Spectraflair4u Chameleon Pigments

Note: Everything in this entry is based on a single order dated 5/5/16 from Spectrflair4u so it goes without saying a review is long overdue.

Spectraflair4u is an etailer located in the US that sells most things a hobbyist or indie polish maker would need, including an impressive array of color shifting materials. Today's post will feature 17 (out of 38) of the chameleon pigments available in the Chameleon/Interference Pigments section of the store, the list below with particle sizes and prices for 5 grams. Visit the store to see the prices for 25 grams.

CH1 Turquoise Sparkle	10-120um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH2 Copper/Gold/Purple/Pink	15-78um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH3 Blue/Violet/Red Orange	10-70um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH4 Yellow/Yellow-Green/Green/Blue	10-70um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH5 Green/Yellow *	30-150um	$6.75 = $1.35/g
CH6 Green/Orange *	20-500um	$14.25 = $2.85/g
CH7 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine *	100-260um	$5.75 = $1.15/g
CH8 Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red *	100-260um	$5.75 = $1.15/g
CH9 Dark Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange *	100-260um	$5.75 = $1.15/g
CH10 Violet/Blue/Green *	50-200um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH11 Sparkle Red/Purple/Blue	15-45um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH12 Cyan/Purple *	80-200um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH13 Blue/Green/Gold	40-150um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH14 Green/Gold/Red *	30-100um	$5.25 = $1.05/g
CH15 Orange/Lilac/Blue *	10-125um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH16 Purple/Red/Gold *	80-200um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH17 Lilac/Blue/Green	10-60um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH18 Violet/Yellow *	30-150um	$9.25 = $1.85/g
CH19 Olivine/Violet	18-78um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH20 Gold/Green *	30-100um	$5.25 = $1.05/g
CH21 Orange/Cyan	18-78um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH22 Yellow/Indigo	18-78um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH23 Green/Red	10-60um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH24 Violet/Orange	18-78um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH25 Green/Blue	30-115um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH26 Red/Golden *	30-115um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH27 Red/Orange	20-80um	$5.00 = $1.00/g
CH28 Violet/Red *	20-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH29 Blue/Violet *	20-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH30 Red/Green *	30-150um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH31 Violet/Green *	30-150um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH32 Gold/Red/Mauve	10-45um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH33 Golden/Green	30-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH34 Violet/Red	30-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH35 Golden/Blue	30-115um	$7.00 = $1.40/g
CH36 Violet/Green	30-115um	$7.50 = $1.05/g
CH37 Cyan/Red	30-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g
CH38 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine	30-115um	$6.25 = $1.25/g

After looking at every single picture multiple times, I still wasn't able to decide so I emailed the company asking if there more photos to be found elsewhere. There wasn't- but the owner took the time to search her files for me, located most of the originals used for the site plus a few more and sent them to me. How cool is that? With the added visual, I narrowed my choices down to the 17 I'll be showing you. My order was processed in less than 24 hours, shipped and arrived within the week!

I bought the following pigments which are listed here in a loose color order:
CH14 Green/Gold/Red
CH7 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine
CH28 Violet/Red
CH30 Red/Green
CH31 Violet/Green
CH16 Purple/Red/Gold
CH26 Red/Golden
CH20 Gold/Green
CH6 Green/Orange
CH8 Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red
CH10 Violet/Blue/Green
CH5 Green/Yellow
CH12 Cyan/Purple
CH29 Blue/Violet
CH15 Orange/Lilac/Blue
CH18 Violet/Yellow
CH9 Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange

I'll start with some photos of the polish bottles, primarily so that you can see the base color, either white or orange.

Left to right: CH14 Green/Gold/Red, CH7 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine, CH28 Violet/Red, CH30 Red/Green, CH31 Violet/Green, CH16 Purple/Red/Gold and CH26 Red/Golden

Left to right: CH20 Gold/Green, CH6 Green/Orange, CH8 Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red, CH10 Violet/Blue/Green and CH5 Green/Yellow

Left to right: CH12 Cyan/Purple, CH29 Blue/Violet, CH15 Orange/Lilac/Blue, CH18 Violet/Yellow and CH9 Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange

Again, group shots, this time of nail sticks. Individual photos will be coming afterwards.

All photographs taken in daylight, no direct sun, no flash. And they can all be enlarged. Nails are the pigment mixed with suspension base and layered over black.

Left to right: CH14 Green/Gold/Red, CH7 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine, CH30 Red/Green, CH28 Violet/Red, CH31 Violet/Green, CH16 Purple/Red/Gold and CH26 Red/Golden

From left to right: CH20 Gold/Green, CH6 Green/Orange, CH8 Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red, CH10 Violet/Blue/Green and CH5 Green/Yellow

From left to right: CH12 Cyan/Purple, CH29 Blue/Violet, CH15 Orange/Lilac/Blue, CH18 Violet/Yellow, CH9 Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange

Now the individual photos, same lighting circumstances.

CH14 Green/Gold/Red

CH7 Red/Orange/Yellow/Olivine

CH28 Violet/Red

CH30 Red/Green

CH31 Violet/Green

CH16 Purple/Red/Gold

CH26 Red/Golden

CH20 Gold/Green

CH6 Green/Orange

CH8 Cyan/Blue/Purple/Red

CH10 Violet/Blue/Green

CH5 Green/Yellow

CH12 Cyan/Purple

CH29 Blue/Violet

CH15 Orange/Lilac/Blue

CH18 Violet/Yellow

CH9 Indigo/Purple/Red/Orange

I will always have trouble picking and choosing what I can have "right now" and what I'll have to save up for and buy later but I will be shopping again at Spectraflair4u. The store has a competitve selection, reasonable prices, has a great turn-around time and the owner? Willing to go the extra mile to help out. You just can't beat good service like that.

There are my photos, add them to what's available in the store and happily weigh your options. Good luck resisting the urge to buy the majority. -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

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 

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