Bling MetalFlake: Store Review

Links checked, prices updated 12/12/13

It must’ve been an oversight that I reviewed the flakes I bought from Bling Metalflake in September ’11 but not the store itself so I’m here to fix that.

Bling Metalflake was the first automotive-related store I purchased from although that decision was greatly influenced by how sparkly the pictures looked in the eBay store. I was aware that it was basically glitter but there were quite a few holographics and sizes larger than .004” which was all I owned at the time. I also believed, erroneously, that because it was automotive grade polyester, it probably wouldn’t bleed when submerged in polish. The eBay store is under the name of AirGraffix but sets are only in the online store Bling Metalflake. Prices are reasonable, PayPal is accepted and as a bonus, they ship via USPS which helps keep my expenses down.

After doing the math, I decided to order 2 sets of 6 2 ounce jars for $49.99 but the ordering process was made slightly more difficult by the fact that the site doesn’t display correctly- text and images overlap. The way you are supposed to order is to enter the number of the color in the appropriate box and click the PayPal Add to Cart button for each, or, for a set, a series of numbers in a different box. I got around this by copying the entire page to a MS Office document which forced it into a sensible order, shown below (and that isn’t my spelling).

1. Black Magic .004 2. Black Magic .008 3. Black Magic .015 4. Black Prism .008 5. Gun Metal .015 6. Gun Metal .004 7. Blue Gun Metal .004 8. White Pearl .008 9. Purple Blaze .008 10. Purple Blaze .004 11. Purple Prism .008 12. Maroon .008 13. Burgundy .008 14. Red .008 15. Pink Rose .008 16. Pink Shifting Prism .008 17. Midnite Navy Blue .008 18. Teal Blue .004 19. Blue Blaze .015 20. Blue Blaze .008 21.Blue Blaze .004 22. Western Blue .004 23. Electric Blue .008 24. Electric Blue .004 25. Midnite Green .008 26. Emerald Green .008 27. Emerald Green .004                     28. Lime Green .004

29. Chartreuse .008 30. Orange .008 31. Orange Pearl .008 32. Orange/Line Shifting .008 33. Rootbeer .008 34. Penny Copper .015 35. Gold Copper .008 36. Brilliant Gold .008 37. Yellow Gold .008 38. Yellow Gold .004 39. Gold Jewels .008 40. Blue/Purple Shiffting .008 41. Holographic Blue .008 42. Ice Blue .004 43. Silver Jewels .008 44. Chrome/ Silver .008 45. Holographic Silver .008 46. Chrome/ Silver .004 47. Fuschia .008 48. Fuschia .004 49. White Pearl .004 50. Sticky Lime Green .008 51. Bronze Brown .008 52. Holographic Red .008 53. Holographic Fuscia .008 54. Diamond Ice Prism .008 55. Holographic Green .008

Having decided on the two sets, I selected all the available holographics and three color shifting flakes (based on name and appearance) which you can view in my other entries regarding the company. I spent $109.00 so shipping was free.

Almost all the flakes bled but the ones I had real issues with were #16 Pink Shifting Prism, #32 Orange/Lime Shifting, #40 Blue/Purple Shifting, #54 Diamond Ice Prism which became flecks within minutes. 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 my money would be refunded. It took some emailing back and forth but eventually the owner agreed to exchange all four, was willing to help me if I had questions since he was a custom painter and in the end, I felt that I had been dealt with fairly. When I received my exchange order, he had even thrown in an extra full size holo that is not for sale.

Tickled to death and working on pictures for my second Bling Metalflake entry I realized the order was only semi-correct- he had sent the proper replacement colors but the hex sizes were wrong… I let it go, it wasn’t worth my trouble to point out the error.

A month later, I would email the owner again because he was a custom painter and I thought he might have some insight into the matter of the Nfu Oh-like flakes but he didn’t respond. I let that one go, too.  

