All Cracked Up with Crackle Nail Polish
Who remembers the old CoverGirl Crackle Lacquers? I know they were popping up in dollar stores a few years ago but I was never lucky enough to score one. I did find one old bottle of purple Crackle in my Caboodle at my parents house a while back but it was dried and crusty. And yes I realize I just totally dated myself with the Caboodle reference.
With nail art hitting a fever pitch it’s no surprise that this look would come back. Between nail stampers, water marbling, nail art pens, ombre nails and crackle nail polish DIY nail fanatics have endless options when they want to amp up their nail style. I’m still unsure of how I feel about the crackle look but I figured I’d give it a whirl. As I mentioned in my Link Love post on Sunday, my friend Sara from Bit By The Beauty Bug had a crackle pedicure at her salon in Boston. Sara told me about it just before I went to Vegas and mentioned that her tech got her bottle from overseas. So of course while I was at Cosmoprof I scoured the International section looking for crackle nail polish. I hit the jackpot when I visited the Mia Secret booth. |
Like I said above, crackle nail polish isn’t exactly new but it seems to be making a comeback. TransDesign has been selling Krackpolish for a while now but I never took the plunge. I guess it took seeing the polishes in person to give me the kick in the butt I needed.
It turns out that Mia Secret only sells in large quantities to retailers but I was able to scope out the colors while in Vegas. When I got home I searched eBay and found a seller carrying the brand so I ordered bottles of blue, black and green.
I originally tested out the green using a white creme base, Barielle Enduring. However, because the polish underneath wasn’t completely dry and I put on a thick layer of the crackle polish my first swatch was a giant fail!
That’s when I learned the three important rules of crackle polish application.
1. Choose a contrasting base color and make sure it is completely dry. The longer you wait the better. 2. The thinner you apply the crackle polish the more cracks you will have. 3. Crackle polish dries matte and flakes off without a top coat. To get a better idea of how crackle nail polish works I asked the authorities on all things cosmetic chemistry related, The Beauty Brains. My theory is that an ingredient is added to polish that makes it constrict, similar to how Shrinky Dinks constricted in the oven. Thankfully the Left Brain set me straight… You are sort of correct. Cosmetic chemists use solvents that are normally considered incompatible. When applied to the surface of the polish, the applied solvent causes uneven drying which cracks the surface. Normally, this is something you want to avoid. The final effect causes an inferior coating on the nail so it doesn’t last as long. To speed up the swatching/crackling process I chose to use matte nail polishes for the base colors since they dry so fast. If you’re over the whole matte look this is a great way to use them up. I paired Knockout Cosmetics Liberty with the green, OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte with the black and Knockout Cosmetics Concrete with the blue. |
I’m showing these in the order I swatched them and as you’ll see, the crackle effect gets better the more I worked with the product. Though the brush on the green was a bit janky so it ended up going on a bit thicker than I would have liked.
Mia Secret Crackle Nail Polish in Blue over KO Concrete
Mia Secret Crackle Nail Polish in black over OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte
I applied the black way too thick on my ring finger and it didn’t crack like it should have. You can see the cracks starting to form but they didn’t come to fruition.
Mia Secret Crackle Nail Polish in green over KO Liberty
The eBay seller I purchased the Mia Secret polish from no longer has them listed but I did find other sellers carrying crackle nail polish; SimplyTheBest88 and Trendin_Sales. Even though Trendin_Sales has limited feedback I did find their website where they sell the polish direct with free shipping, TrendinCosmetics.com. To find an online seller or store carrying Mia Secret try contacting them via the info on their website. TransDesign sells Krackpolish for $2.99/ea.
What do you think of the crackle nail look? Do you want to see this trend come back full force or should it lay low? Have you found other brands of crackle nail polish besides the ones I have listed? I know Swedish brand IsaDora recently launched Graffiti Nails overseas but does anyone know if it will be released in the US? Also, does anyone else find it odd that the Mia Secret bottles look just like OPI’s trademarked design?
Disclosure: A sample of OPI La Paz-itively Hot Matte was provided courtesy of OPI. I purchased the other polishes. For more info view my Disclosure Policy.
I do not remember when Covergirl first brought this out, but was not really into things like that then. However, I saw a co-worker with some Cracked polish Thursday and just had to try it out. 30 dollars later (and the Walgreens stock considerably later) I am finding that I am enjoying wearing colors I normally do not wear. I also have 3 daughters so we’re all having fun painting our nails and making memories (they are even trying to talk their brother and father into trying them LOL). Our Walgreens is running a 2 for $5 sale right know and cannot keep up with the demand. The brand they are carrying is 2OI2 and they have over 40 colors.
Tari
I can’t exactly find any of the bright colors around where I live at. I live in a small town but next to a big one and they only have dull colors. It’s kinda upsetting. I also hate ordering offline so I don’t know if I will do that to get some or not.
go to CVS and Rite AID
hi how r u doing can u please tell me how many colors the have in the cracked nail polish & how can i get some i am living in guyana thank u
they have all the colors you could think of but they have 46 colors
I got some for £3 (here in England, it is in a lot of the shops atm – looks like a fad
)
I have blue, but am going to get pink and black next time lol
lolx i want to go down there but i can’t wooow
well I have a different bottle it is squared will it still work?
HI! I found some crackle nail polish at Delias for only $6.50. It works well.
Revlon Street Wear came out with crackle in the 90′s I found a old purple one. that oh course no longer works cuz it dried up. but im suprised so many people think its that its a new idea.
[...] I was presenting this to my organic chemistry class, someone asked about crackle nail polish. How does that work? Going back to nitrocellulose nail polish, to get a nice, smooth, even film [...]