Blizzard

Happy hump day my loves! I am super excited to find out the winner of the multi blogger giveaway, you should be hearing soon! In the meantime, how about a little polish porn to hold you over? Today's polish is pretty easy. I started off with about 75% of a bottle of TKB Luster suspension base. I then added 2 to 3 good size drops of TKB Magic Diamond polish which is a super sparkly silver metallic polish mix in. I followed it up with a couple drops of TKB Basic Blue Jelly and a couple scoops of Luminosity glitter for a very scattered holo effect. I called this polish Blizzard because of its sparkly icy blue goodness. Ch-ch-check it out

Unfortunately, this is the only non-direct sunlight photo I have of this polish. Fail for me :(

Direct sunlight

So my dumb self neglected to get a shot of this polish in the shade

Photo found here

I dropped the ball on that one, I'm sorry! Now while sparkly, holo, and metallic, this polish did also have some minor brushstrokes. Not enough to turn me off completely, but enough to make me think twice before reaching for this polish again. But I will be darned if that thing does not look absolutely gorgeous in sunlight! Formula was super easy and opaque in two coats. It self leveled with ease and dry time was normal.

Well that's it for Blizzard, I have the final results of the YouMix Glitter review coming up on Friday! Hope to see you back to give you some insights into the awesome glitters out there! But until we meet again, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Came From:

* All supplies came from TKB Trading

Problematic Peach Take Two *Pic Heavy*

Hello my lovelies! Hopefully everyone has the day off and is enjoying some relaxation time. Don't forget to thank a service man or veteran today! I've been enjoying spending some time with my family in Tampa and will be headed back to Tallahassee a little later. Fingers crossed for no traffic!

So anybody that's been following my blog for awhile may remember this fail of a polish that I was pretty bummed about because I loved the concept of it. Well I decided that I just could not leave well enough alone and took another stab at it. I started out with about 75% of a bottle's worth of TKB Glamour Base. I then added literally one drop of Wonder Beauty Product's Primary Red Color Base. I then followed it up by adding about 3 drops of Wonder Beauty Products Primary Yellow Color Base to create a nice yellow based orange polish. Finally I added a couple drops if white cream polish to create a nice creamy peach color. I had to be very careful not to add too much white as I didn't want the polish to be too opaque. Finally I added a couple scoops each of TKB Blue Diamond (a blue glass fleck-ish shimmer) and Aqua Sparks! ( an aqua colored shimmer). What was created was a pastel peach shimmer which may not agree as much with my skin tone, but is still gorgeous (and ridiculously hard to photograph).

Bottle Macro

This is one of the best shots of the shimmer I could get

The formula on this was MUCH better than the initial fail polish. While it might still benefit from a couple drops of thinner but this still wasn't too difficult to manage. It self leveled on its own and was opaque in two coats. The shimmer was MUCH more apparent in real life. I loved the delicate peach color mixed with the blue aqua shimmer; such an unexpected and lovely combination!

Well that's it for the Problematic Peach Remix! I will be back on Wednesday with more polish awesomeness. Those of you traveling for the holiday, do it safely and until next time, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Came From:

* TKB Glamour Base, Blue Diamond Shimmer, and Aqua Sparks!: TKB Trading

* Wonder Beauty Products Primary Color Red and Yellow Bases: Wonder Beauty Products

* White Cream Polish: I just picked this up from any drug store

Nebula

Hi ladies and happy friday! I type this to you now from my brand new MacBook (if you remember, one of my dogs decided to punt a bottle of acetone onto my last Mac which then proceeded to eat up my screen... sad days). I got this baby today and it's glorious! So, does anybody have any awesome plans for Memorial Day? My boyfriend and I are heading back home to Tampa to visit the fam and get some pictures taken with my mom.

Anywho onto the polish which I named Nebula! I started out with about 60% of a bottle's worth of TKB Glamour Base. I then followed it up with one scoop each of .015 matte blue hex, .015 matte teal hex, .032 turquoise holo hex, and .015 lime holo hex. Finally, because I was feeling saucy, I added a couple drops of black creme polish and topped the remainder of the bottle off with suspension base. Check out the final product!

Tell me this didn't make you drool on your keyboard a little?

Er-ma-gherd fo reals

Picture found here

I love this polish! I love the depth that the dark base is able to provide for the glitters. Its really is gorgeous in an outer space celestial kind of way. Swatches show 3 coats and one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry. The glitters required absolutely no placement and needed minimal help with leveling.

