Nail Polish Play

Category: Tutorials

Fashion Friday – Adele in Jenny Packham for “Adele at the BBC”

Hey Guys,

I know it’s been ages since I last posted! I haven’t stopped doing nail art, just finding it difficult to keep up with regular posting. Good news is I have a nice pile of unposted designs to get crackin’ 🙂

Today is one of my first fashion inspired nail art looks. Adele is back after a long hiatus with a spankin’ new album and I’m super excited. Have had the album on loop since the time it dropped. I’m obviously a die hard fan! The minute I saw her dress from the “Adele at the BBC” event, I knew I wanted to recreate that on my nails! It’s from the Autumn-Winter 2015 Jenny Packham Collection.

Technically today is Saturday, but no one ever heard of Fashion Saturday, haha! Besides I posted these on Instagram yesterday,so I think it still counts 😀

There’s a pictorial too outlining the steps on how to achieve the look. Here’s the finished manicure :

I mattified the design as I thought it went with the look of the dress.

The michele replica watches are known for their elegant designs and attention to detail, offering you a sophisticated style at a more accessible price.

Here’s what you need to create this mani :

Basecoat – Orly Bonder

Revlon Parfumerie – Balsam Fir

Liquid Latex for easy cleanup with stamping

Chambor – No. 446. It’s a gold foil polish I got as a free gift so I don’t have a link for you!

F.U.N Lacquer – King ( King of bling that is!)

Glisten & Glow – HK Girl Top Coat

Inglot – Matte Top Coat

Plate Used : Fairytale 5 from HeHe plates “Fairytale Collection”

Stamper – New Jumbo stamper from FabUrNails ( psst…review coming soon)

I also used the new sable double sided liner and striper brush from FabUrNails . I love the sparkly elements – the crystals, the reflective etching on the caps, excellent brush on the whole :

Here’s a pictorial with all the steps :

Steps:

Step 1 : Start with 2 coats of Revlon Balsam Fir.
Step 2 : Apply Liquid Latex to protect your cuticles and make it easier to cleanup after stamping.
Step 3 : Apply a gold foil stamping polish like so. I used Chambor No. 446. Plate used : Fairytale 5 from ‪HeHe plates.‬
Step 4 through Step 6 : Pick up the image on your stamper and clean up the excess using scotch tape.
Step 7 : Stamp the design on the nail like so.
Step 8 : Use a thin detail brush and a flakie glitter polish and layer over the stamped design. I used F.U.N Lacquer King. It’s so crazy bling! It’s loaded with sterling silver flakies and gold micro holographic glitter AND spectraflair! It sparkles like no one’s business when mattified!
Step 9 : Add one coat of a quick dry glossy topcoat. I used my absolute favourite Glisten & Glow HKGirl topcoat.
Step 10 (Not Pictured) : Add one coat of matte topcoat to matte the design. I used Inglot matte topcoat.

Now let the blitz of pictures start, I have a ton of them to share as I simply couldn’t limit them to one or two. Here’s the matte version first :

Taken outside in natural light :

I recently picked up some cute midi rings from H&M India. Just couldn’t resist clicking a pic with them too!

Taken outside in fading sunlight:

Now for the glossy look :

Natural light:

A closer look at the foil effect flakie glitter bling that is King! I just had to dab on a tiny amount using the detail side from the 2 sided brush from FabUrNails. I think the bling really amped up the mani.

With flash taken outside:

So what do you think? Which version do you prefer? Shiny or Matte?

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November 22, 2015
Aztec Tribal Stamping Decals with MoYou London Explorer 26
Hello!

I had some time over the weekend so decided to get my hands dirty with stamping decals. I love stamping decals, they befuddle people 😀 Many times it has you wondering “How on earth did she do that?!”. Though I love them, I’m a little lazy when it comes to making the decals. These decals were originally intended for my mother. I went ahead and made extra and decided to use them.

Since I was making decals, I decided to make them as colourful as possible and settled on an Aztec/Tribal print from one of my MoYou plates – Explorer 26. This is probably my favourite collection out of all the ones that MoYou London has released! Such beautiful prints from all over the world!

Here’s all the polishes I used:

BarryM – Elderberry & Almond , They ship to India vis UPS, Shipping is expensive yes, but when you’re a nail polish addict, it’s all part of your obsession 😀 , and you get your BarryM’s in 3 days flat! All the way from the UK, beat that!

OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked? & That’s Hula-rious from the Spring 2015 Hawaii Collection. I bought these when I was on holiday in Russia, so I’m putting links to Amazon here.

