of crackle on my other hand to see the difference but it turned out unevenly and didn't work at all, so it's a thin coat of crackle to achieve the best result as shown here:

I think this is a great fun idea to get more use out of shatter or crackle polishes and I was pretty happy with my first attempt.  What do you think?

Vita :)

Skittles: Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoats

Hi everyone,

Only one more day to go before we finish 2011!

This quickie post is to share some pics I took a few weeks ago when I was playing with my new Crackle Overcoats from Sally Hansen.

I created a little skittle manicure, alternating shades over a white base (Essence's White Secret).  Although I did a pretty shabby job here because I was just mucking around, I was impressed with the obvious cracking effect of this polish. It was a lot more effective than the OPI shatters (with the exception of Black Shatter) have been for me.  These crackle polishes dry uber-quickly so you have to have a quick and steady hand to apply them.  Two quick strokes and you're done!

Both pics taken in full sunlight:

L-R:

Vintage Violet, Fuschia Shock, Cherry Smash

My preferred shades are Fuschia Shock and the slightly shimmery Vintage Violet.

That's all for now.

Vita :)

My favourite shatter combo

Just a quick post tonight!

I applied a thick coat of OPI's Gold Shatter over one of my old classic fave's, the aubergine creme Lincolm Park After Dark.  I love the contrast of this mani and the dark base really shows through the cracks nicely.   This has an antique feel about it.

Lamplight

Outdoors daylight

What's your favourite shatter shade?

Vita :)

Gold shatter + pink = pretty!

Hello my lovelies <3

First can I start off this post by saying I'm feeling just a little lonely tonight.  My husband is on his way to Las Vegas for the week to attend an IT convention and I'm missing him already.  At least I have my lovely boy and my two kitties, and all of you out there for company...

Now onto what you're really here for - some more nail polish fun.  I had another play with my OPI Gold Shatter and used a heavier application over my pink Mauve is Me base.  I was much more satisfied with the results this time.  The cracks were clearly visible, and the colour combination of pink and gold complimented each other really beautifully IMO.

All pictures were taken outdoors in indirect light:

What do you think?  Do you like the combination of pink and gold?

That's all for now.

Vita :)

I'm not exactly shattered...

...by the performance of OPI's latest addition to its shatter polish line.

Gold Shatter was the shatter shade I'd been waiting for and had such high expectations for.  However, instead of wide open chasms this polish dried with barely visible hair-line cracks over my base of Orly's Entourage. 

Here's a single picture of the result:

It frustrates me how inconsistent these polishes can be.  I haven't given up though and I'll keep working at it until I get a good result that's worth posting.  I'd read somewhere the shatter polish needs to dry out a bit and thicken up to provide a better shattered result so I might try that.  

Maybe a thicker coat of the shatter polish would give a better result?

Any ideas from you lovelies would be greatly appreciated!!

Vita :)

Layering: OPI Italian Love Affair + Silver Shatter

I tried to conjure up a cheesy title for this post such as,  "An Italian Love Affair with Silver...blah, blah..." but obviously didn't feel witty enough to come up with anything amusing tonight.

I think this is one of my more successful, wearable Silver Shatter pairings.  SS looked quite subtle over the pastel pink Italian Love Affair and I actually wore this mani to the office last Friday:

Lamplight

What do you think?

Until next time.

Vita :)

OPI: Turquoise Shatter + Ski Teal We Drop

Sorry for not posting yesterday - I was really busy trying to cram my full weekend into one day - grocery shopping, laundry, off to see the last Harry Potter instalment at the movies with my family, then out to dinner.  Challenging as you can imagine!

This is a quick post to show you Turquoise Shatter over a dark cream shade.  I decided to try it over Ski Teal We Drop from OPI's Swiss Collection.  STWD is a deep teal cream and I thought this would provide a good base for a tone-on-tone look. 

The different shatter finish is really interesting.  To quote an old Australian candy bar commercial (for Violet Crumble bars I think?), "It's the way it shatters that matters..." and this shattered very differently from my last combo with the silver foil.  When Turquoise Shatter dried over STWD it produced a fault line style of cracking rather than the usual meshy effect.  See here:

Outdoors shade

Full sun

Which finish do you prefer?

Until next time - I'm off to the airport in a few minutes!

Vita :)

Yet another shattering shade: OPI - Turquoise Shatter

I thought I was done with the shatter polish fixation - and then I saw OPI's new range, and was instantly smitten with Turquoise Shatter.

This is the most gorgeous metallic turquoise that would stand on it's own as a 'normal' full coverage polish.  The idea of this as a shatter was definitely seductive to me and I just couldn't resist.  I thought this would be a great partner for my silver Bionic mani and I was really pleased with the look:

 

I think this would make a great summer pedicure on (fake) tanned feet.

