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

TKB Moon Dusts, Star Bites & Sparks!

Prices Accurate 12/11/13, Links checked 12/12/13

I received several different sets of pigment for Christmas, the Sparks!, Moon Dusts and Star Bites collections from TKB Trading. Although the sun is lacking, I took some photographs of the very-basic-recipe frankens (in bottles) that I made from them & their card swatches. I might've included manicure pictures but my fingernails have been in a sorry state since Thanksgiving so they aren't worth polishing.

The Moon Dusts & Star Bites are both duochrome collections but given the lack of proper lighting, I had difficulty capturing the color transistion. It's a little easier to see in the bottles but not much. In the case of the Sparks!, there are a few that seem to have a very light duochrome appearance but it's not obvious at all and I'm second guessing myself.

I would've bought them eventually but two people deserve credit for influencing my decision- Kitties26 of More Nail Polish & ferretkingdom as she is known on Purse Forum.
- ferretkingdom's pictures of the Sparks, Moon Dusts and Star Bites can be viewed at this post on Purse Forum. If you haven't already seem them, they are towards the bottom of the page.
- Kitties26 featured the Star Bites in her frankens/Duochrome Top Coats #2, #3 and #4. She shows off the Moon Dusts with her entries Custom polishes - Moondust TKB pigments Part 1 and Custom polishes - Moondust TKB pigments Part 2.

The Star Bites Collection

The Star Bites are a spectacular collection. It says on TKB's website that they are still confirming that they are solvent resistent but I can assure you that they are. In the containers they are white like the Hilites but that's where the resemblance ends because these are a larger particle size and duochromes.

Cherika Moon, Marinda Star, Shanika Sun

On skin you can see how transparent they are and the color shift still doesn't appear but you can see how sparkly they are. The first is a macro, the second slightly out of focus intentionally.

Shanika Sun, Marinda Star & Cherika Moon

 

Below are polish pictures which, since I didn't use suspension base, have settled but I chose to leave them that way. The color is a bit easier to see than if you viewed them dry, plus the 3-dimensional view allows a bit more of the duochrome to show. They are in the order of Shanika Sun, Cherika Moon & Marinda Star.

The card swatches were photographed under the same lighting as the bottles but here they have been swatched over black and white.

My nail sticks, photos taken indoors, simulated daylight lamp. The nails are black acrylic thus you can say these are layered over black. Shanika, Cherika & Marinda.

An outdoors picture, daylight without sun. Cherika, Shanika & Marinda here.

The Star Bites are $2.95 per sample, or a sample set of the 3 for $6.00. If you're looking to purchase an ounce, they are $15.00 each or $35.00 for the set.

The Moon Dusts Collection

The Moon Dusts are another great collection of pigments from TKB Trading. Two of these have a similar color shift to the Star Bites- Crescent Crimson & Marinda Star, Aisha Gold & Shanika Sun but not only are the particle sizes different, the appearance is as well; the others are all unique (and none of the eight have the same color shift as any of the Travel to pigments).

Again, in containers they look Hilite-ish but their color extends beyond mere interference. Indu Rose, Lavender Luz, Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson, Luna Blue.

Swatched dry on skin, they are still rather unimpressive if sparkly. The first is a macro, the second out of focus.

 Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson, Indu Rose, Lavender Luz, Luna Blue

Below are pictures in the bottle. As with the others, the contents have settled and I've chosen to leave them that way. The color shifting also comes out with a 3-dimensional view. They are in the order of Luna Blue, Lavender Luz, Aisha Gold, Crescent Crimson & Indu Rose.

The card swatches were photographed under the same lighting as the bottles but here they have been swatched over black and white.

My nail sticks, photos taken indoors, simulated daylight lamp. The nails are black acrylic thus you can say these are layered over black. Indu, Crescent, Lavender, Aisha & Luna

An outdoors picture, daylight without sun. Aisha, Luna, Indu, Lavender & Crescent here.

The Moon Dusts are $2.95 per sample, or a set of the 5 for $12.00. For an ounce, they're $15.00 each or $59.00 for a set.

The Sparks! Collection

The Sparks! Collection is not new TKB Trading inventory but it is new to me. A long time ago I elected not to buy it because I thought I had enough interference pigments, owning all the Hilites along with the Supernovas & Frosty-named pigments from The Conservatorie. I was satisfied with these until I saw ferretkingdom's swatch pics on Purse Forum.

It's not obvious in any of the pictures I have but Red Sparks is a duochrome, similar in color transition to Travel to Mercury although transparent. It fits right in with the Moon Dusts. Blue Sparks also has a color shift from blue to purple, reminding me somewhat of TKB's Her Majesty but I've been unable to capture it in pictures or in a franken polish.

The container picture below doesn't do them justice. Left is Noble Silver, Red, Copper & Gold. On right are Green, Aqua, Blue & Purple.

On skin they are of course white with a sharper interference due to a larger particle size than their cousins the Hilites. An in-focus shot shows them just that way too so I included only the slightly blurry one.

Below are pictures in the bottle. As with the others, the contents have settled and I've chosen to leave them that way since the color shows more. They are in the order of Blue, Green & Purple on the left, Gold, Aqua & Copper on the right, Red showing on the bottom.

