Moonlit Ocean franken~ness

Hi everyone :)

Today, I'm going to show you another franken I made.

This one is called Moonlit Ocean. It's a gorgeous dark teal, 50/50 with Crisnail - Navy* and Sally Hansen - French Mani colour, Shell Shimmer. Shell has a beautiful duochrome/green flash to it, showing pale pink and green in the bottle so I knew this would be lovely. The pink-ness just lightened the dark navy to a lighter blue and the green-ness gave it teal sheen... scrummy!

With flash, colour accurate

With flash

In the sun

With flash

Close up

No flash, indoors

Bathroom, no flash

*This can be found in my stash link, no pic for Shell Shimmer as I've used it all and forgot to get a pic :(

Hope you like
See you soon

Pixie~nails x

Polish Ninja Giveaway!

All I can say is wow!

It's Polish Ninjas 1 year Blogaversary and she is having a major giveaway!

Check HERE for full details and good luck!

It's a sad day for crackles, shatters and spotteds....

(In my house anyway!)

(Of course I'm not going to stop buying them... I'll eventually give in to their ways!)

But for now, I've discovered something that may just interest you if you are a lover of said polishes...

Behold, the wonder that is....

HOMEMADE SHATTERS AND SPOTTEDS!!!

Yes, you read correctly, homemade, simple and most importantly, FREE!!

Versatile effects!

So simple to do!

Crackle effect homestyle!

So, if you like what you see and want to know how to do it, read on...

First, choose what colour you want as an effect colour...

I chose basic black (I'm hoping brand shouldn't matter, I used LaFemme)

I put a few drops of this on an old plastic lid with a few drops of water and a few drops of baby oil.

Mix this together with an orange stick or similar.

Water, oil and polish mix

Working quickly (as I didn't know how long this would 'keep') I painted it on a ready painted, and dried, nail, just as you would ordinary crackle (I just used the previous rainbow manicure). The difference being, as it has baby oil in, it will 'crackle/shatter/split' straight away so no waiting. You see the effect so can manipulate the look with the brush. Also, as its got oil in it, it won't dry super fast like Barry Ms nail effects.

This one looks like butterfly wings... Idea for future post!!

When I first painted it on, I couldn't believe my eyes! But I also thought it wouldn't work with having oil and water in. I thought it wouldn't dry.

So... gutted but amazed, I got on with messing about with other effects...

Some look like crackle, some like shatter... some like a mess!

I then tried something else. I painted my nail black and while it was still wet, swabbed over it with a cotton bud.

This is the result...

Just after I swabbed with bud

With top coat

This made me actually say the word 'meh'

Ok, so try something else....

I then remembered something that happened when I *whisper whisper* <~ (secret for another post!!)

So I tried something like it for this....

I painted plain, ordinary black polish (no oil) on top of 2 shades of pink (brand names and colour names don't matter to me in this post, just the amazing effects) and placed plastic, like sweet wrapper plastic on top, much like you would with foils. I forgot to take a picture of this step... whoops!

Then I poked the top with an orange stick to make little 'indents'. I left it over sized so I could get it off as I found out when I *whisper whisper* (heh heh, bet you hate me, but you will find out soon!) it stuck good!

After about 20 minutes I slowly peeled off the plastic and discovered FAKIE, HOMEMADE SPOTTY NAILS!! This excited me greatly as I had recently spotted, well Black Spotted by OPI and oh how I craved it! This wasn't totally dry so I waited another 5 mins to do a top coat.

Strange shaped nail! lol!

Trust me, this looks SOOOOOOO much better in person, blame the camera!
I wish I had discovered this first but will do a full mani soon in it.
So, there you have it, homemade spotty/crackly/shattery nails...
It may not be OPI or Barry M standard but it works (kinda) and I like it.
Oh!! And it dried properly and quickly, just like regular polish even with the oil and water in! The two just dried up as the nail polish dried and the effects were unharmed! I don't think this could be a bottled franken as the mixture would, over time, go funny, so I am just going to make a mini mixture as and when I want it.

