I'm up super early because I have a lot to do this morning, but part of my waking up routine is coffee, a manicure, and more coffee while I post here. By the time I'm done, the mani's dry and I'm ready to go.
Today I have something for you I've never done here: frankens. I'll start with defining the term "franken," which comes from the made up (not by me) word frankenpolish, derived from Frankenstein, and means a polish one created by mixing various elements to create a one-of-a-kind nail polish. The reason I've never shown you frankens of any kind before is that they're usually a mixture of existing nail polishes, and I'm scared to do mix them. In the two and a half years I've been on a women's nail care board, I've seen three instances of bottles exploding as a result of a mixture, at least two of which contained red in the mix. I've also seen hundreds of successes, but I'm still scared to do it, I think because the first failure was when I was new there and the woman took a bunch of pictures of the carnage.
The two I have for you today are the result of going through boxes and running into some MAC pigments, which I mixed into clear in one case and a bad-for-me sheer in another. That, I've done twice before, a couple years ago. The sheer had mixing balls in it, the clear needed them. Some people use BB's for that, but they're illegal in Chicago city limits, so I ordered stainless steel ball bearings from ebay when I made those first frankens two years ago. I know some metals don't work (zinc and copper, I believe), but I think stainless steel is safe.
I'll show you my not-so-impressive one first. The base was Sephora by OPI's Can You Keep a Secret?, which is a sheer with a slight beige tint to it, one that looked like it would be awful on me. I added a good bit of MAC Reflects Duo Purple to it. In my nails, it looks like a denim blue, but between my index and middle finger in the bottle you can see what I wanted it to look like.
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| Franken Polish with MAC Reflects Purple Duo Pigment in $OPI Can You Keep a Secret? |
That one, I'll write off as, as my mother would say, "I tried, I failed, God bless me." That was the second I made - the first was a resounding success. I mixed MAC Reflects Transparent Teal into a clear top coat I never use and put it over one coat of Diamond Cosmetics' Matte Black. I think it looks like an amped up Sally Hansen Nail Prisms Turquoise Opal.
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| Franken Polish with MAC Reflects Transparent Teal Pigment in CND Air Dry Top Coat |
That one, I love. I found a total of four jars of pigment, which I believe were on the discontinued list and which I purchased with a discount of some sort quite some time ago. I think the smart move would be to use each in clear first to see how each is alone, then get into mixing the pigments for a unique effect.
The idea of dumping MAC pigments into nail polish may horrify some of you, as they run about $20 a pop (or did when I bought them - I haven't looked in a couple years). However, the amount used is so tiny they're actually quite economical. The second franken, the success, took about 1/4 tsp of pigment. I took pictures of the package and jar after I used it to give you a frame of reference.
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| MAC Pigment in Box to Show Volume |
7.5 grams doesn't sound like much, but looks at the "After" picture of the Transparent Teal jar.
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| MAC Pigment Jar After Using Some in a Franken |
You can see I barely put a dent in it. Since I had success with this one, I'll save the rest for mixing with other pigments when I get a little more advanced at this. I also found a blue and a hot pink in addition to the Duo Purple, so I should be able to have some fun with them. I bought them for this purpose, too - I'm not the kind who'd use glitter on my face or sprinkle it all over myself. I'm as conservative as they come except for the nails.
That's the update for this morning, Dear Reader. I hope you have a wonderful day, and until next time love and nail polish to you! 
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