To a New Year...

Today is the 31st of December and the last day of 2017- the blog survived another year. If you don't know, it's been around now for 7 years and 3 months and in that time I gained 602 followers! I've lost a few here and there but if you're still with me, even once in a while, THANK YOU! Without you, I'd just be talking to myself. 

Life just keeps coming and keeps you busy. I still dabble with polish and buy the color shifting pigments when they come out but it the hobby is far less interesting to me today and I have less to contribute. Just about anything you need to start and maintain the hobby, including the "research" are widely available now and easy to find, not so when I started out. But I can still recall the joy and amazement from mixing that first simple bottle of clear polish + pigment and I hope it is something you still experience.

May your 2018 be more sparkly and colorful than this year.
Happy New Years. -M

Adoptable Cats in N. Kentucky & Ohio

Although cats are not the same topic as this blog, many of my readers seem to also be cat lovers so I'm going to share my new Facebook page, Tri-State Adoptable Cats, in the hopes I'll reach a broader audience (beyond those on my "friends" list). Allow me to explain, if you're still here.

I've had cats since 2010, six at this moment, with one that passed away a couple years ago. Of those cats, four were strays, two came from a local animal shelter and one from a rescue- so you can see that I too am a cat lover and equal-opportunity adopter.

Starting in 2015, I began sharing the profiles of adoptable cats on my personal Facebook page daily. These cats were within the Northern Kentucky-Ohio area, from local rescues and shelters mostly and that list grew to include over 20 agencies; I'm afraid those on my friends list probably got tired of the daily influx and stopped following. With that in mind, I created Tri-State Adoptable Cats on Facebook, this way I can continue to feature the cats daily but not annoy those who wish not to see them.

If you're one of those people that like to see cute adoptable cats and kittens and you live in the Northern Kentucky-Southern Ohio area- or know someone who does- stop by. I'd love to "see" you there!
-MK

Site Updates

I'm aware that there are a ton of dead links around here, not to mention price lists that aren't current, stores and content that no longer exist so I'm going to start working on that- pulling the dead links specifically, first on the pages, then I'll hit the entries. When a page or entry is complete, I'll date it.

Everything should load and function just fine during this time. -MK

Pure Ice Lucky Charming

Saturday was another sister day so once again I decided to paint my nails, far from the professional job my sister has done of course but it makes me happy just the same. Saturday's pick was Pure Ice Lucky Charming, a newer sparkly green that has been gathering dust in my collection for a few months even though it really grabbed me in store. Although I provided my own bottle shot, Lucky Charming next to my own franken #469 Chrysocolla, the pic doesn't do the color justice. I would call it a yellow-leaning green with a very beautiful gold shimmer. The finish is super sparkly and nearly metallic, that's my opinion but judge for yourself.

I used Chrysocolla as a topper, 2 coats and it turned out to be the perfect compliment, allowing Lucky Charming to shine through but also adding extra sparkle and a bit of a duochrome effect.

This one scores high on my list (my very short list) of polishes I have the patience for because it dried pretty fast and I was able to get away with only two coats. I could have used a third of course but two provided sufficient coverage. I was also rather proud of my paint job- the gap between the polish and the cuticle is uneven but I didn't flood my cuticle and the sides of my nails because I was practicing applying thinner coats... That sentence got wordy fast. Whatever, the point is I did a better job than I usually do and I was happy enough I took a boatload of photos.

Indoors photos first. 

macro

 

  

And some outside shots, this time in the shade.

 

And in the sun.

 

 

I did something else fun this weekend too- I dyed my hair with a red semi permanent dye, Poppy Red (Jerome Russell, Punky Color) over my permanent current red, Vidal Sassoon Runway Red, London Luxe line. The Runway Red was hubby's pick, unnaturally vivid red but evidently that was a good thing because Poppy Red ended up this bright without my having to bleach my hair. It smelled a heck of a lot better than any permanent hair dye I've used too. The best part is it will eventually wash out so no harm in playing around with some color.

 It's going to rain here soon so enjoy the sun when you have it. -MK

At Home with the Dollar Tree

Since I know I didn't reply to every one of you for your comments and well wishes about the house, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU. It was nice to be able to share the news and read your thoughts on the process and it did quite a bit to make me feel better. -MK

At the moment I am undecided if I'll even post this entry so I'm just going to write it the way I really want to. There are so many little details I want to share with someone, even if they seem silly or mundane.