Best of all... you can use ANY colour, ANY finish and did I mention... it's FREE!!!

P.S. please excuse any dry, tired and/or ugly cuticles. I wasn't expecting this to be a real post!

Hope you like it as much as I do.
Have a go at home and link me with results.

Pixie~nails x

Rainbow gradient.... SIDEWAYS

With all the rainbow gradients about, I thought I'd try something different.

Side gradient

I just painted my nails white and when dried, Sponged on LaFemme - Deep Purple Pearl

The type of sponge I use

With one coat. I used two.

As you can see in the picture above, I sponged just over half of the nail.

Before top coat

I then took Vollare Colorado - 409 and sponged the other half, overlapping the purple. For those who have tried this technique you will know how awkward it is to get perfect, so if you are only trying this for the first time, expect too-ing and fro-ing with the 2 colours.

I then sponged half my index finger with the blue and overlapped with Sally Hansen - Emerald City.
Then again, half with Emerald City on the middle finger and finished with NYC - Lemon Cream.
On the ring finger continuing with the Lemon Cream, I finished with Vollare Colorado - 239.
Lastly, on the pinkie, with half painted in 239, I finished with Miss Sporty - 150.
It looks bubbly in the pictures above but it wasn't.
I waited for this to dry and topped it with La Girls - Diamond Top Coat.
...Then it got bubbly... :/

Now, you WILL get messy with this mani but just dip a bud in remover and clean up the edges.

This is my first full grad mani so be kind :)

Pixie~nails x

My Growing Stash

Just thought, seeing I have a 'Stash' link on the nav bar that I should really show it!

Now, don't be expecting anything of great quantity or quality. Well, maybe 1 or 2 bottles but everything else is basic, cheap and cheerful - just like myself! ha! :) These pics won't be colour accurate but close to. These are just for show.

I have pics stored on my laptop in colour batches so I will just post those first and name L~R.

First, the reds:

L~R
Vollare cosmetics-306,
LaFemme-red pearl,
Rimmel-moviestar,
Hot looks-Diva,
Vollare- 73,
Miss sporty-150,
LaFemme-burgundy red*
Hedys Manishma-Cherry bomb.

And the blacks/blues:

Hot looks-Vogue
Unkown brand-black shimmer*
UMA-Navy*
LaFemme-Ebony
Hot looks-Intense
Lizzie Rocks-In the navy
Crisnail-navy*
Vollare-409

Glitters/Nail art:

Hot looks-wow,
Vollare-317,
4 Hedys clockwise-way out fushia-space silver-blaster-beyond opal,
4 LaFemme clockwise-fairy dust-jupiter-shimmer-cosmos,
Chit Chat-Copper,
Leighton Denny-Gold Dust,
Sally Hansen-Hidden Treasure,
W7-white crackle,
Barry M-Black crackle,
W7-Mauve Crackle

Greens next:

Vollare-96
Vollare-? maybe 123?
WnW-54321
Vollare-248
Miss sporty-60
Sally Hansen-teeny greeny bikini
Beauty uk-turquoise shimmer
Hot looks-Bongo Beat
lady manhattan- moss green*
Sally Hansen-Emerald city
City Color-Dark Green
Hot looks-shameless

Oranges, Yellows and such:

Vollare-239
Star Gazer-120
Markwins Int'l-blush*
Markwins Int'l-taupe*
LaFemme- deep brown pearl
WNW xplode-e74409
Color Concept-bronze*
Vollare-butterscotch*
Vollare- 99

Next, pinks:

Vollare-102
LaFemme-Candy*
Vollare-295
LaFemme-Cerise*
Oooops, I have 2 Vollare-102!

