New Crackle Technique!

Hi all! Quick post today since I'm battling a headache and it seems to be a losing battle. Any of you get migraines? They're the worst!

Anywho... here's my mani from a few days ago. This is Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Mellow Yellow. I bought this impulsively because I didn't have any yellow polishes (!!!). I'm so glad I did. Last year, when I originally got into nail polishes, I thought yellow, oranges, and neons were too immature or bold for me as a professional. I've since totally changed my mind, and I think all of those colors can be worn responsibly :)

Mellow Yellow (despite its corny name) went on really well. The Sally Hansen brush was one of my favorites, I'm not sure why. I believe this is three coats to even it out and you can still see some bald spots (but I think some of those came from Seche Vite. Shame, shame!).

Then, because it wasn't unprofessional enough (and because one of my clients also loves to do nails, and I wanted to show her what crackle polishes look like) I added China Glaze in Broken Hearted, the pink crackle.

I really loved the way the crackle came out. You may notice that my crackle is more broken up than the past times I've used crackle (or maybe you didn't notice, but I want you to - so pay attention!). I tried a new technique I saw on Collette's blog. Rather than painting the crackle on like normal polish (that is, in long strokes along the full nail), I broke it up and did short swipes across half, or even a third, of the nail. This creates the horizontal cracks along the nail that you see in the middle. Here's a close up of my thumb to give you a better look.

For my thumb, I did it in thirds. So the bottom cracks are strokes from the cuticle to the cracking, then I dipped the brush again and went from where I stopped to the free edge, and then I dipped and did just the free edge of my nail. As you can see, it adds the horizontal cracking instead of just the long vertical cracks if you only did the single dip of the brush along the full nail bed.

What technique do you guys use for crackles? Collette also has examples of diagonal, side-to-side, and even a back and forth zig-zaggy type pattern on her blog, My Simple Little Pleasures.

Thanks for reading guys! Leave me a comment or tweet me at Amanda_NPE if you have any questions or comments :)

xoxo,
Amanda