That's all for now.  Have a wonderful weekend - mine's gonna be short.  I've got to fly to Brisbane on Sunday for an early Monday workshop.

Vita :)

Face of Australia: Flaming Lava + OPI: Black Shatter

Hello

This is a quickie post to share my black + red mani from last weekend.  I'd put my Black Shatter in the Helmer drawer and kind of forgotten about it - you know, out of sight out of mind - but in a random thought wondered how it would look over my fabulous Flaming Lava mani.

Here 'tis (apologies for tip wear and craggy cuticles!).  This was without top coat so you can see the textured effect.  Both photos were taken indoors under lamplight.

I thought this would make a good wintry colour combination.  What do you think?


That's all for now.

Vita :)

OPI Silver Shatter + For Audrey = Fail!

Note to self:  Do NOT apply Silver Shatter with a heavy hand if you want to see lots of cracks!

See Example 1:  This was Silver Shatter over China Glaze's For Audrey and it should have looked gorgeous.  Unfortunately I felt like I'd spoiled a perfectly good manicure.  10 points for the colour combo idea, 4 points for execution:

Thumb close-up because

 this almost worked

Now for the rest:

Shade

Lamplight

Natural light indoors

Now for the utter disaster!!!  This should be Example 1 because I did this as the first mani last night.  I used OPI on Collins Ave, a hot orange/red as the base shade.  This just did not work at all.  It looked a little like my nails were bleeding and I took it off straight after I photographed it for posterity (and a laugh)...

I haven't given up yet.  I'll reswatch Silver Shatter THINLY over For Audrey to see if that looks how it does in my imagination.  The silver & duck egg blue combo should be lovely if I can get it to actually work.

I hope all mums who are celebrating are enjoying their Mother's Day today!  I had warm croissants with jam brought up for breakfast in bed this morning and the Husband is cooking a special dinner tonight - Lovely :)

Until next time.

Vita :)

I'm shattered again...OPI Silver Shatter

I'm quite literally shattered and extremely tired so this will be a quickie post to show you my Silver Shatter NOTD.  I bought this yesterday and immediately put it over my dark green Berlin mani:

Indoors daylight

Lamplight



This nail polish takes around an hour to reveal the fullest shattered effect so some patience is required.  I wore this without a top coat.  Opinions in the office were mixed on this look.  Some girls prefer this to Black Shatter, others prefer the Black Shatter.  I'm reserving my opinion until I try Silver Shatter over bright shades and pastels.

What do you think?  Or are you just over it altogether?

Vita :)

NOTD: Vintage MAC Luxurious + OPI Black Shatter

So, here's vintage MAC polish number three in my collection - Luxurious.

Luxurious really blew me out of the water when I applied it and I can't believe I haven't worn this shade before.  This chrome mauvey pink is luminous, blingy and definitely out there - it lives up to its name! Two coats gave good even coverage with minimal streaking.  Chrome polishes tend to be unforgiving, showing up every little ridge on the nail so I gave mine a good buffing and applied a thick base coat before applying colour. 

Here's the result.  All photos were taken outdoors:

Full sun

Shade

As gorgeous as this was on its own I wondered how it would look with coat of OPI's Black Shatter.  I wasn't disappointed! 

Until my next post.

Vita :)

Yep, I bought it! OPI Black Shatter

Well, I just can't help myself.  After trying out Black Shatter last week, I caved in and bought my own bottle.  Actually it became THE big thing around the office as three of us bought bottles in the same week!!

Here's Black Shatter over my mani for the week, Essence Just in Case.  I actually found this effectively toned down my metallic nail polish but in a great way.  Apologies for my messy application and lack of daylight pics - I did this at 10pm!  That's the beauty of this polish.  It dries so quickly you can use this on a whim to change the look of your current manicure.  Again, I haven't used topcoat so the Shatter looks quite matte in these pictures:

Flash

Lamplight

That's all for now.

Vita :)

Something borrowed: OPI Black Shatter

I know I'm  behind everyone else on this bandwagon but I was finally lucky enough to try one of the new crackle top coats today.  OPI Black Shatter is courtesy of one of the kind girls in my office who bought this a little while ago.

I couldn't help myself and I tried it immediately over my current Essence mani (Walk of Fame).  I think this combination works - it looks kind of reptilian to me.  For the few who haven't tried a crackle polish it shrinks back as it dries to reveal cracks where the base colour can peep through.  This dried very quickly and I chose to leave it without any additional top coat as I liked the textured finish:

My 'personal stylist' aka my 9 year old son suggested Black Shatter would look effective over a deep purple base.

Do you have any favourite crackle combinations?  Should I take the plunge and buy a bottle?

Until next time.

Vita :)