Well that's all for nebula, I hope you ladies enjoyed the polish and will enjoy your (hopefully) long weekend. I will be back with a post on Memorial Day so until then, remember to thank your troops and always keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Came From

* Glamour Base: TKB Trading

* Black Creme Polish: standard drugstore polish, nothing fancy

* All glitters have come from You Mix Glitter (who's web shop is now open again YAY!)

Power to the Peep-le!

Hey ladies, super quick post today, I'm typing on my lunch break! Happy hump day by the way :) Anywho, after creating this polish, I realized that I was a tad too late being that we are getting into summer and all. I still think it's adorable and it definitely reminds me of Easter, specifically Marshmallow Peeps! Ever put one in a microwave? Awesome!

So, I started with a base of TKB's Luster base. I then added literally one drop of TKB's Basic Yellow Jellie. I followed it up with a couple of drops of Wonder Beuaty products Primary Yellow Color Base (do NOT be too heavy handed with this, it's a cream polish and will quickly make your franken too opaque) and a couple more drops of white cream polish. Once I had a nice creamy yellow color, I added one scoop of matte lavender .008 hex, two scoops of .062 matte bubble gum pink squares, and 1 and 1/4 scoop of matte minto green .040 hex. Check out what it created and tell me this doesn't remind you of Easter and Peeps!

Woohoo jelly!

The yellow base was wonderful and squishy so the typical yellow application issues did not apply. The glitter spread pretty evenly with minimal placement required for the pink squares. It self leveled easily. Swatches show two coats of polish and one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry for smoothness!

Well that's all for this unintenionally Earter inspired polish, looking forward to another sweet glitter creation coming up on Friday! Also, we are on the downward slope for the giveaway so don't forget to enter here. See you back next time ladies and as always, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Are From:
* Luster Base and Basic Yellow Jellie: TKB Trading
* Primary Yellow Color Base: Wonder Beauty Products
* Bubble Gum Pink Squares and Matte Mint Green Hexes: Nail Glitter Princess
* Matte Lavender Hex: You Mix Glitter (site is currently down for maintenance but should be up very soon!)

Electric Tutu

Hey ladies and welcome to a new week! I hope everyone has had a wonderful weekend. Anybody do anything fun? I had dinner with a friend and other then that, laid pretty low. It was glorious!

Anywho, I put a picture up on Facebook with a couple of polishes that I had recently made asking everyone what they wanted to see first, and the winner was the polish you are seeing today! I started off with a bottle of TKB's Luster base filled about 80% of the way. I then added a few liberal drops of Wonder Beauty Products Primary Red Color Base which is a red jelly-ish colorant that ships to you in a full sized nail polish bottle. Just a couple drops will color any base a gorgeous vibrant true red. Anyways, I followed it up with a few medium sized scoops of TKB Cherika Moon, a glass fleck like pigment that states it shifts from red, to purple, to blue. I was thinking it would end up bright red with glass fleck shimmer. Surprisingly enough, the polish came out almost a neon magenta pink color (stupid me, the base color for the shimmer is white and white + red = pink. Duh, Becca). I was happily surprised by this and decided to roll with it. I wanted to amp up the brightness and added a few drops of Tangerine Scream (a neon orange polish from the 2009 Color Club Electro Candy Collection).  So what I ended up with was a gorgeous vibrant bordering neon magenta with blue shifting glassfleck. I called it Electric Tutu:

 Swatches show two thick coats on all fingers except for the ring finger which shows one coat over Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme. I love that the color shift is so much more apparent over the black but is still gorgeous on its own. Self leveling was good and dry time was normal. In case you are wondering, I was wondering as well, this seems to be pretty close to Butter London's Disco Biscuit. However, the base color is a bit lighter in Electric Tutu and Disco Biscuit has smaller glitter/shimmer particles with no apparent shift. So they are not dupes!

Well ladies, that's all for Electric Tutu! I loved this one so much I wore it twice in a row and even attempted some nail art with it:

Now I know my place is not in the nail art world but I was pretty happy with this! See you back on Wednesday for a new franken recipe. Have a great rest of your day and remember to always keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Are From:
* Luster Base and Cherika Moon: TKB Trading
* Red Primary Color Base: Wonder Beauty Products
* Tangerine Scream: I got mine from Ross so maybe you can get lucky and find one there. If not, you can find them on Ebay and Amazon!

