peach nectar

how about another franken? good, i'm glad you like that idea.

3 coats peach nectar franken

i'm not sure what spurred the idea for a peach jelly polish with purple and gold glitter. but who cares, cause it's awesome! the polishes i used are sally hansen xtreme wear coral reef, milani jewel fx lavender, and sinful pinky glitter, which is one of my favorite iridescent glitter top coats!

i really love frankening glitter jelly polishes. they seriously couldn't be easier. the only problem with them is that i tend to get shrinkage around my cuticles when i apply top coat (see my index finger in the above pics). isn't that weird? it only happens with jelly frankens, not jellies made by an actual company. hmmm. . . . but that's ok, because i still love how delicate and twinkly it is. i call this a frankening success :).

franken cents

it's franken time again (not to be confused with hammer time)! i'm rather proud of the name i gave this polish. it's explain why it's called franken cents in just a sec. but first, pictures-

2 coats franken cents franken

this polish is actually photographing lighter than it looks in reality. in real life, it's a darker, antique gold color which i love. the bottle shot does a slightly better job of capturing that-

you might be thinking, "hey, you already made a gold holo franken." yes, i did (champagne supernova, to jog your memory). but it's a lot light, brighter, and more yellow-toned. i like this one a lot more :).

ok, so the reason i called it franken cents. . . . i used revlon copper penny (along with milani hd) so it was a franken that used cents. aaand it's a pun on the word frankincense. get it?? ok, never mind. i'm tired.

the seaweed is always greener

well guys, this is by far my craziest manicure to date. i felt inspired to do some wacko mermaid nail art, and thought i might not get many more chances before baby gets here. i have this hunch that she's coming really soon, like any day now!

base color for all fingers: 1 coat sally hansen xtreme wear mint sorbet

pinky:

1 coat sinful green ocean

1 coat urban outfitters unicorn

love & beauty turquoise at base

ring finger:

2 coats cq gem green

donna michelle loose glitter (from dollar tree)

revlon gold coin for seashell

middle finger:

1 coat fing'rs heart 2 art in mint condition

nicole by opi a million sparkles at base

revlon gold coin for coral

index finger:

1 coat sea glass franken

blue stamping: maybelline color show metallics blue blowout

image plate: cheeky xl b plate (4th row, image on the R) 

 

this crazy look was brought about by 2 different elements- the first is the eclectic nail art from nail swag, particularly this manicure. she does so many mermaid-inspired looks, and this is another one of my favorites. i'm seriously dying over the gold seashell nail jewelry. apparently they're from hex nail jewelry, but all the seashells are gone :(. the seahorses and starfish are cute too, but i desperately neeeed a gold seashell lol.

the other (super random) inspiration for these nails is a free game i started playing on my ipod. it's called mermaid resort, and i'm more or less addicted.

it's like the sims, but for mermaids. kind of. the little mermaids and under-the-sea resort buildings are so adorable. i just had to do under-the-sea nails for myself. my index finger is abstract bubbles, my middle finger is coral growing out of the bottom of the ocean, my ring finger is supposed to be a little golden seashell (since i don't have any jewelry to stick on there), and i'm not sure what my pinky is. just ocean-colored glitter, i guess. here are all the millions of polishes i used for this look-

sally hansen xtreme wear mint sorbet, cq gem green, donna michelle glitter, sinful green ocean, love & beauty turquoise

urban outfitters unicorn, sea glass franken, fing'rs heart 2 art in mint condition, nicole by opi a million sparkles, maybelline color show metallics blue blowout, revlon gold coin

phew, that was exhausting. so many polishes! i probably won't do be able to spend this ridiculous amount of time on a mani for a while, but it was definitely fun. i have a million other mermaid-inspired manicures swimming around in my head (see what i did there? swimming? :P). maybe i should plan a mermaid manicure week or something. would anyone be interested in joining me? :)

purple prism

here's my favorite creation from my recent franken mania. i present to you purple prism, as suggested by the lovely karen from frazzle and aniploish :).

3 coats purple prism franken

for months, i've been lusting after purple jelly polishes with purple and holo glitter, like candeo colors orchid, lacquerlicious strawberry cosmo, and elixir lacquer with a k. but most indie polishes are a bit too expensive for me, especially when i only wear a polish once or twice :(. sad, but true. so i had the genius idea- why don't i try to make one myself with polishes i already own?? jelly polishes with glitter are pretty much the easiest frankens to make (in my opinion). so this is what i came up with, after lots of pouring, mixing, shaking, and testing-

i used a bazillion different polishes to get my final result. here are all the glitters-

born pretty store diamond nail art glequins #1, wet 'n wild wild shine kaleidoscope, l.a. colors color craze glitter bomb and glistening purple, maybelline color show sequins rose bling

and here are all the cremes i used to get the perfect purple shade-

l.a. colors color craze nuclear energy, julie g peep toe pumps, sinful dream on

whew, that was quite a list of polishes. but they combined into exactly what i wanted, which makes me happy. and i didn't have to drop $10 or more plus shipping to get it! my mother would be so proud lol.

