... Guest Post - Jens Painted Tips ...

Super thanks to Jen for writing up todays Guest Post. I've not been feeling myself lately but hoping to be back on the frankening bandwagon soon. Keep those great comp entries coming!

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Hello, I am Jen from Jenspaintedtips.blogspot.com.

Sarah is so neat and awesome. She needed guest posts for FRANKEN-MARCH. I had the PERFECT polish that was made for me by my friend Mandy!

When Behind Closed Doors came out I whined and cried that I wanted it, Mandy made me a franken. She did it with loose glitter and pigments. She called it Midnite Jen Jen. very appropriate name. :)

See all the micro glitter??

  I love that the bigger glitter is sparse.

 This polish makes me all kinds of happy!

Thank you Mandypants for an incredible polish, and Thank you Sarah for being such a great friend!

... Guest Post - The Manicured Monkey ...

Sorry for the lack of posts! My sister made a surprise visit and I haven't been online much while she was here.

Keep those franken entries coming!! Currently only 2 ladies have entered - as Homer Simpson would say "I like those odds"]

Todays franken post comes courtesy from Kristin at The Manicured Monkey - go check out her blog! Well worth it!

Thanks for sharing mate!! :)

~*~*~*~

This is a franken that Mandypants made. It's awesome! I have it layered over.... well.... I can't remember, but check out the glitter! Hex, confetti and small glitters in different colors with a few stars thrown in for good measure make up this beauty. I want to do this mani again but over a lavender creme. It reminds me of ticker tape from a parade or celebration. It's cheery, makes me smile and not a pain to remove.. WIN!

Thanks Mandy! I'll have more glitter for you in a while but this one is by far my current favorite :)

... Little Roo - BushPig ...

What's a series on Frankens without some fails ... so here is one I prepared yesterday for you.

BushPig

 BushPig - an unflattering word to describe a female generally from the country or bush [insert "bushpig" where you would use the word "bitch" or "slut"]

 Type - Franken

Firstly? Is Bushpig still even used? It sounds so 80s but it was the first thing that popped into my head when this creation was born. Still makes me giggle like an immature 13 year old!

I had good intentions with this franken and it mixed well on my palette but in the end it's all my fault that failure occured. Sometimes you need to think ahead and I didn't. So - on with the story.

Basically this is Chemistry 230 mixed with Ulta3 Brandywine.

Chemistry 230 was one of my first Chemistrys I managed to source and I was extremely excited as it looked so pretty in the bottle but sadly it was only some red glitter and holo bars in some clear ... and honestly I've never worn it since and it's sat at the back of my helmer collecting dust.

I thought Brandywine would be a good mix as it's a red with a shimmer and in my mind I really wanted to more create the look of the Chemistry bottle and have it show actually on nails.

Sounded good in theory right. The frankened bottle looks fantastic with the pretty holo pieces mixed in with red shimmer and it looks awesome ... but ... someone didn't make it a 1 coater did they *sad*

So unfortunately you end up with holo pieces under the 2nd coat of red that is required. I'm also not a pro in scooping bar glitter out - it never works for me. I may try it in future on top of a red but at the moment I'm just disappointed with it.

So that's my franken fail for the time being. Unless someone I owe a swap too wants this then it's destined to go back into the spot recently vacated by Chemistry 230 to sit back collecting dust.

... Little Roo - Having a Blue ...

Little Roo - Having a Blue

Featured on Little Roo Australia - Not For Sale

I'm kicking off the polish side of FrankenMarch with one of my own.

For the record I'm not selling ... but I am labelling my polishes this year. This is simply because I know I'm not the only one with polishes in their drawers they have received from swaps that you have NO idea who they are from - how embarrassing. So I thought it would be a lot easier if I just named my frankens from here in with a logo and I wanted to actually record what I've been sending out so I've started a blog just on my frankens so I can have a handy reference.

I also wanted to this year have all my frankens named with Aussie slang simply because I find majority of slang words amusing or get a giggle from them ... and those overseas have no clue!

