I always remember my Mum accusing me of ‘gilding the lily’ – taking something that was already lovely and needlessly attempting to improve it. I can’t remember what the context would have been, I’ve never been a crafty/arty person so I’m assuming it was probably something silly like decorating biscuits. No doubt, I was pouring sprinkles ontop of silver balls on top of pink icing.
Anyway, that phrase came to mind when I had to physically restrain myself from adding MOAR pigments/polishes/sparkles to my first polish Franken – and so the name has stuck.
For my first, I used some stuffs that I didn’t mind wasting. An old ASOS by Ciate paint called Pixie… a jade creme that is infinitely dupable. A Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in Night Lights that looks amazing in the bottle (holo) but is watery and pretty crappy on the nails. Then I decided I wanted to give the green a warm, golden edge and dug out a pair of pigments that I hoped would do just that.
The result works. Almost. The BellaPierre pigment in Celebration (the copper one) isn’t as finely-milled as I would have hoped and gives the polish a lumpy feel which is a shame. The other, golden-olive pigment which I believe was from a now-defunct indie brand worked beautifully in the polish and gave it a mossy, golden sheen.
The above shows two coats and a layer of top coat. The scattered holo is really understated and gives more of a multi-dimensional, multi-coloured sparkle than any holo ‘effect’. Now, I need to do some more! I want some Spectraflair pigment! Oh God, not another addiction!
What do you think? Be kind, it’s my first!
I’ve never thought about doing this! The polish looks lovely and especially the Spectraflair.
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Cheers! There’s no Spectraflair in this one though, this is the Sally Hansen Night Lights making the sparkles, it’s very understated (read: not very good!) x
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AMAZING!
Did you have any difficulty mixing the pigments with the nail polish? Or did you just kind of dump them into the bottle together and gave it a swirl?
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Cheers Dani, I washed a ball bearing out from one of my old Mavala bottles, dropped it in the bottle and it mixed up really nicely x
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Ooooh, good effort! It came out really nice! I want to get some Spectraflair as well but I think it’d all go downhill from there…
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I’m stalking the eBay auction – I’m gonna have to go for it. IT’S SO EXPENSIVE THOUGH!
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Sounds like an awesome excuse to buy some of those ManGlaze franken bottles.
(These are the ones I mean: http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51nvgVm40dL._SS500_.jpg )
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ohmigod they’re cute! I just bought these off eBay and some 1/8″ ball bearings to mix them up. I want those ManGlaze ones now though!
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I think it looks fantastic!
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Thanks Julianne! It’s too much fun playing!
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beautypool
<3
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haha, cheers Julia!
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I’m not much of a fan of green but you did a good job. It’s something I might wear at Christmas. x
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That’s me, a month behind fashion
x
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Gorgeous – would definitely buy this if it were available. x
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aww very kind, cheers Helen!
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I really want to try frankening too but I feel too scared to create a whole bottle each time! Maybe I’ll find some WnW polishes on sale to franken with
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Yep, that’s why I’ve started with a couple that I knew I wouldn’t mind wasting if it all went horribly wrong!
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Haha it’s fun..especially with glitter polishes. Though I’ve found that if you add too much pigment the overall effect will be a “matte”. Clear + fyrinnae arcane magic = awesome.
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Arcane Magic, you say? I have a few of those…. HMMM.
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haha I can see the cogs turning!
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Hah, just need to be careful because some of the darker ones like glitterboi have this dark base which looks odd if you just have the clear polish on, so I layer it over dark colours and it rocks. I guess you could add it straight to coloured ones but I haven’t tried that yet…
I think someone mentioned a “suspending agent” to stop pigment glooping in the polish but I admit I haven’t looked into it in detail. I just mix and go
.
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Ooooh, thanks for the tips! I shall be more frugal with my pigments and I’m not sure if I have Arcane Magic but I’ll be looking for it tonight!
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Ooh, this is really pretty! I mix polishes on a sheet of paper – just a couple drops at a time sometimes, but I’ve never made a whole bottle.
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It is the best afternoon time-waster ever!
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whoa, where did all your followers come from?
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whoa, I dunno – maybe it’s ‘cos my pictures are in focus?
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Ooooh, never thought of adding pigment to a whole bottle. I’ve got some glitter polishes that are a bit rubbish that I can bring to life!
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go for the finest pigments you’ve got and it’s a really good idea for using up those layering glitter polishes that you very rarely layer!
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My first franken was made by adding purple eye dust to a streaky Avon nail polish called Romance- it was iridescent white and had a slight purple duochrome, but was an utter nightmare to use. The result is definitely funny- its lilac and dries semi-matte and yet looks somewhat metallic, and lasts all of 1 hour on the nail with no topcoat. But my mum was very impressed with it for some reason
I don’t know how to mix different polishes together- do you just pour one into another?
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That sounds awesome (except for the crappy wear) – yeah, I just literally poured directly from one bottle into the empty bottle, with as much care as I could manage. No spillages! Phew.
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I like it! It’s definitely awesome for your first try. My first attempts at frankening were pretty abysmal! I used pigment in a clear top coat for my first attempt, and for some reason, the pigment wouldn’t disperse…it was all gloppy and stuff! I think the trick is to have those little ball bearings that mix the polish when you shake the bottle.
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I’ve never thought to do this, but the result looks interesting, so may have to have a little experiment. I actually have a glittery pigment that I never, ever use that I think would be perfect for this
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So COOL. I never thought about doing this! Now I’m going to go and start mixing up polishes. Hehe-it’ll be like when I was a kid and mixing potions in the bathroom to make up all kinds of concoctions.
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Love this idea! Great way to give old polishes some life (and make room for MORE new polishes!)
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