Random Thoughts About DIY Polish

Just a few thoughts and musings about glitter polish and this blog...

• I should probably use a higher-quality camera--or spend time taking better shots of my polishes and manicures with the one I do use.  (By the same token, I probably should do something about my cuticles.)  I have several cameras that could easily produce "better" photos than my iPhone, but it's just so damn EASY to take pictures and quickly edit and upload them with the iPhone.  Plus, I just love taking photos with my iPhone--I guess you could call me somewhat of an iPhoneographer. iPhoneograpolisher?  iPhoneographaglitterist?
• I started this as a blog where I could just talk about my love of nail polish, and it evolved into a blog about DIY nail polish after a two-year hiatus.  Sometimes I think I should blog about other stuff here as well--like my renewed interest in jewelry-making.  I'm thinking about how to make the transformation.  I have an actual domain that I'm not really doing anything with.  But since I'm paying for it, I should be.  Maybe I can incorporate it, somehow, into the blog overhaul if I decide that's what I want to do?
• I've been asked a couple of times why I don't sell the polish that I make online.  Well, for one, the buying public is too fickle, and very hard to please.  I see sellers on Etsy with sub 100% feedback and I worry for them.  What did they do to lose that perfect rating?  I know that when I spend my money on something, I can be rather unreasonable if I think I haven't received the very BEST service--although I'm getting better at it.  Maybe I'm too afraid to have customers like myself, LOL.  Also, the indie polish market is oversaturated at this point.  If you didn't jump on that bandwagon over a year ago, I don't think you'd do well starting now.  Too many great polish designers have been doing this for a long time, and they have a very loyal following and fan base.  Any newcomers would face stiff competition because so many people would rather stick to the designers they're used to.  Too, I sometimes have a hard time coming up with some different and creative.  I own over a hundred unique glitters at this point, but that means nothing in the face of uninspiration.  When you're doing this as a business there's a need to not only be creative, but be fruitful and produce many different, unusual, and unique creations.  Your core audience just expects it.  That's a lot of pressure.  I'd rather just make the occasional bottle of polish when the mood hits, or when I think, "Hey, I've never seen a polish like this, let me whip it up right quick!"  There are times when I sit down and can come up with multiple ideas in a session, but that's a rarity.  I'd never make decent money trying to hawk my creations in the market.
• I'm going to have to get my glitter obsession under control.  Whenever I tell myself, "You don't need to buy any more glitter--just use up the stuff you have!" I come across a new color, or finish, or shape, or size.  (I never did have a lot of self-restraint!)

What are some of your thoughts about DIY polish?

Speckled Polish: The Trend

These speckled polishes by Ilumasqua are gorgeous.  Too bad they cost so much, huh?  Sixteen dollars a pop!

I attempted to replicate this on my own a few weeks back.  While I didn't (or didn't bother taking the time to see if I actually did) have the same sizes and shapes of black glitter, I don't feel that's very important because the glitter I DO have can still make a polish with the same overall look and feel.

I decided to try it in a color that isn't represented in the actual collection (a pale yellow), and after a few minutes of playing around, I came up with this:

I don't have the actual polish on hand to compare it to, but from swatches I've seen, it's not that bad.

You wanna know the irony?  I love polish so much that I just decided to break down, in the end, and buy a set of the Ilumasquas.  But they're sold out, so I can't.  I was unsure of whether or not I'd try another bottle--after all, the recipe does need a bit of tweaking--but now it seems that if I want it in another color, I'm going to have to.

An Orange Look

I feel some kind of way, honestly, about endorsing any brand in particular, but I must say that I like Ruby Kisses nail polish.  They're so inexpensive and readily available from almost any beauty supply store.  For this reason, they make excellent "undies" for "selfies"--"undies" being the solid color polish you wear up under the topcoat, which in my case is almost always glitter, and more often than not a "selfie," which is what I call a polish I make myself.

During the spring and summer, like most women, I prefer bold colors, neon colors, and pastel colors, and this orange, called Orange U Over? by Ruby Kisses, is a nice, bright jelly.  And I love how bright colors just pop against my dark skin.

I layered Orange U Over? under a metallic glitter selfie, as seen below:

It's sealed with Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat--and hopefully it will last a couple of days without peeling!