February Manicures!

Apologies for the delay in this post! Evidently instead of publishing it, I just saved it as a draft...twelve days ago. At any rate, if you'd like to see the manicures I did throughout February, keep reading!

August Manicures

Curious about the polishes I used? They're listed under the cut!

Red, White, and Blue Nail Polishes

Before I get into the manicure I did this year, I chose my favorite red and blue nail polishes that could be used for a red,white,and blue manicure. I don't have all of my polishes with me currently, so there are probably others I could have included, but these are really my favorites - that's why they're with me, after all!

L-R: China Glaze - Red Pearl, Revlon - Frankly Scarlet, China Glaze - Poinsettia

L-R: China Glaze - Frostbite, OPI - Swimsuit...Nailed it!, China Glaze - Dorothy Who?,
Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Pacific Blue

I didn't take a photo of it since I was sure you all have an idea of what a basic white cream nail polish looks like, but my favorite white is by far Sally Hansen Insta Dri in Whirlwind White. It goes on really opaquely in one or two coats, which makes it a lot nicer than sheerer or streakier whites, especially if you're using it as a base color and don't want to have a lot of drying time.

Of course, crackle or shatter polishes make really easy multi-colored manicures! I know there are red and blue ones available, I just don't have any of them. I do have white, though - and it's one of the polishes I used for my 4th of July themed manicure this year! I used China Glaze in Poinsettia for the red and Dorothy Who? for the blue glitter. The crackle polish I used was Sephora by OPI in White Blasted. I picked it up on clearance within the past few months. I also have the white crackle from China Glaze, which works too!

If you want to see another 4th of July themed manicure, the one I did last year is here! I used all China Glaze products - including the white crackle polish I mentioned.

Do you like doing themed manicures for holidays? I know I do - whether or not the holiday is something I really get into celebrating, it's hard to resist doing my nails for them!

Nail Polish Collection & Swatches - China Glaze

So this is the final post in my collection! Of course I'm sure it'll continue growing...but this is finally done! It's been a long time coming, as I mentioned MONTHS ago that it was something I was meaning to do. As always, let me know if you have any questions or suggestions on posts to do in the future! 

Halloween Nail Polish

 L-R: (unnamed neon orange) from L.A. Colors Color Craze Extreme Brights collection, Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange, Maybelline Orange Blazes




Wet n Wild Black Creme, Finger Paints Where Art Renoir?, Milani Silver Dazzle




China Glaze's Halloween polishes from last year - Mummy May I, Zombie Zest, Ick-A-Bod-Y

China Glaze Ick-A-Bod-Y over the L.A. Colors neon orange and the Milani Silver Dazzle




L: China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Finger Paints Where Art Renoir?
R: OPI Black Shatter over Wet n Wild 9.0.2.1.Orange



L: China Glaze Cracked Concrete over Zombie Zest
R: Black Shatter over Finger Paints Original Orange

Rainbow and White Crackle Manicure

This is probably my favorite manicure I’ve done to date. It’s so fun! And it lasted really well on my nails.

The top picture is me trying out different things on my nail wheel. I knew I wouldn’t be patient enough to try to get the lines straight and even enough to leave them alone, so crackle seemed like a good solution. I thought I would like the contrast of the black, but I ended up loving the look of the white.

I started with a base layer of China Glaze White On White. The pink is Covergirl Fuchsia Girl, blue is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away, the yellow is the Xtreme Wear in Mellow Yellow, and the orange is Maybelline Orange Blazes.

After the stripes were dried, I went over with China Glaze Lightning Bolt crackle polish.

I used the China Glaze Strong Adhesion base coat and the Fast Forward top coat as well.

4th of July Manicure : All China Glaze

Since the colored polishes I was using were all China Glaze, I figured I may as well use the base and top coat from them as well.




The colors I used are Frostbite (regular collection), Ruby Deer (Holiday 2010), and Lightning Bolt (crackle).


After the basecoat, I did two coats of the red stripe followed by two coats of the blue stripe. I had very little waiting time because I was sitting in front of a fan while doing this. I didn't pay any attention to staying within the nail because I was more concerned about making the diagonal line straight without overlapping. I then topped it off with the crackle polish.



I gave the crackle a few minutes to finish crackling and dry, then topped it with two coats of the Fast Forward topcoat. Once that was dry I went around the edges with my $1 ELF eyeliner brush dipped in 100% acetone to clean them up. So much cleanup was needed that the acetone in the cup I was using was completely purple by the end - which goes to show that you don't have to have particularly steady hands to end up with a neat-looking manicure.

Nails of the Day: Pink with White Crackle

Original manicure - Revlon nail polish in Oh My Magenta.
It's hard to tell but there is a very subtle blue undertone in the glitter.








After a day or two I got bored of it, but couldn't be bothered to take it off and start over, so I decided to do a crackle. I tried a few different ones on a swatch wheel to decide.
L-R: China Glaze - Crushed Candy, China Glaze - Lightning Bolt, OPI - Black Shatter
(I think China Glaze is better than OPI! Look at that crackle as an example!)



