Batik!

I filed my nails really weirdly this time, and accidentally very short to boot! I shouldn't be allowed to operate heavy machinery... lol But I'll fix it once my nails grow out a bit. -.-

Anyway, this is Sinful Black on Black (one coat!) and stamping with an oldie, Essie Shifting Power. I did the reverse on my thumbs and ring finger (two coats Shifting Power).

Sunlight:

Shade:

 

It reminds me of Batik. :D

Better Together + Not So Blueberry

Okay, I started off with three coats of Essie Better Together, no topcoat. I generally avoid pinks but I love milky polishes.

I stamped with Revlon Not So Blueberry and mash plate m78. The lovely Kris from http://mylucidbubble.blogspot.com/ gave this to me but it doesn't want to photograph correctly so I haven't done a proper post on it yet. x.o

 

For whatever reason, my camera caught the  purple and mild teal duochrome this time. Yay! Oh, that gives me an idea.

 

 No topcoat. I like the contrasting finishes.

Orange Pink Franken

Oops, hi. I meant to post this Friday, but I melted instead. /wicked witch of the mid Atlantic
I took these pictures a few months ago, but if I don't post this now I may never post it. haha

All of these were taken in natural light except the second one which was taken in sunlight.

Two coats + topcoat.

Facing the light source:

 

In the other direction it's pink... Okay, this one didn't photograph well. The pink is all in the shimmer which you can kind of see if you click and enlarge. Anyway, the shimmer doesn't hide in real life.

The rest of the time it's an orangey coral.

This is roughly 45% Sinful Colors' Bali Mist, 45% Sinful Colors' Courtney Orange(a shimmery orange-red), and 10% Wet n Wild Goldmine (gold shimmer).

Sinful Colors - Bali Mist

Sinful Colors - Bali Mist, 3 coats + topcoat.

This looks really purple and green in the bottle but on the nail it's like a metallic/opalescent pink. Actually, for whatever reason, this finish makes me a little bit nauseous lol.

See, purple green bottle. So pretty!

Even in low light the duochrome is weak. Luckily I read the MUA reviews and already knew about this, and I bought this intending to exploit its weakness. More on that tomorrow.

But first, just curiously, I stamped this over yesterday's mani. Subtle, but I like it.

*Blogger flipped my photos so they aren't all horizontal. I'm finding this rather disorienting. Anyone know how to fix it?

Dusty Purple Grey Franken

It's been such a long time since I've posted a franken.

I mixed Color Club Get A Clue with a little bit of Sinful Black on Black (about seven parts GAC to one part black), two coats. It's mauve grey, neutral grey and purple grey at different angles. Not duochrome but still neat.

 

Sorry to be so vague on the recipe. This was a single manicure batch. What happened was I accidentally glopped 3 drops of black into my palette, and I just ended stirring in more and more of Get A Clue in until I was satisfied with the color. But the notes with my test mix indicate that this was 7 parts to 1.

Thoughts: Get A Clue is a light pink creme that leans a bit blue. Any standard light pink would work by adding a little blue creme or jelly. Sinful Black on Black is a very neutral (and highly pigmented!) black. Sometimes black polishes have a blue base. In which case I would have had to use a standard light pink. I really should do a swatch and comparison of Get A Clue to show what I mean. On it!

Anyway, I was trying to dupe Sally Hansen Concrete which is already hard to find and it was released less then a year ago. SH should really rethink their distribution method/business strategy!  I've never seen it in person so I don't know how close I got, but I am satisfied with my franken. I patted myself on the back and ordered a bottle of Nubar. :D

Wet n Wild Soulmate + Watermarbling

 Last holiday season, Wet n Wild repackaged sixteen of their discontinued polishes in bottles from their Flirt line and sold them in two collections of eight. I bought one because I wanted to re-purpose the bottles for frankening. How cute are the bottles?! Anyway, it turns out that five of the eight colors are too awesome to clean away. This is Wet n Wild Soulmate. Two coats of awesome metallic neon purple.

 

At one angle it's violet with blue shimmer.

I wanted to try some water marbling, and I had this idea for just two colors. This is LA Colors Art Deco Black + clear.

Erm, I didn't really like the result. Other than the thumb, I find it too black shatter.  But look, glowy purple! It's a bit soft-looking, just like in real life. Too bad WnW discontinued this shade.