We've been here just over a month and I've been extremely busy with all things house related so there hadn't been much idle time for my polish hobby. I did buy a few drugstore polishes and thought about mixing them up with some of the Solar Color Dust pigments I'd purchased in February(?) but the supplies were already packed so that idea was rejected. Instead I spent the entire month of April packing the apartment while waiting impatiently for the closing on April 30th. The month of May had been spent just enjoying the house and settling in.

We moved the same weekend we closed and like most people do, I found that I was moving out of the apartment with far more stuff than I moved in with and wondered how we had it all in the place. The high point was that my two sons, going on 15 and 17, were a great help and worked together to unload the truck themselves the second day, truly impressing to us. The low point would have been transporting my 4 cats to the new house the night before and having to leave them here alone; I think I suffered as much separation anxiety as they did. I swear I am not the crazy cat lady, not yet anyway, all 4 were strays and I think 4 is my limit- that's more than enough kitty litter that ends up on the floor.

I am excited enough about finally having a house that I had the majority of the boxes unpacked and put away within a day and few key decor items distributed around the house. Momentarily it's rather plain but also pleasant because having lived in a crowded, cluttered apartment for 8 years, I find myself extremely reluctant to display all my decorative items. Most have been relegated to my basement "studio" but more about that later. I've got a thousand decorating ideas flying through my head and thought I'd share a few here, things I've done with supplies I owned already and a few more purchased from the Dollar Tree. Bear in mind I am not a professional decorator or Martha Stewart but I know what I like and what works for me. Yes, this entry probably should be posted somewhere else but I have only the one blog.

I love my kitchen with it's oak colored cabinets, carved wood trim, granite counter tops and stone-look (I say "stone look" because I have no idea what it is) back splashes accented with diamonds of the same granite but the knobs were plain old black and I wanted to add something to it all. Years ago, I caught a segment of a decorating show and I remember the host saying that you can change the look of your kitchen just by changing the hardware on your cabinets and I thought that was a fine idea. Rather than going out and buying different hardware, I utilized things I already owned, in this case nail polish, glitter and pigments.

The granite in the counters is black with silvery white flecks with hints of red so that's what I decided to play off of. I made a very simple mixture of a now-discontinued .008" Sterling Silver glitter I bought from Coastal Scents several years ago, TKB Trading's Siren Red pigment and clear polish, testing it a few times on one of the knobs until I figured out less glitter and more pigment looked better. It took me about an hour to paint them all and the end result I thought was nicely understated and went well with the counters.

My basement is finished (meaning completely painted, tiled floor and entirely functional) and I have turned that space into my "studio"/decor-display area. While it's nice having a place to stash all of my craft supplies (I had no idea I had that much stuff until I saw it lined up against the wall), I still don't have a table or desk to work at so I starting thinking about what I could improvise with and minimize further spending. What I came up with, utilizing the polish drawers I own that already take up space, was to make a work table out of a hollow-core interior door, $20 at Home Depot. I don't actually have the door yet so I can't show you pictures but with the addition of a chair (I don't have one of those either),  I can see it being a fairly spacious area to work in if I arranged things right.

In my former apartment, jewelry was stored in different places around the house because the drawers of my free standing jewelry box were filled with other junk while my earring collection was deferred to the half bath where it occupied two walls (earrings falling off into the litter box was a definite hazard). Here in my house, I was able to create a central location for all my jewelry in the corner of my bedroom.

Since the jewelry box itself was offset in the corner, I had to anchor the mirror ($1.00 from Dollar Tree) that way as well. I tried velcro first but it didn't make enough contact with the walls to hold so I used a hot glue gun to glue pieces of ribbon to the sides and pinned it there with tacks, holes but minimal and small. The cherry blossom wall stickers I also got from the Dollar Tree, colored with paint markers (they were silver) and added as the first accent around the mirror. The other flowers on the ends of the branches I cut from a wallpaper sample, if I decide to include them when I take pictures. Up close it somehow irritates me but from a little farther away its a nice effect.

To keep the earrings organized and all together, I had to make new hangers and find a way to put them on the wall without making holes. The original version was made with rubbery shelf liner (Dollar Tree, $1.00) sandwiched between a cardboard frame with Elmers Glue and was then nailed to the wall all the way around for support, not pretty but functional. For the second version, I used foam board from Dollar Tree, cutting out the center so the frame is one solid piece and sandwiched the gripper stuff between the two with a combination of Elmers Glue and hot glue at key points. To hang them without making any holes, I used velcro strips (purchased from Walmart, maybe the only thing in the store made in the U.S.A.) all around the frames and stuck them on the wall that way.