Having a Blue

Blue: fight ("he was having a blue with his wife", "they were having a blue")

Type - Custom Polish

Named because I definitely had a "blue" with the previous version of this polish with the glitters running and being painful.

2 coats on naked nails [oh my]

2 coats on black

Pale blue polish with tiny blue glitter and blue and silver hex pieces with a handful of green and yellow throw in [and I mean a handful!]. The silver hex pieces are slightly holo for an interesting look.

Slightly gritty feel without a top coat. Removal not as painful as other brand glitters I have in my collection.

... No nails today - Just some franken info ...

Thanks so so so so much for the interest in my FrankenMarch everyone. I am always on the lookout to do something different so I'm hoping that this will be outside the box for myself to do a whole month on polishes made at home with love.

Just a small post today as I've already been asked "Help! How do I franken" ... here is a quick post to help you on your way!

Currently Google brings up about 2,600,000 results if you type in "how to franken polish" ... I would seriously suggest starting there as it will help you a lot more than I can.

Here's one I prepared earlier ... HA HA HA

If you are a newbie to frankening I would highly suggest grabbing out those bottles of polish you have stuck at the back of your stash that you dislike and will never wear again and get mixing. What originally was a colour that was not your colour or too sheer or just plain hideous can be turned into something beautiful that you will actually wear.

I will give you my Top 10 tips though ... that should help you out in the meantime!

* There is no right or wrong way to franken. Everyone has their own setup and tips - find what works for you and go for it.

* Common sense is a must! Obviously don't taste or touch the polish and you are playing with flammable ingredients so don't do this while smoking or near candles.

* Find yourself a nice clean working area that is free of clutter and that is not on a precious antique heirloom table. Spillages happen to even the most careful of us and there is nothing worse than getting polish where it should never go.

* Wear gloves - Seriously ... do this!! You will thank me.

* Keep a handy supply of paper towel/kitchen roll/kitchen paper/damn stuff that you use to clean up spills in the kitchen ... just incase of spills! :)

* You will have failures. Sorry but it's true. Be prepared to have a great idea and watch it fail miserably before your eyes. Learn and start again! Practice makes perfect.

* Do find a well ventilated area to play in ... there is nothing worse than having your whole house reek of nail polish and having other people comment on it.

* Cheap or dollar shops are a great way to find bottles to use if you don't have beauty shops in your area that sell empty bottles. I'd highly recommend cheap "clear" polish. You can easily tip a section out and pour an existing colour [or two or three or more!] into the mix.

* Never EVER franken with your favourite polish unless you have a backup bottle in your possession. You will regret it if you do.

* If you decide to play with pigments - please wear a safety mask to ensure you don't enhale any fine particles! I would hate for someone to use Spectraflair and then end up sprouting rainbows like the Nyan Cat.

... It's FRANKENMARCH ....

Woohoo!! Welcome to FrankenMarch - that happy month of the year filled with franken and custom polish love!

And I'm kicking it off with a Franken making contest! So grab your empty jars and creativity and make some beauties for the world to see!! The possibilities of pretties is endless! My favourite giveaways via blogs have been franken contests. Hands down. It's nice to have to pull out the thinking cap and have fun!!

So ... for the all important questions! What can you win and how can you do it?

The total prize pool is below.  5 full size Glitter Gals - yes the big bottles that you can now buy! Oooh - pretty!

Colours up for grabs are  ...

Brain Freeze, Code Red, 10 to midnight, Bruised Ego and Lizard Belly

** Disclaimer ** 

This prize pool may be divided up among more than 1 winner so please keep that in mind

... Rules ...

