What Did I Name My Pinky-Purple Franken? FRANKENBERRY, Of Course!

I know, I know... naming a berry-colored frankened polish FrankenBerry is just begging people to groan. It's so horrible, and I know better. But I was sitting and thinking, and as soon as it hit me I began to giggle, and I just couldn't stop. So now you get to see a frankened polish with the worst name in polish history. Or maybe for this week, I'm not sure.

Anyway, I broke this one down into steps. I was going for a Lippmann-esque glitter in a jelly base. I started out with some polishes I love. I used several clear, inexpensive glitter polishes from Love My Nails along with Sinful Colors Dream On, a vibrant, almost neon purple. I also used a little plastic cup to mix in, as well as a bamboo skewer for mixing. I like those better than toothpicks because I can get a better grip on them.

The thing to remember is start small- you can always add more polish, but removing polish from the mix is impossible. I started out with a small blob of Love My Nails Dazzling. I used this because it's got an absolutely beautiful shimmer to it, almost as if it were filled with diamond dust. I wanted my Franken to have shimmer galore, so this was a perfect start to it!

Then I went for the glitter- a mix of sizes of iridescent glitters in a clear base, Love My Nails Angel Baby. This one would give that mix of glitter sizes I was hoping to have. It also gave the rainbow touch that I seem so fascinated with these days.

Angel Baby has a variety of round glitter in various sizes. It's a great topcoat for layering, but it also works really well for frankening. I really like the way it plays with other colors.

Next I added in the Sinful Colors Dream On. I could have used any color, but I wanted a bright berry-type color. Dream On is a very densely-saturated purple that gives almost complete coverage in one stroke. It also tends to dry to an almost-matte finish, which does play a role in how this looks later. It's an interesting thing to keep in mind.

If I were to make this mix again, I might use a different purple, just to see if it would play better with the mix.

Now I grabbed my bamboo skewer and mixed this thoroughly. It doesn't take long, and soon enough I had a lovely, bright, sheer pinky-purple mix with tons of glitter. I really liked how this looked in the cup. The glitter showed through the polish nicely and the color was still vibrant, but incredibly sheer.

I wonder what it would have come out with had I kept the mix like this...

Time to test! I applied one coat of the mix to my thumb only to find that it was incredibly sheer- much more sheer than I'd intended. However, looking back I wish I'd tried more than one coat of the polish, just to see how well it would build.

Ah well, it's a learning experiment, and I certainly learned a lot while making it! Glitter is good, neons dry funny, and never be afraid to experiment!

I went back for more polish and added a bit more of the purple and mixed well again. This looked much better to me. While I wanted sheer color, I wanted it to be opaque enough to hide the nail line. I wanted it sheer enough to see various glitters peeking through the layers of polish. This looked like it just might do what I wanted...

Also, I really love the size of this plastic cup. It's perfect for mixing a small batch of polish and bit enough to get your brush into. It's also easy to clean, as I'll show soon enough.

One more test and I was satisfied with the color. I went ahead and painted all my nails with the mix. You can see it's still sheer, but deep enough to build to opacity. One coat was much too sheer, but 2 coats built to a lovely, almost-opaque color. I eventually put on 3 coat of polish, and really enjoyed the process. Next up- more colors like this!

Finally I had a lovely finished manicure (except for cleaning up, which I totally forgot to do for these photos). I love the color, and it applied nicely. I was surprised at how matte the polish dried, although it's not a bad thing. I think it dried matte because of the Dream On. It was easy enough to fix by adding a coat of topcoat, and it would have been just fine as a satin as well.

I used a brush from a clear strengthener to apply the polish, then cleaned it on my polish pad before I put it back into the bottle. It worked really well!

Finally, I've got a picture of the bottom of the polish cup, just to show the types of glitter involved in this polish. Isn't it yummy?
I love the combination of colors, and the blue glitter that shows up really is blueish.

I don't know why it took me so long to start mixing colors, but I'll definitely be doing more of it! This was FUN! I'm already looking at polish box, thinking about what colors I could combine for what effects!

So tell me, do you think you'll be likely to experiment with frankening? Are you brave enough to play, or do you prefer to watch other people mix up new colors? If you do mix up a new color, show me, I'd love to see!

Nail Art Take Two- A Simple Design Using Sinful Colors Dream On

Yesterday I showed a very simple nail art design using Sinful Colors' Dream On, a warm fluorescent purple polish. Because I paired it with silver, the overall effect was very cool-toned. However, by swapping the silver for gold I can make the same polish look warm and rich. It's fun!

