My First Franken!

I am very pleased to share my first franken creation with you.  As my polish collection grows, I can’t help but realize there are certain colors I’m lusting for that just don’t seem to exist.  Being of the DIY mindset I figure why not make them myself?  To get acquainted with the world of frankening I turned to a fantastic tutorial by Dr. Frankenpolish.  She calls this franken Angel Tears.

Welcome to my franken lab.

I followed the tutorial pretty faithfully.  Although I didn’t have the same clear red that she did, I used an old L’Oreal Jet Set Shine color called Very Cherry.  Maybe because of that substitution my finished polish came out looking too brown, so I added about 20 drops of a Sally Hansen creme, Cherry Red, to bring the balance back to deep red.

On the nail it is a gorgeous burgundy or blood red jelly, with suspended green shimmer that can be seen in any light.

I’m delighted how this turned out!  All the components mixed together effortlessly.  I’ll give you a mixing hint: if you don’t have BB’s laying around to plop into your frankens, use beads!  I added two small, round, stone beads that are the same size as the BB’s, and they work great as far as I can tell.

Like most jellies, Angel Tears required some patience to build up opacity.  I used 4 thin coats here, but you could maybe use only 3 if you lay it on thickly.  A coat of Seche Vite added crazy shine and helped it to dry.  P.S. I would give this polish the slightly grosser name of Bloody Borealis 🙂   Now, I’m really tempted to go dump out all my old unwanted polishes and make a franken army!

What do you think – would you try your hand at this franken?

~ Allison ~

Sally Hansen Problem Child + Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper

Problem Child is anything but.  I am in love love love with it!  So much so that I bought two bottles.  Call me crazy, I can handle it.  Anyway, it is a deep eggplant purple shimmer with firey copper flakies that add depth and show themselves when the light is right.

In low light it looks like a deep, almost black, royal purple.

Oooh pretties!

Inspired by the copper flakies, I had to add some Sephora by OPI Traffic Stopper Copper on top.

It was very good.  I’d been looking for a copper glitter for quite some time.  This one has large hexes and fine glitter in a clear base.

~ Allison ~

Sally Hansen CSM Model Behavior + Revlon Colada Fizz

Here’s a look at another blue from another Sally Hansen guest designer limited edition collection.  This time, I’m showing you Model Behavior from the Spring 2011 collection designed by Prabal Gurung.  Model Behavior is a bold turquoise blue creme.  It kind of reminds me of bright blue Windex, in the best possible way!  The formula is creamy dreamy and 2 coats provided complete opacity.  It dries very glossy, as well.  The first picture is the most color-accurate.

Next I decided to test out a Revlon polish I finally caved in to trying – Revlon’s scented Colada Fizz.  These bright candy colors had been teasing me from the aisles for a couple of months.  I ended up buying this one, Watermelon Fizz (bright reddish orange) and Appletini Fizz (sour apple green).  Hope to swatch the others soon.  Anyway, this is 2 coats of Colada Fizz on top of Model Behavior.

Although Colada Fizz appears to be baby blue in the bottle it’s too sheer, in my opinion, to be worn on its own.  However it lends a really lovely snowflake-like glitter effect when used as a topcoat.  The fragrance of the polish is pleasant and light, kind of like a powdery, perfume-y pina colada.  In high school I had a perfumed Victoria Secret pen that smelled exactly like this, actually!  The scent isn’t obtrusive but I definitely notice it when my hands are near my face.

Scope out that beautiful fairy glitter.

Have you tried any of Revlon’s fizz nail polishes?  What’s your opinion of scented nail polish?

~ Allison ~

Sally Hansen CSM Barracuda + Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters

When you hear the word barracuda, do you think of this?

P.S. Don’t Google “barracuda attack,” you will come up with some scary shit.

…Or this?  (Those Wilson sisters were so hot.  I have a girlcrush on Ann)

…Or if you are a lacquerhead, you might think of Barracuda, the Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure color that was concocted by Tracy Reese.  This is from the Spring 2011 collection.

For this festive manicure I used 3 coats of Barracuda.  Since it’s a pastel creme it was a bit streaky at first.  It was pretty opaque at 2 coats but I did a third, just for fun.  I painted one coat of Wet N Wild Party of Five Glitters on my accent finger.  This glitter is so much fun!  Against the blue background it makes me think of confetti thrown up against a blue sky.  This one is various sizes of hex glitter, in 5 different colors, in a clear base.  I loved it.  Recommend!

~ Allison ~

Sally Hansen Barracuda Dupe

These are identical dupes as far as I can tell – Sally Hansen Barracuda (from the Tracy Reese Spring 2011 collection) and Brucci Kathy’s Baby Blues.

No clue why my hands look so red here but the polish color is accurate.