Happy Birthday July!

A few special people I know celebrate their birthdays in July. I thought I would honour that with a manicure featuring red for the birthstone of July, ruby.

The glowing ruby shall adorn,
Those who in July are born;
Then they'll be exempt and free
From love's doubts and anxiety.

- From a Tiffany and Co pamphlet (1870)

I was going to use China Glaze's Ruby Pumps. Instead I used a red spectraflair franken christened Revhead Rainbow. The base colour is Rimmel Lasting Finish Double Decker Red. Surprisingly, I was able to wear this for three days before I had to remove it. That had to be some kind of record for me. And yes, this polish is much more holographic in real life.

As I did not have time to do anything too fancy, I stamped two images on my ring and middle fingers of each hand. Yes, I have fallen in love with using Nails Inc Cleopatra's Kiss. The balloon image is from the Australian themed Konad plate from ICNA. When stamping, I made sure that the "Happy Holidays" part was removed from my stamper. The gift icon was from Bundle Monster's BM-205.

Aussie Aussie Aussie!

No! No! No! :(

When I received the ICNA A1 Australia Konad image plate, I was looking forward to using some of the designs on it. Generally I find that Konad's images are too large for most of my nails so I don't bother buying them. I bought the Christmas Konad image plate and gave it away to someone else for a Christmas gift when I saw that there was no way I could comfortably fit the icons onto my nails. This might give you an idea of the size of my nails.

And the back of this plate. I had already used the plate and some nail polish remover has obviously made a ring of wetness on the back.

The problem I had was not with this plate. No, it was with the polish I chose to try the first trial of images out with. I knew that I would most likely have to do more than one manicure to be able to enjoy the designs. I used Ulta3 Frog Prince and Ulta3 Honolulu. I bought both of these from my local Woolworths supermarket. More Nail Polish has an Ulta3 Colour Guide. Be warned, the link is VERY image heavy and takes a while to open.

Frog Prince was not too bad. I expected it to be sheer from the pictures I had seen on More Nail Polish but it was opaque in two coats. I bought Frog Prince because I wanted a middle of the range green because I have dreams of rainbows on my nails.

Honolulu is a bright yellow that I let the children choose when we were shopping. I thought it would do for a good creme yellow for the above rainbows. Originally I had intended on getting China Glaze Happy Go Lucky for my yellow creme. It looks as though someone had been opening it before I bought it. It was gluggy and did not apply well. An hour afterwards it still had not dried and had crinkled underneath my Essie Good to Go. I like to let my layers dry at least five minutes between each coat and that usually works well. Maybe I might use Seche Restore to thin it and that might improve the dry time and formula.

I used Konad special polishes for the stamping. On my thumb is the swan in black for the Black Swans of Western Australia. My middle "swear" finger has a moss green koala and on my ring finger is an indistinct yellow kangaroo.Topping these with Seche Vite helped with the crinkle problem.

Nails Inc Polishes with Cleo August 2012 Issue

I don't know when Cleo's issues are usually released since I don't usually buy magazines. Last week I bought two copies of Cleo so I could try Nails Inc. There are three shades available but I did not fancy the coral, neonish We Heart Ita. In my local supermarket the main colour that was left was We Heart Ita. So, I guess it is not a popular colour with other people around here. I ended up with Bag a Bachelor and Cleopatra's Kiss.

Bag a Bachelor is a soft pink and Cleopatra's Kiss is a metallic silver. I decided that Miss L would love the pink and you can't really go wrong with a silver. All three polishes were specially made by Nails Inc for Cleo and I am uncertain if the formula is indicative of Nails Inc's regular lines.

I tried Cleopatra's Kiss first and was very impressed by what appeared to be a one coat. opaque polish. Three of my fingers seemed to dry on my left hand but, I removed and re-applied the polish to my ring and little fingers three times. They never dried even with quick dry top coat. On my right hand there was some kind of reaction with the top coat that made the finish odd in appearance. Whilst the surface was smooth, it looked rippled underneath. I gave up and removed it all to discover that the dry polish was not dry.
Undaunted, I decided that I would try Cleopatra's Kiss as a stamping polish.

Since Bag a Bachelor is a light pink, I did not hold any hopes for being opaque. Yes, the polish went on streaky and after my experience with Cleopatra's Kiss, I was not keen on doing more than two coats in case it did not dry. A third coat would be required to make the finish the best. I was stamping over it anyway and handing the polish over to Miss L.

Now stamping with Cleopatra's Kiss is another story. It is a great chrome silver finish. I wish that the weather and my hand/camera would co-operate because it stamped perfectly without a single problem. In fact, I am considering picking up a second bottle/magazine for a back up to stamp with.

