Anything "Duochrome" or "Chameleon" can also be found using the tag "Color Shifting"

Updates & Notices

Warning: This blog and some info within is out of date. The date of any updates are usually noted at the top of each page/entry. As of 1/08/20, all pages have had dead links removed/repaired as well as 2010 entries and 2011 Jan-July.

Saturday, February 1, 2020

Color Shifting Rocks

Glass rocks from the Dollar Tree, painted on the back with layers of Glitter Unique's Color Shifting Flakes, Ultra Chrome Chameleon Flakes, Illusion Flakes, (the different flakes are not mixed up on one rock, each is a different color) SpectraFlair-35 (Glitter Unique sells that too) and a holographic glitter polish I made forever ago. The final layer was black for contrast. The last two photographs are with flash.

I made a lot of rocks in different sets but these are my favorites. Delightfully shifty and holographic.





With Flash...


Monday, January 13, 2020

Glitter Hippo Color Shifting Glitters (for crafts)

It should come as no surprise that I have a massive collection of glitter, enough to fill two empty cat litter buckets (because those things are so handy for storage), one for solvent resistant, nail polish glitters and the other for the crafting variety. The Glitter Hippo glitters are the crafting type but no less fun to play around with, especially the color shifters and I have them to show you, as well as the “project” I’ve been using them for the last couple days.

Glitter Hippo’s glitters aren’t solvent resistant and Glitter Hippo doesn’t say they are- I’m putting that out there because this is a nail polish blog usually but every once in a while, I like to share crafty things too. They will bleed when exposed to polish, such as when being sprinkled onto wet polish, so they'd bleed in nail polish too- and that was ok with me since I bought the larger size for glittering Christmas ornaments last year and didn't intend to use them for polish. I like the look of the glitters so much that the ornaments stay on display year-round with my glass collection, and when I saw those glitters were being sold in a finer size, I knew I’d eventually buy them too.

Last year's ornaments prior to having the tops replaced, showing the 1/24" size color shifters.

Their place-of-display (in four shots) on top of my kitchen cabinets, bringing more color into the room.

The glitters are sold in 20 gram packages and are currently on sale, priced at $3.00 instead of the regular price of $4.00. That’s a really good deal, because true color shifting glitters are slightly harder to find (I’ve looked) and usually come in smaller package size with a higher price tag. They are mostly hex cut glitters but some colors are available in other shapes too such as stars, diamonds and butterflies- 20 grams, normally $5.00, also on sale for $3.00.

Rather than attempting to show you the color shift of each glitter with still photos, I made a short video for each set, one for the 1/24” size and one for the 1/128”, then uploaded them to my polish-related You Tube account (links for them below). Please excuse both the jerkiness of my filming and the background noise, I don’t have a lot of experience making videos, plus one of my cats wanted to use the table more than I did lol (no one eats at that table for the record).


Size: 1/24" (which is .042" inch or 1.067mm)
YouTube video link
Tropical Robot
Maleficent
Fairy Wings
Mermaid’s Tail
Autumn Leaves
Daydream
Gnomeones Home
Dragon Egg
Pink Sugar
Pink Lemonade
Dahlia Dahlia Bills, Y'all
Watermelon Sprinkles
Unicorn Tears (not purchased or shown)


Size: 1/128" (.007" inch or 0.1984375mm)
YouTube video link
Mermaid Sparkles
Fairy Dust
Dragon Scales
Spiked Apple Cider
Watermelon Bubblegum
Gnome Mischief
Head in the Clouds
Rusted Robot
Mistress of Evil (Out of stock at the time of my order so not shown)
Autumn Afternoon (Out of stock at the time of my order so not shown)
Unicorn Magic (not purchased or shown)

When the new, finer sized color shifters arrived, I turned them into ornaments too (using Beacon Glitter It!), then looked around for something else to use the glitters on. After rejecting various ideas, I ended up grabbing the oval glass cabochons and the clear acrylic adhesive ones I bought for my not-quite-successful nail polish pendants years ago and tried glittering the backs using clear nail polish as the adhesive. I made many before I realized the exposure to the wet polish was causing the color to bleed from the edges of the glitter and while the effect wasn’t awful, it was ruining some of the color shifting. Below is Maleficent on the back of a glass cab, where the contrast between the dark purple of the glitter and the now green edge bleed is most obvious.

I tried Mod Podge Gloss next, using it in the same way as the clear nail polish. I applied a thin layer of Mod Podge, sprinkled some glitter on and pressed it down, until the back was fully covered. Let dry and repeat… typically took three or four layers until opaque from the front. The MP goes on white but dries clear and even though it will dull the shine of glitter a little, the glass helps offset that.

On the left is the clear polished cab (with edge bleed), the right is the Mod Podge'd cab

While the cabs were flipped face down and drying, I realized the back looked a bit like a simulated druzy quartz (Google it if you don’t know what I am talking about) and I kind of like that effect too.