Just like yesterday, I used my base coat and then two coats of Dream On. But instead of silver, I wanted to try a warmer look. I grabbed a gold Sally Hansen Nail Art Pen, thinking it would complement the purple nicely. (That's color theory for you... but that's a completely new topic all together!)

I'd learned something about these pens yesterday. They don't contain traditional nail polish, which makes using them a bit different. The key to using these is to let the base polish dry thoroughly- if they're tacky at all, the pens won't slide over the polish. Instead, they catch and basically put dots and dents into the polish, which is the opposite of what I was going for. However, once the base polish is dry, they slide across the nail leaving a beautiful line of solid color.

I drew a diagonal line across my nails from one corner of my free edge to the opposite "corner" at my cuticle. That alone took a bit of effort, since I was working with my left hand! But patience is key, and I was able to sketch out a basically-straight line eventually. I then slowly filled in each bottom half, leaving a solid gold portion on each nail. The pen did get kind of dry periodically, but I would press the nib into the pen again (like when you first start using it) to get the paint flowing again.

Because of the way the gold goes on it gets a dimensional look, almost like gold leaf. It's absolutely gorgeous. At that point, I thought about several options- stamping on top, maybe drawing flowers on the purple side. But the more I looked at it, the more I liked the simplicity of the purple and the gold together. I finally decided to add three dots of gold in the far purple corner as a simple accent. This way there was something to connect the two visually, but not enough to totally overwhelm the design. A coat of topcoat and this look was done!

As you can see, this is a very simple look that completely changed the overall tone of the Dream On. With the gold, it seems warmer, richer. It was a lot of fun to hold my hands side by side and compare the looks, too! I had to put the two side-by-side so that you could compare them as well... isn't the difference cool?

So, what do you think? Do you prefer the wintery silver accents or the summery gold? Do you think you'll be experimenting with color combinations in the future? If you do, leave me a comment, I'd love to see what you do!

Nail art pens were provided by PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information. 

Purple Filigree Nail Art- Two Ways To Wear Sinful Colors Dream On

I have to be honest for a minute here... I don't usually think about the different ways polishes can be worn, and how that changes the way they look. The nail art you use on top of a nail polish can actually make the color look totally different! As an example of this, I've got two looks to show you over the next couple of days using Sinful Colors' Dream On.

By itself, Dream On is a fabulous neon purple, warm and rich color that's so intense it gives full coverage with just one coat. (This means it's an absolute dream to stamp with, too!) I did two coats because I'm not the neatest when it comes to application. It dried in no time, as neons do, to a very matte, almost plastic-looking finish. It's an interesting look, but I wasn't ready to stop there.

I'd received a wonderful package of Nail Art Pens to evaluate from the folks at Sally Hansen, and I thought this was absolutely the perfect time to test them out. I used two different metallic pens, one on each hand. I chose silver for my left hand, and thoughtfully doodled gentle swirls and dots to create a filigree effect. The Sally Hansen Nail Art Pens are really good for this if you happen to make a mistake, since they wipe off easily without affecting the base polish. I wiped off several nails' worth of mistakes! Finally I had a filigree pattern I was happy with, but I realized I wasn't finished yet.

I decided to pull out the package of nail art goodies I got from Viva la Nails to see if there was anything that would happen to work with these colors. Sure enough, there was a package of tiny blue faceted rhinestones that I felt would accentuate the swirls perfectly.

I pulled out my topcoat and dabbed a tiny bit onto a spot, then used a manicure stick to pick up a single stone and press it into the sticky spot. I made sure to apply a good bit of pressure to ensure a good bond between the stone and the polish. Then I started the process again, continuing until I had three stones per nail in varying positions. I feel like this created a fun, whimsical effect to the design that really made me smile. This would also work with clear diamond-like stones, or with silver studs. I'd LOVE to do it again with silver studs!

A final coat of topcoat on top finished things off. I really like the look of this, and it cooled off the warm tones of Dream On significantly. I used the gold nail art pen on my right hand in a totally different pattern, and you'll get to see that one tomorrow. It's been fun to see the two contrasting patterns and to see how different they look side by side.

One problem with this look, though, is that my son's school called today to have us come pick him up early. This means I had to go to my son's school wearing my totally different nails, sign him out, and let everyone see my totally different designs on both hands! Honestly, I don't think anyone noticed, but I was definitely self-conscious about it! I get silly about the weirdest things!

So the next time you look at your polishes with an intent to do some nail art, think about the different ways you could combine things to create a whole new look. Keep an open mind, be willing to experiment, and most of all have fun! It's nail polish, after all... it's supposed to be fun!

Nail art pens were provided by PR for evaluation.
See my disclosure statement for more information.