Thanksgiving and Favorite Top Coat

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving and gained three pounds!! 

Just kidding. 

This is what I painted on my nails for Thanksgiving this year. 

It's a gray nail. I stamped a white leaf french tip using Konad plate m56 and lined it with gold glitter. At first I didn't like it. I was going for a leafy, golden, autumn vibe but it reminded me more of a sweater. It grew on me though and now I think I like it. It's different.   

 

I also need to rave about my favorite top coat. I painted this design a week ago. I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat (see my original review HERE). I was in a rush and did it really quick, barely letting them dry before getting up, getting ready, and leaving. It was a thin coat and I didn't cap them and I thought for sure they would smudge or chip. They really needed a second layer. But no chips! No smudging! Currently, it's been a WEEK and a DAY since I painted them and they still look amazing. The edges didn't even start barely showing wear until Sunday, day five!


 
 The picture on the left is the day I painted them.
The picture in the middle is day 5, Sunday, just starting to wear on the edges.
The picture on the right is today, Thursday, day 9. Finally chipped today!

So, Sally Hansen Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat is my favorite top coat! 

I very highly recommend it. Again!

snap CRACKLE pop!

Crackle... Shatter....  

     Whatever you wanna call it, these polishes took the nail polish world by storm a while back. They come in almost any color. You apply them just like a regular polish. But, as they dry, the polish separates giving a cracked, shattered effect revealing the underlying base color. The effect will be different on each nail and different each time you paint with it, giving a truly unique design. I made a trip to Sally recently and picked up a couple of bottles of crackle polish to try.

Here is the China Glaze Crackle collection display.

These are the crackle polishes I bought. China Glaze Cracked Concrete is on the left and it's a darker matte gray. China Glaze Fault Line is on the right and is a dark glittery purple.

I painted the purple crackle polish over N.Y.C. Polyester Pink and sealed with a top coat.

Without flash.

and....

With flash.

Overall, I like the effect and I think it's really nifty that they can tweak the polish to make it separate like that. However, I thought the brush was really small compared to a regular nail polish brush. It also dried incredibly fast. I made one stroke down the center of my nail and by the time I made the second stroke beside it, the first stroke was completely dry. I didn't realize it would dry that fast, but it's okay if you mess up because by the time it cracks, you won't be able to tell you messed up. I noticed it also seemed to separate better with a thinner coat.  

I like crackle polish. It looks really neat and I can't wait to try more colors.