I may never own a crystal chandelier but I enjoyed looking at them when we were at Home Depot recently and while Hubby shot me down on buying one (I'm still enjoying giving him a hard time about it) and I left without the chandelier, I also left with a few ideas to make one, or at least the effect of one. Fortunately for me, my bedroom came with a brass and glass light fixture in the ceiling that is also partially magnetic so I used magnets, metal Christmas ornament hooks and several cheap "Grad" necklaces from, you guessed it, the Dollar Tree, to create one.

Along with the grad necklaces, I've also picked up quite a few green and blues, also Dollar Tree merchandise. I've found uses for them as well- the blue and green grace my kitchen light fixture.

The kitchen "chandelier" is the second version, this time with a combination of velcro around the base of the fixture and aluminum jumprings instead of magnets. It's not sparkly like a traditional chandelier but its interesting and also pulled some more blues and greens into the room.

Those same blue beads helped decorate my formerly silver and white lamp in the living room, along with some rhinestones and blue and clear beads that came off Christmas ornaments I bought from Dollar Tree a couple years ago.

My final contribution for the day and to this entry was the hoop I made to suspend some ornaments from, based on the same idea as a chime (I own many as examples, all lined up by the sliding doors). This way I could hang multiple things from the ceiling from one hook and avoid having to make individual holes. I made this with craft wire from the Dollar Tree as the base wrapped with electrical tape, wrapped again with cloth ribbon and sealed with Mod Podge for rigidness and two more strands of craft wire wound around in opposite directions for more support. Fishing line was used to suspend it from the hook and to hang the ornaments from it. I should have also said that the hoop is rather large so it was easier for me to make something than look for something to buy that was pre-made.

 That was fun for me, I hope you got some entertainment value out of it too. Thanks for reading!

Also, since I know I didn't reply to every one of you for your comments and well wishes about the house, I want to extend a sincere THANK YOU. It was nice to be able to share the news and read your thoughts on the process and it did quite a bit to make me feel better. -MK

-MK

16 Days and Counting

I have a little countdown on my Facebook page but entertaining and time consuming graphics need a home. The inspection was good, repairs have been made, the appraisal has taken place. 16 days and counting... -MK

Housing Update... and shoes.

While I wait for my mailman (I like my mailman and he'll be the only thing I miss about living here) to deliver the shoes mentioned in the title of this entry, I thought I'd give a brief-er update on my house.

This is what our agent called "quiet time", time where paperwork is being filed and is processing and there's nothing left for us to do at the moment but wait. Waiting is a killer, I'm eager to get moving.

My house had it's inspection and passed well enough that our agent said it was the cleanest report she'd seen in a while. The was nothing found that was a deal-breaker and the seller agreed to fix a few of the other minor things such as a broken window. The USDA appraisal will be scheduled, no problem according to the inspector because they mainly want to verify there's a house at the address and that its not falling down, they'll be in and out in 15 minutes. Our closing is set for April 30th so the next two months will be spent packing, moving, cleaning this place, transferring the kids, cats and utilities, changing our address and notifying whomever has to be notified. We're breaking our lease by one month and the penalty is paying for the rest of the lease, the manager stuck to that and would not waive it even though we've been here 8 years. Hubby was surprised by that but I was not.

Now I did mention that I was waiting on a pair of shoes... Charming Charlie, a local shop, sells clothing, shoes and purses but their real eye-catcher is all the jewelry, arranged in sections by color so my sister and I stop by there when we're out together. They also have an online store which is where I found these, on sale, marked down to $19.99 from $35.00. That nice big chunky heel means I can actually walk in them and not risk breaking an ankle.

That pair has kicked off a new shoe obsession so in my idle time, I've been online window shopping for shoes on ebay. I've seen a lot of pairs I'd like to buy including those below. Flashy yes but colorful.

link

Of course while browsing shoes, I've found plenty of ugly pairs too and created The Hall of Ugly Shoes album on my Facebook page, worth a giggle or two if you have the time.

Around here, the weather is looking pretty nice, I hope the rest of you get the chance to enjoy a pretty Saturday and do something fun... -MK

A Step Closer to Home

A housing update and a rant.

I'm pleased to report "my" house has gone from "active" to "pending" and the Open House has been cancelled. The next step is to have the home inspection done which I've scheduled for Wednesday. Our real estate agent won't be there, says inspectors don't like the agent being there and in any case she does not need to be because he will contact the listing agency to get into the house. I chose the same company, Five Star Home Inspections, (they serve parts of Ohio and Kentucky) that we used in 2008 so I'm confident that the report will be thorough and we should be meeting up the next day to go over it. 