Would I buy from Bling Metalflake again? Probably not. I like the other colors, but I can find non bleeders elsewhere along with better customer service. -MK

Related Entries:
Bling MetalFlake: Swatches
Bling MetalFlake Replacements
Glitter Review: Bleeders & Flecks
Iridescent Glitters
Bleeding Glitter List

Duochrome Flakes

Links checked 12/12/13

This is intended as a follow up to October's entry I Have a Project for You which was about the color shifting flakes in some of our most popular polishes.

In October, I gave you all the assignment of looking at the ingredients list of your flakie polishes and reporting back the unusual which you did; some of you apparently did your own research on the subject as well. This generated lots of suggestions and ideas but no solid answers.

Thanks to other women's blogs and the internet, I was able to find ingredients lists to these flakies- Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure, Nubar 2010, a brand called Joe with their polish Twilight, Coastal Scents' solitary Cosmic, my own polish Covered in Diamonds from Studio M, and finally a generalized list from Nfu Oh. I compared them side by side, looked up and identified every ingredient but found there to be no relevant or potential one that they all had in common. Rather than narrowing the field, this left it wide open. The general consensus seems to be that these mysterious flakes, rather than being polyester based like glitter, are likely some form of coated mica flakes but I haven't been able to confirm this. This is made more likely by the fact that TKB Trading’s Travel to’s are mica coated with titanium dioxide (a whitener), Silica, and Tin Oxide. Their Star Bites and Moon Dusts, also duochromes, have similar composition.

Out of frustration, I eventually emailed Nubar and Nfu Oh regarding the flakes but as expected (and two months later), I still haven't gotten a response, not even a generic one. I had also emailed the owner of BlingFlake who seemed quite willing to assist and have his brain picked but he didn't respond either. Good job ignoring customers there people. That’s a real turn off.

I have continued to do research and hunt for possible flakes for purchase but have found only the same link each time, one that a lot of you has also found.

The company, Guangzhou Sheng Zhu Daily Pigments Co., Ltd., is a manufacturer in China that makes irregular mica flakes "specially formulated for nail polish" and by description, many of these color shift. They have a chemical composition similar to the pigments mentioned above. However, being that they are a manufacturer, the minimum order is 1 kilogram which is a lot for end consumers like us- 1 kilogram works out to be slightly over 2 pounds for us Americans.

I'm now working on motivating a company to buy these for resale so go check out the flakes at this link and tell me what you think. More importantly, exclaim long and loud about how you love duochrome flakie polishes and would love to buy the dry flakes for yourself, if only we could find the things. The point of this? It's an investment and regardless of a company's buying power, they aren't going to buy unless they believe the demand is great enough and there's money to be made. Remember, we're trying to influence companies here.

While I wait for a response to my product suggestion/request, I emailed Guangzhou Sheng Zhu Daily Pigments Co., Ltd. myself and requested further information, possibly pricing if they are willing to speak with me. We shall see. -MK

Related Entries:
I Have a Project for You
Nfu Oh Flakes

Hit the Duochrome Flakes tag for other related entries not listed above

Franken #420 Peacock

Links Checked 12/12/13

By now I’m sure it’s obvious that I really like greens and blues since most of my posted franken polishes are one or the other… Well, here’s another- Franken #420 Peacock. It's not Christmas-y at all but looks even more spectacular under lower lighting like Christmas lights.

The glitter and flakes I used are shown below, Emerald Green & Blue Blue from Alsa, TKB Blue glitter (discontinued), Coastal Scents Emerald, BlingFlake’s Blue Blaze, Holo Blue, Holo Green & Purple Prism. The bottom left corner shows an overhead shot of Blue Blaze since its container is cloudy.

Here are a most of the polishes used. Confetti Ice Ice Baby, L.A. Colors (Color Craze) Treasure Island, Wet ‘n’ Wild Ocean Grotto & Teal of Fortune. L.A. Colors (Art Deco) Green Glitter, is not shown but it’s your basic green glitter.

