The light grey creme, Shadow Puppets, went on first. After three coats it was still more sheer than I prefer for a polish to be worn alone, but I wasn't going to wear it alone, so I proceeded to the next step—without stopping to take a picture, because I was very excited to see what was ahead. Next I applied one coat of the Cracked Finish, which seemed a tiny bit streaky but I didn't want to try and even it out lest I disturb the cracking action. At first nothing happened and I was worried, but then as the purple dried, the surface of my nails started looking distressed and by the time it was fully dry, I had some interesting crack patterns on them. I didn't use BYS top coat as recommended on the Cracked Finish box, as I did not have any, so I put my standby Sally Hansen Insta Dri on instead.
The purple has a blue-ish shimmer to it; it photographs more blue in the bottle than it looks on the nail. After a day and a half, the finish looked more distressed. Maybe a different top coat would have helped the crackle layer adhere better, but when a mani starts out with jagged lines across it, a few chips around the edges aren't really a big deal.
Like the Cover Girl Crackle Lacquer from back in the day, this BYS Cracked Finish was a lot of fun. I also got a black one in the same swap, and I'm looking forward to trying that one and experimenting with both colors over other brands of polish, too.
I'm not altogether persuaded by crackle finishes but I rather like this.
ReplyDeleteI hope your parcel arrives soon. Susie got hers after a month. It had been opened for examination and one of the polishes had been opened and leaked!
I hope this doesn't happen to you.
I love the "cracked polish" look.And the color is pretty. I just wish there was cracked polish here in the US. You seem to have good dealings with your friends on MUA,though.
ReplyDeleteSo fun! I love these I think I have a couple on their way to me too.
ReplyDeleteI like the cracked effect, and purple is always good!
ReplyDeletei love the crackle effect and am itching to swap some of these pretties....
ReplyDeletethe great thing about the crackled look is that when it wears a bit on the edges it totally looks like it was supposed to do that. ;-)
ReplyDeleteooooo Yours is cool! I love the colour! Did you just paint it straight on or with 'movement'? I like the chunky cracks!
ReplyDeleteI've never seen a crackle finish before.
ReplyDeleteWhat fun!
Go to the Nail Art Colors and Stickers section on Transdesign.com and they have crackle polishes. (Called Krackpolish) I haven't tried them myself but I heard about them on youtube.
ReplyDeletejaljen, it may be taking the scenic route, but I'm sure it'll get here eventually.
ReplyDeleteStarlight, yes, I've met a lot of very sweet ladies on the MUA nail board.
Jessica, cool; I look forward to seeing them on your blog!
Shiny, purple is always good. :)
amusedPolish, hope you manage to get some; the cracks are a fun change of pace.
AggiePigeon, exactly!
Green Fairy, I just painted straight, like normal. I hadn't read your entry about the swirling yet, so I'll try that next time. Or maybe I'll try some straight, some swirled, and some side to side. :)
Mae, glad I could show you; it is fun!
Serena, thanks for the info.; I didn't realize TD had some.
Crack polishes are so pretty to me but hard to get in the US. I can't wait to try these out!
ReplyDeleteI think crack polishes are so fun!
ReplyDeleteThis looks awesome! I love cracked finishes, but they're hard to find in the U.S.
ReplyDelete