I've been feeding my father little bits of info about the house and the process, hoping that that will ease him into the idea but why I care or am even bothering I don't know because he had been trying to discourage me and hasn't been the least bit happy for us like everyone else seems to be. My immediate family, hubby's family and coworkers are happy for us, strangers from my blog are happy for us but not my father.

My father has come up with a whole host of different reasons we should not do this, some of which I'd already considered myself and others like “you should buy a house that appreciates in value” and “another place I can't get into” and “don't trust your husbands boss (who is a fantastic carpenter by the way) to come over and help you fix things” and on and on and on. Don't trust the agent. Don't trust the house or the bank. Don't trust a USDA government loan. Don't expect the co. hubby works for and manages to be in business long enough to pay off the house even though they've been in the business of audio/video computers for over 25 years. Don't trust hubby's ability to work that long. Don't trust the seller either because both the seller and the agent will go out of their way to cover things up about the house. I should get a dog because robberies happen in houses, not apartments. When I reminded him I own a .38 revolver, he just replied that I had no bullets for it and hubby wouldn't want to spend the money on them- I should've reminded him that while he gave me the gun, he refused to even give me the bullets that were already in it. I suppose I'm just supposed to clobber them with it? I've also heard how the town we're moving to is “far away”, 45 minutes while in reality, its 30 minutes away, the same drive hubby makes every day twice a day, 5 days a week to go to work.

I showed him every picture of the house, the nice brick outside, the nice finished basement with ceramic tile- Dad doesn't even have a completely finished basement anymore- and he wouldn't even say the house looked nice.

I've tried to emphasize all the positive points of moving including how the boys will have their own rooms and we'll have so much more space... Even how now Dad could come to my house and visit me instead of having to be visited at his own house... and all he could say to that was how he wasn't spending the whole f***ing day in a manual wheelchair. Seriously??? I know the manual chair is less than comfortable but I didn't say spend the whole day in it and I would think he'd want to see the place his daughter and grandchildren will be living in.

And yet, when I tell him it will be better to live in a house and maybe own the thing one day than to be paying rent and throwing money in a hole, he says he told me we should've been looking to buy a house a long time ago. I guess he forgot that 8 years ago when we almost bought a house, he threw a fit, 3 years ago when I talked about it again it was a disaster and last October, that he made me an offer for a down payment and immediately took the offer back, all because I'd been “bitching, pissing and moaning”. 

I live 5 minutes away now and he is making me glad it's about to grow to 30 minutes. In closing, if you're doing both what you need to do and have to do and you're going about it right, don't let other people poo-poo on your decision to buy a house. -MK

Home!!!

Providing both the USDA appraisal and my home inspection goes well, this is my house. I have a house, I can't believe I'm saying that. The seller didn't budge a bit on price but I don't think I mind very much right now... -MK

House Hunting

This is an update on my house hunting progress for those of you that are interested in how it goes. On my last post, To be... or not to be my house? out of 70 views to date, I received 4 responses, something I find disheartening, a possible sign that maybe there weren't a lot of home owners in that group. Or this just isn't a topic with a lot of interest in the nail polish world which is fine, I figure if it's not interesting to you, you just won't read it.

The responses I did get confirmed my feelings on the matter, to take my time looking around and to make an offer if I found one I felt strongly about so we made an offer on a nice brick ranch house on Wednesday with an asking price of $114,900. That's exactly what this seller wants, not a penny less and is not budging much. Apparently asking the seller to pay the closing costs is not unusual and hubby did, offering $110,000 and all closing costs; that amount was a bit higher than I would've have offered but he wanted to show that we were serious (he also left little room for negotiation and showed his eagerness which I thought was a mistake). The offer was immediately rejected and countered with $114,900 and $3500 of the closing costs and she would replace the hot water heater. We never asked her to replace it but she offered to pretty quick so I think she knew it leaked and was hoping no one would notice. Hubby's counter was that the only way she was getting full price was if she paid all the closing costs, $5000, and we're still waiting to find out if she accepts or not. Again, I wouldn't have offered that much, my offer would've been $112,000.

I don't appreciate the seller playing hardball which is what I consider this- I mean, who the hell pays the asking price? While I'm contrary and my inclination is to walk away and keep looking, hubby really wants the house and is hanging in there. There's an open house on Monday and I think, if she rejects our last offer, she'll be hoping the open house will bring in bigger offers even though it's been on the market just shy of two months and we've been the only people to go see the house.