The formula fills half a full size bottle and heavily glittered but even so, no suspension base was needed. 1/4 LAC Treasure Island, 1/4 clear, 1 scoop of: AC Emerald Green, AC Blue Blue, CS Emerald Green, TKB Blue, BF Holo Blue, BF Holo Green, 1/2 scoop BF Blue Blaze, BF Purple Prism, 30d C Ice Ice Baby, 10d LAC/AD Green Glitter, 10d WW Ocean Grotto & Teal of Fortune.

All the following photos were taken over a few days because Day 1 decided not be sunny. Day 3 provided the sun for better pics but I spent the morning cleaning out bottles with remover so I'm showing some abnormal tip wear and silver smudges. Peacock has been layered over Sally Hansen (Xtreme Wear) Black Out. The glitter has a low profile and applied surprisingly smooth, needing a topcoat only for extra gloss.

Sunlit bottle shot

Under daylight lamp. Inset shows macro shot of glitter.

Day 1, lamplight

Day 3, indirect daylight

Day 3, early morning sun

Day 3, afternoon sunlight

I left this photo blurry because it happens to be the only one that shows how sparkly this really is. It’s an indoor shot but in sunlight. 

Apparently this one was underwhelming for most of you so I'm adding the brief video clip I had initially decided not to include. The video is located here on YouTube.  -MK

Franken #400 SF/BF Gray Holo

Links checked 12/12/13

I was overdue posting this but this is one of my SpectraFlair franken polishes, #400 SF/BF Holo Gray. I gave you a sneak peak a week ago but this post includes a brief video clip and far more pictures.

Supplies Used

TKB Trading’s Glamour Base, #400 Gray Holo, Coarse Grade SpectraFlair, BlingFlake Gray Holo, BlingFlake Black Prism and laying horizontally is my small vial from the Hobby Lobby set, this one a black metallic glitter. Not shown are Alsa's Gunmetal and Jet Black flakes.

The bottle I used is a round 15ml bottle from Nailite Inc., important only because a small part of this franken was a 3ml mini bottle I combined with it. The mini bottle, not shown, was a mixture of TKB’s Black base, clear polish and a very minimal amount of holographic glitter. The rest of the formula/recipe is as follows: mini added to round 15ml bottle & is less than 1/4 full. Added slightly over 1/4 Glamour Base, 1 drop (spoon) Alsa Jet Black, 2 drops Alsa Gunmetal, generous amount Hobby Lobby vial of black metallic glitter, 2 drops Bling Flake Holographic Gray, 2 drops Bling Flake Black Prism, 1 generous drop coarse grade SpectraFlair (1500-35).

None of these used a top coat.

This picture is from the sneak preview so you’ve already seen it but it was taken indoors in sunlight.

This is a set of three, taken outdoors in sunlight. I thought they displayed the holographic effect as the angle changed fairly well.

This one, (more of) a macro was taken outdoors in daylight but no sun. Here there is no visible rainbow and the black glitters/flakes are less obvious. Rather than appearing dark gray the entire thing appears silver-ish.

At this angle and taken in full direct sunlight, the rainbow appears but it still looks silvery. Ignore my pinkie nail for a multitude of reasons.

With the sun not quite direct, the rainbow is fuller and the grayer side comes out.

My final display for this franken polish is the brief video clip I mentioned before. This video is posted on YouTube and located here.

I realize the black speckled effect is not what everyone would've been going for but I wanted something that was in between an OPI My Private Jet effect which I've seen on others blogs to be a black holographic and a bright silver holographic which I've already made several of;  I think I achieved that. Since all the photos I take are macros, some details are exceedingly obvious whereas if it was seen in person, they would not be.

As always, thank you for visiting. -MK

Sneak Peek of SpectraFlair Franken Polish

I was super bored yesterday so I started messing around with a few BlingFlake, Alsa flakes and my coarse grade SpectraFlair. I called it a sneak peek because I only have my index finger painted (I was color testing) and won’t have the chance to do a proper job until Tuesday. -MK

They are all indoors sunlight macros.

