NOTD: Mac Immortal Gold and Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle

Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle polish is an interesting one, it's matte back with gold sparkles without a topcoat. I preferred it with topcoat, I prefer shiny polishes. I applied it over Mac Immortal Gold nail polish and the combo looked really nice.

Formula was good on both, the crackle effect is actually really good. Sadly, that's where the positives ended. The mani chipped on me within 24 hours and in fact one nail completely peeled off. I don't know which polish to blame, but generally Mac polishes don't last very long on me.

Mac Immortal Gold was a limited edition, so it's not available anymore. Topshop Black Dynamite Crackle costs £6 and is a permanent shade.

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: China Glaze Stella and Haute Metal Crackle Polish

Firstly, I'd like to say sorry again for the lack of posts this week, but I've been busy with the children and I'm still not feeling well, so not had much energy for posting. Secondly, I just want to mention on a side note that a friend of mine's dog called Stella (the same name as the gorgeous burgundy polish in this post) is very poorly with kidney failure at the moment which is making me really sad. But I had this post planned for today, so I will still do it and dedicate it to my friend's family. Stella is a gorgeous loveable 10-year-old dog who is very much part of their family and will be sorely missed when the inevitable happens.

Taken with flash

I'm also a bit sad about this mani because it looked so gorgeous, yet it lasted very badly. As much as I love China Glaze polishes, they seem to chip on me almost instantly. This started chipping on me within the first 24 hours and had to be removed after just 2 days as it looked terrible. It did look very pretty while it lasted though.

I did 2 coats of Stella followed by a single coat of Haute Metal Crackle. The formulas were great on both, I was really happy with the crackle effect. I also used Seche Vite top coat (I think).

See more pictures after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 2 - Zoya, Color Club, Mac, Nails Inc.

Here's the second part of my nail polish stash post, if you missed part one, you can check it out here. And don' forget to come back soon to see part three!

As you will see below, a lot of my nail polish sets are still in boxes, this is partly because I haven't used them yet (Color Club), or because they are actually more convenient to store like that. I apologise for being too lazy to remove them from the packs. If you really want to see detailed pictures, let me know in the comments and I'll see what I can do.

First up are my magnetic polishes, I only own these 3, and actually didn't like them much, so won't be buying more of them. I might just sell thm actually.

Nails Inc and 17 magnetic polishes

See more pictures of my stash after the jump!

My Ever Growing Nail Polish Collection Part 1 - OPI, China Glaze, Orly, Mavala

I had some requests to show off my nail polish collection, so here it is. I'm going to do it in 3 parts because I have a lot of nail polishes, so make sure you check out part 2 and part 3 as well!

Some of my nail polish stash

Would you believe it that just a couple of years ago all the nail polish I owned fitted into this box?

Wanna see what's inside? A bit boring really, but here you go:

A bit samey, all pastels and hardly any colour. I just wasn't into nail polish, mainly because my nails are really thin and bendy, so nail polish chips off within a matter of days, and I couldn't be bothered to repaint them all the time, so I just used barely there shades. What's changed? I realised that there were some really gorgeous nail polishes out there from brands I'd never heard of! I also realised that nail polishes come in seasonal collections like make up, which of course made me buy even more so I don't miss out. And suddenly I don't mind painting my nails every 2-3 days. At the last count I had 130 nail polishes, which is really crazy, especially as some (most of them are large 15 ml sizes). I will now have to stop buying them and be sure to use them all, although that will certainly take a while. I'd say about 75% of the nail polish I own has not been used yet, so I'd better get cracking!

Without further ado, here are the detailed pictures. I haven't put the shade names down simply because it would take too long, but if you have any questions, just ask in the comments! Enjoy!

Another Glitter Crackle Polish NOTD: Nails Inc The City

You might remember my recent very bad review on Nails Inc The Westend crackle polish. This time I have a middling review, although The City is similarly very runny and not very pigmented, at least this one does crackle. Not that well, but it does crackle. In this look I used a pinky white nail polish under The City (Mac Frayed To Order), but I'm wondering if the cracks would've shown up better over a black base.

With flash

Ignore the index finger, the crackle polish went on very thin, so I tried doing a second coat, and well, this is what happened. You definitely need a good amount of nail polish on the brush because you need to do this in one go as much as possible. This is still not the easiest polish to work with, it is very runny and hard to achieve opaqueness with one brush stroke, but at least it does crackle and it is a really really beautiful shade of purple. Hopefully Nails Inc will tweak the formula a bit and then it will be even nicer. £11 for 10 ml.

See more pictures after the jump!