I moved on to glittering those decorative clear glass (flat-backed) rocks the Dollar Tree sells and wanted to add a couple things about using the Mod Podge to do this.
- It doesn't matter a lot what paint brush you use for the first coat but for any successive coats, I'd advise a softer brush with a slightly thicker layer of the Mod Podge. A firmer paint brush will remove some glitter while you're applying the MP which you don't want, and the thicker application helps with drag.
- Press down lightly on the glitter immediately after sprinkling it on and leave it alone to dry completely, then knock off the excess glitter. You'll have better coverage that way.
- After you've put as many layers on as you want, seal the back with a final layer of Mod Podge to keep the glitter from falling off.
- One final note on using Mod Podge on glass. Glass isn't porous and the adhesive bond is not permanent so if you're rough with them or you pick at the glitter purposely, it will come off. I colored wine glasses using Mod Podge+food coloring for decoration and a couple years later was still able to peel it off the glasses. I used it on my front door the same way to simulate stained glass and know when I get tired of looking at it, removing it won't be a problem.

I have no idea what I'll use these for, maybe like large, smooth rhinestones or maybe I'll just throw them in a bowl as decorative pretties.

Go check out Glitter Hippo's glitters if you haven't already. They sell much more than color shifting glitters, all affordably priced- see categories below. -MK

Thermal Glitter, UV Glitter, Holographic, Shimmer, Color Shift, Shapes, Chunky Glitter, Chunky Mix, Crystal Glitter, Glow In The Dark, Micro, Iridescent, Iridescent Dream Glitter, Fluorescent, Matte, Matte Metal, Glitter Blends, Biodegradable Glitter, Mylar Flakes

Friday, January 3, 2020

New TKB Trading Swatches

Thank you for coming back once again. What I have for you today are swatches of the TKB Trading pigments I purchased in November and for Christmas, an assortment of purples for eyeshadow, wish list items, newer/too hard to pass up items or pigments chosen because of they weren't out of stock due to Christmas.  

I bought all sample sizes, either 6 grams or 2.5 grams depending on the pigment and ranging in price from $1.65 to $3.65. I bought ounces in the past but never managed to use them up so I’m learning to appreciate the sample size; easier on the pocketbook and takes up less room to store. 

All of the pictures were taken under Ottlite, on a gloomy day, no sun and no flash used. The last photo in each set are the same pigments but photographed in natural daylight, not Ottlight. Photos can be enlarged.

Silver Foil Metallic, Rascally Rose, Sneaky Violet, Pink-Red/Blue Shade 
Silver Foil Metallic is every bit as silver and metallic as the name says it is. Rascally Rose can be Sparkle Rose’s brighter, more sparkly cousin (and I love Sparkle Rose). Sneaky Violet, I was more impressed with online but it's still a lovely vibrant pink color. Pink-Red/Blue Shade fits in well with TKB’s Bishops Violet- they are very close.
 
 
 

The Original Hot Mama, Hot Step Mama
Out of all the reds I own (16), these two are something else, oh so vibrant and pure RED. I wish I’d bought them both sooner.
 

TKB Flame, Copper Fire, Apricot, TKB Cotton Candy
Flame is a warm and sparkly reddish brown. Copper Fire is somewhere between Umber and Copper Penny colorwise but more sparkly. Cotton Candy is peachy-pink with ample sparkle. Apricot is a light, pastel orange with golden glow.
 
 

Gleaming Gold, Mermaid's Gold, TKB Limerick, TKB Lucky Green
Gleaming Gold is a pale, light gold. Mermaid’s Gold is a richer gold with green interference. Limerick is an odd color to me, silvery gold, not quite green or gold. Lucky Green is a light green with golden interference.
 
 
 

Ballad Blue, Amethyst, Blue Iris
I screwed up the order these were supposed to be in while swatching, photos are correctly labelled.
Ballad Blue is a gray-blue with reddish-purple interference. Blue Iris is blue-gray with a pretty violet interference and reminds me somewhat of Her Majesty. Amethyst is a medium purple.
 
Ballad Blue, Amethyst, Blue Iris above
 
 
Ballad Blue, Blue Iris & Amethyst here.

TKB Pearl Violet, MyMix Pearly Plum, Black Amethyst
Pearl Violet is such a pale purple it is almost silvery- with pearly sheen. Pearly Plum is a red toned purple and complimented nicely by Black Amethyst, also more red toned than blue but darker.
 
 
 

Mister Fantastic, TKB Cloud Kingdom, TKB Fantasia
Mister Fantastic is not dissimilar to Her Majesty but the particle size appears a little finer and there is a much sharper violet iridescence to it. Cloud Kingdom is very sparkly, more purple than blue to me. Fantasia is a bit of a sparkly duochrome, pink/red/orange/gold. Cloud Kingdom and Fantasia are part of the Fairytale Collection along with Pixie (after this section) and Unicorn which I don’t own. 
 
 
 

TKB Pixie, Robin, Princess Merida
Pixie is a stronger duochrome than Fantasia and as far as color itself, looks a lot like Robin- both are a yellow green that shifts through to a pinkish red on the extreme angles. Princess Merida is described as a, "Super sparkly duochrome from pink to pale tangerine and several things between." and that is totally accurate. My pictures fail to show the full extent of the color shift in these three pigments.
 
 
 
 

Galaxy Collection: Intergalactic, Cosmos, Astral, Nebula
These are all black based duochromes with moderate sparkle and that's about all you can tell from my photos so I will refer you back to TKB and to the link above. On the listing for the Galaxy Collection, there are photos and a short video clip that displays them better.
Intergalactic- pink to green, Cosmos- red to orange yellow, Astral- green to purple, Nebula- purple to dark red?
 
 
 

Like my previous purchases, I don't know what I'll use these pigments for but I am happy to have added them to my collection. Perhaps my photos will help you decide if you want them as well.

-MK