when you can't decide what to wear...

When you can't decide what to wear... You keep layering.

And it doesn't always turn out fantastic. Here's an example of that.

Orly - Halley's Comet
One of my faves! Good start.

Color Club - Clean Break
Yes! White Crackle that works! All hail Color Club Crackle!!!

piCture pOlish - Peacock
...Not as I had hoped.
I thought the purple base and green glitter of peacock would create something magical over the blue and white base but really it just got kinda lost.

It's nice but not the best combo I've ever done.

I should have stopped with the white crackle because I loved this look! It kinda reminded me of icebergs floating in the ocean. And have I told you how much I love Color Club crackle polishes...?!

Did you guys notice that my watermark now proudly says rebeccalikesnails.com? I've finally made the jump to my own domain!
The whole blog should be transferred over within 3 days so if you have any issues with my blog right now, it's most likely due to this change. Please be patient. :)
I feel very official, owning my own .com site. Now all I need are business cards and I'll be a regular pro.

P.S. Have you entered my Zoya giveaway? Just 2 days left!

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more China Glaze swatch spam

Good afternoon and welcome to yet another swatch spam post from yours truly!
I'm making my way through swatching and posting all of my polishes and these swatch spam posts really help me get it all done!
For some reason I really like doing swatch spam. I hope you guys don't mind it either!

Today's spam is China Glaze. Some blues, some crackles, some sheers, and a brown. Nice and random.
One or two of these swatches were done at different times so some are older and crappier but hey, they'll do.

China Glaze - Blue Sparrow (Neon)
Blue Sparrow is not exactly neon as the name says, but it's really vibrant and fun to wear! It's full of blue glitter, and dries a bit matte like most neon pigments do. This is 2 coats. Love it!

China Glaze - Dorothy Who?
This is a stunner that I think everyone should have in their collection! Two coats of lovely blue jelly packed with glitter.

China Glaze - Frostbite
This is an intensely vibrant blue shimmer that's almost metallic but not quite. This was one of the first CGs I bought because it really stands out in the big display at Sally's!

China Glaze - Cracked Concrete (Shown over Essence - Walk On Air.)
This is the slate gray crackle from CG, shown in the first photo with topcoat and the second photo without. It dries matte, as usual. Works pretty well! I don't think I've actually worn this one, I can't seem to think of a color it would look fantastic over. Undecided.

China Glaze - Lightning Bolt (Shown over Essence - Gleam In Blue)
Ah, Lightning Bolt. Somehow I got it to mostly work for this swatch!
The last time I tried to use it, it did not work at all. See here for that fail.  I am holding a grudge against this polish because of that fail. And now I have a white crackle that works amazingly, the one by Color Club. I hate this one so much that in fact I might even dump it out and use it for a franken bottle. Take that!!

China Glaze - Haute Metal (Shown over OPI - Paint My Moji-toes Red)
Sally Beauty put their crackles on clearance a month or two ago, and I picked up two of them. It was a useless purchase really because I don't think I'll be using them very often. Oh well, they were $3. 
This is the pink crackle from the Crackle Metals.
It worked pretty well, and I bet it would look nice over black. I like this one more than the next.

China Glaze - Latticed Lilac (Shown over OPI - Vampsterdam)
This is the purple Crackle Metal which really isn't very purple at all. It's basically silver. And as you can see, it didn't even crackle on two of my nails. I think I needed to shake it some more - it's like the pigment drops and you're left with basically clear polish in the top of the bottle. So it's sheer and weird. Meh.

China Glaze - Below Deck
A "purple-taupe" creme polish that covers in 2 coats. Sometimes I like this color and sometimes I don't. The formula is nice and it's always good to have neutrals.

China Glaze - Rainbow
This polish is certainly not a rainbow. It's a super sheer shimmer. The polish is a milky white in the bottle and gives just a hint of white on the nail, with a lot of pink shimmer. I've shown 3 coats here so I could capture it better in a photo, but if you're going for just the sheer look of this polish you could wear one coat. My mom wears one coat of this on her nails almost all the time. She likes the pink shimmer without really being able to tell she has polish on. (She likes to pick at polish if she can see it. She's bad.)

You can also layer this over other colors to give them a wash of pink shimmer, but you also add a milky look. Not my fave. (Shown here over Below Deck.)

China Glaze - White Cap
This is another sheer, totally packed with gold shimmer. I've shown it here at 3 coats, which is kind of a weird look. I don't love it on its own. But it looks really cool layered!

Shown over Essence - You Belong To Me. It adds a nice golden shimmer. I bought this after seeing a manicure with it on another blog that I wanted to recreate... But I've totally forgotten where or what.

WAIT! I remembered. It was here on Colores de Carol! Damn, I love that mani.

There we go - another 10 polishes posted. I've only got what, 400 more to go? Ha!

More about → more China Glaze swatch spam

as seen on... Chloe's Nails

Good morning all! I hope you're having a lovely day today to go along with the lovely nails I'm about to show you!