Nails Inc. The Westend - The Glitter Crackle Polish That Doesn't Crackle

Title says it really. Very disappointed in this, because I was really looking forward to a pretty blue glitter crackle topcoat. I ordered this and The City (review to come soon) at the same time as Farringdon which has a different texture to this and The City, much smoother and more opaque. Sadly this in particular is a very runny polish with not a very good coverage, so it's hard to have an even distribution of glitter on the nails and it just doesn't crackle.

If you look really close at the pictures below, you can just about spot some very very slight cracks, but since the glitter is so uneven anyway, it's hard to say what really caused the gaps. And for £11 a pop that is pretty poor. Shame as it is a lovely colour, and it looks pretty cool over a black base (I used Barry M Nail Paint in Black under it), but it doesn't crackle.

I have notified Nails Inc. about this and I believe a lot of other customers have too, and they have offered to replace my glitter crackle polishes with their regular crackle polishes free of charge, plus I don't even have to return these glitter polishes. Still, I would've loved to have some nice glitter polishes...

See more pictures after the jump!

NOTD: Nails Inc. Aldwych and Farringdon Crackle Topcoat

Firstly, sorry about the messy application, but I was very keen to try these nail polishes out as soon as I received them and happened to have the time to actually take pictures before the chips appeared, so I decided to post them anyway.

Nails Inc. Aldwych with Farringdon Crackle Topcoat (with flash)

Farrigdon is the gold crackle polish I had been waiting for for a long time, ever since British Beauty Blogger wrote about it a few months ago. I ordered it from the Nails Inc. website a few days ago together with The City (glitter purple crackle) and The West End (glitter turquoise crackle).

Aldwych was a free gift with purchase and I'm really delighted with it as it's a gorgeous shimmery peachy pink. It is so opaque, it almost looks perfect with just one coat, but two certainly does the job. It's very shiny and looks really beautiful. I think it's lovely under this gold crackle topcoat as well as alone.

Farringdon is the thickest crackle polish I have tried and it was a bit tricky to apply quickly as I would run out of polish halfway through my nail, so had to go back to pick up more onto the brush. It took a while to dry too, even with a quick dry top coat and I managed to smudge it while cooking. But it is a gorgeous glittery gold and it especially looks amazing in sunshine. I can't comment on staying power yet, but nail polish chips on my nails quickly regardless of brand, so it probably wouldn't be very helpful anyway. The crackle topcoats cost £11.00 each and available from Nails Inc. and other retailers.

See more pictures after the jump!

Model's Own Smash Up Silver crackle polish review and swatches

You might remember me reviewing 17's gold crackle polish last month (see my review here). Although I wasn't that keen at first, I did get an awful lot of compliments on my nails and when I saw that Model's Own has come out with a silver crackle top coat, I decided to get it.

It is basically the same concept, you paint it on top of your nail polish and watch it separate, leaving the colour peeping out from underneath. Formulawise it is very similar to the 17 crackle top coat, it applies well and crackles quickly. This one is slightly more expensive at £6, but you do get 14 ml instead of 10. Unlike the 17 gold top coat the Model's Own version has tiny silver glitter which I think is very pretty, albeit not very noticable. I'm still waiting for a properly glittery gold or silver topcoat, something like the British Beauty Blogger wrote about back in March which is sadly still not available. In the meantime, this will have to do.

In the pictures I'm wearing this with Dior Love (LE) nail polish underneath. I have tried it with a dark blue polish too, but sadly it had chipped off before I could take pictures. Not the fault of the nail polish, it's my stupid nails.

See more pictures and nail swatches after the jump!

Do you crackle?

I was probably the only person in the blogosphere that wasn't at all excited about Barry M's black crackle top coat when it first came out, and the subsequent versions by different brands, but I have finally given in and bought my first crackle top coat: Nail Xtras Crackle Top Coat by 17 (Boots's own brand). I still don't like the black top coat, but I thought I'd try out this metallic light gold version and see for myself what the fuss is all about.

To be perfectly honest, I'm still not that keen. I don't know why, when my 6 and 9-year-old daughters think my nails look really cool, I just don't see it. I have now tried it with 3 different nail polishes and have found one combo that I quite like, but I don't think I will be buying it in any other colour. Actually there aren't any other colours of the 17 version, but I believe that Models Own are coming out with their own range pretty soon, and so are some other brands. Back to this one though, formulawise it is a pretty nice nail polish, just the right consistency, applies nicely and cracks very quickly. You will see from the pictures below that the patterns are very fascinating. It costs £3.99 for 10 ml and is available Boots. 

See more pictures and find out which one was my favourite combo after the jump!