That's the current progress. We should know today whether we can officially call it "our house", the seller has two more hours to decide. -MK

To be... or not to be my house?

Do I have any readers that have bought a house and have some experience with the process? My hubby and I have been looking at houses again (we did so in 2008 and late last year as well) but we don't quite see eye to eye on some things and it would be nice if I had some outside, objective opinions. The people in my real life that have bought a house in the past are not available; my sister is in no frame of mind to be hearing about house shopping, my mother let my step father deal with everything including picking the house and the most knowledgeable of all, my father, tends to get a nasty about our buying a house so he is not an option. I'm not looking for anyone to help solve the disagreements my hubby and I are having but I would like to know how other people went through the process of deciding it was the time to buy one, shopping around and deciding to purchase a particular home.

In 2008 when we'd looked at houses, we almost bought one but I am eternally grateful it fell through. I'm a stay at home mom so our income for a mid/late-20s couple with two young kids was on the lower side back then and we were only approved for $90,000. For $90,000 and no down payment around here, that means a house probably needs work and the one we almost purchased was no exception but it needed more than cosmetic work. I'd been smart enough to have an home inspection done and the house failed miserably outside of the fact it had black mold so we elected to back out of the offer- it was a bank owned foreclosure and due to the mold would not have passed USDA inspection for our USDA Rural Housing loan.

From start to finish the whole thing was a nightmare and soured me on buying a house, something I'd thought was supposed to be exciting not anxiety-inducing, but I learned a lot from the experience. The biggest lesson was not to let the real estate agent and mortgage broker railroad you and mine did-  I'd merely wanted information about a property and in a very short period of time it had snowballed and I found myself almost buying a house I didn't want. I also learned to be picky and take my time choosing a house I intend to be in the rest of my life and to avoid the majority of foreclosed homes- they are often not in the best condition and their background make me sad; I don't really want to be the person who buys the dream home someone else lost.

Late last year we'd checked out a handful of houses in the $90,000-$110,000 range and while the selection had improved, I found reasons to reject them because none of them "spoke" to me. One house was somewhat appealing with its screened in porch (always wanted one of those) and the biggest in size to date- 4 bedrooms, 2 full bathrooms and full finished basement but instinct told me there were bigger issues we weren't seeing. Before I saw it a second time, a real estate company bought the house, updated it and relisted for $144,000, out of our price range but that's ok because I've found one I like much better.

This is where the disagreement between my hubby and I comes in: we both agree the house is great and could be "the one" but while I feel the need to go see every option available to us before making a decision, he wants to make an offer right now before someone else does. We haven't yet come to an agreement but as a compromise, he agreed to go see the other houses and I'm going to go see that one again. I think the right house will speak to me, move me, linger in my mind and this one certainly has.

So that's my back story on house hunting, what is yours? Did you have any helpful guidance during the hunt or stumble through the process? How many houses did you see before picking the one you did and why did you pick it? I'm always full of questions about this so please indulge me =)

-MK

I'm Almost Here

I'm sure it seems like I disappeared again, not that that's unusual for me but the month of February kept me busy, irritated from arguing with my father and less inclined to spend my limited free time working.

At the beginning of Feb., I spent a lot of time and effort photographing the Solar Color Dust chameleons I'd bought in January and I did actually get all the pictures taken and partial entries written. I did not get them posted however because I was informed on the 4th that our apartment complex would be doing an inspection of every apartment and so I spent the next couple weeks cleaning, mostly on my own with the hubby at work and the kids at school. We don't live like pigs, normally my home is clean enough to have visitors any day of the week but this involved a lot of those things I don't do regularly like cleaning baseboards, the ceilings, washing windows, and the cat hair and dust bunnies that build up in the corners (a day later, my vacuum decided to die and I'd barely gotten started, that was a pain). ... I've lived here for 8 years and we'd never had an inspection before so I did all this assuming the management would be looking around thoroughly. In reality, the manager took a quick look at the kitchen and bathroom, asked if we had any water leaks and left within 5 minutes... The bright side of my neurotic cleaning is that my apartment looked spotless for a few days.