Chloe's Nails is one of the most popular blogs of the last year or so, and while she doesn't post too often anymore, I always look forward to her posts.
A few months ago, she posted a crackle mani that I think definitely boosted sales of these two polishes! Hahaha. Check them out.

This is China Glaze Flying Dragon with a coat of Funky Fingers Teal Scales.
It's actually hard to believe how gorgeous this is! The combo of the deep teal and the purple is great, plus the glitter in Flying Dragon and the shimmer in Teal Scales... Ah! Chloe is a genius for putting these two together.

I've said it before and I will say it again - Color Club/Funky Fingers/Forsythe Cosmetics makes the best crackle polishes, hands down. They work effortlessly, and always look good.

You can get Teal Scales from Color Club too but I forget the name.

I had my friend Lori send me this FF after seeing Chloe's post, and I know a lot of other people who did, too! It's pretty easy to see why.

I can't get enough of this. I will be wearing it again. Just look at it!
Both of these babies dry matte so you definitely want to add some topcoat to really bring it all to life.

It's just perfect. Love love love.
Purple and teal, guys. Purple and teal.

More about → as seen on... Chloe's Nails

as seen on... I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous!

I've said it before but I'll say it again - Amy from I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous is a total sweetheart.
You may know her from her blog or from her amazing franken polishes. Either way, she's great. (And so are her polishes! I've previously shown you guys Floam and I am so delighted to say that there are two more on their way to me!)

Aside from being sweet as pie and making kick-ass polishes, she does all kinds of amazingly unique nail art. She's always up to something I would never come up with on my own. Such interesting combos. Of course I had to include her in my "as seen on" series!

Back in October, Amy did this really unique and cool looking combo. I knew then that I had to try it as soon as I got my hands on Gotta Love Brains!

Look, I tried to pose like Amy. Hahaha!

If you can't already tell, this mani involves putting crackle polish on a bare nail and then adding milky glitter over it!
Crackle on a bare nail is a pretty cool look! The trick is that you must wear a base coat or clear coat underneath because crackle polishes do not work without a layer of polish underneath.

I used all three of the same polishes Amy did:
Color Club - Clean Break (a white crackle that works!)
China Glaze - Crushed Candy (still a favorite crackle of mine but not working as well as it used to)
Lynnderella - Gotta Love Brains (pretty polish, but, nowadays they are not worth the drama!)

 
Amy's crackle patterns were much smaller than mine (and the stupid blue one needed some "help" cracking... I had to make some breaks myself with a dotting tool) but I think it looks pretty cool both ways!

Look at that massive glitter piece on my index finger! I kinda wanted to get it off because it looks awkward but it didn't wanna move once it sat there.

I can't wait to get my next two Nail-Venturous polishes, they might even be waiting for me when I return from vacation! Of course I will show them to you guys as soon as I can!
Now go check out Amy's blog and stalk her Etsy store for the next opening.

More about → as seen on... I'm Feeling Nail-Venturous!

as seen on... Candy Coated Tips

Hey guys! My scheduled posts keep on truckin' along, wowing you with my recreation skills I'm sure. ;)

Today I'm showing you a crazy skittles mani from my friend Jacquese at Candy Coated Tips.
In February she did a crazy mani with a bunch of colors she had just received. I had all the same colors, and adored the combo, so I went for it too!

This is such a fun type of mani to wear and all the colors go so well together!
I added some dots to the thumb because I was impatient while waiting for the other nails to dry before I could add the shatter.

Here's all the colors used to create this look:
OPI - Fly (base of index and small dots)
OPI - Dit It On 'Em (base of thumb and ring)
OPI - Absolutely Alice (middle)
OPI - Turquoise Shatter (ring)
China Glaze - For Audrey (pinky and large dots)
China Glaze - Crushed Candy (index)

Crushed Candy didn't crackle very well. I think it needs some polish thinner.

I adored Turquoise Shatter over Did It On 'Em! I'll be wearing that as a full mani soon.

I should do skittles more often. I think I'll be doing a similar mani in pink and purple!
Thanks for the great combo idea, Jacquese!

More about → as seen on... Candy Coated Tips

springy crackle mani

Hey everyone! I hope you're all having a swell Sunday.
I have a crackle mani to show you today, done with two China Glaze polishes.
I was feeling like using some pastel colors and these two bottles were next to each other in my drawer, so I put them together and it was adorable!

I realized after doing it that my pal Leslie from Polish Art Addiction had already done this combo! And I commented on it... Must have been subconsciously channeling Leslie!

It's a great combo, pastels are so spring-appropriate. Even though it isn't quite spring yet.

I actually had some sunlight coming in my windows when I was taking pictures of these nails so I took a bunch of pictures. Gotta soak up the sun when I can get some!

Here's the base color on its own - China Glaze Re-Fresh Mint. The perfect mint creme. 2 coats! Dries quickly.

The crackle is China Glaze - Cracked Candy. I've been really loving the crack again lately.
I don't think I'll escape my crack habit. Is there a 12-step program?

More about → springy crackle mani