Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat in Fractured Foil Review

For those of you who are still following my blog in hopes of some nail related update, here we go. It’s not Konad, but it’s kinda cute 🙂 I picked up a bottle of the new Sally Hansen Crackle in Fractured Foil (which looks very similar to Zoya Trixie BTW and decided to give it a go. I got mine at Rite-Aid for $6.99, but I have seen them at Walgreens and Ulta as well. The instructions says “Do not apply to bare nails. Apply two coats of your favorite Sally Hansen nail color. Once dried, add a thin or thick coat (depending on desired effect) of any Crackle Overcoat shade. Do not leave the bottle open, close tightly when not in use. Allow it to dry and seal with any Sally Hansen top coat.” Obviously, you don’t need to use your favorite Sally Hansen nail color under the Crackle Overcoat nor do you need a Sally Hansen top coat to seal it off. I’m sure most of you know that, but I figured I’d throw that out there.

My sandwich is as follows:

1. Base coat: American Classics Gelous Nail Gel
2. Base color: One coat of Barry M Cobalt Blue
3. Crackle color: One coat of SH Crackle Overcoat Fractured Foil (more on this below)
4. Top coat: One coat of Seche Vite

I didn’t wait until my base color (Barry M Cobalt Blue) to dry completely before I applied the Crackle and it seemed to have cracked just fine. I basically painted my 10 nails with the Cobalt Blue then went over it with the Crackle. No problems. The application method is a bit different with the crackle. If you want a bolder look, then you need to start with a big glob of crackle, making sure that you don’t make a huge mess. It didn’t really want to crack when I quickly applied two thin coats of Crackle. I think that a one-swipe motion worked better for me.

Enough with the gabbing: here is the result:

Barry M Cobalt Blue with Sally Hansen Crackle Overcoat Fractured Foil

The lasting power is pretty much the same as any other Sally Hansen color that I own. It held up pretty well over the weekend where I did a lot of cleaning, sticker picking (I know I know), etc. By the way, for those of you who has owned the CoverGirl Crackles back when they had those in the mid 90s, this is a million times better!

Bottom line: it’s pretty neat! I would give it a 4 out of 5. I knocked off a point because of the globbing method you need to do to achieve a more opaque look over dark colors. It’s not that big of a deal though.

Really, it has been 2 months?

Whoa, sorry for the lack of updates. Let’s not lie: I’ve been terrible about Konading the past 6 months and my nails look horrible and my cuticles are peely and dry. It’s time to put them back into an acceptable state.

The truth, is, I’ve been putting more love into my hair lately. I got some feather hair extensions put in yesterday and I’m really digging them. I’ll probably add more with different colors in the next month or two.

This is not very exciting, I know. The good news for all you Konad fans, I did update the polish page 🙂 and for the MUA fans I also updated the NBShopsSavvy notepad as well.

Happy March

Hey All Y’All,

Hope everyone’s been well 🙂 My blog posts have been way past due, I know. However, my nails have had no love for the past few months. I decided to finally kick off March with some green (no Konad though)! Here’s a quick cell phone shot. My cuticles are horrible 😦

China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise

Thanks for looking!

Happy Thanksgiving Eve

Hey Everyone!

Happy Thanksgiving  Eve! What are your Thanksgiving plans for this year? Well for me it’ll be spending Thanksgiving with the in-laws tomorrow, then on Friday my parents are coming over for my first “hosted” Thanksgiving with my parents. No turkey, but I will be roasting a prime rib! For tomorrow, I’m actually making pumpkin bars with a chocolate fondant topped with little Autumn leaf on it. I did a dry run at my BFF’s. She showed me how to lay fondant and here was my first attempt on a little piece:

It looks a bit choppy since the pumpkin bar we used was like a week old o.O

Not hitting any sales on Black Friday. I think I’m going to take advantage of sleeping in and maybe going to the grocery store to make Tarte Tatin for Friday’s prime rib dinner!

Hello from Phoenix

Hey guys! Just wanted to post a quick update!

Heaven forbid, my nails and toes have been naked for almost a week. I was gonna do my nails before I left for my BFF’s, but I just didn’t have the time and my Gelous base coat was getting very goopy. Today I’ll be getting a pro pedi with my BFF. Despite the fact that pro salons are so overpriced, I do like an occasional pro pedi since the foot massage part is awesome!

My BFF and I have been friends for about 14 years. We met in school and despite the fact that both of us had the crazy growing up years th0usands of miles apart, we remained friends all these years. She flew me from Portland so I can visit for a week 🙂 Last night we had a girls’ night out and we went to paint pottery (which was my first time ever). It was a blast and here’s the pre-fired pieces we made. Hers is a change jar for her new cake decorating business, and mine is a beer stein for my DH. Since we brew beer and all, I figured that would be appropriate 😉

Fired pieces will be ready next week 🙂 I will post the pictures when we pick them up 🙂

http://i532.photobucket.com/albums/ee328/rantsravesreviews/10110601.jpg

Shellac Adventures

First of all, thank you for all your support! When I finish my previous post, I thought that you guys would desert me, but thank you to your wonderful comments and support, I feel much more comfortable blogging about random stuff.