Once the inspection was over, I sidetracked myself with a different project, coming up with a design using rhinestones to decorate the silver aluminum lid of my laptop, totally unnecessary but totally me- if I owned a cell phone, it would also be sparkly. I've had my laptop around six months and resisting the urge to do something to it has been difficult. I first considered buying a "skin" or decal set to customize it, even having one of my own pieces of artwork printed to use but the rhinestone idea has proven more entertaining and creative. Perhaps I will post a photo when I am finished but right now, I'm still working on a digital version in Corel Paintshop Pro.

Soon, I will return to post the swatches and other photos of the Solar Color Dust chameleons and I'd like to think they were worth the wait.

On an unrelated topic, within the last two months I have reached 600+ followers and would like to say a sincere THANK YOU to those of you who became my followers recently and helped me to hit that mark and also to those of you that have been with me since early on. I've never commented on it before but I do occasionally check my stats and I'm always impressed to realize that my blog is as popular as it when I am so inconsistent in my postings. I'm fairly antisocial in real life so I get a real kick out of this. Thanks very much, ladies! -MK

Nail Polish Organizing

I find it interesting when I see how other bloggers store or display their polish collections and those that are able to display theirs often arrange them by color, like my sister although she sticks with OPI and China Glaze.

I live in a smaller apartment and all available wall space is already being used so mine are stored in Sterilite shoebox drawers, purchased as necessary from my local Dollar General. As floor space is also at a premium, they are stacked fairly high, 9 to a column.

The first column is all store bought polish, all keepers, those I won't franken with, except the top drawer where I store bases and topcoats. The second column is also store bought polish, two more drawers for "keepers",  and the rest of drawers are for the duplicates bought for that reason. The final column are my own creations except for the top and bottom drawers which hold my empty bottles and those that need to be cleaned before reusing.

Even with each drawer neatly labelled by brand or line I still often misplace bottles and overlook the same one over and over because all I see looking into the drawer are caps which would be fine if polish names were on top but mine are not. Then I hit upon an idea and spent a few days marking the tops with the polish in the bottle. Obviously you can't use the brush to paint the cap so I painted my finger instead and did it that way.

And now when I pull out one of those drawers, most of the time I find what I am looking for.

-MK

December 2013 Site Updates

Believe it or not, I do come around here once in a while although I quickly become bored when I do. Just the same, I've made some effort to update prices, having gotten done every entry with the $$$ tag but haven't gotten to the pages yet.

Some dead links have been removed or updated where applicable. That's still a work in progress. Today, 12/12/13, I worked all day and fixed links on all but a few entries. Pages will be next.

I found some new suppliers for suspension base (new to me anyway) and listed those on the Suspension Base Suppliers page. I'm amazed at how many there seems to be now.

I've trolled the internet for one of my favorite things- duochrome pigments- and listed the suppliers I found on the Automotive Suppliers page, a couple others on Color Shifting Pigments (Part 3) and (Part 2)

I also fixed my Franken Book, going back to the original version which seems to function just fine as long as I don't update it.

During my absence, I've also made countless color recipes but since most of them are more impressive in dry form and less so in polish, I haven't decided whether I should post them. I must say I find it a bit more difficult without using any of TKB Trading's discontinued Pops pigments.

Speaking of TKB Trading, for my Christmas present from hubby, one of the things I ordered from them was a sample set of the Shimmer Pops, their "ready to wear" pigments so I'll then be able to visually compare them to the Pops and show them to you. Along with that, I also ordered some of their Luminette bottles so I'll have those to show you as well.

I've also discovered I'm no longer notified via email about comments made so I've missed out and not replied on quite a few- my apologies to those of you that left one.

Until you hear from me again, everyone have a happy and safe holiday season -MK

Pigment Sale Details

Check the Pigment Sale page for current items and prices. Links checked 12/12/13

Below are the pigments that are available for purchase and this is a complete list minus the

afore-mentioned Anna's Art Asylum pigments and my SpectraFlair. As I can use my glitters and flakes for things outside of polish making, I have decided not to include these either. Most of these pigments can still be purchased by the ounce or sample from the original companies- TKB Trading, The Conservatorie and Coastal Scents but some are discontinued and this is noted below as it applies.

Coastal Scents samples are, average, $1.00 each for a teaspoon (appx. 1 gram)

The Conservatorie samples are, average, $0.95 each for a teaspoon (appx. 1 gram)

TKB Trading samples are, average, $1.50 each for 6 grams (appx. 4 teaspoons). In the past they sold 1 tablespoon, approximately 12 grams, for the same price.

TCP Global does not sell samples.

