OPI Black Shatter: Tips and Tricks

I promised to make a special post about the Black Shatter polish. I am talking just about Black Shatter at the moment because I haven´t tried any other crackle polish. I hope you find this post helpful. If you think I forgot to mention something important, let me know in the comments. Thank you!


CHOOSE A BASE COLOR
The first thing you need to do is choose a nice base color polish. Black Shatter is made to go with another polish. You can play with different colors and finishes for hundreds of different combinations. For my post I used a bright pink neon color - OPI La Paz-itively Hot. When you choose a bright color like this the crackle effect will stand out more. On the other hand if you wear a dark base the effect will be less visible. One of my tips is using a holo polish as a base, it look great!


WAIT FOR THE BASE TO DRY!
This is the most important part. If you want to get a nice effect you MUST have the base color completely dry. For the best results let the polish dry by itself, do not use a fast drying top coat. On the pictures below you can see what an ugly mess you will get if you rush your mani and apply on a wet base. You really don´t want this on your nails!

HOW MUCH TO APPLY?
Once your base is dry, you apply the Black Shatter. Be quick and don´t care about minor imperfections. Once the polish crackles they will not be visible. You can play around with the amount of Black Shatter for different effects. Look at the picture below. On the top I used a very thin coat and then every nail added more and more. On the bottom was a thick coat. You can see that the thicker the coat is, the bigger crackles. It is up to you what effect you like more :)


FINISH WITH A TOP COAT
Once you apply the Black Shatter and it crackles finish the whole mani with a clear top coat. The polish dries matte, so you add the shine and your mani will last longer.

So as you can see Black Shatter is really easy to use if you follow these simple steps :) I love playing with it and hope you too. Hope I helped with this post. Would love to hear your thoughts on Black Shatter.