ChG Sugarplums (frankened up)

When China Glaze Sugarplums first hit retailers, all people could talk about was the fact that it may be a dupe for the long-d/c, much-loved China Glaze Crystal Ball.  Turns out, they aren't dupes (though I don't have Crystal Ball to do a direct comparison).  The base colors are slightly different and Crystal Ball has more holo shimmer particles.  Now, I couldn't do much about base, but I could add more holo.  This is a combination of Orly Shine On, Crazy Diamond (which didn't do much), OPI Paris Couture for Sure (which I didn't want to use much of), and Color Club Magic Attraction (which I used the most of).  I don't have a pre-franken pic of this (though I plan on taking one soon as I have 1/2 a bottle left), but I absolutely love this with more shimmer/glitter.

Franken - Blackened Gold

So yesterday, as I was sorting my stash (to update my blog sale), I came across a couple of frankens. Frankening was something I obsessed about, tried it, failed at it, and decided it was best left for professionals. LOL.

However, the 2 frankens I found seemed to be okay, so I decided to keep them. More that that... I decided to use one of them as my NOTD.

This is a warm blackened gold. I remember wanting to try this franken based on Dr. Frankenpolish's Aztec Gold. Okay, so it doesn't have the "glowyness" of Amanda's creation, but I am happy with it nonetheless. I can't believe I'd left this one untried for all these months.

Honestly, it's been so long since I created this (well over a year), that I can't remember the ratios. However, I do know that this is Sation 24K Gold and Sation Black.

You can find Sations at TransDesign and Victoria's Nail Supply. They are usually under $1.50.

Franken: Christmas Present

This color came about because I was looking at my bottles of the RBL glitters thinking that it would be awesome to have that same dense glitter in Christmas colors.  Unfortunately, I had this idea after Christmas, so a full mani will have to wait until next year (or maybe until July when I'm wishing for the holidays), but I figured I'd at least swatch it for you all. 

I think it turned out much better than I expected.  This is Sinful Queen of Beauty, CC Art of Seduction, CC Object of Envy, Martha Stewart glitter in Sterling, Garnet, Peridot, and Crystal Fine, and a little plain OPI top coat (as I was out of clear).  No exact recipe.  I just dumped in colors until I liked the consistency and the dispersion of color.

I need to do a few more of these glitters.  They are fairly easy to do, and it's great to be able to customize your own color.  Texture on this was similar to the RBLs.  They were fairly smooth and only needed a top coat to even out whatever texturing there was.  The picture is three thin coats.

Franken: Three Queens

This franken was inspired by a recent post by Michelle at ALU, where she reviews the new OPI Alice in Wonderland collection (Valentine's 2010).  Michelle had mentioned that while she liked the collection, she was disappointed in the inclusion of two reds (c'mon, Suzi), and wished there were a couple more original colors in their place.  One of the colors she mentioned was a white polish with red glitter, inspired by this promotional shot of Anne Hathaway from the film.

I couldn't sleep and I was wasting time, so I figured I'd try my hand at frankening it.  Here's what I came up with:

I don't have an exact recipe, as I didn't fill up an entire empty bottle, but it's mostly ChG White Out and a little bit of ChG White Kwik Silvr for the base.  The glitter is about 10 drops of CC Art of Seduction, which I had to thin out quit a bit to get it to pour nicely.  Lastly, I added a few red hearts from my bottle of Love My Nails Crazy for You.

I really like the way it turned out.  I think it would be perfect for Valentine's Day.  It doesn't look pink, which is what I feared when I started mixing it up.  You can really tell it's red glitter in a white polish.  I think if I had some chunkier red glitter and a brighter white for the base (I realize if I'd just use the White Out, it would have been brighter, as the WKS makes it a bit dirtier, but I wanted a touch of shimmer) it would have looked better . 

I named it "Three Queens" for the White Queen, Red Queen, and the Queen of Hearts from the Alice in Wonderland books.  I think it's kind of silly to name frankens, myself, but I needed a catchy title.  LOL.  :P  Plus, I was pretty proud of this one, so I think she needed a name.  Maybe if I was good at frankening, I wouldn't mind naming them.  :)

Also, I've never been a fan of the Alice in Wonderland books.  I never had anything against them, I just never read them.  I think I was too freaked out by the animated movie when I was younger and avoided the books (the same reason I never read The Wizard of Oz).  Now I'm thinking I may need to go to the used bookstore and pick them up.  :)