China Glaze Crackle Metals

Alrighty then. Have you been won over by all the companies putting out their version of Crackle and Shatter polishes? If not, I think you're about to!

China Glaze has recently (or is very soon depending upon if your local stores are slacking) released a second set of crackle polishes. This time they're all metallic! Instead of black and white they've added bronze and gold. I happen to not care very much for anything in those colors so I didn't bother grabbing them when I was lucky enough to stumble upon these beauties at my local Sally's Beauty Supply this week. They did keep the aqua, pink, purple, and grey (silver) shades.

All I can say is that these are PERFECT! They have great application. They don't start to dry and crack so fast that you can't even get your coat finished. You actually have a moment to play around with them a bit before your committed to whats on the nail. And the way they crack? Just WOW! I don't think I can describe it any better so I'll just show you what I mean....

This is Platinum Pieces over Color Club's Alias

I love the patterns this stuff creates!

Platinum Pieces over Alias again.

Despite the tip wear I needed a shot of the incidental Star-burst on the middle finger =) 

Here is Oxidized Aqua over an unnamed Funky Fingers purple and Latticed Lilac over SH Celeb City 

Here are my Beauties!

Platinum Pieces, Haute Metal, Latticed Lilac and Oxidized Aqua 

(and ChG Broken Hearted since I finally got that one too) 

Each over Sinful Snow Me White and Hard Candy The End

 Comparison

The top swatches are OPI Silver Shatter

The bottome swatches are China Glaze Platinum Pieces

As much as I love the OPI shatter I think I like the China Glaze Crackle better. The chunky bits that it breaks into appeals to me more. I think that's part of why OPI chose the name Shatter for their line since it does have more of a shattering lengthwise vs a all over crackling pattern.

 I just want to note real quick that there are several different opinions on what works best to get the best performance out of any of these polishes. Some swear by topcoating in between your base color and your crackles. Some of the brands seem to work a little better on bases that are not completely dry yet. But on a cream or shimmer polish I, myself, don't see the need. All I can suggest is to play around and test out different methods with each brand till you find what works for you. I personally chose to apply these to dry base colors without topcoat in between. I think if I did a glitter base I would definitely want to add topcoat in between to smooth the surface.

Now, who else is excited?!