Monday, January 9, 2012

Barry M - Croc Effects

I'm back at work today! :( Very jealous of those who are still on holidays. Now I'm looking forward to my Bali holiday in May, its 117 days away but who's counting?

I've had this polish for a while now but I haven't posted it yet for two reasons. I got it for a friend who reads my blog and I didn't want her to see her present before Christmas. Also it was a bit tricky for me to get it to work properly. I think I've got the hang of it now though.


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Barry M - Croc Effects 

Croc Effects has instructions on the side of the bottle which I didn't actually notice until after I managed to get it to crack right. The instructions read:
  1. Apply a thin coat of your chosen nail varnish.
  2. Wait 1 to 2 minutes until nails are touch try. Do not apply to dry polish.
  3. Apply a thin coat of Croc Nail Effects.
  4. After 3 minutes the effect will start to appear.
I don't really agree with their instructions, this is what I did:
  1. Apply a few coats of the base colour as normal and let it dry completely. (I left mine overnight)
  2. Once the base colour is dry apply another coat of the base colour and wait 30 seconds.
  3. Apply a coat of Croc Effects before the extra coat of the base colour dries.
  4. After about 5 minutes the effect will have finished cracking.
Croc Effects does not work over dry polish like normal crackle does. In the picture below I applied the extra coat of base colour to half the nail so you can see how it behaves over wet and dry polish.


Over dry polish it will not spread out. It will still crack but the cracks are so small you can only notice if you look really closely. It needs the wet polish underneath to help it spread apart. The photo below shows you what happens if you do not let the base colour dry completely first.



Barry M - Croc Effects 

You can see that on the left nail that Croc effects pulled all the layers of polish with it as it cracked leaving the bare nail exposed. This was one of my first attempts.

Did anyone else get Croc effects? I got mine from the Barry M website for £3.99 and delivery was £10.83 for 6 nail polishes.

7 comments:

  1. Wow, that is completely bizarre! Thanks for the *correct* instructions, I actually REALLY like this look!

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  2. I have been so curious about this polish! I think I'll be placing an order soon!! I have recurring crocodile dreams, so this seems highly appropriate for me!!!!!

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  3. Holly - I really like the look too, that's why I tried for so long to get this to work. Glad you like my instructions. :)

    Nicole - You should try it out, it's pretty cheap. Just takes a bit of practice but it's a cool effect!

    You might have already Googled your dream but I found this, I don't necessarily believe this stuff but it's interesting to read.

    Crocodile:

    To see a crocodile in your dream symbolizes freedom, hidden strength and power. It also forewarns of hidden danger. Someone near you is giving you bad advice and is trying to sway you into poor decisions. Because crocodiles can live in water and on land, they also represent your conscious and unconscious and the emotional and rational. Perhaps something is coming to the surface and you are on the verge of some new awareness.

    Alternatively, the crocodile may be an aspect of yourself and your aggressive and "snappy" attitude. Or it may reveal that are being insincere, displaying false emotions and shedding "crocodile tears".

    To dream that you are chased or bitten by a crocodile denotes disappointments in love and in business.

    Source: http://www.dreammoods.com/dreamdictionary/c4.htm

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  4. I really like this. Very different to the OPI shatter collection (which are the only ones i own.. sighh) Where abouts can i purchase this? Awesome blog btw :)

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  5. Thanks :) I got mine from http://www.barrym.com/ I'm not sure where else to get it from sorry.

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  6. I just got a bottle of Croc Effects in the mail today. I had to google it to find out how to use it...for some reason it didn't dawn on me to look at the bottle LOLOL. I got mine from Ninja Polish which was great because they are here in the states...if I had ordered from Barry M it would have taken a LOT longer to get it...I am far too impatient for that LOL. I tried to slap some on to dried polish at first...bigtime fail!! In the light and really up close you can see tiny little croc features but who is gonna get that close to see it lol. Now I know that the base polish has to be 'wet' just like Kleancolor Crack does. My next mani was going to be the fake OPI black spotted technique but now I think I'll be using my new Croc Effects!!!

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    1. My first attempt was a big time fail too lol! I hope you can get it to work next time. :)

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