ALPHABET BLOG CHALLENGE: M. Many manicures!

I tend to wear black... Most of the time, ... in fact most of my clothes are black....however my hair and my nails tend to be colourful and at times even creative!

Today i am writing about different nail polishes, colours, styles, and my own franken polishes that i have created for myself to use.

If you wish to read an amazingly informative blog about nail polish and manicures, please visit, More Nail Polish, the lady who creates that blog is very clever, and she reviews heaps of different nail products!

Ok, back to my colourful nails!

FRANKEN POLISH GREEN GLITTER

Wanting a greenish blue glittery polish but not being able to locate the exact pigment i was after i decided to create my own. Using some glitter from my craft supplies, its safe to use with solvents so it doesnt melt or lose its colour when added to nail polish, some powdered mineral eye shadow, a couple of small steel ball bearings and some thick clear nail varnish I set to making my own polish.

STEP ONE I cleaned out a nail varnish bottle, that had a teeny drop of polish in it, using acetone (the strong painter using type, not the diluted cosmetic type) and let the bottle dry upside down, i also cleaned off the brush and inside the bottle cap.

STEP TWO Using a small plastic funnel (it came with a perfume decanter) I carefully poured the clear nail polish into the empty bottle up to about half way. I added two small steel ball bearings to the polish to help it mix. I then cleaned and dried the funnel.

STEP THREE with a plastic teaspoon I carefully took a small amount of the powdered mineral eye shadow (blue) and with the funnel, sprinkled into the clear polish. I repeated this with the light green powdered eyeshadow, and the purple powdered eyeshadow, using very small amounts as the pigments are strong and i did not want an opaque colour. I cleaned and dried the funnel again.

STEP FOUR I took a plastic teaspoon full of the minuscule green solvent safe metallic glitter and using the funnel sprinkled it into the nail polish mixture.

STEP FIVE I replaced the brush and lid to the bottle and carefully shook it gently, not crazily as i did not want air bubbles, i just wanted to move the bottle enough to get the ball bearings in the bottle to move and mix up the polish.

After I cleaned up the mess I made... Note to self, using old newspaper on the table top would have been a good idea, I painted my nails!

Here is a pic of my new franken polish, three coats on a base coat and a clear top coat.The flash drained the colour a bit, but you get the idea!

FRANKEN POLISH PURPLE GLITZ

Another nail polish I wanted was a deep slightly shimmery purple, I happened to have a pot of purple shimmer mineral eyeshadow in just the right tone! So using the technique I outline above, I sprinkled small a ounts of the powdered eye shadow into the remainder of the clear nail polish until the desired hue was reached.

COLLAGE NAILS

The last manicure I will show you is my 'travelling with work bored in a motel room' nail collage. I had a lovely sleek French manicure, but due to severe enui in the motel room while away for work I decided to stick stuff on it and a p my nails up a. notch!
Using nail glue I adhered small nail decals, shiny acrylic gems, and beads to my nails and then covered the lot in a slightly pink hued top coat. I loved the end result although it was a bit difficult to remove at the end of the week even with the foil method!

WHAT NEXT

I have ordered some more solvent safe glitter, in different shapes and colours, as I have ideas for an Alice in Wonderland inspired franken polish.... Stay tuned for that!