Glitter Frankens

Last Christmas I gave nearly every female in my life custom frankened nail polishes. Then today, while I was supposed to be writing a paper, I was struck with the brilliant idea of frankening my own glitter polishes. I mean, there's no such thing as too much glitter, and how great would it be to able to specifically select my own color combinations?? Turns out, it's pretty freaking great.

It being Sunday night, Michael's and Sally's were both closed by the time I went out to buy supplies. That meant I was stuck with the selection at Target. I was stoked about being able to find bottles of clear polish for just $2.50 (Xpress Nails), but a little bit less than stoked about the lacking choices of glitter. I settled on a pack of six tubes (copper, gold, white, silver, and black) that was just $3.80. As you can tell, one of the biggest draws to this idea is the affordability. When I got home I got right to experimenting, and I made sure to capture every step!

Step 1: The supplies

glitters, clear polishes, index card, Scotch tape

Step 2: The funnel

Use the index card and Scotch tape to create a funnel that will fit into the mouth of your polish bottle. This gives total control of how much glitter you put in at one time.

Step 3: Setting up

Take your brush out, making sure to get as much excess polish off as possible and set it aside. Then fit your funnel securely into the bottle. Select your glitter start adding in small intervals. 

Step 4: Shake, shake, shake

After each little bit you add, put the top back on and give the bottle a good shaking. Mixing progressively like this makes it easier when your bottle is entirely filled with glitter. This is especially important if you'll be using more than one color of glitter. 

Step 5: Having gorgeous new glitters

These are my finished products. The bottle on the left is just copper glitter; I used less glitter in this bottle so that I could use it to layer with other polishes. The one on the right is a combination of black, silver, and copper. I absolutely love how they both turned out and I can't wait to wear them.

Deep Purple by Xtreme Wear

When you've got a habit as serious as mine, you can't always afford the more expensive brands of polish. An inexpensive brand (only $2.50 a bottle!!) that I've come to love is Xtreme Wear by Sally Hansen. The polish is high quality, long lasting, and the brand is XTREMEly fond of iridescent colors and glitters. I'd been on a hunt for an iridescent grape color, and I may have screamed a little when I found this gem in Target. Let me tell you, it did not disappoint. It covered smoothly, managed to make it through Thanksgiving cooking and three rounds of Black Friday shopping without chipping, and garnered numerous compliments from strangers. This picture is in the sunlight and shows the color after two coats.

Rating: A