Bling Metalflake: Swatches

Links checked 12/12/13

As with all my pictures, click to enlarge. 

I’ve made a lot of frankening supply purchases this month, part of that venturing into the unknown- automotive glitter or, as it seems to be called in that industry, automotive flakes. I showed you my Alsa sample deck in the last post(s), this time I’m reviewing what I got from Bling Metalflake.

My post Iridescent Glitters was spawned by my disappointment with some of their products. Those products were bleeders and I hate bleeders so they have been returned and exchanged. The rest of what I have I've received is positive.

Bling Metalflake originally caught my eye on eBay even though they do have their own website; "flakes" or glitter it may be but the sparkle (in their photos) was out of this world and the word “bling” really does apply. The prices were reasonable too, $19.99 for a 4 ounce jar (comparable to Paint with Pearl's prices), $12.49 for a 2 ounce jar, a nice selection of colors including holographics. The flakes are also available in a set of 6 2 ounce jars for $49.99 which is how I purchased them (they sell sets of the 4 oz jars but the price is higher and the amount not necessary).

The colors I bought, all .008" in size, are shown below. Bling Metalflake doesn’t give individual descriptions but I will here.

Top, left to right: #4 Black Prism, #54 Diamond Ice Prism, #11 Purple Prism, #16 Pink Shifting Prism, #45 Holographic Silver, #41 Holographic Blue

Bottom, left to right: #32 Orange/Lime Shifting, #52 Holographic Red, #53 Holographic Fuchsia, #40 Blue/Purple Shifting, #55 Holographic Green, #20 Blue Blaze

#4 Black Prism is holographic but a light one, more like black glitter with some silver holo thrown in. In nail polish testing and used alone, it proved to be colorfast with very minimal black bleed. Photographed in macro and not, from above and the side.

For the colorfast test I didn’t use much glitter or polish and used a small bottle but you can see it behaved. I took a photo of the bottom too since the amount used was so minimal. This, along with the holos test, is based on a 4 day time span.

#45 Holographic Silver I didn’t see the need to do a colorfast test on because it’s already silver- no other color to bleed to. I only bought it because I figured I might as well have a silver holo in every size imaginable. Both sunlight pics. Update 9/17/11: this silver is no less or more brilliant than TKB's Holla Glow glitter but the larger size makes it sparkle a tad more. I've experienced no problems with this.

#11 Purple Prism is supposed to be holographic and it is but barely, a (far) more scattered holo than Black Prism above. In its favor is that it’s a nice rich purple. For color-fastness in polish, it was tested along with the Green, Red, Blue and Fuchsia holographics and while it does bleed some, it retains enough color to tell what it is. Those pics will be after the descriptions for the other holos. All of these are taken in indoors sunlight. Update 9/17/11: Definately a bleeder but doesn't bleed to silver, remains purple.

#41 Holographic Blue is royal blue in color and stays in the cool color range but I don’t think that lessens its impact.  The holo was hard to capture so I offer up both a sunlight shot and a lamplight one for the containers. For the “from above” pics, left is macro, right is not. It is also colorfast in nail polish which pleased me immensely. Update 9/17/11: Also a bleeder but as with the purple, it doesn't turn silver (the holo glitters I received from Ester's Nail Center did bleed to silver but retained the holographic finish).

#52 Holographic Red is almost darker than I expected and not as intense as Holographic Fuchsia but that’s ok. Unfortunately, it fails the colorfast test and bleeds a lot, coloring the polish but not enough so that it turns silver. This may or may not be a bad thing since glitter seems to work best in jelly-type polishes.

#53 Holographic Fuchsia is far brighter holo than the red and as an added bonus- it doesn’t seem to bleed much. I’m not normally into pinks but hey, it was holographic. Update 9/17/11: Also a bleeder but as with the purple, it doesn't turn silver. I have surrendered to the fact that glitter works best in clear or translucent polishes as opposed to those that are pigmented so it just did me the favor of turning itself into a jelly base.

#55 Holographic Green is probably my favorite out of the bunch. I like it so much in fact that I can’t think of a combo that’s good enough to be used with it though it will probably be the first one I try. It doesn’t bleed. Update 9/17/11: Having since used this as a topcoat, ie in clear polish, it also bleeds but is still fine.

The photos below represent the colorfast test for the Red, Fuchsia, Blue, Purple and Green holographics. I took a lot of pictures but none look holographic to me, at least not based on the pics, only super-bright. Update 9/17/11: All bleeders apparently but very much still holographic and these glitters have been submerged the longest. The polish itself has taken on a grape jelly color that doesn't detract from the holo appearance.

 

 

#20 Blue Blaze was a space filler for me, something to round out the order. I chose the .008” size based on Bling Metalflake’s pictures of it and in clear polish this does not disappoint. I almost cannot believe what a deep rich blue it is.. Out of the three sizes offered, the .008” seemed to stand out more than the others. This one doesn’t bleed either.

The Bleed test

This is only 12 hours old at this point but appears to be holding up fine.

Now for the troublemakers.

#16 Pink Shifting Prism doesn’t deserve more than one picture. In photos it reminded me of one of Sally Hansen’s HD polishes, LCD (or maybe Wavelength or Byte) and they are similar but the damn thing is not only a bleeder, it turns into flecks of nothing. When I emailed the company to complain (politely because you don’t bitch when you want something out of someone), I was told that it has known bleeding issues and they would refund my money. It is currently on its way back to be exchanged…

In the case of Orange/Lime Shifting, Blue/Purple Shifting and Diamond Ice, my instinct said they were going to be a problem but I bought them because no other glitter I own that looks like that does work. These don’t either. The colorfast test you’ll see below.

#32 Orange/Lime Shifting, #40 Blue/Purple Shifting, #54 Diamond Ice Prism

#54 Diamond Ice Prism

#32 Orange/Lime Shifting

#40 Blue/Purple Shifting

The results of the colorfast testing you see includes Pink Shifting Prism, hence the very pink tone of the polish. I knew ahead of time what these white ones were going to do so I just threw them in a bottle from a previous test rather than waste a clean bottle. You can also see a few flecks of Blue Blaze and some surviving Kit Kraft Inc. glitters from yet another test.

Bleeding with these took only minutes. The three whites are going back with the pink. I'll have a second posting when their replacements arrive -MK

Related Entries:
Bling MetalFlake Replacements
Bling MetalFlake: Store Review

Glitter Find

Glitter Haul

Glitter Review: Bleeders & Flecks

Iridescent Glitters

Bleeding Glitter List