The Katy Perry Shatter Swatches

I know I promised these some time ago, but I've had some trouble getting a really good shot of the polish.  I ended up doing swatches on a nail art wheel so they'd turn out better.  I'm just going to go ahead and say it: the shatter polish is neat, but I'm having trouble getting into it.  I thought I was going to like it a lot more, but after doing a manicure with it, it's just a meh.  I wore OPI's Glitzerland underneath the Shatter, and half the people who noticed my nails thought it was chipping, with a quarter not liking it, and the other quarter liking it. 

From left to right: Not Like The Movies, Teenage Dream, Last Friday Night, The One That Got Away

Something I noticed about the Shatter polish is that it would give different effects on different types of polishes.  On the two glittery polishes in the middle, it gave a more fully shattered appearance, while on the shimmers it looked more like streaks.  Over a creme polish the Shatter gives that same "streaky" effect. 

From Left To Right: Purple Rain, Versailles, Orgasm, and Jungle Red.
The Precious Mini Polish set is $30 and available here

Around the same time I was wringing my hands over buying the Deborah Lippmann Layer Cake set, this Nars mini set was also available.  For some reason, I kept putting off buying this set until about a month ago.  I felt I had most of the colors already, when it turns out I actually didn't, including two polishes I thought were very close to Purple Rain.  When applying the shatter, these streaked instead of shattered.  I'm meh on most of them with the shatter, but I love the Shatter with the Jungle Red, it just looks so sexy to me. 

Serena Williams for OPI Simply Smashing!

This is the Serena Williams Chartreuse/lime green/greenish-yellow polish that came in a set with the Shatter polish.  I'm currently wearing the Simply Smashing! on my toes right now, and I really dig it.  As you can see, this one streaked instead of shattered. 

I also tried the Shatter on Chanel's Black Pearl, but you can't tell from the photos.  It's pretty unremarkable. 

In May, OPI is releasing additional colors of Shatter in silver, navy blue, red, and turquoise.  Since I'm not really impressed with the black Shatter, I really don't plan on purchasing any more colors of it. 

OPI Shatter Polish is NOWHERE to be Found

This past weekend I was at the Huntington Mall and picked up the minipack of Katy Perry for OPI polishes.  Of course, Trade Secret was out of the Shatter Polish.  The saleswoman told me they had been unable to keep it in stock, and then added it was impossible to find in the Tri-State area due to demand.  Trade Secret still had plenty of the colors in the collection available for purchase. 

If you're looking to buy Shatter, you're probably going to have to go online.  I finally broke down and bought the Serena Williams Simply Smashing! set, which includes the Shatter polish and a cool chartreuse green (I wear this color a lot).  I bought the set off Amazon, and with shipping it came to around $15 and change, which ain't bad.  Amazon had the Shatter polish by itself for as low as $4.50, but when you add almost $5 in shipping, you're pretty much paying full price.  However, for the time being, this looks like the only option for buying Shatter. 



Note: If you purchase this polish off Amazon, be sure to know that you're not actually buying the product from Amazon, but from an individual who sells on Amazon.  Most are great sellers, but there are a few bad apples.  Make sure your seller has at least a 95% approval or above. 

 

TREND:Shatter Polish

For those above the age of maybe 22-24, back in the late '90s Cover Girl brought out a "groundbreaking" polish dubbed crackle polish, due to the crackled effect.  I can remember discussing it with my girlfriends and looking at it in the Phar-Mor in the Huntington Mall (I miss Phar-Mor so much!  It was the BEST place to buy makeup cheaply).  Our general consensus was that it was cool, but not something we were sure we'd buy, although I seem to remember one of my friends getting it and not being too impressed.  I don't recall it being very popular, and it disappeared from shelves fairly shortly.  I'm a nail polish junkie, and have been since I was a tween.  That being said, I can't think of any crackle polishes that have been on the market since then, unless they existed in a very small niche market. 

This year, OPI is introducing a shatter polish to go along with several of its celebrity collaborators, such as Serena Williams and Katy Perry.  Unlike the Cover Girl crackle polish (as seen in the picture at the top of this post), OPI's shatter polish cracks into much smaller pieces, giving it the effect of broken glass shards.  Here are some examples featuring Simply Smashing! from the Serena Williams line:

[caption id="attachment_48" align="aligncenter" width="540" caption="Images taken from All Lacquered Up"][/caption]

 It's also a part of the Katy Perry OPI Collection:

[caption id="attachment_49" align="aligncenter" width="494" caption="Picture from All Lacquered Up"][/caption]

 Seeing as the nail art trend that was very popular in 2010 will continue into this year, I can see shatter polish becoming popular to a certain extent.  The only reason I don't see it very doing very well is due to the fact it's not very professional looking.  While I can get away with it at my job, I don't find it very suitable for most professional jobs. 

Aside from the shatter polish, I'm excited for the celebrity collections from OPI.  I love the color chartreuse, so the Simply Smashing! polish from the Serena Williams line is right up my alley, and currently doesn't match anything I own.  I'm also loving the entire Katy Perry collection.  I love glitter polish, and these colors look amazing for the spring/summer.  As an added bonus, they don't overlap anything I own, either!

The Serena Williams collection and black Shatter polish are supposed to be available sometime this month, although OPI just recently announced the release date has been pushed back.

I also haven't heard when the Katy Perry collection would be available.

OPI polishes are available at trades stores such as Trade Secrets, Regis Salons, and JC Penney's Salons.  They retail for $8.50.