The card swatches were photographed under the same lighting as the bottles but here they have been swatched over black and white.

 

 

The Sparks as a collection are $10.80 per sample set or 1 ounce of each for $67.35. Sold individually, they are $1.50 per sample or $9.00 per ounce.

And go check out those other ladies fantastic pics too. -MK

TCP Global Color Shifting Pearls

Prices Accurate 12/11/13, Links checked 12/12/13

Time to show off some pigments from TCP Global, in particular the Color Shifting Pearls.

The containers shown are not what they arrived in; those are my “portables” from SKS Bottle.

Color Shifting Pearls

Color shifting pearls are available in two versions, Color Shifting Pearls and Rev-Illusion Special Effect Pearls, both with 5 colors each and sold individually or in sets. I chose the “originals” and purchased them as a set of 1/2 oz jars for $74.75. This brings the price down compared to the single price but they are still expensive (although not as much as the Rev-Illusions which as a set is $299.25). I don’t feel they are worth that because they are disappointingly exact dupes for TKB Trading’s Travel To pigments which I already own and are more affordable. Judging by TCP Global’s pictures, I knew they would be similar but I didn’t expect dupes.

All the pearls (including the Traditional Pearls) are together in this photo, taken under lamp light.

1. SP113 Blue Green
2. SP117 Red Green
3. SP118 Green Blue Violet
4. CSP85 Blue Gold
5. CSP83 Blue Red
6. CSP82 Green Purple
7. FP112 Orange Red
8. CSP81 Red Gold
9. CSP84 Green Orange
10. SP120 Red Violet

Here is the set of 5 color shifting pearls alone and below are the same pearls next to their Planetary sisters.

Earth & Green Orange – Jupiter & Blue Gold at top

Mercury & Red Gold in the middle

Pluto & Blue Red – Venus & Green Purple on the bottom

Here they’ve been swatched dry over Black Mica for contrast, photographed under lamp light.

Mercury & Red Gold, Venus & Green Purple, Pluto & Blue Red, Earth & Green Orange, Jupiter & Blue Gold

For what these would look like as a black based polish, I refer you to my entry about the Planetary Sampler. After I used three of these in clear polish, I realized they were dupes and saw no point in creating the others. -MK

TCP Global: Store Review

Links checked 12/12/13

Another of my Christmas presents was an order from TCP Global, a company that sells automotive paint, pigments and flakes as well as an array of other art and hobby supplies. I’ve never found any reviews on them that are polish related but they continued to pop up in my search for flakes and their SpectraFlair-like products caught my attention. Given the opportunity at Christmas, I placed my order, have tried out most of what I purchased and am now ready to write my own review.

As I said, TCP Global has a big inventory; of main interest to me were their automotive flakes. I already owned some of Alsa’s holographics but TCP Global’s selection is too good. Even better is that they are available in different particle sizes and packages sizes, with most prices being very reasonable. They also sell the typical types of automotive paint- candies, ghosts, pearls and color shifting in both liquid (not important to us) and in dry pigments. Price varies on these more depending on the finish but I still believe they are comparable to what's available from other places and of equal quality.

What I ordered were Kustom Shop holographic flakes, color shifting pearls and diamond crystal pearls- very similar to TKB Trading's Sparks! I made my decision after looking over the options for several days, and chose them based on their pictures which I find to be far more accurate than the color descriptions themselves.

In the case of the pigments, you have the name, which serves as the description of the color shift (ie: Blue Green) and the picture of the pigment, usually layered over a black basecoat (I’m assuming). Pictures, names and what they look like in reality don’t always match. Several of the traditional pearls that have “shift” in their name don’t color shift at all; they are more like pigments with interference and some are ugly and/or unoriginal.

The flakes have no individual descriptions beyond their names and they should because some of those pictures are misleading as well. A few that are supposed to be holographic aren't in the way most of us think of holographic, instead they are transparent and color shifting. After ordering, I found ferretkingdom’s picture of TCP Global’s flakes and discovered several were transparent; had I known that, I wouldn’t have bought them. Only because my experience with color shifting glitters has been negative though. I can confirm that these are color shifting and they don't bleed.

Regarding their email communication, they are somewhere in the middle. I've emailed them on several occasions about different products and always received a response within a day which is a point in their favor. However, after placing my order, I didn't get an order confirmation from the company themselves, only from PayPal and I didn't receive a shipping notification either.

Regarding the shipping itself, I knew ahead of time it would be shipped via UPS Ground so the shipping fee is on par with what everyone else seems to be charging, $15 on the $200.00+ total. I didn't know when it was coming but the order was placed on December 14 and it was delivered the 22nd or 23rd, not bad considering the time of year.

Everything was packaged in containers, not bags- jars for the pigment and bottles for the flakes, the Kustom Shop label nicely printed. The ingredients list is somewhat generic because every item has the same one which lists ingredients for flakes and pigments both but that’s really a minor issue.

All in all, my experience was positive. I got what I paid for, it arrived quickly and I will be a returning customer. They have more I want but I will be expecting more variation in color than I did this time.