The image is from Bundle Monster's third series of plates and is number BM-312.

Miss L's Lovely Lacquer - A Franken.

When I was mixing together a few polishes, the children wanted to get in and make their own too. Why not? It appeals just like mixing paint colours.

Miss L chose three colours for her Lovely Lacquer. She started off with N.Y.C Color Copper Penny. This is another one of those pretty colours from N.Y.C. but too sheer for my liking. Mixed in with this was China Glaze's Gr8 gold holographic from the OMG Collection. Adding this helped in making the polish opaque enough to wear without coat after coat after coat. Gr8 gives a subtle holographic finish and what little girl doesn't like to have rainbows on her fingertips? The best thing is that Copper Penny turns Gr8 into a lovely antiqued gold.

Miss L holding the bottle of her nail polish where you can just see a little of the rainbow in the bottle.

There was a final touch she made to her elixir. We bought some Satin branded nail polishes from a local chemist and one of them was Nail Enamel 24. Satin is made in Australia and on the bottle is a website that directs to www.neoncosmetics.com. I didn't bother putting in a link as this website has a placeholder and lets you know that the domain may be for sale.

Back to the nail polish with the imaginative name. It is a purple/magenta micro-glitter that is perfect as a top coat. The base appears to be clear but it is hard to tell because the glitter seems to colour everything. Liberal amounts were added to the polish but you can barely see it as the glitter is very small. When Miss L is wearing her polish indoors you get surprise glimpses of a pretty smattering of the glitter through the gold.

Miss L wants to share this picture of her wearing her Lovely Lacquer.

This is Miss L's Lovely Lacquer in low light to show the glitter. Shown is two coats without top coat.

It was difficult to catch the elusive subtle holographic part of this polish. This picture was my best and it looks as though I have a chip in the top left. I don't but that corner of my nail pulls down as my nail gets longer and this must have photgraphed as though I did not have polish on it! Bonus! You can see some of the glitter as well.

Open Your Heart and Nail Mail

Mr R and I were looking at LightInTheBox a few weeks ago and we decided on three image plates.This is the second time I have ordered from them and I find that shipping is not fast. If you are patient, you can have some image plates eventually and cheaply. We chose QA3, QA4 and LO01. It was LO01 that caught Mr R's eye and he had a manicure idea.

QA3 has Winnie the Pooh related images and QA4 has some Transformers with some odds and ends.

When the plates arrived, Mr R could not wait and had to rip the blue plastic off LO01 right away. I was told that the lock in the middle was his heart and the key at the bottom was the one to open it. He let me know that I was the one with the key. How sweet. I am sure Miss L will let me know about her heart's key after she sees the manicure when they come home from school.

Over the top of the One Horned Goat franken oomphed with extra Speck-tacular, I stamped with Konad White Pearl. Taking pictures was becoming bothersome and the best one was captured with the iPhone.

When I first ordered from LightInTheBox, I purchased two plates. They were KD4 and A35. I was very impressed with KD4 with the Angry Birds stamping well. Sadly, they are too large for any finger but my thumb really. :( Someday when my nails grow a little, I may get a slingshot on my thumb with a bird flying through the air. Mr R and Miss L would love that. The other plate, A35, was terrible. I was looking forward to some Easter images but I rid myself of the plate when I discovered it would not stamp. Perhaps the engraving is too shallow?

One Horned Goat? - A Franken

When something is called Unicorn Puke and it is purple, how could you not want it? Yes, I missed out on Cult Nails Unicorn Puke. Maybe I was not reading the right blogs? I also try to ignore brands that appear to be difficult to get to the bottom end of the world. That could be it too. Yes, I also missed out on getting the re-named Clairvoyant.

Oh well, I have some flakie polish. Let's try to make something. I decided to make up a purple rather than using one out of my hoard of polish. Rimmel 60 Seconds Blue My Mind was mixed with N.Y.C. Color Redhead. I lightened the colour with N.Y.C. Casper. My heavy hand and the fact that I mixed this under artificial light without the picture speaks volumes about how much this colour does not resemble Unicorn Puke/Clairvoyant.

For the flake component I used Australis Crystal Colour Top Coat in Speck-tacular. In the 13 ml bottle I frankened in, I probably used 8 ml of this... And still there was not enough flake. I did have a jelly polish. A jelly, very subtle flake polish.

