Shatter me this!

Hey Cherry Pie,
As I'm sitting here typing I'm glancing at the "classy” Audubon Society clock in my mother’s kitchen and the owl is beginning to hoot at the fact that it’s midnight. This is okay because all my homework is near completion for the week and I'm drinking my favorite Sam Adams beer; Irish Red. The only things that are currently bringing me to full throttle annoyance is the stanky temperament of my Wi-Fi, and the fact that I can't get the lighting right to take a proper photo of my nails; other than that life is great.

Living in California taught me a few things; one of them was when in doubt do it yourself, this includes manicures. When we’re younger we tend to teach ourselves how to be glamorous. It is my honest opinion that each person in his or her own right has a “Glamazon” hiding within them just yearning to come out. Mine started to appear at the age of thirteen. My cousin and I used to sit at the kitchen table in Georgia and glue those fake nails on, we had the acrylic and everything. Until recently, over the past year or so, I forgot that I even knew how to paint my own nails. I’m not a pro or anything like that, but if you stand five feet away from me you wouldn’t be able to tell whether or not it was “Kim” or Kandis that did my nails.
In my quest to be more hands on, and keep money in my pocket. I’ve been trying to hone my skills as a manicurist. In my quest I have come to two realizations 1. I love painting my own nails again 2. I should never be paid for my services L. I know I’m rambling but I will get to where I’m going… Eventually.

My favorite nail polishes are OPI and China glaze. I like Essie but the colors are just too soft for me I’m a hard core girl and I like my colors rough. So When doing some research about the new nail trends for 2011 I was happy to find out that it was all about the Shattered nail look.

In January of 2011 OPI released black shattered in its Serena Williams and Katy Perry Collections. I’m a fan of both of these ladies styles however, I wasn’t really big on the colors in either collection so I didn’t purchase anything. I did however buy the Shattered polish. I quickly went on Amazon.com and hunted it down like I dog. I will tell you that the cost is $10 US and you can’t find it cheaper than $7.50. I wasn’t about to pay $10 for .5oz  plus shipping and handling, so I went to the nail salon next to my job and just paid the $10. If this is too expensive China Glaze has a dupe called Crackle. It’s not that much cheaper it will run you between $5.29-$8.99 on Amazon.com. I have figured out that you can get nail salons to sell you their slightly used bottles of nail polish, but Shattered is a no go since its immensely popular right now. Side note. I’ve only paid full price for my OPI colors thrice. In the airport in North Carolina last month, but it was duty free so there *sticking out tongue*. The second was when I brought the Shattered, and the other time is when I lived in Austin and I would just go to Ulta and purchase them. Now I order them off of Amazon.com and I pay no more than $5 or I go the nail salon across the street from my job and purchase their slightly used bottles for $4; hey I have no shame and it’s not like it’s used lipstick, and if it really used $2! Now that I’m done ranting on to the review…..


$10 for .5FLO

 Shattered is a black polish that breaks up as you apply it over a base color and appears to resembled black shards of glass, cool I know! . Only one coat is needed and the instructions say that you should really only apply it to completely dry nails. This is very important because if you don't the color will bleed and your nails will look a hot mess. According to OPI, and they should know they made it, the thinner the coat the more shattered it will look. the cool thing about this is that it dries fast and no one nail will look alike, it also appears 3 dimensional. The thing that sucks is the price; $10 at your local Ulta stores or any place that carries OPI. You can probably find it for $7 on Amazon.com, it also causes you to get distracted while typing at work; okay that's just me, but its still not a good thing.
I was going to go to the salon and have my nails done for this how to/ review but why should I pay someone to do what I already know how to do? Plus I can't really claim "how to" if I "didn't do." Exactly.

This year’s trend is nails painted the color of your choice with the pointer finger either painted a separate color or littered with glitter. The other trend is shattered nails with a nail on each hand painted with glitter I'll be doing a how to on the latter.

First Things first, start out with clean shaped nails, please try to cut your cuticles if you can, if not hey this is a judgment free zone.



trimmed, cut and clean; to the best of my ability.



Next you want to put on a clear base coat I use Sally Hansen’s double duty. The name just sounds efficient doesn't it? It works as a base and a top coat $4.99 CVS or other "fine" stores.

After your base coat has dried you want to apply whatever base color that you're going to use. I really don't own any bright colors, I'm pretty Emo when it comes to nail color so I chose one of the only three light colors I own; 'I Think in Pink' by OPI, $5 Amazon.com

The color is from OPI's Pink collection released in 2010. Because the color is so soft I applied three coats.

Here's a closer look at the color.

After waiting for five minutes I got impatient, pulled out my blow dryer and proceeded to dry my nails. Next I applied the Black Shattered; I did one thick coat. I've been practicing for a while now and I still haven't gotten the thin coat thing down, so I've been doing what works.

After they dried I applied a clear polish that contains nothing but glitter to my pointer finger. For this I used "Mad as a Hatter" by OPI $8 Ulta stores. I ended up doing two coats of the stuff because I wanted it to look uber glittery.

'Mad as a Hatter' is from the Alice in Wonderland Collection Released in December 2009.

Lastly I waited for my nails to dry again, and applied the Double Duty as a top coat. Then, viola! I was finished.



Finished Product.

 The last thing I did, although not shown was take a q-tip, dip it in nail polish remover and clean up around the edges of my nails to make them look nice and neat.

I know the pictures don't really do the colors any justice but I couldn't get a better angle. I'm a one woman show; when my empire expands and I have a camera crew I'll be able to provide much better pictures with far superior lighting.

Here's a closer look a the colors I used.



L-R:Sally Hansen's Double Duty, I think in Pink, Mad as a Hatter and Shattered, all OPI unless otherwise noted

The directions on the Shattered bottle tell you to use a Katy Perry color, um yea that's just so they can get you to spend more money. They work pretty well with ANY nail polish you choose. I've even tried it on some China Glaze and Sally Hansen colors, works just as well.
This is a very fun and stylish trend that is sure to be in existence well past its prime, better get on it now before it becomes played! Remember the key is to have fun, you can do this trend however you'd like it does work just as nice over acrylic nails as well. Now if you'd excuse me; I have work in the morning, and a Sam Adams to finish.
Night Cherry Pie,
Kandis