OPI Black Shatter & China Glaze Shocking Pink

Good morning, Dear Reader!

Last night I was changing my polish for today, and I decided I'd fulfill my promise and wear Black Shatter one more time so I could forever be done with it.  I said I'd try it over a neon pink, but wearing the last Black Shatter manicure for a couple of days convinced me it wasn't for me.  I decided to do what I could to make this one more tolerable and got on with it.

I applied three coats of China Glaze Shocking Pink, which I've shown you before.  It's a retina-searing, distractingly neon pink creme, and is kind of a PITA to apply in the same way that the China Glaze OMG's and Nfu Oh holos are, but also like those, the color is completely worth the effort.  I topped that off with quick dry top coat and while it dried, considered what I didn't care for in Black Shatter and how to work around those things.

The first thing is that I don't like how the tinier cracks look, and the second is it bugs me when my nails aren't smooth.  When I applied Black Shatter to Shocking Pink, I used a thicker coat of it so it would make bigger cracks, and I finished it like it was a glitter and used three coats of top coat.  As for smoothness, there are still some small bumps from the crackle but they're tiny and now it's very glassy, so that worked out well, and here you can see that the thicker coat of Black Shatter worked too.

OPI Black Shatter over China Glaze Shocking Pink

What was truly shocking here is that I like it.  Previously, I think the fact that it's black was a big problem as well - I never would have combined black with a pale pink glitter, but I would (and have) with Shocking Pink, so this one just works for me.  I was surprised at how much I really like it.

In fact, as the top coat finished curing, I was admiring this mani when into my head popped the thought, "This looks like something C.C. DeVille would wear."  Consulting Google for a mere moment confirmed that this was indeed true.  Note the hot pink guitar strap and Black Shatter jacket.

Black Shatter & Shocking Pink?

At first this just struck me as really funny, and later I realized that there's some dark recess of my brain that's always at the ready and burning up precious mental energy, just to offer me disturbingly accurate and brisk recall of the stage attire of 80's hair bands.  But, you know what they say: every rose has its thorn.

That's my manicure for today, and the one that's swayed my opinion on crackle polishes.  Until next time, Dear Reader, love and nail polish to you!