I intend to make a small profit, not take a loss, but my prices will be based on what I paid originally, not what these pigments go for currently. I plan on shipping via the Postal Service, a cheaper method whereas all three pigment companies usually ship Fed Ex or UPS. This means you save on shipping if you bought from me versus if you decided to buy directly from any of them. I will also state that I am a bargain hunter to the core and so those materials I choose to package and ship with will not become a huge cost for you to absorb. The baggies I will probably use to package individual pigments in would add roughly $0.10 each, the same as what I will pay for them. If I find them cheaper, the savings, however small, will be passed on to you. The same will be true for the envelopes/bubble mailers.

While I cannot use the Postal Service's shipping calculator without a destination zipcode and an approximate package weight to estimate a shipping charge, I am guessing based on prior smaller packages I've mailed that it may be around $4.00-$5.00 but that had included delivery confirmation and insurance which are optional services from the Postal Service.

All payments will go through PayPal.

Over the course of the day, I'll be going through this list and adding links to the swatches on my blog (you can find these now by using the tags or doing a search on this blog), whether they are interference or duochrome pigments. After that I'll be working on individual prices. so please check back. -MK

Pigment Name	Company	Discontinued (When applicable)	Link to swatch
Emerald	TKB Trading		swatch
Passion Orange	TKB Trading		swatch
Gemstone Ruby	TKB Trading		swatch
True Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
True Green	TKB Trading		swatch
Sagittaire	TKB Trading		swatch
Taurus Orion	TKB Trading		swatch
Colorona Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Libra Blues	TKB Trading		swatch
Capricorn Sea	TKB Trading	This is the original color, the current batch from TKB is not the same.	swatch
Ocean Green	TKB Trading		swatch
Grape Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Polished Silver	TKB Trading		swatch
Colorona Dark Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Green Apple	TKB Trading		swatch
Indian Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Pearl White	TKB Trading		swatch
Raspberry Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Scarlett O’Hara	TKB Trading		swatch
Strawberry Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Queen Kathryn	TKB Trading		swatch
Deep Russet	TKB Trading		swatch
Crucible Red	TKB Trading		swatch
Australian Amber	TKB Trading		swatch
Forged Gold	TKB Trading		swatch
Copper Penny	TKB Trading		swatch
Sparkle Bronze	TKB Trading		swatch
Foliage	TKB Trading		swatch
Umber	TKB Trading		swatch
Lovely Leo	TKB Trading		swatch
Aztec Gold	TKB Trading		swatch
Tangerine Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
True Yellow	TKB Trading		swatch
Radiant Gold	TKB Trading		swatch
Lemon Drop Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Deep Green	TKB Trading		swatch
Cyprus Green	TKB Trading		swatch
Apple Green Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Blueberry Pop!	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Coral Reef Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Blue Steel	TKB Trading		swatch
Deep Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Sparkle Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Patagonian Purple	TKB Trading		swatch
Bishops Violet	TKB Trading		swatch
Brilliant Gold	TKB Trading		swatch
Pennsylvania Green	TKB Trading		swatch
Shamrock Green	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Pisces Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Black Mica	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Blue (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Green (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Crucible Gold	TKB Trading		swatch
Crucible Khaki	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Copper (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Gold (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Violet (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Aquarius	TKB Trading		swatch
Midnight Blue	TKB Trading		swatch
Periwinkle Blue	TKB Trading	Discontinued	swatch
Hilite Orange (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Aster Hue	TKB Trading		swatch
Grape Parfait	TKB Trading		swatch
Red Basics	TKB Trading		swatch
Hilite Red (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Sparkle Rose	TKB Trading		swatch
Gold Reflecks	TKB Trading
Burning Leaves	TKB Trading
Pinky Pink	TKB Trading
Bronze Reflecks	TKB Trading
Turquoise Tweak	TKB Trading
Copper Reflecks	TKB Trading
Her Majesty	TKB Trading
Travel to Mercury (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Mars (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Earth (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Venus (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Neptune (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Jupiter (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Travel to Pluto (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Copper Basics	TKB Trading