In the end I liked the white the best, although I would wear all three.

Sorry I got a little lazy and didn't clean up my nails at all before taking a picture!

Nails of the Day: Lavender and White Crackle

Base color: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Lacey Lilac
Crackle: China Glaze Crackle Glaze - Lightning Bolt

I was rushing through this because it was starting to get dark in my parent's house and they didn't have power so I needed to finish it! As a result I didn't wait long enough for the base color to dry. Because of that, when I put on the crackle it pulled the base coat with it in a few spots, exposing my nail color. It was only in a few spots and wasn't that noticeable since I had used such a light color, but they aren't kidding when they say crackles need to be applied to completely dry polish.

Nails of the Day: Pink and White (Plus Revlon Powder Puff review)

Last week at CVS I spotted a Revlon matte suede nail polish called Powder Puff that looked really interesting. It is a white base with a subtle blue duochrome glitter in it. With the glitter and the finish, I thought it would be a really unique polish. However, the blue duochrome isn't visible at all and it takes 3 or 4 coats before it gets to a decent level of color, but even then I could still kind of see the line of the white part of the nail through the polish. Basically it's just a matte white that takes a lot of layers to be opaque. I'm so disappointed! If I can find the receipt I may end up returning it.

Since I really didn't like the look but didn't want to remove all the layers of polish I just put on, I instead topped it off with a coat of China Glaze crackle polish in Broken Hearted. I've used it before, but never realized how bright it could be until I put it over a white! While it's fun to combine crackle polishes with interesting colors underneath, sometimes it's fun to let the crackle shine!

Nails of the Day: OPI Black Shatter and Urban Outfitters Afterhours

Okay, I am obsessed with this insane holographic glitter polish I came across at Urban Outfitters this week! It is AMAZING! I was so happy it looks as cool on the nails as it does in the bottle. I also finally got the OPI Black Shatter this week, so I decided to try them together. I really like the effect!

The Urban Outfitters nail polish was $5 for .5oz, and OPI Black Shatter was (I think) $8.50 on drugstore.com.

Nails of the Day: Cracked Concrete

Today's manicure used Sinful Colors in Hazard as the base, and China Glaze crackle polish in Cracked Concrete. The orange/coral shade is brighter in real life, more like the top picture than the bottom picture. It's a bit easier to see the difference if you click to enlarge the photo.

I used Orly Top 2 Bottom as the base coat and two coats of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri for the top coat.

Nails of the Day: Silver and Pink

Silver: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear - Celeb City
Crackle: China Glaze - Broken Hearted

Very simple but I really love the way this manicure turned out! The silver is great because it's pretty much opaque in one coat. The crackle seemed to work especially well over this polish, too. It's glittery but still smooth.

Nails of the Day: Rainbow Sparkle + Crackle Manicure

Once again I was inspired by a nail tutorial from sayanythingbr00ke on YouTube (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBaQUb3N0Dw)
This manicure didn't take nearly as long as I expected! To make cleanup easier, I applied Vaseline all around my nails (but NOT touching the actual nails) because it just wipes off with the excess polish at the end.


Obviously I changed a few things about the manicure, but it was inspired by Brooke's video. I chose to do sparkly polishes since I've been really into them lately. I would have liked to use a black crackle rather than grey, but I don't have a black. I don't hate the grey, but it's definitely not the same effect.

Before I applied the crackle polish

The polishes I used are:

Pink: China Glaze - Strawberry Fields
Purple: Zoya - Dannii

Blue: Orly - Halley's Comet
Green: Zoya - Ivanka

Crackle: China Glaze - Cracked Concrete

With crackle, and mostly cleaned up.

Detail of thumb nail.

Overall, I'm really happy with how it turned out. I think using the grey instead of a black crackle makes it less crazy bright looking. The black would have added more contrast. I think either look is good depending on what look you're going for. If you have the white crackle, that would probably look awesome as well.

Crackle Glaze Color Combinations

I’ve already been sampling some combinations I can do with the new China Glaze crackle polishes. These are so much fun! I’m sure there will be more to come.

L: Broken Hearted over China Glaze Spontaneous

R: Cracked Concrete over China Glaze Flying Dragon

Crushed Candy over an old Bonne Bell purple sparkly polish…I don’t know the name

Cracked Concrete over China Glaze Shocking Pink (A thin coat over white)

China Glaze Crackle Collection

Stopped in my Sally’s last week to see they had the China Glaze crackle polishes! I was SO EXCITED. I was originally planning to get Black Mesh and Crushed Candy, but they didn’t have Black Mesh and I just couldn’t resist Broken Hearted once I saw it.

L-R: Cracked Concrete, Broken Hearted, Crushed Candy

Swatches over white without flash (Crushed Candy in the middle)

Swatches with flash

These are seriously the coolest nail polishes EVER. They are pretty easy to work with and they start cracking immediately. Plus there are so many possibilities of color combinations! I have a feeling I’ll be wearing these a lot. Hopefully you can find these at your Sally’s, but I expect they’ll go really fast!