China Glaze Cracked Medallion Metallic Crackle Glaze

Here’s what China Glaze Cracked Medallion looks like over yesterday’s manicure.  This is the only metallic crackle I picked up because I don’t have a comparable copper color in my collection.  It’s super foily.  Although I like the China Glaze crackle formulas I don’t usually do a shimmer crackle over shimmer base coast.  I think the shimmer bomb distracts from the contrast between the two colors.  Kind of negates the crackle when you can’t see it!  My preferences is to use a creme base with a foil crackle and vice versa.

As with all crackles/shatter polishes you’ll end up with a lumpy and somewhat matte nail surface.  Although I didn’t use it for this pic, a coat or two of clear top coat will smooth it out to a mirror shine.

~ Allison ~

Sally Hansen Plum’s the Word + Pure Ice Busted

This manicure started off as messing around and ended up mesmerizing!  I’m sure people were wondering what the heck was wrong with me when I kept tilting my hands at different angles and admiring my nails.  Duochrome will do that to ya.  I started out with Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure in Plum’s the Word.  It’s a creme muted plum that leans more towards brown than purple.  Application was no problem, and I love this formula’s thick brush!  I can pretty much do each nail in two swipes (one for the pinky).  The rounded tip also helps me get closer to somewhat approximating a clean gap – something that I still need a lot more practice with!  Two coats provided a good opaque base color, I felt like it needed a bit more razzle dazzle.  So I layered it with two coats of Pure Ice Busted.  In the bottle this polish looks like a sheer, watery lilac with pink and gold shimmer.  On top of the Plum’s the Word it looked even more stunning.

These pix were taken after 2 days so you can see a bit of normal tip wear.

Heeey, nice duochrome.

This one really shows the gold and pink shift over the plum base.

Artificial light

Busted is one of those polishes that’s pretty on its own but really comes to life when layered.  I can’t wait to try it with some different base colors!

~ Allison ~

Sinful Colors Holiday Collection Already?

I spotted this display at my neighborhood RiteAid this weekend.  Christmas already??  Let me enjoy the rest of my summer and fall, first, please!

As far as I can tell, this collection is an identical repeat from winter 2010.  Why recycle the old instead of releasing something new and fresh?

My reaction to these polishes is “bleh” and I don’t think I’ll be picking any of them up.  The traditional red, green, silver and gold holiday colors strike me as garish, and nail art isn’t really my cup of tea.  As for me, I’m going to be rocking some non-Christmassy colors on my nails this holiday season.  But until then, I’m going to savor the current season’s shades!

~ Allison ~

Sinful Colors Cream Pink

I rarely wear pink on my nails but oh, this color just makes me happy!  I wish they had come up with a more imaginative name than “cream pink,” though, which is lame-o.  It doesn’t come close to capturing the juicy jubilee of this hot shade.

Cream Pink is a bright magenta creme with a fine gold shimmer that reveals itself in sunlight.

In low light:

And indoors it looks like a screaming neon – surprise!

What you see here is two coats topped with Seche Vite.  It was really quite opaque; the visible nail line that you can sort of see here is just my horribly stained nails (thanks, Swimsuit… Nailed It!) and it wasn’t so apparent in person.  The formula was very good – smooth, self-leveling, and really a pleasure to apply.

I must admit that I’m harboring a bit of an addiction to Sinful Colors!  They are so inexpensive and fun.  Pick up a few for your collection for only $1.99 a bottle at most drugstores.

~ Allison ~

OPI Miss Universe Review – Crown Me Already!

Crown Me Already!, my third pick from OPI’s Miss Universe collaboration, is a bright silver glitter.  There is very fine “glitter dust” as well as larger sized hexes mixed in.  It’s like having discoballs on your nails!

Here’s how it looks layered over It’s MY Year, which I reviewed two entries back.

My middle finger has only two coats of “Crown Me Already” on a bare nail.  While the density of the glitter builds up with each layer, you will still have some bare spots because the polish body is clear.  This is a fun polish for layering thinly on top of other colors or layering on its own for super discoball sparkly goodness.

~ Allison ~