China Glaze ‘Crackle Glaze’ – part 2 (review & swatches)

To complete my review of China Glaze’s unique ‘Crackle Glaze’ collection (part 1 reviewed here), today I bring you ‘Broken Hearted’ – a vibrant deep rose, ‘Fault Line’ – a shimmery purple and ‘Crushed Candy’ – a sea foam turquoise. Once more, I have to say that even though I’m still not sure if this is a finish I will personally be sporting often, there’s no denying how much fun I had in trying out different combinations, and watching the Crackle Glaze do its “thing”…..really, really cool! I found that if you work fairly quickly and use a steady hand, the polishes are easy to apply and I had consistently good results with all of them. ‘Fault Line’ seemed to have a slightly thicker formula than the rest, possibly because of the shimmer, and cracked a little less as a result. As in the first part of my review on the Crackle Glazes, I bring you three looks you can achieve, depending on what base shade you choose: subtle, tone-on-tone and contrasting. All swatches are with Sèche Natural base coat, two coats of lacquer and Essie’s Good To Go top coat.

First up is ‘Broken Hearted’, a deep rose creme. For some reason, this is the shade I had the most trouble with in figuring out what to pair it against, but certainly no trouble in application. I wanted colour combinations that would showcase the three looks I was going for, but without using traditional hues. You be the judge, if I was successful or not!

For my subtle look, I paired ‘Broken Hearted’ with China Glaze’s ‘Pelican Gray’ (reviewed here) from the newly released Anchors Away collection. The soft dove grey of the base shade, lends a more delicate and feminine touch to the crackle glaze on top, thus rendering it at once more wearable and fresh.

To achieve a new twist on a tone-on-tone look, I layered ‘Broken Hearted’ over China Glaze’s ‘Ahoy!’ (reviewed here), once more from the ‘Anchors Away’ collection. Instead of a paler base shade, I thought that staying in the same tonal range but going darker, would be interesting, and the glass flecks deep within ‘Ahoy!’ serve to add another nice touch to this combination. Wouldn’t this pairing make a wild ‘Valentine’ look?!

The layering of ‘Broken Hearted’ over Butter London’s ‘British Racing Green’, created an outrageous contrasting look, at once vivid & edgy. Having a bit of a punk-rock feel to this combo, I love how the subtle shimmer in the base shade peeks through the cracks, to give this look a more toned down ‘vampire chic-ness’!

‘Fault Line’ is the one unique polish in this collection, due to the shimmer in its depths. The shade itself is a mid-toned royal purple, at once warm & cool, making it easily worn by a variety of skin tones. The pink shimmer, while subtle, adds an interesting touch and takes it out of the ordinary and into the extra-ordinary. The layering possibilities with ‘Fault Line’ are basically endless, as it goes with practically everything.

To create my subtle look, I layered ‘Fault Line’ over Essie’s ‘Lapis of Luxury’, an intense periwinkle creme shade. The slight purple-y undertones in this base shade, seem to be picked up once the crackle was placed on top, and I love how each shade compliments the other so well, without ever coming off as harsh.

Using ‘Fault Line’ layered over NARS’ ‘Pokerface’, an dusty pale lavender shade, to build my tone-on-tone look all the while staying in the same tonal range, gave a more delicate air. The shimmer of the crackle also seems to pick up the subtle shimmer of the base shade peeking through, emphasizing the rich hue of the purple crackle.

To give an intensely vivid contrasting look, I layered ‘Fault Line’ over OPI’s ‘Who The Shrek Are You?’, a retina-searing chartreuse hue. This combination, while not for the colour-shy, is an excellent example of how well hues opposite each other on the colour wheel, just seem to go together. One of my favourite combinations!

The last crackle polish I bring you, is ‘Crushed Candy’, a Tiffany blue creme. The formula on this one was the easiest to work with out of the three, and in my opinion, gave the most crackling effect as well.

By layering ‘Crushed Candy’ over Essie’s ‘Merino Cool’ to achieve a subtle look, I like how this combination shows off the crackle pattern but still manages to be toned down. There’s a certain elegance to this combination and I can totally see this pairing working as a casual daytime look, and edgy enough for the evening.

For my tone-on-tone look, I layered ‘Crushed Candy’ over Illamasqua’s ‘Milf’, a delicate pale minty green. Even though I thought the two would blend into each other too much, it turns out that I absolutely love the almost optical illusion effect they give! There’s something about this combo that just screams ‘summer’ to me, and I would love to try this look as a pedicure!

My final look pairs ‘Crushed Candy’ over Yves Saint Laurent’s ‘Ultra Orange’, an über-bright orange jelly polish, to create a rather shocking contrasting look. The high intensity of this orange shade, brings the crackle pattern into prominence, making for a very striking look indeed!

FInal thoughts: Overall, I have to say that these China Glaze Crackle Glaze polishes, are ridiculously fun to apply and it’s insanely addictive to watch the process taking place before your very eyes. The shades are all highly pigmented and you have so many options available to you, with regards to colour combinations, that you almost can’t go wrong in what you choose. The formula is good on all, and the brush easy and flexible. Using the excellent little instruction tag that comes with each bottle makes it goof-proof, but you absolutely must remember to apply the crackle glaze only over dry nail polish and to seal everything in with a top coat (for shine, and to prevent chipping). Please visit China Glaze online for more ideas and information on using these effect lacquers. I would love to hear which of these ‘crackles’ caught your fancy!