Innisfree Eco Basecoat and No.6 – the cheerful yellow that is nameless because Innisfree gives numbers, how sad 🙁 Both were purchased from the Innisfree store and so I don’t have an online link for you, sorry!

HK Girl Topcoat from Glisten & Glow purchased from www.color4nails.com

Konad Black Stamping polish

I used 5 XL Gold stampers from FabUrNails. These are awesome to make decals on! The cap holder is sturdy and sits well.

Here’s a behind the scenes look:

Here’s the steps I used to make my decals:
1. Pick up the image on your stamper with black stamping polish.
2. Use a dotting tool or a toothpick and all the colours you want, and fill colour in the individual details. You need not be very neat as the black stamping polish camouflages most of the overlaps.
3. Wait for everything to dry and cover the entire decal with white polish. I did this so that the colours would pop more.
4. Once the decal is dry, peel it off the stamper. How do you know if your decal is dry? Well, it shouldn’t stick to the stamping head and should ‘pop’ right off. If it’s pulling when you try to peel, it’s clearly not ready and you risk tearing your decal.
5. Use a pair of nail scissors and cut the decal into a size that will fit on your nail leaving a little bit extra to wrap under the free edge of your nail. This sort of ‘caps’ the nail and makes your manicure last longer.
6. Now apply polish on your nail and wait for it to be almost completely dry. When it’s very very lightly tacky, place your decal over your nail and press down gently to get it to stick to your nail. Press down gently or you’ll end up smudging your nail or tearing the decal or both.
7. Wrap the tiny amount of extra decal under the free edge of your nail and smooth out by pressing or using the back of your nail art brush like a rolling pin.
8. Apply topcoat and wait for it to dry. Once it’s dry, clean up the mess around your cuticles with a clean up brush and polish remover. That’s it!
Here’s the finished result:

That’s part of my front yard in the background 🙂

Some more pictures!

Here’s my thumb too :

I leave you with this macro taken in the sun, what do you think?

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September 8, 2015
Born Pretty Store Review – Tribal Fish Stamping Plate BP-66

Hi everyone!

I’m back with another review today, this time of one the round plates from Born Pretty Store. Roughly, 75 plates have been released in this series till now, and all of them are pretty good.

The plate I have today is Fish Leaves Nail Art Stamping Template Image Plate BORN PRETTY BP66, item ID: 20039. A new feature with these plates is, they also come with a sleeve. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten to click a halfway decent picture of it, though it’s got the exact pattern as the rectangular plates. You can see the sleeve here.

This is what the plate looks like:

As you can see, this is a buffet style plate, so the design is good enough for pretty much any nail length. The plates come with the standard blue film, which I’ve removed. This has an interesting mix of designs from the art-deco ish pattern, to the ‘Do Not Cross’ police line. My favourite of course are the tribal fish, they’re too cute!Many enthusiasts admire the sporty charm of the replica patek philippe aquanaut, known for its bold lines and versatile style for daily wear.

Here’s what I used to create this manicure:

Sally Hansen –Diamond Strength Basecoat

Glisten & Glow – HK Girl Top Coat

Konad – Black stamping polish

Shop eighty4 Pastel Neons in – Cotton Candy, Candy Mint, Powder Puff & Pale Leaf . I picked up the complete set of these pastel neons, you can get them here.

FabUrNails XL gold stamper set

A.S.P Manicure Saver Cotton Claw for cleaning the stamping plate

I wanted a neon colour for this nail art but not a ‘proper’ neon, so I used pastel neons. Here are the steps :

1 . Apply basecoat on all your nails.

2 . Paint Powder Puff (pastel neon blue) on your index and middle finger. Paint Pale Leaf (pastel neon yelllow) on your pinky and thumb. Paint Candy Mint (pastel neon green) on your index finger.

3. Use Pale Leaf to stamp the leaves & vines on the blue nails. Next use Cotton Candy ( pastel neon pink) to stamp the same leaf design over the blue nails. Switch up the pattern so that it doesn’t completely overlap. Now use black stamping polish to stamp the tribal fish pattern on the blue nails.

4. Stamp the vine pattern on the remaining fingers in black.

5. Topcoat and it’s done!

The finished look ( my right hand looked better than the left, does that happen to you too?):

Trying to hold all the colours!

A closeup of the fish:

So final thought? This etching is excellent on this plate.I didn’t have any trouble picking up the images.Overall, I think it has an interesting mix of images. This plate is available for purchase at Born Pretty Store and you can use my coupon code NPPQ10 to get a 10% discount! See you next post!