Purples:

Barry M-vivid purple
LaFemme-deep purple pearl
LaFemme-purple pearl
Vollare-402
Vollare-35
Hot looks-minx
C2000-Midnight rouge
LMC-302
UMA-267
LaFemme-magenta pearl
LaFemme-fuchsia pearl

This is my whole collection together. I have base coats and topcoats and french mani sets and nail art but its to much to name EVERYTHING so just squint or enlarge it :D

L-R

NYC-lemon cream
WNW-e71519, a deep copper
LaFemme-Mirage, a turquoise glitter
W7-Red Crackle
Chit Chat Nails-Pink, Purple
LaFemme-silver glitter, gold glitter

UPDATED, 25/09/2012

L-R
City Color-Reddish Purple
NYC-Timeless Tangerine
Collection 2000-Catwalk
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure-Sea and be seen
NYC-Late Night Lilac
Sally Hansen HD (x4)-Resolution, Hue, Laser and Spectrum
Laval-Fiji
Mien(M&S)-Antique

L-R
LaFemme-Venus, a dark turquoise glitter similar to Mirage (3 pics up)
W&W-Pop The Cork
NYC-Gramercy Glitz

L-R
Yes Love-no10, a metallic pale green with silver glitter
Yes Love-no613, a lovely pinky red
Hedy's Manishma-Wild Orchid
Rimmel-Vegas
W&W-E71520, a blue so pale, it's almost silver

L-R
City Color-Dark Blue
W&W Explode-E74526, A super-sheer blue with silver holo glitter
 Collection 200 Maxiflex-Damson Frost
Sinful Colors-Sugar Sugar, a red polish with reddy orange glass flecks

L-R
Sinful Colors-Daddys Girl, a royal purple with glass flecks
Hedys Manishma-Pink Opal
Jessie's Girl-Stiletto
Hedys Manishma-Moon Beam

L-R
Color Concept-(think it's 'fairy dust') a clear base with orange, blue, green and yellow glitter
Sally Hansen Complete Manicure-Anemone Of Mine

Also, a whole host of frankens that I will post in the Frankenstash link.

* any names with this symbol * indicates a polish with no name/number or no visible name/number, so I made one up :D

This probably won't get updated that much as I don't buy polish all the time but I do make frankens with empty/nearly empty bottles. And besides, I don't have much room left in my storage box!!

And don't forget, if you spot any you would like swatched, just leave a message and I'll get right on it :)

Remember to click on the pics to enlarge for a better view.

Pixie~nails x

I suppose you'd call these... Filigree?

I'm not REALLY sure what these would be called but Filigree is probably the closest thing.

Here are 2 (badly lit) end shots:

In artificial light at night

Artificial light

 This is one I have wanted to do as a full mani for ages. I normally just doodle on one or two nails and end up taking it off. I basically just painted a few swirls on with my nail art pen, Pink Tease in Black and added a few dots to add extra coverage. In this shot, I painted one of my nails with a matt topcoat. I think it still looks good matt.

Close up with flash, matt coat.

This is it finished with a glossy topcoat. This is what I wore for a few days. I got good wear out of it and the only reason it came off was because I got bored with it! I painted one finger with a matt coat to show what it looks like and get a shot for the blog (above) so you can get a good idea of how it looked after 3 days wear and that was doing regular mummy stuff like washing, cooking and cleaning WITHOUT gloves!!

Close up with flash, gloss coat.

This was the base coat I chose to wear, Wet n Wild Xplode colour E74409. I love the goldy-green sheen you can see on this. This was seen in real life too.

Base coat of Wet n Wild X-plode

I hope you enjoyed reading.

