S> OPI & Chinaglaze
[From L to R]
ChinaGlaze Heli-Yum (from Up and Away collection): Used once
OPI Top Coat: Used twice. Left 90-95% as shown in the close up pict below.
OPI The One That Got Away (from Katy Perry collection): Used once
OPI Black Shatter (from Katy Perry collection): Brand new
More pictures of the swatches below
ChinaGlaze Heli-Yum (from Up and Away collection)
Description on scrangie.com (http://www.scrangie.com/2009/12/china-glaze-spring-2010-up-and-away.html)
Heli-Yum. Bright deep pink creme. China Glaze calls this shade raspberry, and I'd say that's a pretty good description. It reminds me of raspberry sauce, maybe a little lighter than the actual stuff, more like a raspberry candy. Another super happy looking shade. This one has a jelly-like quality to it, with that kinda shiny-squishy look, but it's too dense and opaque for me to consider it a true jelly. Oh, and I love the name of this one. Hahaha!
$9.50 mailed (Normal postage)
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OPI Top Coat
Picture irl
$11 mailed (Normal postage)
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OPI The One That Got Away (from Katy Perry collection)
Description on scrangie.com (http://www.scrangie.com/2011/01/opi-katy-perry-and-serena-williams.html)
The One That Got Away. My pictures of this aren't the best- it's one of those crazy luminous shades that make my camera do that weird glowy radioactive looking thing... But if you'll take a look at the bottle color you'll get a better idea of how it looks in real life. It's a red-toned wine purple with some really shiny metallic flaky shimmer in it. You have to see this in person, it just glows!
$14 mailed (Normal postage)
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OPI Black Shatter (from Katy Perry collection) on OPI The One That Got Away and other Katy Perry colours
Description on scrangie.com
This collection comes with the brand new Black Shatter topcoat. If you've been into nail polish for a while, you may recall some of the older crackle polishes- namely the Cover Girl Crackles. You apply them over a base color and as they dry they crack and give a neat two-toned cracked/shattered look. This is basically the same thing but with a much improved formula.
It is recommended to apply this over completely dry polish and I agree with that recommendation. You get the best shatter effect that way. When the polish is still slightly wet, the topcoat doesn't crack as much and you end up with larger pieces and not as much of the under color showing through. And, if the polish is too wet, the crackling action and fragmentation of the topcoat takes the wet polish with it, leaving bald spots in between the cracked pieces.
Black Shatter does dry a bit matte and it has texture to it, so I'd recommend a good coat of topcoat after it's done doing its thing. This smooths the texture but also helps keep the cracked pieces on- they can actually fall off when they're fully dry!
$17 mailed (Normal postage)