Franken Swatch: Set Fire to the Rain

This past week I dedicated a post to a trio of frankens / custom blended nail polish I created and titled the Adele Collection. While they weren't my first ever nail polishes that I made, they are the first that I'm truly proud of and confident enough to put on the blog. Plus, I had a lot of polish that just didn't work because of glitter bleeding so it was nice to finally have a solid result after all that tinkering with glitters and pigments.

In the former post I showed you the swatches from this trio on a color wheel and how they look in the bottles, but now I have one of the colors as an actual swatch! My Fiji Frenzy manicure started chipping within a few days of applying it (boo), so I just re-did my nails, this time with my custom blend I call Set Fire to the Rain.

For all the swatches below I used 2 coats with one coat of Seche Vite. The formula was a bit thick, so next time I'll add some thinner to the polish. I used the brush from the ManGlaze bottle, and while I love the bottles for frankens, they're not as great for applying polish. The handle of the brush is about the width of a quarter and only about 2 inches high, so it's a bit awkward and cumbersome to handle. The combination of the handle and the thickness of the polish worked against me, so the manicure was a little sloppy.

I'm still playing around with the mug idea. I love this panda mug. 

Set Fire to the Rain is a bit coral with a golden shimmer that also looks a little light orange at times. After a few days of wearing it, it definitely grew on me. The color lasted about 5 days before any major chipping began, but I did have some tip wear within about 3 days.

The photos above and below are how Set Fire to the Rain looks with flash. I wanted to show off how multi-dimensional the color is. It looks different in all types of light. All of the colors I used to create the nail polish come through and create a gorgeous combination. 

I hope you enjoyed my first swatches of this collection! I've enjoyed creating these custom blends as a creative outlet and I'm happy to share them with you.

Let me know your thoughts on this color in the comments section! Any advice or personal tales on making frankens / custom blends? 

Merry Christmas Haul!

Santa and his elves were very good to me this year. I received a lot of great presents that were non-nail related including a Keurig and a Soda Stream (I love my beverages). But of course I also received a good amount of nail related presents. Among them was a glass nail file, which I really needed. I lost my old one somewhere in my last apartment. I also got my much wanted Bundle Monster nail stamping plates, some Konad stamping accessories, a Bundle monster brush & dotting tool set and some glitter and pigments. My husband sure did spoil me and I felt like a kid on Christmas.

I took a few pictures of the polishes that I got because I'm so excited to use them all!

First up are the two Sinful Colors polishes I got. On the left is Fiji and on the right is Frenzy. I think they will be a great layering duo. My mother-in-law has great taste! I actually didn't ask for any specific colors for Christmas, just nail polish in general and I'm very pleased with the results. I did specifically ask for the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top coat, which I got and also can't wait to use.

Among my presents were these adorable Christmas themed decals by cina. I forgot to take pictures of my purple and white cina nail art pens, but you get the idea. I may have to save these decals for next year. I'm already onto the New Year's mani!

Christmas also made me the proud owner of a few bottles of China Glaze. I'm excited to see for myself how great China Glaze is. The first color up is Princess Grace. I think it will be a great base for nail art. 

My sister-in-law apparently also knows me very well and gave me For Audrey. I've been wanting this color for a while, but with Christmas coming up didn't have the heart to buy it for myself. I love this new addition!

So pretty together!

Finally, the last two are Lorelai's Tiara (left) and Blue Year's Eve (right). Lorelai's Tiara is from the China Glaze Eye Candy collection and is oh-so pretty. Blue Year's Eve is from the Let it Snow collection. Again, so excited to try both of these. All of the polish and nail art supplies I got for Christmas will keep me busy for months, not to mention the shopping spree I went on today at Sally Beauty Supply (but more about that another day). 

Lastly, I got some awesome Franken bottles or Franken Juggs as they're called. They're sold here on Amazon by ManGlaze and I think they will be great for frankening. I may even have to pick up some of their polishes one of these days. 

So what did you all get for Christmas? Did you get lots of polish goodies? Merry Christmas!