I spotted these in Superdrug a few months ago and really liked the look of them so I decided to buy one to try.

I do like it, but I think that rather than looking obviously cracked it can look quite tacky and almost chipped/worn unless it's applied over a dark base coat, and I'm not a fan of having dark nails all the time. The varnish does give a bit of glitz and shimmer due to the brightly coloured glitter, but I would prefer to be able to wear it over a range of colours rather than being limited to mainly black varnish.

When I tried it with a nude varnish it looked really odd, like I'd literally stuck glitter to my nails and it looked all patchy and tacky. Even when it's applied over a dark colour the crackle effect isn't hugely noticeable as the lines aren't as thick/well defined as say the Barry M crackle varnish provides, which I guess will be an advantage for people who prefer a more subtle look. I have the green one which I chose because it's quite an unusual, pretty colour.

Other colours available are blue, silver, gold, red, pink and orange, so there's a reasonable amount of choice. The varnish comes in a small but chunky slightly rounded nail varnish bottle which is transparent, meaning that the glittery varnish is visible. The varnish looks a lot darker in the packaging than it does on the nails and I was quite dissapointed by how faded it looked when I initially applied it - rather than being opaque with big, chunky cracks it just offers a small amount of glitter with some barely noticeable cracks, meaning that I have to apply several layers to get the intensity that I want which doesn't always look right.

The varnish is quite runny in consistency and takes over a couple of minutes to completely dry. It comes with a small brush attatched to the lid which is very small but still useable and very accurate. The size of the bottle that the varnish comes in is quite a lot smaller than the bottle that my Barry M version comes in and it's only a pound cheaper and not as striking, so I don't think I'll be re-purchasing it.. it's a very pretty colour, but looks quite worn and tacky in my opinion even when it's been freshly applied. The finish is a little rough and the varnish can easily start to chip and peel off randomly - the lasting power is dire - I'd say on average it takes 2 days before it's almost completely worn off which is very unimpressive!

The varnish retails at £2.99 and is only available from Superdrug. While it may seem like good value, I'd recommend paying a pound or so more for a Barry M crackle varnish.