Aisha Gold (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Crescent Crimson (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Indu Rose (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Lavender Luz (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Luna Blue (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Aqua Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Copper Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Green Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Red Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Purple Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Gold Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Blue Sparks! (white/interference)	TKB Trading		swatch
Noble Silver Sparks!	TKB Trading		swatch
Shanika Sun (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Marinda Star (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Cherika Moon (duochrome)	TKB Trading		swatch
Metallic Rustic Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Duocrome BG	Coastal Scents		swatch
Mauve Quartz	Coastal Scents		swatch
Orchid Shimmer	Coastal Scents	Discontinued	swatch
Paradise Sea Green	Coastal Scents	Discontinued	swatch
Sparkle Blue	Coastal Scents		swatch
Duocrome Red Orange	Coastal Scents		swatch
Cellini Red Intense	Coastal Scents		swatch
Gemstone Emerald	Coastal Scents		swatch
Gemstone Topaz	Coastal Scents		swatch
Hot Side Pink	Coastal Scents		swatch
Sage Blue	Coastal Scents		swatch
Summit Turquoise (white/interference)	Coastal Scents		swatch
Sunset	Coastal Scents		swatch
Duocrome Sparkle	Coastal Scents		swatch
Pearlescent Sparkling Pure Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Aruban Coral Pearl	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blackstar Red	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blue-Red Chrome	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blue Claret Pearl	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blushing Pink	Coastal Scents		swatch
Cerise Flambe	Coastal Scents		swatch
Chrome Carmine	Coastal Scents		swatch
Duocrome Iridescent Green Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Emerald Isle	Coastal Scents		swatch
Gold Rush	Coastal Scents		swatch
Majestic Green	Coastal Scents		swatch
Antique Red	Coastal Scents		swatch
Paradise Star Gold	Coastal Scents	on clearance	swatch
Tangerine Pearl	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Copper	Coastal Scents		swatch
Goldstone	Coastal Scents		swatch
24 Karat Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Copper	Coastal Scents		swatch
Paradise Shimmer Tan	Coastal Scents	on clearance	swatch
Metallic Sapphire Pearl	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Olivia	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Pixie Purple	Coastal Scents		swatch
Sparkle Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Pearl Bronze	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Pearl Honey Tan	Coastal Scents		swatch
Paradise Rose Sky	Coastal Scents	on clearance	swatch
Antique Gold	Coastal Scents		swatch
Metallic Pearl Red Raisin	Coastal Scents		swatch
Pearlescent Fire	Coastal Scents		swatch
Sienna Fine Pearl	Coastal Scents		swatch
Ultra Shimmer Mica	Coastal Scents		swatch
Crystal Ice Mica	Coastal Scents		swatch
Antique Silver	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blackstar Blue	Coastal Scents		swatch
Blackstar Green	Coastal Scents		swatch
SuperNova Blue (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
SuperNova Red (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
SuperNova Green (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Frosty Gold Luster (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Frosty Glitter Green (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Frosty Glitter Blue (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Starlight Ruby	Conservatorie		swatch
Merlot Gold	Conservatorie		swatch
Starlight Green	Conservatorie		swatch
Red Clay Satin	Conservatorie		swatch
Pink (Green) Interference	Conservatorie		swatch
Watermelon	Conservatorie		swatch
Lovely/Magic Pink	Conservatorie		swatch
Ruby Red	Conservatorie		swatch
Peach Sunset (Fenda Orange)	Conservatorie		swatch
Golden Green Mica	Conservatorie		swatch
Magic Violet Mica	Conservatorie		swatch
Pansy	Conservatorie		swatch
Indigo	Conservatorie		swatch
Sparkling Violet	Conservatorie		swatch
Bubblegum Pink	Conservatorie		swatch
Opal Violet Pearl (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Opal Copper/Copper Pearl (white/interference)	Conservatorie		swatch
Primrose	Conservatorie		swatch
Hot Pink	Conservatorie		swatch
Midori Blue	Conservatorie		swatch
Violet	Conservatorie		swatch
Shimmer Green	Conservatorie		swatch
Shamrock Green	Conservatorie		swatch
Luster Blue	Conservatorie		swatch
CSP Red to Gold (duochrome)	TCP Global		swatch
CSP Purple to Green (duochrome)	TCP Global		swatch
CSP Blue to Red (duochrome)	TCP Global		swatch
CSP Green to Orange (duochrome)	TCP Global		swatch
CSP Gold to Blue (duochrome)	TCP Global		swatch
DCP75 Emerald Green (interference)	TCP Global		swatch
D                        DCP76 Ruby Red (interference)	TCP Global		swatch
DCP77 Deep Purple/Red (interference)	TCP Global		swatch
DCP78 Aqua/Blue (interference)	TCP Global		swatch
FP112 Fine Scarabis/Green	TCP Global		swatch
SP113 Blue/Green	TCP Global		swatch
SP117 Red to Green	TCP Global		swatch
SP118 Green to Blue to Violet	TCP Global		swatch
SP120 Red to Violet	TCP Global		swatch