Close up on the nail

This would not do at all. With what was left in my bottle of Speck-tacular, I set to work oomphing up the flakes. Somehow, I think I would like more flakes but after three coats it seems as though that might be almost impossible. They were a pain to catch out in the sun so I had to make do with an indoor picture.

Why call it Seductive One Horned Goat? It is definitely no unicorn. This franken is like a fake unicorn from mediaeval times, a goat with one horn attached to the middle of the head. A dismal failure for duplicating but still a nice enough polish. I like the jelly finish and the colour. I am not sure if I would overcome the disappointment of not having much flake but be satisfied with the little glimpses of magic that pop through.

Rainbow Serpent - Spectraflair Holographic Top Coat Franken

When I bought Spectraflair, I spent a lot of time stuffing it into different coloured polishes to make them holographic. Why do that when you can get a similar effect from putting Spectraflair into a clear polish and layer it over the top? This is how my version, Rainbow Serpent, was born.

The Rainbow Serpent would be the one of the best known entities from stories of the Dreamtime, especially to non-Indigenous Australians. You can read some of what Wikipedia has to say about the Rainbow Serpent here.

Take one bottle with clear top coat. In this case, it is Rimmel Superwear. Add Spectraflair and ball bearings. Shake! Because this is not a suspension base, you need to shake it each time you use it to disperse the Spectraflair pigment. Over time, the particles settle out of the polish.

Such a pity that the rainbows are hiding in my pictures. Today I swatched this over another one of my frankens, Mystic Fire. Rainbow Serpent will dull the colour of the manicure in low light but you can still be surprised with tiny sparks of rainbow fire. But on to some pictures with some of the rainbows showing.

The more you layer, the stronger linear holographic effect you get. And the duller your manicure becomes with low light. I managed to get this picture with the iPhone with three layers of Rainbow Serpent and it was more holographic in reality.

Love is a Godmother's Magic - Manicure upgrade

I couldn't leave well enough alone and I had to do something over Godmother's Magic. Flicking through the third series of Bundle Monster plates, I decided to use two designs from BM 317. I thought that they were perfect with all of the hearts because love is a kind of magic.

This is my franken, Godmother's Magic of two coats and Seche Vited. Later on I stamped with China Glaze 2030 and then Essie Good to Go on top of that. I love 2030 for stamping. It is such a pretty and easy to manage gold chrome. Sadly, the only place I could easily and cheaply buy it from no longer ships China Glaze outside of the US.

Godmother's Magic - A Franken

I saw Barielle's Elle's Spell on several blogs and I wanted it. Mainly it was because I wanted to give it to my Strumpet. The name itself is close to her name and it is pretty with that flakie goodness. Sadly, I could not seem to get my hands on it. eBay even failed me as it so often does with quite a few brands. If it is China Glaze, OPI or Orly you are in with a good chance and you are most likely able to get it significantly cheaper buying it from the United States than buying it in Australia. Even with the postage.

Looking at Elle's Spell it seemed as though it was something that I could make my own version of. It was not like I was going to get the real thing and be disappointed with what I had. Elle's Spell is just a red with flakes. Right?

Rimmel's Celebrity Bash came in a five pack of Rimmel polishes for $5 at a discount store. I have probably worn it once and I decided it was a good candidate to sacrifice to my cause. Nubar 2010 is a polish I strongly desired when I first saw it. I have no argument that it is a stunning polish but I was not wearing it. Over black it has a black opal beauty but it lacks some of the other colours that make it perfect. Although you can get blue and green from the flakes they tend towards the red end of the spectrum. Adding 2010 to Celebrity Bash would also make it more jelly-like rather than a creme. I probably used 2 parts of 2010 to 1 part Celebrity Bash. Looking at the final result, I could most likely add more 2010 but I did not have any more room in my bottle.

I had a terrible time taking these pictures as it is Winter and a wind is increasing the chill. Since the sun was popping in and out from behind clouds I had to try to wait for a decent amount of sun. I know my photography skills leave much to be desired but if I tried being a professional, I think it would take the fun out of it. Here's a shot that shows up the flakes slightly more.

This one is for my Strumpet and Godmother to my children. <3

"Splendid" Eye Shadow Franken - An Experiment

I do not wear eyeshadow. There is a skill in applying it that I can not, will not master.

What do I do with all of these loose mineral eye shadows that I have been given?

Use them as nail polish pigments!

I used the clear from Ulta3 from a bin dive at the supermarket. Two stainless steel ball bearings (if you believe the eBay listing and only time will tell) were fed into an empty 5 ml nail polish bottle also bought from eBay. The bottle was half filled with the clear polish from Ulta3.