Pixie~nails x

2 swatches of franken

Swatches requested by Crimsonsoulfire

These are 2 frankens I made, Twilight Mauve. I made this with 2/3rds Barry M Bright Purple and A few drops each of (scientific, I know!) an unknown black shimmer with no name/brand on the bottle, a few drops of shimmer topcoat by LaFemme. Most of which stuck to the sides of the bottle!! Anyway, here's what resulted in said science experiment :)

In sunlight

Indoors

L-R glitter, matt, on its own

Closeup shimmer

Now for Cornflower Creme

L-R, topcoat, matt, blue glitter, on its own

This was the only photo I got of Cornflower Creme as my battery died (!!!) but I don't think I needed to get anymore anyway as it picked up the colour perfectly.  But as to how I made this, it was a simple mix of 1/2 dark navy - in this case, a brand called Crisnail with no apparent name or number, with about 1/2 basic white - Sally Hansen French mani white.

I will most likely use these in another swatch so I will be able to get more pics of it.

Hope you like
Pixie~nails x

Got rid of word verification!

NO MORE CAPTCHA!!
YAY!

Just letting people know I turned off the word verification for comments.
I know how it put me off commenting so figured it would put off potential commenters on my blog.


Pixie~nails x

Franken~licious

Well, I don't know about you but I just LOVE frankens!

To date, I have 27.

I've given them all names but no doubt will have stolen a name (by accident) so if anyone knows of a polish with the same name lemme know, ta, and I'll revise it.

Anyhoooo, on to the babies.
I won't be swatching on my nails in this post, just posting pictures of the bottles. I will do each one separately in future posts.
If there is one in particular that you would like to see, message me and I'll swatch it for you sooner.

(click to enlarge)

From L~R:

Midnight Kisses ~ A deep Burgundy Red with Cerise glitter mix
Ruby's Shoes ~ A bright Red with Red glitter and Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure mix
Graphite ~ A Med Grey with an opalescent micro~glitter mix
Twilight Mauve  ~ A pale Mauve with mixed micro/glitter mix
Cornflower Creme ~ A simple blue mix
Rainbow Nights ~ A sheer Black with multi~coloured glitter mix
GlitterBall**REVISED BELOW ~ A super~sheer silver shimmer with large Hex holo glitter mix
Son Of Zeitgeist ~ A Duochrome based purple franken with green shimmer mix

So there you have it.... my babies :)

I have a few more in production/near completion.
And like I said, if you see one you like, message me and I will do a post on it :)

THIS IS A WORK-IN-PROGRESS, I WILL UPDATE EVERY COUPLE OF FRANKENS

UPDATE!!

Black Diamonds**REVISED BELOW, Shlurple, Moonlit Ocean

S-Late Night, Barbie Shimmer, Fuzzy Peaches, Mother Of Pearl

Magic Forest

UPDATED 25/09/2012
L-R
**ALL NEW GLITTERBALL, a clear base with holo glitter
White Noise, a black and silver holo glitter in Fairy Dust base
Deep Space, a dark grey with silver holo glitters
Rainbow Dust, a mini-micro fine holo dust (eyeshadow powder) mixed with Fairy Dust
**ALL NEW BLACK DIAMONDS, black holo glitter in a Fairy Dust base
Let's Party, a multi-coloured glitter mix in a pink base

L-R
Un-named, a dark dusky rose with Fairy Dust
Ruby's Shoes ~ A bright Red with Red glitter and Sally Hansen's Hidden Treasure mixture
Black Cherries, a vampy red/purple mix
Un-named, a dusky pink with pink and purple glitters
Tangerine Blush, an orange shimmer base with pink and red glitters

L-R
Autumn, a tinted base with diamond holos, orange round glitters and micro gold glitters
Autumn Leaves, a brown base with diamond holos and orange round glitters

The above 2 polishes look identical but I can assure you, they couldn't be more different. Autumn started off a clear base with brown diamond holos and orange and gold glitter but the colour ran into the clear base and give it stunning tint. With the Autumn Leaves being in a brown base, the colour of the holos stayed a bit better but faded slightly. Here is a pic to show the difference. Autumn is on the left and Autumn Leaves, the right.

Til the next update :)
Pixie~nails x