Late to the party, but still having fun! Review

I had a comic-buying spree (in part sponsored by my boyfriend - THANKS BABY!) so expect reviews soon! This is my TBR (to be read) pile. It makes me happy.

I've been looking for a good, medium orange polish for a while now. A certain someone said that BYS polishes were pretty good, so on my way home from work I stopped by Gloss (even though I had sworn off them because of their horrible customer service - lo and behold, the staff were very friendly and helpful this visit) and picked up a matte orange polish (N234). On my way to the counter I noticed some boxed sets of polishes - they were crackle kits! Now I'd heard about the Barry M and Isadora crackle polishes and have been meaning to try one for ages, so I thought why not give BYS a go. I know everyone's done a post on crackle polishes, but I thought I'd thow my 2 cents in the mix.

BYS had a surprising range of crackle colours, but the basics like black and red were only available in the kits, which was a bit annoying (I didn't fancy being stuck with an unneeded topcoat and polish). I briefly considered a purple or even a yellow, but ended up grabbing a medium grey. The matte polish was AU$3.75, and the crackle was AU$4.95 - which is great considering the Barry M version is £3.99 (about AU$6.50) (and only comes in black). The Isadora polishes do have a pretty good range of colours but are even more expensive at 8€ (about AU$11).

Honestly, the orange was about what I was expecting - I still had visible nail line after 3 coats (which is super noticeable now that my nails are so long), and the matte finish was more satin than anything else. It looked like China Glaze Magic Matte after about 4 days of wear.

It would probably be ok over a white or nude base, but I know I'm too lazy for that. I do have to admit, it's much better than the Chi Chi polish I tried, which was ridiculously sheer and smelled like toxic waste. I threw that sucker right out - and it was $5, too! I've ordered Old School Orange from the Orly Plastix collection, all the swatches and reviews I've seen say it dries fast and is quite opaque. Fingers crossed.

The first go with the crackle polish was a bit of a disaster - I applied it too thinly and it ended up being streaky, patchy and not fully cracked. I re-did my nails with red (since it only required one coat, haha) and a thicker coat of the crackle.

RAWR.

I need to buy a nice thick topcoat, I slapped some of the Mode topcoat on top and it still feels quite rough. The cracking process took a few minutes, and after that it dried really fast. I can't wait to experiment with layering other colours underneath - and I think I'll have to go back for some more crackle colours.

I don't know if the price disparity between this and the Barry M/Isadora is reflected in the quality, but I don't think I'll be bothered trying either of them when the BYS are so much cheaper and easier for me to get. I really do like the whole crackle effect. Much easier than Konad, which I have yet to get the hang of! I also want more plates, at the moment the only designs I have are hearts, stars, flowers, bows, and more hearts/stars/flowers. Knowing me, I'd only be able to stand that on my nails for a day or so.

I also got Haunting from Evil Shades but I haven't gotten around to swatching it yet. It's a pale lavender-grey with lovely glass flecks.

I'm trying to get motivated to re-start my JulNoWriMo novel for NaNoWriMo... ehhh. I have comics to read, and library books, and I haven't finished all the side quests on Fable 3!...