19 Oct 2010

Craquelure Manicure



This is one of those weird manicures that looks much better from afar, if that makes sense. On a recent trip to Germany I picked up the P2 Crackling Topcoat in Black Explosion because I'd seen the effect on other blogs and thought it was kind of cool.

How it works:

You first apply your base color of choice, here I'm sporting Models Own Pink Punch (a highlighter neon pink). Then you apply the black topcoat; you have to work very quickly and use a good amount of product if you have long nails like mine because this stuff starts cracking and drying up almost instantaneously. It must be some kind of chemical reaction that reacts with air because when you paint it on it just looks like black polish, but once it start drying it begins to crack and pull together, leaving a very edgy texture. When you zoom in really close like in the picture, it looks a bit odd, but when you just see your nails as you normally would, it does look really cool! The only thing is that it leaves the top of the nail feeling a bit bumpy, so I followed it with a coat of Seche Vite to smooth it out.

I can't wait to try this out with various base colors. I wish they made this crackling polish in lots of different colors too. P2 one has the black and a grey one as well. The black actually dries down to a matte finish without clear topcoat.

What do you think - love it or hate it? I think I'll try this with white next!

36 comments:

  1. P2 lässt abstimmen, welche weiteren Farben sie rausbringen sollen. Heißt es wird bald noch mehr davon geben =)

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  2. Is this only available overseas? I've looked and I'm only finding reviews, no sites to purchase on.

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  3. This is a German drugstore product I don't think you can order it online anywhere, at least not that I know of.

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  4. Darn, if you're ever looking for something from the States, I'm on MUA as Eliza524.

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  5. Anonymous3:16 am

    Would you be able or willing to by this polish for someone or sell it to someone in Canada? I REALLY want this for me and my sister :)

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  6. it looks much better than the CG version.

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  7. Not sure if I like it or not.

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  8. LCN and Isadora have crackling top coats, too. They cost more, but they have different colours ^^ I have some from Isadora (white and dark blue) and they look adoreable =3

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  9. This is so cool, I remember this type of nail polish being quite a hit when I was in high school, in the mid 90's and I do remember it coming in all sorts of different colours (blue on top of orange was a favourite!) I can't for the life of me remember what it was called though :-/

    I think it looks pretty awesome close up though :)

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  10. Love it.
    Saw sth like that yesterday at Douglas... it's called "Graffiti Nail Top" by Isadora.
    They got it in white, pink, yellow, green, blue and black. ;-)

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  11. Barry M make one of these as well, if anyone in the UK is looking for it.

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  12. I like Isadoras crackelation polishes alot better :p swedish brand. I know Barry M has some now aswell.

    http://honi.blogg.se

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  13. This is similar to the Barry M nail effects varnish which creates a similar effect on the nails. barrymcosmetics.com

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  14. German: Es ist nicht grau, es ist silber mit silbernen Pigmenten und trocknet dann zu einem Matten Finish.
    Bei Douglas (Parfumerie) gab/gibt es diese Lacke für ca 9 Euro von "Isa Dora" in vielen Farben.


    It's not grey, it's silver with a lot of shimmering pigments and it dries down to a matte finish, too!
    You can buy those crackling topcoats by "Isa Dora" in a lot of different colours at Douglas (perfumery) for 9€.
    I'm sorry for my "school-english".

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  15. very nice! i love it!

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  16. Barry M do one of these. I saw it the other day and bought it because it looked interesting. It does look kinda cool but I'm not sure how much I'm going to use it.

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  17. Cover Girl used to make this crackle polish back in like 95/96 It didn't go over to well then. I remember I had white crackle. I'll pick up a bottle of the new stuff in black. :D Awesome Share!

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  18. 80's punk! Love it :)

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  19. Love it! The effect is so cool, especially for Halloween!!
    XOxo Barby

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  20. Its alright. I personally don't like it because to me the nails just look dirty. It's just not my style. But hey... Rock it girl! :)

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  21. I love this!! Where can I get it in the States??

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  22. I love it. I would totally use a silver or charcoal metallic under it sometime.

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  23. I have one of these, but from IsaDora. I bought it from H&M so it was reasonably cheap =) Fortunatly I don't have very long nails. It makes it easy to use. The x-wide brush helps too...

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  24. Anonymous10:10 pm

    That's great i hope i could find this in the nederlands somewhere
    Diana

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  25. love it!!! it's great!!!

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  26. Funny! I read your blog all the time and this week I came back to work after my weekend manicure and was reading all the blogs I follow and your nails are nearly identical to my current ones hahaha

    http://lycanthropica.blogspot.com/2010/10/lava-nails.html

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  27. Hi Julia, There are other colors for crackle polish. I found some in EBAY and just put down crackle nail polish on the search area. I just bought some so it should be here in a few days.

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  28. Anonymous7:57 pm

    this crackling polish looks so cool, i like the combination of your base colour & the black!
    since i live in germany i immediately ran to the next drugstore and bought the crackling polish, it looks so cool !!
    i saw it's also available in silver (and white ?! not sure about this) ...

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  29. Waw!! wo kann ich p2 kaufe in der Schweiz¨? bitte....

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  30. Hello Julia and all readers of her blog,
    I have a small suggestion on this nail polish. When you apply it only once(dab brush on your nail only once) and then wait till it gets dry, it has a very big and wide cracks, but when you apply this nail polish fast enough a few times on your nail till it gets fully dry, then you will get a smaller and cuter cracks.
    Excuse me if my explanation was not clear enough.
    Best wishes,
    Elena.

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  31. so cool
    i have to look if we have this caind of polish in portugal......

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  32. hey love your blog and youtube channel

    just to let ya know there is a brand im not hundred 100% on what its called and they do different coloured crackle polish :)

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  33. Anonymous3:42 pm

    Ok,i want to move out.i hate greece,our stores are full of nothing interesting.

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