-MK

Franken #364 BF Holo Green

Links checked 12/12/13

Since most of my posted franken polishes are green, there is little doubt that that is my favorite color so you can imagine my pleasure when I saw that Bling MetalFlake sold a holographic green flake (glitter). I bought it and have used it but soon realized as pretty as it was, it is far better suited to be a top coat than a franken polish additive.

Before I removed #376 SF San Francisco, (if you haven't seen it, go check it out) I decided to show you what the Holo Green looks like layered so I added one coat. No more than one was necessary as I made this in a small bottle with a heavy concentration of glitter. I could apologize once again for the bad paint job or the condition of my nails but I’m assuming you’re here for the color, not my lack of skill in painting.

Here’s my little bottle by itself. As I said in the entry(ies) about BlingMetalflake, the Holo Green is a bit of a bleeder but not terribly so. The polish (originally just a clear polish) is colored but the flakes retained both their holographic finish and the vivid green coloring. If you pull up the enlarged image it becomes apparent that these are square cut, not hex cut.

The bottle and the manicure.

Indoors sunlight shots

This image I left slightly blurry because it shows the holo better.

Indoors, no sun.

Finally, because I felt I could not capture the holographic effect of this polish, I have included a couple short videos, not that you must view them of course. It was shot indoors but in sunlight so you could see how much this truly sparkles in the light. Due to the poor quality playback of videos on my blog, if you wish to watch them, I put them on YouTube.

Video #1

Video #2

-MK

Bling MetalFlake Replacements

Links updated 12/12/13

My replacements for the bleeders arrived yesterday, maybe a couple days ago? from Bling MetalFlake and I wanted to share some preliminary pics. The sunlight wasn’t out when I took them so these are lamp light pics at my little “workstation” which is actually our dinner table/kids computer desk. I did find a setting on my camera however that appears to offset the yellow tint of lamplight.

Top Row: Copper Penny. 008”, Orange .008”

Bottom Row: Yellow Gold .015”, Holographic Gray .008”, Emerald .004”

Copper Penny .008” is exactly the color of a newly minted penny and also happens to be my favorite shade of copper.

Early results for the bleed test are encouraging. It’s been 3 days but it shows no signs of bleeding. There were a few violet glitters from Kit Kraft in here that finished bleeding and lent the pinkish hint to the copper coloring.

#30 Orange .008” is a vivid orange but not sure how it compares to Coastal Scents’ Ripe Orange glitter which is also very bright.

The bleed test has been positive, minor bleeding but barely noticeable and the color has remained vivid orange.

Yellow Gold .015” is the largest glitter I own from Bling MetalFlake, quite a bit bigger in particle size compared to everything else I own. This size is not listed on their website but is in the eBay store. I have yet to find a large gold that doesn’t bleed though so I’m eager to see how the bleed test goes.

Yellow Gold also appears to bleed slightly but not enough to worry me. Minor bleeding is tolerable as long as the glitter stays the color it was supposed to be and this stays/has stayed bright.

Holographic Gray .008” is not listed on their website, Mr. Fourman was nice enough to throw that one in for free. It’s definitely not silver but its more than gray, maybe a dusky blue tone.

I have not done a bleed test on this one, don’t feel the need. The worst it could do would be to bleed to silver and that’s not a big deal but I don’t expect that.

#27 Emerald .004” was sort of accidental. I ordered the .008” size but got the .004” instead but while the size matches Coastal Scents Emerald glitter, I don’t think the colors are quite the same.

This one does not bleed.

Bearing in mind that the bleed test is just 3 days old, these will be updated if necessary.

Reading the micro-sized ingredient list on the back of a clear polish, there are a couple different alcohols in it (and in colored polish too) so I’m guessing that it is the long term submersion in these alcohols that aid in the bleeding of a glitter.

If it says anything at all about alcohols, recently I broke an ink pen and got red ink all over my hand. Going into the kitchen to wash it off, I brushed my hand against my green recliner, giving my chair a nice vivid red stripe. I was able to remove most of it by blotting the stain with paper towels wet with rubbing alcohol. -MK

Related Entries:
Bling MetalFlake: Swatches
Bling MetalFlake: Store Review

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