Wicked awesome mail day!

Hi everyone!
Thank you for all the kind comments and emails…it really means a lot to me that you actually miss my franken posts! 🙂
My nails are healing a bit, and I have made a bunch of new frankens that I will have up soon. But I absolutely HAD to show you all the goodies I got in the mail today!

First of all, let me just tell you that as a polish-oriented blogger, I’ve never received polishes from a company. I know many bloggers get promotional samples to try out, but I would never expect to receive promo polishes because of the nature of my blog…I’m just a crazy polish mixing fool! 😛 And to be honest, I’ve never been that good at describing colors/finishes/etc and don’t fancy myself much of an interesting writer. So you can imagine my surprise that I received a package in the mail from ManGlaze! Marc, the owner of the company, had sent me a message on Twitter asking for my address, and I figured it was probably for a mailing list or something.

But low and behold, look what came today.

Hot Mess, which is a sparkley silver matte…and Matte is Murder, a shimmery matte black. I adore the art on the bottles, and ManGlaze really has some amazing mattes!

But that’s not all. I received three “Franken Juggs”, too! Let the pictures do the talking…

Yes…those are empty franken bottles! Look at the labels!

I LOVE the artwork on these…I want the franken-lady as a life sized cutout! 😛
A huge thanks for ManGlaze for sending me these…I cannot wait to try them out.
Thanks for stopping by…you can expect some frankens real soon! ❤

Štěstí Matte

Out of all the mattes I have made, the one I have to show you today is my absolute favorite!!
I used Hydrated Chromium Oxide Green pigment from TKB Trading, and Nailtek Foundation II for this one.

I filled an empty bottle 3/4 full of Nailtek, then added in 1 tablespoon of Oxide Green pigment. These mixed very easily with the help of a couple ballz and some light shaking.

I must repeat…THIS IS MY FAVORITE MATTE EVER! Very rarely have I worn my frankens (or the rest of my ginormous stash of “regular” polishes) more than once…but I have worn this one THREE times since making it! Can you see why?

I’m sure you are wondering about the name. “Štěstí” is the Czech word for luck. Although I am not normally a superstitious person, I’ve been wearing a lot of green polish lately for luck. Hopefully, it’s been working and I’ll have good news to share soon! 🙂

Tomato Pie Matte

I’m pretty sure I have mentioned my aversion to red polishes before, but I couldn’t resist making a red matte! It’s not that I don’t like red polish…they just tend to look bad on me!

I used Red Lake pigment with TKB Trading, and Nailtek Foundation II.

I filled an empty bottle 3/4 full of Nailtek, then mixed in 1 tablespoon of Red Lake pigment.

Ok, I was a bit nervous about this one. I was afraid the red would clash with my skintone, but I really liked this one! It has a touch of orange to it, which gives it a lovely summer feel.

Be sure to check back soon. I have another green, as well as another fun giveaway! 🙂

Oregon Green Matte

I am very excited for today’s matte franken! I have been loving the matte look lately, and what is better than an awesome green matte?

I used Chromium Oxide Green pigment from TKB Trading, and Nailtek Foundation II.

I filled an empty bottle 3/4 full of Nailtek, then mixed in 1 tablespoon of Oxide Green pigment.

Be still, my heart! I think I actually shrieked out loud when I saw this one in the bottle!

And wow, once on my nails, I knew this one was an instant win. I’ve noticed a lot of mattes tend to look slightly lumpy in up close pictures, but honestly they look smooth on my nails! Thank you to my friend, Elma (an Oregon native) for helping me name this.
I have a few more mattes coming up, including another green that is EVEN BETTER, so check back! 😀

Glacier Matte

Since my last batch of matte polishes were such a big hit, I decided to whip up another set! Lately, all the major polish companies have been releasing matte collections, so matte is definitely a hot look right now.

I used Colorona Dark Blue pigment from TKB Trading, and Nailtek Foundation II.

I filled an empty bottle 3/4 full of Nailtek, then added in 1/2 teaspoon of Dark Blue pigment.

The blue is slightly darker in real life, but the color really does pop!

You must excuse the sad state of my nails…they have been very finicky lately and not behaving!
I had more mattes coming up, including TWO really awesome greens so check back!!

