The other day my girlfriend J called me and the conversation went a little like this:

J: I’m in love with shatter/crackle polish.
Me: Huh?
J: I’m in love with that nail polish that cracks all over your fingers. You’ve got it right?
Me: Oohhhh! No. Not a single bottle.
J: What? How do I have it and you don’t?!

Ironically when I got my hair cut on Friday my stylist asked me how come I didn’t have the crackle polish and she did. I don’t get EVERYTHING in the world of beauty, folks. I know I have a lot of stuff, but again I don’t get everything. And a lot of times when it comes to polish I like to read nail polish blogs like All Lacquered Up to see what they have to say about new nail collections. So I decided to take the plunge and pick up 2 bottles of the new China Glaze Metallic Crackle (because the standard colors have been sold out at my local Sally Beauty but they told me to come back on Sunday for the Metallics).

Since I picked up China Glaze Oxidized Aqua Crackle Glaze Metal I decided I should really make the color pop so I put it on top of OPI by Sephora in I’m Wired, a bright coral creme. The results were pretty cool and now I want to layer this aqua metallic crackle over a dark navy or teal to see what it looks like with dark and sparkle mixed together.

It’s a fun alternative to my traditional manicure and next I’ll have to try it on m toes. I also picked up a gold shade of the crackle glaze, so we’ll see how that goes next. But have any of you tried the crackled polish look? What do you think about it?

Let’s start Monday off on a happy note and announce the winners of the Seche Perfect Nails System: Genevieve and Brittany L! Ladies email me your full name and address to dwj@theartofaccessories.com and I’ll have the folks at Seche mail you your prizes! Congrats!

Now back to my Monday’s Manicure…

I decided to totally embrace fall (despite the fact that it’s supposed to be hot and humid by the end of the week) and I went for a gunmetal grey nail polish last night. To me, gunmetal nail polish is like a smoky eye, it’s always in style. I dug Zoya Freja out of my nail polish bin yesterday, it’s such a dark and smoldering shade. It has a bit of silver and blue shimmer to it, but it isn’t overpowering or too glittery. I also think this would be pretty nice with a matte top coat if you like matte nails (they’re still a trend). Perhaps next time I’ll try this will silver half moons…hmmm….

What’s your nail color for fall?

Happy Monday! I thought today I’d feature a pretty polish I’m pretty smitten with. I fell in love with Zoya Glimmer a while ago when I got it with my order from the Zoya Polish Exchange.

Glimmer is a sheer light cream with a hint of pink to it and lots of soft shimmer. LOVE! It’s that perfect soft neutral that looks like such a lady like color. I love how my fingertips seem to twinkle but it’s not over the top like a glitter filled polish (which I also love but sometimes isn’t always the most appropriate choice).

I actually wouldn’t mind seeing how this color looked with a French manicure…perhaps I’ll have to try that next but I’d need to figure out what the color for the tips would be. Hmm…I’ll let you know.

Today I have to show off two more colors of the Salon Hansen Complete Salon Manicure.

Mom modeling for me.

This is Haute Chocolate in the Complete Salon Manicure line and it’s a very pretty shimmering burgundy shade that was super flattering on my Mom. Here’s the killer part about it, her manicure lasted for 2 WEEKS! Seriously. I didn’t have time to change her polish the last time I came to the house and when I saw her this past week her nails had minimal wear at the tips. Insane! This polish really is impressive to me.

I went in a different direction and went a bit light with Lavender Cloud. It’s a very soft lavender that can look white in the light. I love bright white/lavender polish because it has such a mod feeling to it. It’s also so fresh and clean to me and added a bit of brightness to my hands. Again, I have to say that the wear on this polish is phenomenal! I had to get used to the odd shaped brush but once I got a hang of it the coverage is smooth and only needs two coats. If you haven’t grabbed a bottle of this yet, you need to do so ASAP. Have you tried it? Thoughts?

Welcome to Monday. I had a great weekend and I hope you did too. My husband and I picked out a great Christmas tree for the holidays. I have yet to decorate it, but it’ll get there. I even found the cutest candy cane high heeled shoe ornament for the tree! It was to adorable to pass up!

For this week’s Monday’s Manicure I promised to feature bold reds since last week I did holiday neutrals. These are some great red shades to add a little vavavoom to your tips this season.

From left to right top row:

• China Glaze Salsa: a very vibrant and vivid red. Very caliente.
• China Glaze Ruby Pumps: a brilliant red shade loaded with sparkle. I adore this shade and will swatch it soon.
• China Glaze Sacred Heart (Neon): it says it’s a neon but really it’s a great true bold red. I love this on my toes but may add it to my tips this season.

From left to right bottom row:

• Essie Rock the Croc: If you want to go vampy I’d suggest this color. It’s dark and rich, more burgundy than red but great for evening.
• Zoya Kalista: a very pretty deep burgundy shimmer with a hint of fire to it.
• OPI Changing of the Garnet: in the same vampy family as Rock the Croc but with a great shimmer to it. I’ve had this shade for a long time and I love how deep and rich the color is.
• Zoya Isla: this is a sparkly red that was part of the Truth or Dare collection and I dare you not to love it to pieces.
• Essie Lollipop: if you want bright tips, this is it. It will stand out like a juicy candy apple, promise.

Next week, holiday greens, but would you want to see any other holiday colors? Let me know in the comments section.

dwj