Hi ladies! Hope everyone is up at em this morning ready to start a new week! Today I have another guest post for you! This time it's from the uber talented Michelle at Break Rules Not Nails (seriously, check out her Pieta mani, it's insanely detailed * I die)
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Hello out there in Lacquerland, thank you to Becca for inviting me to guest post. Today I have for you I textured franken that I've made using Xanthan Gum. I bought a cheap $1 blue polish, as you do, but it was just too thin to be good for anything, or so I thought. I saw a tutorial on youtube where by adding Xanthan gum to thin polish you can make it thicker. Not meaning to discredit the person or her method, but this did not work for me. Some of the gum must have dissolved as the polish did become thicker, but alot did not and the result was a polish that looked like it had sand in it. Yuck, I thought, who wants that?!! This was before I knew about textured polishes. So I put said polish away in disgust and thought I'd tip it out later and use the bottle. Then came the arrival of textured polishes, I finally bought one and loved it. So I tinkered with the bottle again, added some glitter, (dark and light blue), some drugstore glitter polishes (in a clear base), some more xantham gum and some dark purple nail polish. Here is what I came up with, I shall name her...."Blue it"
This was my first franken, and I learned quite a few things. For example, you need room in your bottle if you are going to keep putting more in it! I had to tip out polish quite a few times. While bigger glitters work well, fine glitters and shimmers go to waste, as the texture of the polish does not allow these to shine through. Glitter also makes the polish thicker, so in the end I had to thin the whole lot down! Its also useful to know when to stop, to know when it can't go much further without getting too thick and gluggy. Here are the products I used to create "Blue it". Cheap blue craft glitter, China Glaze "Glacier", Satin polish-no name, You polish -shade 015, TT nail lacquer-16 and some Essence express dry nail drops. Some random shimmers and sparkle that I bought online. Compared to the OPI textured polish that I bought this is a little grainier, but I like it all the same.
Research on xanthan gum is that it is secreted by a bacteria and it is used to thicken, emulsify and stabilize foods. I put some in water and it is amazing how little is needed to obtain a thick gel like substance. I have done some of my own experiments using household products. The gum doesn't dissolve in vinegar, olive oil or acetone. It dissolves in solutions with ph of 7 or less, nail polish has pH of 9. It is also used to thicken concrete and mud for drilling! I hope you have enjoyed my post and my first frankening adventure, it was fun to create and to share it with you. I bought the Xanthan gum at a health food store and as you can see it was not too expensive. I used maybe a 1/4 tsp to create this polish. I have another post coming up of a white textured franken. Thanks again to Becca for having me. xxx
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I have tried to make a textured once, and it was nowhere near as awesome as Michelle's. I love it, thanks Michelle! Make sure to check her out over at Break Rules Not Nails for more awesome manis! Well my loves, are trucking right through our last week of Drugstore Digits; see you back on Wednesday for great drugstore creations! But until then, remember to keep it classy and creative!
xo
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