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Wednesday 16 November 2011

New Nail Love!

I've been getting back into painting my nails lately, in an attempt to stop me picking at them and let them grow a bit (I'm a terrible nail-fusser!)

The is my latest favourite look - bright base with crackle on top.

The crackle nail varnish is not that new anymore, but I thought I'd do a little write up on it anyway since everywhere I go people ask me about it - obviously there's still lots of people who need to see this stuff as it's quite cool!

As my base colour I used Rimmel 60 seconds varnish colour 819 Green With Envy, a lovely metallic turquoise and over the top I used OPI Black Shatter.

I love the Rimmel nail varnishes as they come in loads of cool colours, dry really quickly and are a really good price! They also last quite well on the nail, as long as you use a top coat.


I reckon it looks pretty cool, and I have to say it has lasted well - this picture is after 3 days wear!

The crackle/shatter varnish goes on quite thick and cracks as it dries on your nail. It take a bit of practice to get the hang of it - if you double back over a bit you've already painted it goes a bit funny, but you get used to it quickly. It dries matt, which is quite cool, but with a lick of top coat you can turn it glossy.

To give your nail polish the best chance of survival, use a good base coat onto a freshly squeaked nail*, which gives the varnish something to cling to and protects your nails from being stained.
I always do 2 coats of polish (if I'm just wearing a colour) the first very thin, then follow with a great top coat to prevent chipping. If you want your colour to last extra long you can apply a new layer of top coat each day. I'm loving Barry M's Basecoat/Topcoat/Nail Hardener All-In-One, it works really well on my rubbish brittle nails!

So what do you think?!



* using a cotton pad swipe over your nail with nail varnish remover so it's squeaky clean ;) Even if you don't have any polish to remove this will clean off any natural oils or residue from day-to-day stuff on your nails.