* You must be a follower of Shatter me Claire via GFC to enter [new followers welcome!]
* One entry per person! Multiple entries will be disqualified.
* One photo per person which must include nails attached to your hands and the bottle [please no shots of nail wheels or falsies on a stick]
* It's totally up to you how you make your franken. It can be made from mixing other polishes together or made from scratch as a custom polish. The sky is the limit!
* You must leave your recipe as to how you made your franken
* Please don't post your franken on your blog, website or on Facebook until the voting has started! So after it appears here on March 16. Fair is fair!
* No frankens will be accepted that have already been shown online or that are available for sale
* Yes you can watermark your creations but I will link back to your blog anyway if you provide the link
* I will only attempt to send the prize parcel out once. I can't be held for any responsiblity regarding if it's returned to sender.

So after all that ... please email 1 photo of your franken - along with your name, GFC name, blog name [if you have one] franken name, recipe and a short blurb about it to me at shattermeclaire@aapt.net.au and you need to do this ON OR BEFORE MARCH 14 [I will wait until the entire world is off that date to stop any issues with working out timezones!]

Voting will start 16 March [Aussie time!] and run until the end of 30 March [again I will wait until the entire world is no longer on that date].

Easy!! Any questions just ask away. Good luck and I'm really excited to see what creations you lot come up with.

... Cate Ruby - New Yorker ...

Cate Ruby - New Yorker

Purchased from Cate Ruby - $14.95 AUD [with free shipping!]

♫ Start spreading the news ♫

♫ I am leaving today ♫

♫ I want to be a part of it ♫

♫ New York ... New York ♫

This is the latest polish from Cate Ruby. Isn't she pretty!! A beautiful bright red to sweep the blues away [ooh - bad colour pun]

Anyway ... it's fast drying and honestly you could get away with a single coat if you wanted too. I've used 2 for these photos but only cos I wanted too. Application was a dream ... smooth and painless.

For some reason my camera hates reds [and blues, and purples ... ugh] so the actual colour is more like the original bottle shot that I've shown. I was hoping to rephoto this on my husbands camera tonight but I've just managed to snag a nail so I'm back to nubbins *sad*

It came wrapped in a pretty bag! How cute is this!

** Final Verdict **

A beautiful red that is bright and happy. I've had a love/hate relationship with reds as a lot don't play nice with my skin tone but this one definitely does.

PS - Excuse the blog mess ... I decided for some reason in the middle of the night to get up and fiddle with the blog settings and lets just say I now wish I'd just let it be. Bare with me!

... 7 days - 7 ways! Day 7 ...

7 days - 7 ways

Free hand zigzags and dots

Coral Colours - Black Sateen

Final day people! I'll round off this series with some free hand nail art. I've just done some black zigzags or as my 5 year old puts it "M's with dots".  Super easy to do with a thin brush, dotting tool or something thin like a toothpick! Just follow the flow! Big thick stripes! Fun! Reminds me of the drizzle on chocolate bars! Mmmmm

I hope you enjoy my little week long series and that it gives you some other ideas on getting the most out of a single colour.  I'll definitely do this again in the future but I'm planning something big for March so stay tuned!!

... 7 days - 7 ways! Day 6 ...

7 days - 7 ways!

Day 6 - Tips

Coral Colours - Black Sateen

I've been feeling extremely unwell and I'm not good at blogging in advance so you'll have to put up with a simple half assed effort today.

Thought I'd rock some black tips. There are numerous ways you can go for this look from freehand to sticky tape but I've always found the easiest way is with tape you can buy for French Tips. Manicure does a great pack of 20 that only costs $3 that you can buy from places like Priceline and Kmart.

Really easy - paint and add tips. Done!

Hopefully you are still reading! I haven't managed to blog daily for a week in a LONG time! Only one more day to go ... Woohoo!

... 7 days - 7 ways! Day 5 ...

7 days - 7 ways!

Day 5 - Striping Tape

I find using striping tape relaxing to use and the possibilities of designs are basically endless. Striping tape is super thin tape that comes in various colours on these little wheels. They are super cheap to pick up from eBay - like under $2 including postage.

So how to use? All you need to do is paint your nails like normally and then pick your colour of tape and place it sticky side down on your nail - duh! Lastly add a top coat. Easy! Well easy in theory. Obviously I still need a lot of practice but I had fun which is the main thing.