Wednesday, November 21, 2012

Zoya Gold Glitter

A lot of manufacturers are coming out with gold glitter topcoats.  Unlike typical gold glitter topcoats, the better ones these days contain actual gold.  When I saw these, I knew I wanted to own a few.

Pictured below is just a snap of my fingers wearing the Zoya gold topcoat.  I can't remember what color is under it, but the combination of bright gold flakes over the rich pink polish looks fantastic.

The polish, non-surprisingly, is quite thick, and the glitter is more sparse than it appears to be.  I used three layers of it to build it up to this density!




















But I like the polish a lot.

Having gold-trimmed fingers isn't super inexpensive, though.  It costs around $35 per bottle.

Monday, October 1, 2012

Glitter Mail!

Just a quick post to show the glitter I received today.  It's a small order, but the glitter is so pretty that I just had to share, imagining the cute "glitterbombs" that I'm going to be able to make with these!



















Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Bottles and Brushes and Caps--Oh, My!

So far I've invested in glitter, suspension bases, and bottles--pretty much everything I need to create a bottled glitter topcoat practically from scratch.

I've gotten three types of small bottles (5 ml) from a very reliable supplier--which is the same place I buy my base.  I've discovered that for my particular hobby, their glamour base works better than their luster base.  I think the glamour base suspends glitter better and more evenly.  I also give a big thumbs up to their empty nail polish bottles.  They come unassembled, in three parts: bottle, cap, and brush, but it's easy peasy to assemble and fill them.  An example of one of the bottles can be seen in my post "Mini White Experiment" from June.

I get larger (.5 oz) bottles from a different supplier.  They ship unassembled as well, and are as sturdy and easy to put together as the ones from the other company, the first one I used.

I haven't tried bottles from any other supplier, but I'm always on the lookout for new ones, for variety's sake.  I'm quite pleased with the ones I'm using now, though!

Sunday, June 24, 2012

Another Multi-Colored Glitter

Just another franken with a bunch of glitters thrown into yet another bottle of Wet n Wild glitter polish. I have no idea what I used, as I've never really kept track of amounts or written anything down. From here on out, though, I'm going to make a record of it, at least for my own personal benefit.

This is over an unknown Color Club. I tend to go to Ross and buy sets of Color Club polishes, and not end up knowing which color is which, either because they're incorrectly packaged and mislabled, or because I don't commit the names of the colors to memory. It's a magenta that's more red than it appears here. I take all my photos with my iPhone, and I don't get the best color representation, but at least I'm getting a little better with editing in post-production to make the colors a bit more realistic. When I can remember to, that is. I just can remember to watermark everything!

Sunday, June 17, 2012

Mini White Experiement

I rather like this one!

Haven't been posting much lately.  Work has me bored, exhausted, and not feeling like much else when I'm not there.  But I'll improve.  LOL.

Friday, May 11, 2012

Glitter Galore

Okay, so at this point I have quite a bit of glitter! Nice.

This what I've purchased after four months:
 
 Right now I just keep it all in a big clear container--you know, the ones with the opaque lids.  But if I order any more, I'm going to have to come up with a better way to store it!

Wednesday, May 2, 2012

The Battle of the Black and Whites

I mentioned before that I've supported indie polish developers. I have bought a few black and white topcoats, and I've also tried to make my own with black and white glitter that I've purchase online. I cheated with my own: I added black and white glitter to a bottle of Wet n Wild #469, and it looks and applies quite nicely. Here it is compared to other brands I've bought:

Mine is on the far right. But also pictured are: Lac Attack Ocelotta Spots, Cover Band Sticks and Stones, and my favorite of the three, one called Black Tie Affair. Two were purchased from Etsy; Sticks and Stones was bought from someone on eBay.

You can never have too much black and white polish!

Saturday, April 28, 2012

Franken Attempt With Purchased Glitter

So, I used a bottle of Wet n Wild clear polish and some of the glitter I purchased to make this. I bought maybe twelve colors/sizes/types of glitter, and I used several in this one, in addition to a little pink nail polish for tint. Not bad for a first attempt. In my opinion, at least.

I'm already trying to decide what glitters to get next! I've read on other blogs that there's a special base you can buy in order to make your own polish from scratch that does a bit better with the glitter you add, so I've ordered some. There are some very pretty glitter polishes being made, especially the glitter topcoats. I'm rather partial to glitter. Over the years when I've worn polish, I've never really felt my manicures were complete until I added some type of glittery, shimmery topcoat. I mentioned before that I love cremes because you can experiment with the way they look if you have a variety of topcoats. Well, glitter topcoats are the best for this, in my opinion. I've purchased quite a few glitter topcoats from the stores (brands like China Glaze, Milani, and OPI), but I've also supported "indie" nail polish designers and I've purchased a few from Etsy as well. But there's nothing like making your own!

Friday, April 20, 2012

So I liked the blue and white so much that I just had to add more Milani Gems to a couple more bottles of clear shimmer/glitter nail polish.

Here they are, in all of their beauty:


















I just like glittery opaques so much.  In a way, these remind me of the glitter-based pink polishes like Lippmann Candy Shop (which I own one of) and Claire's, well, Candy Shop (and I have two bottles of this).  Here is a side by side of my glitter-based green with Claire's Candy Shop:


















Mine on the right, of course.

My green (like the blue, yellow, and white) doesn't have as much glitter as Candy Shop.  I mentioned before that since I'm using Milani Gems to franken with, I can only get so much glitter density.

I hear, however, that there are places where I can buy glitter that works in nail polish.  It's special and solvent resistant.  I tried sometime last year making my own glitter nail polish with glitter that I bought at Michael's, and while it looked nice for about an hour, it soon turned into a mess.  So I'll buy nail-polish safe glitter and see what I can do with it!

Monday, April 16, 2012

Another New Franken: In Blue

I used the same Milani Gems as I did for the opaque white glitter polish--only I added a little of both blue and white creme nail polish to the bottle to get a pretty sky-blue tint.


















Tuesday, April 10, 2012

Franken Manicure

So today I tried the white glitter franken.  Here is a quick shot of it on:



I must say that I like it.  I would like it with more glitter, but I guess that's something I can control only if making polish from "scratch" instead of blending existing ones.  

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Experimenting With Frankening

Been away for awhile. Actually, I kind of forgot that this blog existed. But I'm back now! Still buying polish like crazy and always looking for somewhere to store it. But you know what's better than buying polish? Designing your own! Nail bloggers have termed it "frankening" when you take existing polishes and mix them together to create something new. Artsy-craftsy type that I've always been, this is right up my alley! My first franken is a store-bought glitter polish (Milani Gems) mixed with a store bought white.

I know for sure that more of these will follow. I've found a place to order glitter of my own, so that I can add the colors and the amounts that I want, and I'm also looking into buying bottles for them. This is fun.