I’ll be doing a review for the individual colors themselves, with swatches, in an upcoming entry so check back soon. -MK

Related Entries:
TCP Global Color Shifting Pearls

News from the Bermuda Triangle of Ky

Links checked 12/12/13

New Year, new look. Despite the fact that I do like my white on black, I did hear those that gave opinions on my layout and designed something different. We'll try this for a while, maybe it will grow on me. I do like the color theme which was inspired by the full background, photos I took of a sunset and sunrise. I'm posting it here because I do like it so much. What, never thought you could have a sunset and sunrise at the same time?



My hard drive, the important one, may or may not be dying and hubby is dragging his feet about fixing it (and upgrading me to Windows 7) so the postings I planned on will be delayed, obviously. I refuse to trust it not to lose my digital camera pictures, a folder that is so big it is impossible to back it up. Did you know the price of a new hard drive is over twice what it was earlier this year, from $40 to $90 approximately? It only goes to prove that flooding in Asia does effect us Americans & in all sorts of interesting ways... and now you've learnt that most hard drives on the market come from overseas, surprise surprise.

I do have good news though, working, non bleeding color shifting flakes- flakes because they are automotive, not the Nfu Oh kind, sorry. I also have a couple positive store reviews coming and products from those stores and maybe franken recipes featuring those lovely Moon Dusts and Star Bites from TKB Trading... if I ever paint my nails. I have way more fun playing around with the colors than using them properly.

I finally broke down and bought a bottle of Essie Luxe Effects Shine of the Times at my local Walgreens for $8, a price that normally would make me cringe. If I bought Nubar 2010 off eBay, I would've ended up paying that anyway but it doesn't really take the sting out... This should leave you with no question as to why I don't just buy Nfu Oh flakies but I want those flakes.

Ok, that was somewhat disconnected, not my normal style of writing but my mind has already shifted gears. Hope ya'll have had a good day. I can say "ya'll", I'm from Kentucky. -MK

Go Adopt a Cat & Save a Life

No, this is not the typical polish and/or pigments posting but seeing as how there are a lot of cat ladies in the blog-world, this is a good a place as any.

Who doesn't see the Humane Society or animal shelter/cruelty commercials on TV? You know the ones, where they show all the poor abused and abandoned cats and dogs no one gives a crap about? Personally, when I pay attention to these, I cry because it breaks my heart, it makes me want to go donate every dime I have because these places are criminally under-funded. It makes me want to run straight to the shelter and adopt every one, particularly the cats.

On average, animals are given 7-14 days in a shelter to be adopted before being euthanized but did you know that while dogs may get several days, cats get far less, are lucky to get two days? This is something my vet told me when he checked out my last cat. And just like people wanting to adopt babies over older children, animals over one year old are almost impossible to place in homes, regardless of good behavior. If the animal is sick or otherwise ill, forget it.

Every pet we ever had when I was growing up, all dogs, were strays found on the road that some other *** decided to dump, even a litter of puppies one time. A family member was once one of these ***, deciding to dump a dog and a cat off in the middle of nowhere (might I point out that they had two other cats that were kept). As an adult, I now have three cats in an 1000 square foot apartment, 1 cat over the technical limit but I have a decent manager who allows it. All three of my cats were abandoned strays, my oldest male and little female found abandoned in my complex and the second male found as a 12 week old kitten outside my husband's work. Each one was vet-checked, fixed and is now a fat and happy cat.

There are strays everywhere and every time you see one, providing it is not feral and is catch-able, you have a choice you make whether you consciously recognize it or not: ignore the animal because it's not your problem, call animal control and perhaps give it a death sentence or take the animal in, love it and give it a life. No, it's not possible to save every single one but it's entirely possible to save at least one. What are you waiting for? -MK

Page Layout, Opinions Wanted

I've had many designs for my blog. While I will never consent to using backgrounds and the such that are provided by Blogger when I'm an artist & can create my own, their layout options aren't bad.... but I am not satisfied with the one I am using currently. I like the white on black theme, I think it helps set me apart from most other blogs out there, not that it's a competition but I was never big on blending in cyberspace. What does bother me is that the "gadgets" as they are called, are to the right of my entries which limits their space and forces everything below them to be much farther down. Moving them above the entries ruins the appearance and moving them below means everyone would have to scroll way down the page to ever see them. This is an irritation and one I haven't resolved satisfactorily.

Appearance wise, it probably does not help that everything is scaled to appear properly on my monitor which is set to 1440 x 900 (it was, at one time, my husband's gaming monitor). On his current one, which is 1920 x 1080, it looks even more screwed up.

No one comments on my design and that's ok, it's not like I take it personally but this time opinions would be more than welcome. Is the white-on-black distracting to your reading? Would a certain gadget look better or be easier to find if placed somewhere else? Is the search box really necessary? And what about all those other cool blogs I want to have showing, where could they go other than where they already are? Any and all feedback will be duly noted!

I launched a second blog for the purpose of tweaking design without the risk of screwing this one up. Even if you are so inclined, don't bother to follow it. I am aware it will appear somewhere, even if it is only in my profile and dashboard. Thank you- MK