Embezzle-mint

Hey ladies happy Friday! I don't know about everyone else but I have been up to my stinkin eyeballs in work lately. For those of you on summer break from school, I envy you like it's my job right now! So in commemoration of my ridiculous schedule as of late, I've decided to do nothing. That's right, no plans this weekend. If I'm feeling extra saucy I may take a nap, lol.

Anyways, onto the polish! Every so often I will try to order some sample micas to see how they mix into polish, and more often than not, they turn out terribly (trust me, you will never see THOSE rejects).  They usually don't mix readily for me and end up a clumpy mess. This go around, with my last TKB order, I put in for a sample of this gorgeous mint green mica with a lovely sheen called Breath of Spring. When I got it in the mail I figured why the heck not, and went ahead and mixed a small scoop in with about 75% of a bottle's worth of TKB's Luster base. I then added a small scoop each of TKB's Green and Purple Sparks! followed by one very small scoop of fine green shimmer that I purchased from Star Trinkets. Finally, I topped it off with the remainder of the Luster Base and gave it a good shake. What was created was a gorgeous delicate mint green shimmer that reminded me of money, so I called it Embezzle-mint (see what I did there?? eh eh eh??)!

Check out that SUPER nubbin!

Iphone w/ flash is the only way I could track down ANY shimmer. Enlarge it and check it out!

So delicate and glowy!

I ended up loving this polish! This is one of the first times where I could get a good mix with a powdered pigment. There were minimal brushstrokes due to the fine shimmer but they weren't very noticeable. This polish is sheer so swatches show 3-4 thick coats. Self leveling was not a problem and all swatches have one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry.

So that's all for Embezzle-mint, hopefully you liked it :) I have created quite a few pretties tonight that I can't wait to swatch and show you over the next couple weeks! Also, don't forget to enter the awesome multi-blogger giveaway that's still going on. I hope you all have a fantastic weekend; this is going to be me:

photo found here

 So until next time, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

Today's Supplies Are From:
* TKB Luster Base, Breath of Spring mica, Green Sparks, and Purple Sparks: TKB Trading
* Fine Green Shimmer: Star Trinkets (please note that this shop is in Singapore and shipping takes awhile!)

Holo Franken Fun: Toxic Tomato *Kinda pic heavy*

Hello ladies and welcome to another adventure in frankening. To the new followers, WELCOME, I AM COMPLETELY ECSTATIC THAT YOU ARE HERE!!!

Picture found here

Lol that is totally me right now... stubby legs and all. Anywho, for those who are new, my blog is a great resource to learn to make your own polish and occasionally, I will do series in which I franken using just drugstore polishes that are accessible to everyone! If you have any questions do not hesitate to e-mail me! My addy is on the side bar.

Anywho, onto the polish! I know that you've seen multiple holos from me and I feel like I am JUST NOW starting to get the hang of proper holo frankening. Here's my secret, you start with a jelly base. When I realized this about a week ago, I was kind of like, "duh Becca" but hey, now I know! Suspending your holo in a jelly pigment means you have far less interference from the base color.  Anything with a white, black, or cream base in general tend to overshadow the holo. So if you intend to ever make your own holo, keep that in mind! That being said, this polish is super simple in order to try and keep it as holo as possible. I started with a bottle about 80% full with TKB Glamour Suspension base. I then followed it up with a couple of drops of TKB's Basic Red Jellie (remember, this stuff is super pigmented so use a light hand!) I then followed it up by using a moderate sized scoop of Wonder Beauty Products Prismatic Illusion Powder (which if you remember is a Spectraflair alternative. All the holo, none of the price. Woo!). That's it! I shook it up and created what I call Toxic Tomato

Iphone photo outside in sunlight. BOOM check out that sweet sweet holo goodness!

Now while I was able to pick up a good amount of holo, I still wasn't able to pick up just how linear this polish was. It really was eye catching! Swatches show two coats plus one coat of Sally Hansen Insta-Dry (which surprisingly didn't dull the holo!). The polish self leveled well, was perfectly smooth, did not pool, and did not stain!