 

franken mania

apparently stamping mania wasn't enough. now franken mania has struck me too. i was up late (again) last week, my brain going a million miles an hour, and i started looking through a folder on my computer called "to franken." i had several empty bottles of top coat, so i decided to concoct a bunch of them. . . . after midnight, no less. this is what happened-

i'm not sure about all the names yet, but i do know that i'll be showing you the purple one tomorrow! i'm thinking purple potion. . . . any better ideas?

stamped stars

would you like to see my magical fairy meets twinkle lights meets outer space mani? please observe my new favorite nail stamp :).

1 coat artificial sea spray franken + 1 coat revlon whimsical stamped with nailz craze plate nc02 (with jordana white)



isn't this stamp just adorable? it makes me think of 60s illustrations (think "bewitched"), or fairies, or stars in space. sooo cute! and it's pretty much idiot-proof for stamping, because you don't have to line the image up in any particular way. if the image is crooked (see my pinky finger :S), it doesn't really matter! love~!



i was inspired by this much better fairy nail mani from the creator of nailz craze herself. wouldn't it be cool to do these stars over a dark base with holo glitter? maybe i'll try that next. i was a little reticent to spend $7 on a single stamping plate, but considering how much i love these stars and how many manicures i have floating around in my head, i say it's worth it! does anyone else have a favorite nail stamping image? i would love to know!



blue jean holo

it's franken time today. how bout another holo franken?

2 coats blue jean holo franken

i decided to call it blue jean holo because it's slightly dusty and gray with that worn-in look. which is what all of my jeans look like these days. i prefer dark wash jeans, but all the maternity jeans, capris, and even denim skirts i can find are medium to light wash. hrrrmph. not cool with me. 

it looks like my pregnant brain forgot to snap a picture of the polishes i dumped into this franken. . . . whoops. i'll post that tomorrow! but for now, here's a list of what i used-

milani hd (the silver one, which i've used for multiple holo frankens)

china glaze secret peri-wink-le

a few drops of milani cyberspace (the blue one)

a few drops of milani hi-res (the purple one)

update: here's the photo!

 

bff fairy dust

so holo chrome is a staple of the nail polish world. it's a classic beauty that everyone should own. i've been meaning to buy it for a while now, but i waited too long. i can't wear it for the next few months, because kleancolors definitely aren't 3-free, and that's no good for baby. so no cornflower-colored holographic glitter for me :S. unless, i do what i do best and try to copy the look of it. . . .

2 coats blue fire franken + 1 coat china glaze fairy dust

i know it's not exactly the same (holo chrome has a more purple base), but it definitely quelled my holo glitter craving for now. all i did was add one coat of fairy dust!

weird lighting, but it best showed the holo glitter and pink shimmer!

i've had fairy dust for so long that i sometimes forget about how awesome it is. i'm pretty sure it could make any polish look amazing. another stable everyone should own :P. am i right?

bff

well, apparently i'm on a franken roll these days. how bout another one? i call this one blue fire franken, or bff for short :P.

2 coats blue fire franken

i made this one a long time ago, too, like about 2 years ago. i just love the blue with pink flakies! i believe i used revlon royal, sally hansen xtreme wear pacific blue, and sally hansen diamond strength aisle be there. it had been so long since i'd opened this bottle that the polish was totally solid and crusted up. i added a buttload of polish thinner, and now it's fine! yay for chemicals.

frank n. gray glitter

have you ever seen a mani on a nail blog that just screamed at you to recreate it? i saw this picture on the nail network and knew i at least had to try to replicate it. . . . although it didn't come out the same, i still liked the effect. and hey, new ideas for manis are always appreciated. sometimes i feel totally stumped and out of ideas, you know? i'm not alone in this. . . . right??

1 coat frank n. gray franken  + 1 coat nyc big city dazzle + 1 coat spoiled jewelry heist

i used big city sparkle for the tiny pieces of glitter. love this one. it contains red, blue, and fuchsia glitter in a clear base, and also the smallest specks of gold holo glitter. see pics of it here. jewelry heist is another gorgeous jumbled-up glitter that's hard to describe. from what i can tell, it's made up of gold and pale pink hexes, little tiny pink squares, and little tiny iridescent squares that flash blue and green. i'm not sure i did that justice with my description, but it's beautiful nonetheless. it should definitely be added to my "most beautiful polishes under $2" list, which i haven't made yet. . . . but someday!

nyc big city dazzle sells for $1.72 at walmart, or $1.99 at other drugstores. spoiled jewelry heist is $1.99 at cvs stores, but they often run 2/$3 deals on spoiled polishes. so even cheaper! woo.