A Few of My Frankens!

Hi everyone! Over the holidays, I had an interest in making my own polishes as a side project. Fast forward six months later and I've finally gotten around to doing that! I'm very hesitant about showing these, but I've already posted some on my Instagram, so I thought what the heck!? Throw caution to the wind, right!?

A simple definition of franken polish is a polish someone has mixed together out of other nail polishes, glitter, pigments, and/or suspension base. All of these I've made with suspension base, glitter, and cosmetic grade pigments and micas.

Typically one is supposed to name their frankens, like newborn children I guess. However, I consider these works-in-progress, or just fun experiments, so I have no desire to name them at this point. I'm actually working to improve these - both in terms of interesting glitter/pigment/shimmer combinations, and in terms of formula. I'm finding that the glitter is not suspending very well in the base, and tends to cause too much unevenness for my taste.

What I'm trying to say is that I'd appreciate any constructive criticism you may have, keeping in mind that I'm still very new at this. :)

Blue and Gold Glitter Franken - this has lots of tiny light blue, dark blue, and sand glitter, along with small copper hexes, and a lot of gold shimmer. It's pretty dense, but the shimmer makes it look more dense than it actually is. It's probably not the most unique polish, but I'm going to enjoy using this for glitter gradients. I've shown one coat over OPI My Vampire is Buff and Essie Midnight Cami.

Brown Holo Franken - this is my favourite of the bunch, it also has one of the better formulas. It has a subtle linear holo, lots of shimmer, and small gold and copper hexes. I think this is two coats.

Coral Holo Franken - the holo on this is also very subtle but I enjoy the combination of coral with blue and gold glitter. Also two coats.

Light Blue Franken - a light blue creme with gold and midnight blue glitter. This has a beautiful iridescent shimmer, but unfortunately it doesn't translate well on the nails. I believe this is also two coats (I didn't take notes when I was swatching them).

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Lime Green Franken - This one has a lot of shimmer, as well as blue and opalescent glitter. The formula is very pigmented, so the glitter gets a bit lost unfortunately.

Magenta Holo Franken- This was the first one I made, and I still like it very much. It has a nice holo effect and tiny sand glitter.

This definitely has given me an all new respect for indie makers. I mean the respect was always there, but it just was taken to an all new level. Making your own polish is not as easy as I thought it would be. Powdered pigments are a challenge to work with, and it's tough to come up with something unique.

I'm nowhere near to making polishes like that, but I thought it would be fun to show you what I've been up to!

I'm curious, do you make your own frankens? Or is it something you're interested in?