The Matte Family Has Expanded!

Once I began frankening these matte polishes, I couldn’t stop!

Today I have a few more members of our “matte family”. I think these will be the final bunch…for now.
😉

As with the rest of the “family”, these were all made with Nailtek Foundation II as a base, and pigment for the colors.

First up, a raspberry pink. This one is a little more vibrant than the previous set of mattes I posted, but hey, a little variety is good! Especially when it looks like this:

And our family wouldn’t be complete without a purple. When I originally decided to do a purple, I was aiming for a dusty grey shade. I fell in love with this cheery grape and didn’t have the heart to tone it down.

Every family has a problem child, and the last polish is it. It seemed like a good idea to include a yellow in the matte collection, but it proved to be a challenge. After a lot of experimenting, I ended up with a weird golden olive color. I wasn’t sure if I liked it or not, but after swatching it, it’s grown on me. I used black, yellow and gold pigments. The gold shimmer is prominent even though this polish has a flat finish…giving it an “antique” look. Definitely not a color for everyone…but I thought I’d include it since it was different!

I had a lot of fun making these matte polishes…I hope you enjoyed them! ❤

More Matte!

What, you thought I’d stop with just one?
Armed with a plethora of new pigment samples from wonderful ladies, I set out to come up with some colorful friends for “Cauldron”. I’ve been busy swatching, and today I have the first three to show you!

All of these frankens are made with Nailtek Foundation II as a base.

Grey is a hot color right now…so what’s hotter than a matte grey? This was simple to make. I mixed together 2/3 back polish with 1/3 white to get the shade of grey I was aiming for, then added it to my Nailtek. If a lighter, dove grey is what you want, add more white and less black.

This strange green is reminiscent of Misa’s Dirty Sexy Money, but darker. It’s definitely an odd shade, but I like it! I made this with a teal pigment sample (TY, Miriel!) and a few drops each of plain black and white polishes (for the greyish cast & to give the mixture some opacity).

This interesting blue was just an easy mix of a little pigment (from the brilliant Elma, who came up with the matte franken idea) & Nailtek!

That’s all for today…stay tuned for more!

Double, Double Toil and Trouble…

Fire burn and cauldron bubble!
Now, you’re probably wondering why I am quoting Shakespeare’s Macbeth. I promise, there is a reasonable explanation, and it does involve a cool new franken!
You’ve probably seen the really awesome matte nail polishes from brands like Knockout and ManGlaze. These cool polishes dry with a flat finish that give your nails a unique look. I was chatting with my friend Elma (a fellow polish lover) a few days ago, and she gave me a brilliant idea…to franken my own matte polish! She suggested I try using Nailtek Foundation II, a basecoat that dries matte. I’m well stocked with Nailtek, since it’s one of the best base coats I have ever used. In fact, I credit Nailtek’s Foundation II for really improving and strengthening my nails (I was a horrible nail-biter a few years ago…shhh, don’t tell anyone). You can purchase it at some beauty supply stores, or online at etailers like 8ty8beauty, Transdesign, or many others.

Another plus is that the empty Nailtek bottles are great to use for frankening once you rinse them out with some acetone. I had a half full bottle handy, so I decided to add some black to it.

I used Petites brand (found at WalMart and drugstores) in Night, a plain black creme. The Petites bottles are tiny, so I poured most of it into my half full Nailtek, bringing the mixture level right to the bottom of the bottle neck. I added a few ballz, shook the mixture, and silently prayed it would work!

The mixture did require a lot more shaking than a typical franken, so I added a few drops of polish thinner in as well. The Nailtek Foundation II tends to thicken a bit as the bottle depletes. Once the polish was mixed completely, I swatched the polish mix on a nail wheel, and anxiously waited for it to dry. I checked my swatch a few hours later, and was pleased to discover it was a success! Now, here’s where my Shakespeare quote fits in…

At first glance, this polish immediately made me think of a big, black cast iron cauldron! **cackles**
What’s neat about the matte polishes is that you can layer a shiny top coat over it if you don’t like the matte finish. Here is a comparison…the right nail has a coat of Sally’s Oh So Wet top coat on it:

I was so excited about my new matte polish that I decided it needed some friends! I’ll unveil the rest of the family in a few days, so check back!
😀