Well there you have it, Toxic Tomato and it is super easy! Tune in on Friday for a brand new franken! It's lovely and springy and a breath of fresh air! Hope to see you back then! But until I do, remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

ALSO, PLEASE DO NOT FORGET TO ENTER THE AWESOME MULTI-BLOGGER/INDIE MAKER GIVEAWAY I AM A PART OF!! YOU CAN ENTER HERE

Today's Supplies Are From:

* TKB Glamour Base and Basic Red Jellie: TKB Trading

* Prismatic Platinum Illusion Powder: now bad news on this one, I checked the Wonder Beauty Products Etsy store and it looks like the powder has still not been restocked. Therefore, I have found a couple other alternatives here and here on Etsy. I have never dealt with these sellers before and ultimately cannot vouch for their product or their customer service!

Return of the Franken and a Glorious Giveaway!

Hi ladies and welcome back to a brand new week! Hopefully everyone has had a great weekend; they are never long enough amiright?? Well I'm excited to show you a brand new franken as well as surprise you with a brand new AWESOME giveaway!

First, the polish! This one is pretty simple but definitely adds some oomph to any mani! I started off with a bottle filled about 75% full with TKB Glamour base. I then followed it up by adding a scoop of Glitter Unique's .008 hexes in neon pink, yellow, and blue. I finished it up with 1 scoop of TKB Trading's .025 black squares. That's it! Mix it up and check out the awesomeness. I call it 80's Baby!

Swatches show about 4 coats on all fingers except for the ring finger which shows 2 coats over a sweet mint shimmer franken that will come later this week on the blog. Over the naked nail, this polish is just meh. But over a lighter bases this polish sings! Love! The glitter spread evenly without the need for fishing or anything like that. The polish was a bit thick but easy to spread (personally, I like my polishes on the thicker side). I love how the neon and black colors play together!

Well that's all for this polish, super easy, and super cute! Now moving on! I know I haven't mentioned anything about this before but I am super excited to be a part of an awesome multi blogger giveaway:) Be sure to check out all the blogs and their prizes (there are 30 altogether!!!) Enlarge to see the details and while my prize is not available internationally, there are some prizes that are! Good luck ladies! 

Click to enlarge!

                                

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today's Supplies Are From:
* TKB Trading: .025 black squares and Glamour Base
* Glitter Unique: neon .008 hexes

You Mix Glitter: Intensive Review Part 3 * Pic Heavy *

* Press Sample *

Good Morning and happy Saturday! I purposely took this weekend and made no plans in an attempt to refresh my tired, sorry self. My nails and feet desperately needs some TLC (seriously my feet look like Hobbit feet, so embarrassing). Today is the final installment in the You Mix Glitter review prior to the solvent testing. Now, I will take the time to explain why solvent testing is important. You Mix does state that their glitters are solvent resistant, however, after a period of time, some glitters (not necessarily You Mix's but other brands) have been known to succumb to the suspension base and start to bleed and/or curl resulting in the dreaded taco glitter! Anybody remember the horrendous OPI release of When Monkeys Fly? Someone didn't follow up with their solvent testing on that one. Shame! Now when I say solvent testing, I literally just mean putting a glitter in a standard suspension base and letting it sit for a period of time; I am choosing two weeks. This will allow you to see if your glitters will stand the test of time in a suspension base without losing their color, tinting the base, or changing their shape. 

Now that we have the boring stuff out of the way, let's show you the remainder of the mixes along with a group shot!

Alright friends, this beauty is the Sour Candy Mix which is multiple sixes of hexes and squares in a medium blue, grassy green, and bright sunny yellow. I la-la-love this color combo. Reminds me of Pixie Sticks for some reason which aren't sour, but are still stinkin delicious!

Next up we have the Surf and Turf mix which is a medium blue, medium green, and blue based purple in multiple sizes of hexes and squares. The Surf and Turf title is pretty fitting but that still makes me think of seafood and steak, weird?

Finally, here are the bottle shots of the kids playing together. This is what the beginning of my solvent testing looks like. These bottles will now be stashed in a safe place and checked on at one week and again at two weeks to check for bleeding and/or curling. Please note that the hot pink matte and magenta holo glitters have multiple shapes and sizes combined into one bottle. Stay tuned in a couple weeks to see the results!

Well that's it for the glitter mixes provided by You Mix! I will be back on Monday with new frankens to show you while we wait for the solvent testing results! Enjoy the rest of your weekend and remember to keep it classy and creative!

xo

If you are interested in checking out You Mix Glitters, they can be found at the following!:

* Website: http://www.shopyoumix.com

* Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/GlitterMixBoutique

* Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/youmixcosmetics

** These products were provided to me for an unbiased review. My loyalty is to my readers who deserve the utmost respect and honesty! **