Opalescent Shatter

Happy New Year!! 2012, woo!

I went bare-nail on New Year's Eve, I had run out of time! But I wound up doing my would-have-been NYE manicure on the first day of 2012. So it's still a "New Year's Mani", right? I think that counts. Onward!


For this combo, I used Sinful Colors' "Lost in Silence" and Sephora by OPI's "Opalescent Blast" polish.

I can't say that I am tired of crackle polishes yet, but they never turn out on my nail the way I'd like them to!

Lost in Silence is one of those not-quite-black colors. I don't know which collection it is from, but I know it isn't in their core line of colors. It was sitting next to Secrete Admirer & Black on Black at my local Duane Reade, and it looked so lonely! I snatched it up.

The above photo is taken in indoor lighting, no flash. It is a very, very dark charcoal gray jelly polish. On the first coat it is very sheer, the second gets the color closer to opaque. I used three coats of Lost in Silence for full opacity in this manicure.

This photo is taken indoors with flash. Compared to the dark background of the photo, this picture shows the true color of Lost in Silence pretty accurately. I like the color overall. It looks a bit dusty too, which is always wonderful. There is no top coat in either of the above two photos - the finish of this polish on its own is quite glossy.

This polish would. not. dry. It drove me pretty crazy. I wound up using Diamond Dry on top of the worst drying nails to speed the process up.

And since I wasn't sure what to pair this lovely shade with, I decided to test out my Opalescent Blast on top.

This is one of the more original crackle colors I've seen to date - it is translucent and sparkly, and looks a bit duochrome depending on the light. In the bottle, you see purple, pink (dominant) and gold flashes. On the nail, this looks mostly pink. All of the photos with the crackle in them were taken in natural light.

I really should stop using pictures that highlight my torn-to-bits cuticles. This wacky weather is driving my poor skin crazy.


I tried to get a good picture of the bottle of Opalescent Blast so you have an idea of what it looks like in the bottle versus how it turns out on the nail. It looks like one of those "mother-of-pearl" sheer white colors that were popular a while ago.

These photos represent the color very well and catch a bit of the duochrome. In the first bottle picture, the gold flash is pretty dominant. The second photo showcases more of the purple flash, and the last photo captures all three colors pretty well.

I like this combination, but wish the crackle had come out differently. The formula on this was a bit gloppy - you can see the result of that in the last picture of my nails, specifically on the thumb & middle finger. There were bigger cracks and the opalescence was pretty visible. Otherwise, this manicure was pretty productive - it knocked out two of my untried polishes with one combo!

Sephora by OPI also has a Gold Opalescent Blast polish, which didn't really capture my interest. If I recall correctly, it flashed red but seemed even more sheer than plain Opalescent in the bottle.

The opalescent blast colors are available on Sephora's website if you don't have a store near you - they retail $9.50.

That's all for now, folks!