American Apparel’s The Valley is a flat light-medium robin egg blue creme, and is no different from the other AA polishes. Gorgeous formula, easy application, exceptional finish and colour. The photo makes it look like it leans slightly turquoise, but I would say it’s a true blue. It’s bright, but not in-your-face obnoxious.

Some people complain that the AA formula is a touch on the thick side, but as long as you’re careful with the brush by removing all of the excess polish, including the polish collecting on the stem of the brush (there is a lot on there), you’ll be fine. A few drops of nail polish thinner should also help.

American Apparel’s Neon Violet is a very bright violet-magenta jelly. It doesn’t strike me as exactly…neon. Don’t get me wrong, it’s hella bright. But it’s neon in the way that a neon purple highlighter is – it always seems to pale in comparison to the wacky neon yellows and greens. I just don’t really think neon purple exists, but I guess this is the best approximation.

Nevertheless, the polish is still brighter than your average purple/magenta jelly, so I was still pleased with it. Application was a breeze as well, but jellies tend to be easy to work with as long as the opacity is there (which it is, for this one).

I’ve been itching to try this mani ever since I’ve gotten Black Shatter, if only to see if I can pull off the cool-looking, if slightly juvenile “skittles” manicure. Skittles meaning using different (usually bright) colours on each finger. I’ve tried variations on it before (my favourite being the gradation manicure – shall post one of those another day), but have been too scared to actually rock the look. The hope with Black Shatter was to make the look more edgy and “disguise” some of the bright colour while keeping visual interest. Well, we’ll see about that…

First, skittles! Cute, right? Should have probably used a more pastel yellow but alas, I do not own one (can’t help but think American Apparel Butter would be a perfect substitute!). Let’s go through the colours:

• Thumb: OPI Lucky Lucky Lavender
• Index: American Apparel Manila
• Middle: Revlon Top Speed Jaded
• Ring: Orly Gumdrop
• Pinky: Revlon Gum Drop (yes, I used two polishes named gum drop. It was a coincidence, I swear! Also the pinky one happens to be scented. Sickly sweet…don’t think I could do a full mani with it, barf)

Time to shatter it up!

Looks like the juvenile skittles got introduced to some recreational drugs and are now looking significantly more edgy! Definitely something that I could wear without feeling self-conscious. Though I got plenty of weird looks from people today anyway (one girl especially who stared at my nails the whole time I was washing my hands in the restroom). Regardless, Shatter takes out the saccharine quality from the bright pastel colours and makes the whole look more wearable. Awesome!

Oh also, compare this to how the shatter looked over the GOSH Holographic polish I wrote about a few days ago. See how the shatters actually look fully formed rather than…weird tree branches? I don’t know if before I used layers that were too thin, didn’t let Holographic dry enough, or just the weird nature of holographic polishes in general. Just know that if you own OPI Black Shatter, here are some helpful tips:

• Let the base colour dry completely.
• If you want the shatters to be far apart, apply a thicker layer.
• Be sure to apply a shiny top coat to protect the shatter layer, as well as smooth out the wonky brush strokes.

:) Have fun!