Check Your Old Frankens

I end up going through my collection of frankenpolish, bottle by bottle, to make or update a list and I usually find a few that have gone bad, mostly due to the old zinc plated BBs we used before we knew better. If they corroded at the same rate, it would be an easy thing to pluck them all out but they don't and instead, you pick up a bottle, see the tell tale orange/brown discoloration and know it's probably too late to save it. Along with the nasty coloring comes rust debris and a thickening of the polish, one so strong even if you can "fix it" with thinner, it won't apply quite right- unless you catch it soon enough. Then you might be able to drain the polish into another bottle, leaving out the old BBs and replacing them with stainless steel. The key there is catching it just after the discoloration starts which is why it might be a good idea to check your old frankens from time to time, particularly your favorites. -MK

Franken #394 SF Laser

Surprised to "see me" again? I am, and I'm even back with another manicure.

I got close to a week out of the last paint job before I whacked a nail, taking a big chip off the side (but at least it didn't break) so it had to come off and another put on- after having painted nails for three weeks, the naked ones were decidedly ugly. I had trouble picking a brand or even a color because 99% of my polish collection is "untried" so in the end I settled on one of my own, an early SpectraFlair franken though not one I'd call "autumnal" since it's primarily purple.

The formula is below but it went through changes when suspension base became available and TKB Trading starting selling Cherika Moon. I've omitted the tweaking and left the basic ingredients here.
#394 SF Laser: (Full size bottle) 1/4 Sally Hansen Laser, 1/4 Sally Hansen Purple Potion, 2d SpectraFlair 35, 1/2 Glam base, 1/2 smidgen, 2d TKB Cherika Moon.

SF Laser is blue toned purple that, under the proper lighting, will shift slightly more pink, displays its holo effect in the sun and the blue sparkle from the SH Laser and Cherika Moon in all lighting. I was shooting for something that was holographic but also duo-chromatic and I achieved that but its difficult to capture both effects simultaneously in pictures. Unlike some of my frankens, I didn't have too much trouble with the thickness or application- three thin(ner) coats here for opacity.

Bottle Shot

VERY early morning sun

And a little later...

I'll end with these, the first a little blurry but super holo.

I might add a couple more pics later but I can rarely get my camera to see what my eyes see. -MK

TKB Trading now selling Mirror Chrome Pigment

Nice news- TKB Trading is now selling silver Mirror Chrome Pigment. A lot of you are into it and even more of you probably own some but I love when one of my favorite (and affordable and reliable) companies starts selling something else different.

Mirror Chrome Pigment
Sample size, 2.5 gram $3.50
1 ounce, $27.50
4 ounces, $98.50

Before anyone asks me, right now, I have no idea how their price/quantity compares to anyone else's (or even exactly who the "anyone else" might be); I don't own any, have never used it so I won't be any help if you need it. I've seen the shiny stuff all over my fav-blogs-to-read and that's the extent of my knowledge. -MK

Sinful Colors Pine Away + UCC Flakes

I mentioned I painted my nails twice and posted the first a couple days ago, here's the second. Knowing my ability to screw up a paint job within minutes, I took some pictures before bothering to (try to) clean up my mess.

This one has as a base color Sinful Colors Pine Away, part of a Mirror Metallics collection from 2013, not all that striking of a metallic in my opinion but a nice green which is why I bought it. The top coat is a couple layers of another UCC flake from Glitter Unique, the mega UCC flake Violet/Blue/Green. This flake does have other beautiful colors within its transition but the most dominant is a very sharp green and it complimented the Pine Away underneath. I didn't manage to capture it in photos but it really glows in the sunlight.

If you don't own the UCC Flakes or some polish with them it, go buy them. Lucky for me, I am easy to please, my eyesight isn't the greatest up close (and who but me is staring at my nails from 6 inches away?) so I'm satisfied with the end result. -MK

Painted Nails and UCC Flakes

I have actually painted my nails twice in about 2 weeks, probably breaking my previous record and though I don't claim to do it well, I took pictures to document it. Here and now, I present to you the first one from around the 8th, two polishes together. The base polish, if you will, is a "Duck Dynasty" brand polish called, "Color Changing Mallard", your basic red-orange-yellow color shifter. That one I snagged from Walmart on clearance. The top coat is made from a UCC flake I bought from Glitter Unique, Copper/Gold/Green.

These first three are the same day I did it, just one coat of the UCC flakes. You can see the "Color Changing Mallard" a little better.

These are day two and another coat of the UCC flakes. I love them.

Look for the color, not the quality. I certainly don't do it often enough to "practice" manicures. -MK