Didspade Supershift Pearls (Part 2)

Even though it is almost a year later, I'm going to consider this a follow up to my original entry,  Didspade SuperShift Pearls & Store Review. In that post I reviewed the store, their product line-up and their Supershift Pearls with pictures of them in bottles and the sample bags. If you haven't seen it before, I encourage you to do so. What I hadn't done was swatch nail sticks or photograph them for that review and I should have, but I don't mind saying that I was pleasantly distracted by five foster kittens at the time.

I want to be fair and completely clear here. While the focus of this post are Didspade's Supershift Pearls and these are the only ones that I actually own, I've read that they match up color-wise with the Ultra Chrome Chameleon pigments sold elsewhere and this is why I'm adding my own photographs to the mix. Didspade, no offense guys, stopped offering the pigments at $7.00+ per single gram and now they are 5 grams for $34.75, a good price if you need and want 5 grams but maybe a bit high if you're a hobby polish maker rather than an indie maker. Our 1-gram-alternative are the UCCs from SpectraFlair4u or Glitter Unique. Both stores have an assortment of colors for $11.50 per dry gram (as opposed to pre-dispersed which you may also buy), 12 colors for SpectraFlair4u while Glitter Unique has 9.

Returning to Didspade, they currently have 11 colors, 9 of which I own and they are: Invictus, Elixir, Solis, Vibe, Lithium, Dorado, Zionic, Wildfire and Nitron; Ametrine and Atlas are the two I don't have. As far as I know, Didspade was the first to start selling the super concentrated chameleon pigments, at least in a reasonable quantity versus price for us polish makers and I snapped up on their initial deal, managing to get 2 grams of each color. On to the photos!

Invictus

Vibe

Nitron

Solis

Elixir

Lithium

Dorado

Wildfire

Zionic

As you saw from the above, Invictus, Vibe, Nitron, Solis, and Elixir are all similar- as in the same range of colors- but none are identical. Below I'll give you some side-by-side photos to help you decide for yourself, with both ends of the nail stick visible. The nails showing on the bottom of each picture are the black nails- the pigment/base mix layered over black polish. The nails at the top of each are "natural nails", the usual color of artificial nails. Having both in frame lets you see more of the color transition at once.

The first set of two photos were taken in daylight indoors, without a flash and without more direct sunlight, the angle changing slightly from one to the other.

From left to right, Invictus, Vibe, Nitron, Solis, Elixir, Lithium, Dorado, Wildfire, Zionic

These two were taken in the same room in daylight, and still without a flash but with sunlight shining right on them which adds a bit more sparkle to them- though they are all of a finer particle size. Again the angle changes slightly from one to the other.

From left to right, Invictus, Vibe, Nitron, Solis, Elixir, Lithium, Dorado, Wildfire, Zionic

For these two photos, I split them up for a better close up group shot. 

From left to right: Invictus, Vibe, Nitron, Solis, Elixir 

 From left to right: Lithium, Dorado, Wildfire, Zionic

It's always good to have options. -MK

A few posts coming...

It's obvious by now that my interest in polish making and polish collecting has waned and my supplies are gathering dust- it will be a hell of a yard sale- but I have two or three posts planned for the coming days. Duochromes, specifically photographs of color shifting pigments from SpectraFlair4u and Glitter Unique, Didspade's Supershift Pearls (comparable to the UCC pigments from the other two stores I just mentioned), and some UCC flakes from Glitter Unique as well. These things aren't brand new inventory for them or me and I really should have posted photographs last year but didn't.

The purpose of doing it now? It takes me forever to decide which pigments to buy because I compare this company's photos to that company's to avoid buying dupes and to do accurate comparisons, you need more photos- and there aren't enough of those online. I did post my review of Didspade with bottle and bag photographs but neglected to take nail stick swatches. I didn't document the chameleon pigments from Glitter Unique and SpectraFlair4u at all until recently.

It's a' coming, as soon as I write it. -MK

Merry Christmas

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