I did something bad to my nails last week. I didn’t bite them or pick at my cuticles, which are two bad habits I’ve mostly escaped but sometimes return to in stressful moments. No, I went another aesthetically negative route—OPI’s Black Shatter, a new nail lacquer from both the Katy Perry and the Serena Williams collections.

When I first read about OPI’s new offering, I knew I had to try it. The crackle effect reminded me of a nail polish I remember loving as a preteen. (I think it was called Crackle?) Plus, I like the look of textured patterns on nails, even if I’m not quite ready to test out cheetah prints and the like. Black Shatter seemed a safe, but fun, bet. I even bought a base coat specifically for the experiment: a creamy, almost opaque beige that I imagined would help produce a lace-like effect.

Wrong. So very wrong. After I finished applying my two new colors, I realized that my nails were the wrong kind of cutting-edge—like someone had taken a small blade to my nails and hacked away at the polish. It was as if the ghost of a manicure from two months ago suddenly appeared on my fingers, ready to haunt my hands and everything they encountered. Spooky stuff. And yet I will try Black Shatter again, only with a different base coat next time. I refuse to let my dream of cool nails be shattered.