For pigment, I used Splendid from Everyday Minerals.This most likely came in a starter pack when I was trying out mineral foundations many years ago. Splendid is no longer available but it would be a pretty eye shadow to wear if you were not skill deficient like me. It's a beautiful lilac colour with shimmer and was added to my nail polish bottle. I used an old piping tip (from a disposable icing set) as a funnel to try to easily get pigment through the mouth and neck of the bottle. It worked to a degree.

Shake, shake shake and a glorious nail polish is formed when the pigment is dispersed through the clear. Top it up with more clear and shake to combine. Each pigment would work differently and may not be suitable. It all comes down to experimenting. Add less so that you have a layering polish. Add more than one pigment to see what you can get.

Mr R named this one Splendid Shimmer. In the base I used, it looked quite thin but two coats applied well. There is a subtle shimmer that translated from the pigment in the eye shadow to appearing on the nail. It is too early and too frosty to be able to go outside to try to get a better picture than the one below.

The thing that surprised me was that the pigment remained suspended in the base overnight. I am very happy with the result of this experiment. There is an earlier attempt that I may share with you another time. Mr R named that one... Smurf Droppings...

Nail Mail - Konad supplies

My parcel delivery man is very kind. Even when the items are addressed to my home address, he will bring them to my workplace for me when I am at my part-time job. It is something of a running joke with my workmates about my expensive nail obsession with the frequent arrival of new nail goodies.

This parcel was no exception to the comments but I was able to show one of my colleagues about nail art stamping. Here is a picture of my new Konad supplies. Since it has been gloomy and rainy, it has not helped with trying to get decent pictures.

The 5 ml Konad special polishes arrived in these cute Konad bags. On the back they have "Easy Instructions" and diagrams of how you stamp.

My order was a special deal where you get select any ten 5 ml special polishes and receive a Konad 11 ml clear top coat from ICNA - International Creative Nail Art. Also available there is an exclusive Konad image plate with an Australian theme. It costs $13.98 which is expensive for an image plate but I wanted to own this little bit of Australiana.

I am very happy with the speed of my order. I ordered on Monday with their flat rate $4.95 shipping and they posted it Express Post. I live in a rural area outside of the Express Post network and it arrived on Thursday. It surprised me because I was not expecting it to arrive until the next week at least. Generally mail takes about a week or more to reach me from Western Australia. Posting my order via Express Post would have assisted in getting it here quickly.

Illamasqua Stance

Stance is my first (and only) Illamasqua. Scrangie has often posted about Illamasqua and raved about it. Anything that Scrangie posts looks stunning but each picture and description of how terrific the formula was increased my desire. Everything that is said about Illamasqua is true. Some day I may get another to add to my hoard but for now Stance is very treasured.

I am very indebted to the exceptionally special person who sent Stance to me. She is the reason that makes this polish extra special and today is the day that I am finally able to show her Stance on my fingernails. Thank you. <3

In the beginning...

Very recently I was ill for quite a while. Spending a lot of time in bed with plenty of fluids and bed rest also gave me A LOT of time to spend online. That meant that I viewed many nail blogs. I found that I could not comment on the work of these very talented people without an account.

Nail polish has been an obsession of mine for a little over a year. I am a classic nail biter that gave up and discovered the beautiful rainbow world that is nail polish. My nails are still terrible. They peel and break without any decent length to them. While this does not make for compliments or stunning pictures, they are my nails that I get to lavish with love and colour.

There has been a little frankening going on at my house and I thought that having a blog might be a way to capture those things that I have created. My children have caught the bug too and I am sure that I will feel the pressure to record their creations as well.

So, this blog was born out of my desire to show my admiration for the talented bloggers and as a way to "scrapbook" some of my nail mis-adventures.

Ice Cream Cake - A Franken

I thought about the combination for this franken over and over again while I was in bed recovering. In amongst my nail polishes there was N.Y.C. Color's Angel, a pretty white polish with shimmer but very sheer. It was not something I was going to bother wearing and it was put aside for frankening. Rimmel's Nail Tip Whitener was added to make the mixture more opaque. The last addition to this creation was OPI Extra-Va-Vaganza.

You would think that the resulting mixture would be white with orange and gold glitter. A name was already waiting, something along the lines of Shattered Soul. Extra-Va-Vagnza had other ideas and revealed that it is very multi-coloured. Added to the white it did not appear the very orange type of glitter that I knew I could not wear a lot of, hence the use in the franken to make it (hopefully) more wearable. To me, the resulting franken was much like vanilla ice cream cake with those sprinkles that they like to mix in.