Barry M Instant Nail Effects - Black Crackle Polish

Hi guys,

I thought I'd post about crackle polish, particularly Nail Paint by Barry M Instant Nail Effects.

Crackle polish has been amongst the nail tech and nail blogger world for quite some time now. To be honest, the first time I heard about it was when OPI introduced the Katy Perry collection. I've tried both OPI and China Glaze's crackle polishes but was reluctant that a cheaper brand would have the same effect.

I must admit that I have not yet seen anyone wearing crackle polish in public, as in regular people I see on the train, in the store, at the gym, etc who are not in the "nail world" per say. Does anyone know why this is when its so readily available?

Anyway, I was searching through polishes at the local drug store and found that Boots is currently selling Barry M Nail Paint for buy 2 get 1 free. Regular polish retails for £2.99 and the crackle polishes for £3.99 so I bought myself these 3 little gems. Isn't the blueberry ice cream to die for?!

I was told to apply crackle polish as follows:

1 - Paint base coat - I did this with regular nail polish (i.e. they don't have to be the same brand as the crackle polish). Polishes I used were:

Barry M Nail Paint - Silver
Barry M Nail Paint - Bluberry Ice Cream
Nails Inc. - Coral
Jessica - Samba Parade
Boots 17 Lasting Fix - Mini skirt

If you are using black crackle, you should obviously opt for bright or even neon base coat so the contrast is more striking. Its really up to you what base coat to use as I've experimented with a few and the ones I thought wouldn't look good actually turned out nice.

2 - Paint crackle coat - Let the Base coat polish completely dry and simply put on a thin layer of crackle polish. The crackles will start to form straight away. I put on thin layers because I find that the thinner the  layer, the smaller the crackles. Thick layer = bigger crackles.
I love  the bright colours but I must say that I'm also loving the silver!

What's your favourite base coat colour for crackle? How about multi colour base coats?

3 - Paint Top coat - As with regular polish, a top coat will help seal in the polish and protect the crackle effect on the nail.
The good thing is, I have worn crackle on my nails for nearly 2 weeks once and although the polish was starting to chip, you couldn't really tell because the crackle is a messy look in itself! :-)

P.S. - I apologise for the picture quality. I don't have a very good camera and it was night time. Also for the false nails. I had freshly manicured nails and din't have anyone willing to let me use their nails :-(

Thanks for reading guys.