Franken Berry

The title of this post makes me laugh way more than it should, but I had to do it. When I swatched CQ Cranberry yesterday and saw how un-cranberry it really was, I decided to try my hand at making my own cranberry polish. This stuff is kind of a mess, but I think I like it (for the most part). The pictures show the polish in two coats with no top coat, though it could use one to even out the bumps from the glitter.


Natural light.

I put so many different polishes into this that I have no idea what they were anymore. Something happened when I mixed them all and now this stuff is THICK. It's hard to apply in thin coats because it's thick, sticky, and dries in like 15 seconds.


Natural light.

I really like the color. The hexagonal pink glitter looks a bit stupid in it, and I wish I hadn't added it. I was going a little glitter crazy at 2am and didn't think before I poured. The more I look at it, the more I like it, though most of it settles to the bottom of the bottle, so it would probably be easy to by-pass if needed.


Natural light.

If I could figure out how to thin and de-sticky this stuff I would totally use it again, as long as I could find a way to either keep the hexagonal glitter in the bottle or coax more of it out. I think that stuff works best in high volumes. When it's sparse on the nail like this it can look messy and stupid, in my opinion. The glitter problems are a definite disappointment.

I'd say this franken was a color success, and a formula mess (hardy har). What do you think?

Sally Hansen - Black Pearl (Chrome)

Natural light. Two coats with no top coat.

Sally Hansen Chrome Nail Makeup in Black Pearl is slightly darker than silver and definitely not chrome. This polish applies a bit streaky and dries pretty quickly. It smells strongly of chemicals and death. It might work for stamping, but it's not anything I'd ever use for a full manicure.


Natural light.

Black Pearl is not even a little reflective and has very little shine. There was obvious shrinkage minutes after I applied, and it started chipping within a half hour. Huge disappointment.

CQ - Cranberry

Natural light.

Cranberry is a pretty bright pink that looks more red than pink in low light and shadow. It's opaque in two coats (I used three for pictures) and dries in a decent amount of time. It can stain nails just by being in the same room as them so a base coat is necessary.


Natural light.

I'm not big on reds or pinks (which you wouldn't know by looking at my polish collection) and this isn't an exception. It doesn't wow me. It looks like Sunset Blaze without the blaze. I don't think "Cranberry" when I see this color. Maybe the 90% sugar cranberry juice cocktails, but that's not what I was hoping for. After seeing how much darker some colors can dry, I was crossing my fingers that this would magically turn into a cranberry saucey darker pink/red on the nail, but that wasn't the case. I was going to use this on Thanksgiving, but I think I'll pass.


Natural light.

Afterthoughts - Soul Mates

Natural light.

Soul Mates is a light grey (it looks silver in pictures, but it's not) with red micro glitter. I don't even know how long I've had this polish. It's a pretty weird combination.


You can see the glitter here.

The smell of this stuff is so strange. I know it's not because of how old it is, because I remember thinking it smelled weird when I wore it in middle school. I'm 23 now, so that shows you how I tend to hang on to things for a ridiculous amount of time. Application was alright. Three coats to cover without bald spots, but it dries quickly. The brush is pretty small, but workable. All in all it's an okay polish but I find it odd in both smell and look.

NYC - Park Ave

Park Ave is a grey/taupe. It is opaque in two coats (though I used three for pictures) and dries AMAZINGLY fast.


Natural light.

The brush was one of the widest brushes I've ever used. It made application a breeze. They've done a lot of upgrading with this brand since I bought 119A. The Park Ave bottle says "quick dry", and it really is. Each coat dried in way less than a minute and subsequent coats went on like butter.


Natural light.

I really like this polish. It's a bit darker on the nail than in the bottle, but it's still a really pretty color. It seems to have a little bit of a purple undertone going on, which is interesting. I don't know how unique this color is (probably not very) but I'd still recommend it. I'd be anxious to try the other colors in this line, since I love the formula so much, but the other colors I saw in the display left a lot to be desired.