Paint Your Nails With Shatter Polish

Shatter polish is an easy, inexpensive way to give your nails character and a unique texture that has just recently become popular. It was started by a couple of brands, but now almost all nail polish brands, from the cheapest to some of the more expensive ones, offer at least one color of shatter (or crackle, as some other brands call it). While it is usually a bit more expensive than regular nail polish, one bottle of shatter offers endless possibilities.

Steps

  1. Purchase a crackle/shatter polish. At this point, they can be found at almost any store that sells multiple nail polish brands. While there are some slight differences in how well certain brands/colors crackle or what pattern they do it in, they all do basically the same thing. For your first shatter polish, it is recommended that you buy black (a very common color; if a brand only has one color of shatter, it's probably black), silver, or white, since they go with the most other colors and will offer you more options.
  2. Apply a base coat. While not required, a base coat is a good idea to protect your nails from staining and help your polish stay on longer.
  3. Apply a solid color of nail polish. The number of layers you need will depend on the color, but try to make sure your base color is even and opaque. Since shatter creates such a busy effect, it might be a good idea to stick with a smooth, non-glittery, creme-like color for your first experiment with this kind of polish in order to draw as much attention to the crackle effect as possible.
  4. Wait for the base color to dry completely. Just to be safe, you'll probably want to wait a few minutes longer than you normally do.
  5. Paint a layer of shatter over the base color once it is completely dry. While the exact effect you achieve will vary depending on how much you put on, it's recommended to start with a lighter coat so that the effect is more obvious, unless you're going for a more subtle crackle look. Try to paint one thin coat as quickly as possible, and avoid going back over a spot you have already painted.
  6. Sit back and wait. Some shatter polishes begin to crackle the second they touch your nails, but others may take a little longer to reach their full potential. You should be able to see the shattering occur right before your eyes.
  7. Once the shatter has cracked the way you want it to, go over it with a topcoat. This protects your nails and allows your manicure to stay on longer before it starts chipping.
  8. Show off your manicure!



Tips

  • The thinner you make the shatter polish, the smaller and better the cracks with look.
  • Once you're used to using shatter polish, try to mix things up a bit. Some popular ideas include...
    • Painting black shatter over white or orange (to achieve zebra or tiger effects, respectively).
    • French manicure with shatter on the tips.
    • Using shatter only on an accent nail.
    • Painting thick (or thin!) stripes as a base color, then laying shatter on top to achieve a broken rainbow effect.
  • Experiment with different brands of shatter/crackle polish. Some of them have slightly different effects or may have formulas that are easier to work with than others. Each brand also offers a different selection of colors, in many cases.
  • Many nail polish enthusiasts have noticed that solid colored shatters generally seem have a better cracking effect and stay on longer than metallic or glittery ones. This isn't a hard-and-fast rule, but it's something to look out for.

Warnings

  • Never try to apply two coats of shatter. It doesn't look good, and will likely end up turning your whole nail into a lumpy mess.
  • Make sure to close your bottles of shatter tightly and don't leave them open for too long when you're using them. Shatter polishes dry very quickly (by design), and it doesn't take much time to ruin a whole bottle.

Things You'll Need

  • Shatter nail polish(es)
  • Base Coat
  • Top coat
  • At least one color to use as a base color

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