Final Franken Gone Wrong Update...

I attempted to make a gold leaf franken about two months ago, which didn't quite turn out as planned. Some of you have asked for an update on the franken and I appreciate your curiosity as I share it as well. In case there are others who are silently curious, I figured I'd do a final update. So what does this photo of a paperweight have to do with the franken? Take a good look at it and then keep reading. Tell me if you spot any similarities...

Although I did manage to swatch this franken once when it was fresh and just a few days after being made, it became thicker and thicker as days went by. These first two collages are about two weeks (3/31) after it was made. The gold leaf still firmly compacted at the bottom and tiny bubbles fighting their way to the top trough the thick goo. When I flipped the bottle over, I could watch larger bubbles slowly work their way up. The smaller bubbles (among the gold leaf) were still stuck heading towards the bottle cap, not having enough strength to turn around and actually go up...

It was truly a goopy gelatinous mess, but as you can see I had fun with it...

The photo on the left of this collage was taken about a month after making it (4/17) and the photo on the right was taken just a few days ago (5/5). I'm pretty sure those are still the same bubbles working their way up over the span of two weeks. It is no longer gelatinous goop. Pulling out the brush leaves a trail in the gelatin and the brush comes out relatively clean. Nothing is moving and everything is frozen in the gelatin. Remind you of the paperweight yet? It is just about as useful...

When I first showed you my franken a few months back, lots of you mentioned that it could be due to the fact that the gold leaf was not pure and contained a lot of brass. I turned to ebay to find "real" gold leaf and purchased a little baggie of it from someone claiming that it to be real/pure and even mentioned that it great for nail art. It was just $2.99 so I took a chance. The listing has been removed, I'm guessing due to complaints as to the authenticity of it.

I didn't bother making a full bottle this time since I suspected the result would be similar and simply put a few flakes into a little bit of clear polish. It didn't turn the same vibrant green, but probably because I only used a few flakes. After a while the flakes completely dissolved leaving just the gelatin behind...

So there you have it, an update on the franken....

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Franken Gone Wrong... Continued...

First of all I would like to say thank you for all your wonderful feedback to my Franken Gone Wrong post. I am glad to know I'm not alone in this. Some of you had this happen to them, some offered logical explanations for the color change (cooper vs true gold) and some of you were intrigued by the resulting green and requested samples. I debated if I was brave enough to swatch this and turns out I am. My nails have not fallen off yet and I'm really hoping that remains the case. For now, here are a few swatches as requested...

In terms of application, it is much thicker than the clear version it started out as. In fact is is quite goopy at this point. Surprisingly the application was not bad and neither was the dry time. It was about what I would expect for a jelly. It has gotten darker over the last 24 hours and the gold flakes seem to be dissolving. One reader yesterday mentioned that on her attempt at this, the flakes did indeed eventually disintegrate. I'm anticipating this to happen here as well...

Left to right: 3 coats of franken alone, 2 coats over OPI My Vampire is Buff, 2 coats over Color Club Wild Cactus...

Three coats of the franken alone... The nail line is still visible, but actually pretty decent coverage alone at 3 coats...

Two coats over OPI My Vampire is Buff...

Two coats over Color Club Wild Cactus... probably my favorite combination...

Just a quick shot of what it looks like today... the flakes that at the bottom are currently stuck and won't come up even with shaking...

And here is what it looked like yesterday... it is lighter and visibly larger flakes...

Hope that answers some questions :)

P.S. I issue an official apology for referring to St. Patrick's Day as St. Patty's Day. Apparently it is St. Paddy's Day and not St. Patty's Day. Obviously I have no Irish background and just had no clue. I stand corrected! I had to google my mistake and came across this fun site which explains the difference... paddynotpatty.com. I take solace the fact that I am not alone in making this mistake or there wouldn't be a site dedicated to educating those of us who get it wrong :D

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Franken Gone Wrong...

I wanted to show you a little frankening experiment that I tried over the weekend. I had set out to make a DIY gold leaf top coat. There are a few tutorial floating out there and they seemed simple enough. Start with some clear polish and gold leaf from the craft store, mix the two together and voila... cheap gold leaf top coat. I was really excited to make it and try it out for St. Patty's day. Here are my supplies all ready go to...

I tore up 4 sheets of gold leaf and then realized I'd have one heck of a time trying to get them into the bottle, so I scrunched them up into little wads of gold leaf (not my brightest idea by the way)...

Here are the wads of gold leaf after I dropped them into the clear polish (yes, that is four sheets worth of gold leaf). They instantly started releasing bubbles, which was kind of strange, but I let is slide. I shook the heck out of this mixture to break apart the wads of gold leaf. Twenty minutes later it still wasn't good enough to be used, so I gave up and set it aside for another day, thinking I would worry about it later. Really, those little wads were not the brightest idea...

The next day I was ready to revisit the top coat only to find this green mess...

It has actually gotten even darker since I took this photo. The green is quite beautiful, but not really what I was going for. I thought it was fascinating and maybe you'll agree. I've heard of people being successful in making a gold leaf top coat so I'm not sure what went wrong here. Is it something in the polish? Would a different base have been better? Maybe something is wrong with this gold leaf? Maybe all of the above? So many questions! I can't decide if I should keep experimenting or just buy one before I end up spending more money experimenting that it would cost to get the real thing...

Have any of you tried this before and gotten it to work without turning green? Or has this happened to you also?

UPDATE: By popular request, check out the swatches of this franken here...

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)

Graduating to gradients...

My first gradient attempt turned out pretty decent. Sure, it could have been more blended with less visible separation of colors, but for a first attempt also it could have been worse. The colors make me think of a beautiful sunset... wish I was there...

Polishes used, base to tip:
1. Wacky Laki franken - Nearly Nude (scroll down for swatches :))
2. Sinful Colors - Hazard
3. Borghese - Maraschino
4. Wet n Wild - Caught Red Handed

What really started this gradient was another almost throw away color. I had two really old Revlon colors Snowflake Pink and Wink of Pink. They were both at least 15 years old and have not been worn in at least 10, so in an effort to empty out one of the bottles, I combined the two and topped it off with the remainder of the darker pink from the Blush set that didn't fit into the Lucky Lavender franken bottle.

Here it is only two coats plus a top coat. It still applied beautifully. If it didn't have a shimmer to it, it would probably be my perfect nude color...

Outside...

Brand: Wacky Laki blend Collection: N/A Color Name/Number: Nearly Nude

I'd love to know what you think of my 1st gradient attempt :D

Thanks for looking!
Anutka :)