China Glaze Crackle Collection Review & Swatches

I'm actually pleased and proud of myself that I got my hands on the whole Crackle collection so that I can review them for you as well as add them to my "getting larger" nail polish collection.
The reason I decided to get them all is because these nail polishes are not like your typical nail polish. They shrink and give out a cracked effect on your nails, which I think is pretty cool.

I purchased them from Amazon.com for $32.00 with $3.00 shipping. $35.00 for 6 China Glaze polishes is pretty reasonable, given the average retail price for these are $6.00. They may be available now in stores or will be very soon so you may want to call and find out before heading to your beauty supply store.

Packaging

• The typical clear glass nail polish bottle.
• 14 mL or .5 oz.
• Each comes with a little round tag with instructions on how to use the product.
• The brush is round and about average size.

Product

• This collection is available in six shades and they are all matte.
• These are meant to be used over another base color to give a cracked effect
• Dries very quickly. The cracks form within seconds from applying.
• Must be applied after the base color is completely dry
• Use a thicker coat for less cracks
• Use a thinner coat for more cracks and splintered effect

Swatches

Black mesh is a matte black polish. I used it over 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Celeb City, which is a sparkling light silver polish.

Lightning Bolt is a matte white polish. I used it over 2 coats of Ulta nail polish in Bombshell, which is a raspberry pink with small pink, gold, and holographic glitters.

Cracked Concrete is a medium matte grey. I used it over 2 coats of Sally Hansen Extreme Wear White On, which is a cream white color. I will have to say that this is my least favorite color out of the 6 that I got. The reason for that is because it's neither dark or light and it just doesn't look pretty with other colors because it's hard to find a contrasting color that looks good with it. You either need a very light/bright color or a very dark color underneath.

Broken Hearted is a medium matte bubblegum pink polish with a slight blue undertone. I used it over 2 coats of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Fireberry Red, which is a gorgeous dark cranberry red with flecks of gold glitters. If you look at my index finger, I used a thicker coat of Broken Hearted and there was less crack as compared to the other nails, which I used a thinner coat.

Fault Line is a matte violet purple polish. I applied it over 2 coats of Sally Hansen HD Lite, which is a very bright shimmery yellow. This one didn't crack too well on the first try. I'm not sure if it's because my base color wasn't dry enough. On this swatch, I decided to apply Fault Line differently. Instead of doing a stroke of color from top to bottom, I scattered shorter strokes across the nails.

Crushed candy is light matte turquoise polish. I applied it over 2 coats of Orly Halley's Comet, which is also from the same color family but darker and with multi-dimensional glass-like flecks of teal and gold shimmers. I didn't completely wait for the base color to dry cause I got impatient from swatching all these colors, lol. As you can tell because of that the cracks appears more diagonally than horizontally.

Verdict
Overall, these are really great special effect polishes and really fun! You will of course need to mix and match with a good contrasting base color and need a little more patience while doing your nails. I must emphasize that you will get better cracked result if your base color is completely dry. I'm very glad that unlike OPI Shatter, China Glaze has more shades to offer. I'm considering getting another back up of Black Mesh.
The only thing I didn't like from this collection is Cracked Concrete because I find it hard to pair with other colors and it looks boring to me because it doesn't contrast very well. My rating 9/10.

Hope you find this review helpful. Which one did you get or plan on getting?