Crackling Surf Nails

Though I didn't buy anything from MAC's recent Surf Baby collection, seeing the beachy summer mix of aqua, coral and shimmery golden shades did inspire me to bust out some similar shades on my nails. I've also been meaning to do something with my China Glaze Crackle Glaze, so this was perfect!

I started with a 2 coats of Revlon Siren. It's a limited edition from the Fire and Ice collection that I was lucky enough to win on Twitter last fall. I'm so glad I did- I likely would have passed it up in the store, but it's a great creamy saffron color that has great opaque two-coat coverage. I also adore the vintage bottle- it reminds me of a 1950's Barbie!

For my second step, I decided it might be a fun contrast to the rather matte finish of the Crackle if there was a little glitz peeking out, so I painted on 2 coats of China Glaze Golden Enchantment, which is clear with fine, golden holographic glitter.

I really liked the way this looked, and was tempted to leave it without the Crackle for a few days, but in the end my vision in blue won out, so I went ahead and topped it all off with a coat of China Glaze Crushed Candy, a pastel aqua shade of Crackle Glaze. Here's the finished look:

So what do you think? I'll be honest- I was bummed that there wasn't more of the orange and sparks combo showing through the crackle because it was so stunning on it's own. China Glaze says that a thin layer of crackle results in a smaller crackle, where are a thick coat will result in larger fissures. Try as I might, though, I just can't seem to replicate the nice piecey crosshatch pattern we see in all of the promotional pics. Oh well, I guess that's part of the fun with these types of polish- you never quite know what you're going to end up with!