Nicole by OPI Texture Collection Review

I got a request for swatches of the Nicole by OPI Texture collection, so here it is!  I was literally racing against the sun, so application and color combinations aren't stellar, but I hope you still find my review helpful! :)

I think the Nicole by OPI textures are similar to OPI's shatters, if not the same.  I don't own all the OPI shatters so I'm not positive, but I think I read somewhere that they are.

Black texture, creme:  The formula for this one was way better than my OPI black shatter.  My black shatter is so gloopy it clogs the mouth of the bottle when I use it.  I didn't have that problem with black texture.

Silver texture, metallic:  One thing I've noticed with these is that the color and formula separates if you don't use it for a while.  I had to shake some of these up, including this one.  It was literally one giant soft clump of silver floating in the formula.  When I shook it up, it seemed fine, but slightly clumpier than my OPI silver shatter.

Red texture, creme:  The formula was great for this one; it applied smoothly and cracked well.

White texture, creme:  So you're probably wondering what happened to this one.  You see, I swatched these as soon as got it on each nail (but didn't take pictures), just to see what they were like.  When I applied the white texture to my nails, it was equivalent to smearing thick sour cream to my nails...and looked like it too.  It was really thick and not pretty, although it cracked decently.  So I added boatloads of thinner to this one, and it looks like it messed it up.  I've added thinner to my black OPI shatter before and it was fine, so I'm not sure what happened here.  I'm thinking of leaving it open for a while to thicken it up and see if it returns to normal.  The white texture is my least favorite in terms of color, finish, and formula.  Oddly enough, I actually prefer this wispy look over the cracked sour cream look...

Turquoise texture, shimmer:  I know, bad combination of colors.  This one probably would've looked prettier over a different color.  Formula wise, it applied and cracked well.

Gold texture, metallic:  I'm guessing that the upcoming OPI gold shatter will be similar to this one.  The formula was a lot thinner for the gold compared to the other textures and OPI shatters.  It's watery, so you need to make an effort to do a thicker coat or it won't crack as nicely.  However, I prefer this formula to the thicker, clumpier ones.  I think this is one of my favorites from this collection, and it looks nice over China Glaze First Mate.

Overall, the collection isn't anything new from OPI, except for the gold texture.  If you don't own any of the shatters, you may want to pick some of these up.  Steer clear of the white texture though.

I'm personally done with the whole shatter trend now that I own these.  The only ones I may pick up are from China Glaze's metal crackle collection, since I prefer metallic crackles to creme ones.  However, I don't feel I need them.  They were pretty cool at first, but I actually don't reach for my shatters that often.  I think the only thing that would excite me would be holographic shatters.  Seriously, why not?  When shatters first came out everyone was layering them over holos.  Only it seems to cover up the holo, so I'd really like a holo shatter since we'd see more of the holo.  I don't think it's going to happen though. :P

What are your thoughts on the whole shatter/crackle trend?  Do you own any of the Nicole by OPI textures?  Let me know in the comments! :)


Liz