Comparison: OPI Black Shatter vs. Avon Mosaic Effect

OPI Black Shatter on the thumb; Avon Mosaic Effect on the index and middle fingers.

Avon recently released the Mosaic Effects nail polish – i.e. their knockoff of a black shatter.  I don’t mean that in a perjorative way – the entire point of Avon, as far as I’m concerned, is that it recreates current trending makeup products at a far more affordable price.

I did already own OPI Black Shatter though, so had to justify purchasing Mosaic Effects (currently only in the one colour) on the basis I could run a comparison between the two for my loyal readers.  Here you go!

The executive summary: There’s not much between these.  Avon gets slightly higher points on application, but otherwise it’s pretty much a dead heat.

I applied both to the same hand to avoid any variation caused by using my dominant hand for one and non-dominant for the other.  The base was two coats of OPI Come to Poppy.  I applied top coat, but after taking these photos.

The comparison – application: The one thing I can say for the Avon is that it’s smoother, maybe a little thinner, than the OPI.  It’s just ever so slightly easier to apply, possibly because it feels easier to control, but it’s not a gamechanger.  Unless you really, really want (a zig-a-zag ah!) the shatter look but the thickness/clumpiness of OPI is too annoying.

OPI on the thumb, Avon on the index and middle fingers, OPI on the ring and little fingers.

The comparison – looks:  I waited some time before writing up this post, and when I went back to the photos I’d taken, it took a bit of hard thinking to remember which polish was on which nail!  That pretty much says it all.

The price issue:  I bought Black Shatter at … Farmers, I think?  For somewhere in the standard $26-29 range. The Mosaic Effect was $13, an introductory special down from the standard price of $15.  On the face of it, that’s a pretty big deal.

However, the difference in retail price is exaggerated by the ridiculous mark up on OPI in NZ brick-and-mortar stores.  If you’re purchasing online from overseas, or even from NZ-based stores like Gracie Lou, it’s much less painful to go for the more expensive brand.

Thing is, as you can probably tell, I don’t think there’s a significant difference.  Even after a week, there was no noticeable difference in lasting power or chipping.  So if you’re an Avon customer, and it’s more convenient, go with Avon; if you’re an OPI fan, stick with OPI if you like having all your bottles the same shape.  No one’s will ever know.

Nails o’ the week: shattering, um, waitresses

My first ever OPI was I’m Not Really A Waitress, a gift from my BFF who is queen of all things nail-related (hopefully we’ll be getting a guest post from her in the not-too-distant future, so my mere mortal manicure skills can be put to shame).

It’s an amazing berry-red which I am totally in love with: not too fire-engine red but still with an impact.

What did I do with it last week?  Covered it in Black Shatter, of course!

(Now, of course, OPI have gone and released Gold Shatter.  I know I told myself previously that I really only needed black, it would go with everything, I wouldn’t really use any other colours often enough to justify the purchase … but.)

I also took a before-and-after of the shatter without a topcoat, and the shatter with.

I like my nails good and light-reflecty, so I would always advocate for a topcoat.  Plus, there’s that whole protecting-your-polish, avoiding-chipping side of things.  But if you like a matte colour, go without!  Any cosmetic which serves multiple purposes is all good in my books.

As I noted in my shattering lilac post, having a fairly dark colour under a black shatter across the whole hand can look a little dark, especially for work attire and especially when your nails are getting a bit longer. (God, could I put enough qualifications in that sentence?)

But it wasn’t as bad as I thought, and since I own a lot of red clothing I managed to wear enough red-centred outfits that the black didn’t dominate too much.  I’d definitely do this look again when my nails get stubby (and guess what happened after this look was on for three-four days?  Cursed breakage!).

Nails o’ the week: shattering rose

Remember that September swag-bag from Avon?  One of its contents filled a very specific niche in my nail polish collection: soft pink nail polish that works with my pasty whitetude.

Specifically, Speed Dry+ in “Adoring Rose”.

You’d think pasty whitetude works with all kinds of pink, but apparently this is not so as many wasted lippies have attested. They seem to throw up (lol) a yellowy undertone in my porcelain goodness, unless they’re within a very, very narrow range of dusky/rose shades.

So add together finding a shade that does work, exactly in that soft-kinda-Stepford-esque-but-not-too … pastel-y?  I swear, that sentence made sense in my head … anyway, add to that the joys of speed-drying, which is always a bonus for someone as constantly fidgety as myself, and you have nail polish happiness.  See below.

But let’s not forget the recent acquisition of Black Shatter, which must of course be applied to everything to see how it looks!  I again went for a random-selection-of-fingers application, because I also wanted to revel in the soft shiny pink for a while, and somehow I think it looks more work-appropriate than a full set of shatters – like you’re letting people see your edginess without being too full-on.  Or maybe I’m overthinking the whole process, since my coworkers have probably pegged me as an odd one anyway!

The shatter is definitely taking some getting used to, especially as most of my nails are broad enough to require two go-overs to get edge-to-edge coverage.  Doing it in two strips, with a few seconds’ wait for the first half to dry, is currently my preferred tactic.  This can leave a slightly thicker, chunkier set of shattered pieces in the centre of the nail, but it looks fine to me and anyone else paying that close attention to your manicure should probably be more interested in the process than judgey.

Nails-of-the-week: shattering lilac

Whilst out at lunch with dear Pearls In Vinegar I somehow found myself standing at a counter in Farmers purchasing my first O P I nail polish (well, first purchased O P I nail polish): A Grape Fit and some Black Shatter since that’s what all the cool kids are doing these days.

(It can be a dangerous thing, going to lunch with Pearl.)

Anyhow, it was of course imperative that I try the stuff out as soon as I got home, and voila!

I went for some variety in the application since I was worried the shatter would look too dark for proper work attire if I did a full set with it – at their current (miraculous, no breaks in a month) length, and my pasty whiteness, my nails get a bit gothy with really dark colours on them, and the lilac lifted the whole look into “quirky and bright” vs. “talony”.

The variety also helped with the steep learning curve that is Applying Shatter Polish 101:  a single think gunky layer, not swept too strongly (unless you’re going for a cracked-zebra-stripe look rather than a chaotic, chunky look), do not no matter how much you are tempted go for a second pass.  With wider nails, do one half, leave for a few seconds until the shatter shows, then do the other side.

But I was entirely pleased with the result, and massively impressed with how long it stayed pristine – even though I’m fairly anal-retentive about reapplying a topcoat every two days, it was still pretty much perfect and unchipped when I finally came to take it off (for there were as yet unworn nail polishes to be tried).

Moral of the story:  I’m no longer a safe red-and-pink nails kinda girl.  And I’m unashamed.