This post, however, will be nail related (and somewhat ‘nad related too). For those of you who don’t know what Shellac is, it’s made by CND and they advertise it as “the mani that will last up to 14 days”. It applies just like nail polish and you use a UV lamp to “cure” it.

Photo Courtesy of CND

There are a few tutorials out there on how to do it, but I figured I would give you the most simple, 10 step, least amount of investment possible method.

What you need: as far as buying the stuff, all you need is a UV lamp (my 36watt eBay one works just fine), Shellac Base Coat, Shellac Top Coat, Shellac Color, and rubbing alcohol. Click on the image below if you want to see a bigger version!

As you can see, it’s not extremely difficult. After step 10, it really is rock solid and there’s no way you can dent it.

A couple things to keep in mind: make sure you wrap the tips but that seems pretty much impossible when my nails were short, but wrap if you can. Try to not let the stuff reach your nail bed and/or cuticles because after it cures, it’ll be more likely to peel after a couple showers when the stuff has washed off your skin, and lifting the polish from the nail.

To remove: I just soak a small square that I cut from felt with acetone and let it “sit” on my nail for about 3-4 minutes per nail and it just all flakes off.

As far as ‘nadding: I haven’t tried it yet because I’m skeptical. While I think that it’s thick enough to ‘nad with, the Shellac Top Coat is a bit on the thick ‘n draggy side. I’m worried that the design will smear.

In conclusion: Don’t be discouraged if it looks like crap or that it peels after you try Shellac the first time. It took me a couple tries until I got the “feel” of Shellac but once I got it down, it works good. I wouldn’t say that I could get it to last for 14 days, but I could definitely get a solid week in and have it look flawless.

Hope this helped someone! 🙂

Update

Hope everyone is doing well! Shallcin’ is going good and I’m really liking it! The process is pretty straight forward and it took a few tries to get it right but I’m likin’ it. Oh and if anyone’s wondering, my generic “Fräulein” branded eBay UV lamp works just fine with CND Shellac. No need for their special UV lamp 🙂

Yea that was a small diversion from nail art and such. With that said, what I’m about to say will probably cause a few of you to unsubscribe my blog and I 100% understand:

I’m a bit torn at the moment. It really boils down to being busy and not being as motivated to ‘nad these days. I really like helping the kommunity out with the regular Konad polish list, but at the same time, I honestly don’t think I have the drive to keep ‘nadding anymore. It really all started with a few months ago when we were working on building our outdoor living room and we were working on the curtains. I kind of fell in love with sewing so I’ve been sewing like all the time: ultimately neglecting my nails (and hence loving Shellac).

Anyway, I’m not going to shut down the blog because of the extensive Konad Kompatible regular polish list that I maintain (and still want to maintain), but at the same time, I’m not sure if you guys would even embrace a change of focus on this blog (I’ll probably post hauls, geeky gadgets, random sightings, makeup stuff, sewing projects, etc). Let me know what you guys think and if you hate me because of this change, I understand! You signed up for a ‘nad blog, not anything else. At the same time, I want to be honest and make sure that you know what’s been going on! 🙂

Thanks for your support and I hope you stick around!

Shellacin’

Hope everyone had a great summer. Tomorrow is officially the first day of autumn! This summer really flew by and can you believe that Sasse Stamping Stampede has been around for more than a year?! Crazy!

My dear friend Gab from The Edge Of Sanity sent me this (sorry for the cell phone picture. I got way too excited about this):

Thank you so much Gab! Yes, I’m the proud owner of the Hello Kitty Fauxnad plate 🙂

Unforunately, I will not be able to show off Hello Kitty for a couple weeks because because I’m trying out CND Shellac. I’m going to eventually try to ‘nad with Shellac but I’m thinking it might not be successful because their top coat is quite thick. I’ll try to post a little tutorial of just the Shellac part with pictures if you guys are interested!

Thanks for looking!

Nubar Innocent Whispers Fauxnad

A while back I was raving about the Gelous base coat. Yes, it has worked wonders for me about consistent use. Before my nails break, I’ll have to do a few Funky French fauxnads! LOL

Nubar Innocent Whispers with Bundle Monster M18

I love these lacey designs with white and soft shades. It’s fun but keeps the traditional French Mani theme!

Thanks for looking!

Misa Touch of Violet Fauxnad

Hope everyone had a good Labor Day weekend! I would do a Labor Day-themed ‘nad but then I would have no idea how to do it (haha). Apparently I’ve been in a purple/white mood lately. Here’s another one of those patterns that looked boring on the plate but stunning on the nail:

Misa Touch of Violet and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure with Bundle Monster BM12 and Sally Hansen Royal Purple Chrome

Thanks for looking!