June 5, 2015
Born Pretty Store Review – Marc Jacobs ‘Daisy’ Inspired Nail Art using 1.5 mm Gold Studs

Hello!

Today I’ve got some nail studs for review from Born Pretty Store. I decided to try out a Marc Jacobs ‘Daisy’ inspired design.I’ve seen a lot of different interpretations of this beautiful perfume bottle all over the web and it’s been on my list of manicures to try for a long time now. When I saw these studs, I knew they were perfect for this design- not too big and not too small.

These studs are 1.5mm in size and are perfect.The larger ones take some getting used to, so if you’re new to nail embellishments, this is good place to start.These work with regular nail polish as well as gel nails. The wear time on these is really good. I had mine on for 4 days and they did not fade or look ‘tired’ on day 4. It may have also been in part due to the topcoat, but I’ve seen that even good topcoat doesn’t always cover the faults of poor quality studs/rhinestones.

Offering superior quality and elegant styling, every swiss replica watch available ensures a balance of style, precision, and durability suitable for collectors and first-time buyers alike.

They come in a little ziplock bag and as you can see, you get a LOT. I think I’m probably set for life as far as gold studs are concerned! I used my pointy tweezers for picking up these studs and I used topcoat to glue them on to my nail. I don’t have a wax picker pencil yet, so I depend on my tweezers or a dotting tool for picking up studs/rhinestones and glitter placement. I found that a really tiny bead of topcoat was good enough to stick these on the nail. I do have nail glue, but it didn’t seem like it was required to stick these on.

The studs can be purchased here.The item code is 2401.

A closer look at the studs:

Here’s what I used for my design:

Basecoat – Orly Bonder

Glisten & Glow – HK Girl Top Coat ( My #1 Topcoat)

Sally Hansen Gem Crush – 03 Big Money

L’Oreal Paris Color Riche Vernis – 104 Beige Countess

White Stamping Polish – Konad White

For the daisies, I was unsure whether to stamp a design or use a dotting tool. Then, I saw my FabUrNails Fun 13 plate and decided to stamp. It’s the middle image in the second row from the top.I made the sleeve pictured with ordinary card paper and some paper punches. To learn how, click here.

Stamping plate – FabUrNails FUN 13

Stamper and scraper – FabUrNails Gold XL Set

The steps to create this mani are:

1. Apply basecoat on all your nails. This helps your manicure last long. Orly Bonder is a sticky basecoat and I think because of this gives a foundation for your manicure to adhere to. The Sally Hansen Diamond Strength Basecoat is also sticky, the Orly one is stickier.

2. Apply two coats of ‘Beige Countess’ on all your nails except for the ring finger. Paint two coats of ‘Big Money’ on the ring finger to get a good blingy accent nail.

3. Stamp the daisy image using white stamping polish on all the nails except for the accent.

4. Dot some topcoat on the flower centres and use the tweezers to place the studs on top of the flower centres.

5. Wait for 5-10 minutes for everything to dry and finish off with a full coat of topcoat on the entire nail to finish.

Here’s the finished look:

In the shade:

And one more:

That’s it! So what do you think? These gold studs can be purchased from Born Pretty Store ( Item code : 2401) and you can use my coupon NPPQ10 during checkout to take 10% off of your order.

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June 3, 2015
KBShimmer Spring Holos and Sheer Lace

Hi there!

It’s been a long week and I’ve been plenty busy. I recently picked up a few of the KBShimmer spring polishes and I didn’t want to do another regular “swatch and review” for 2 reasons – These have been out since February and I think hardcore nail polish addicts/fans/crazies have already stalked every possible online resource to get a dekko at them.The second reason is I don’t think I’m cut out for swatching yet – The same exact handpose with the same exact lighting and the same exact everything- very stressful if you’re the one who has to do everything! Having a fulltime job and a hobby that also feels like a fulltime job is not easy.

Anyway, I decided I would swatch and review these by adding a little simple nail art ( read – stamping, ha ha) so it would give me something to look forward to as well. There are a LOT of pictures in this post; I tried really hard to limit them but I guess I got carried away.

I used a new stamping plate from Born Pretty Store for stamping the lace designs. Ironically, even though Born Pretty Store are really famous in the nail art world, this is my first purchase from the website. It took about a month to reach me and they offer only tracked shipping to India (Even though internationally , they offer free shipping).The tracked service costs $3, which is not much, and you will most definitely get your parcel – which is priceless if you’ve suffered from as many “lost” packages as I have.

I really like this plate. Some of the designs on here are there in other brands as well, but there are still quite a few unique designs on it that make it worth the buy.I am a total sucker for anything lace and this one was in my cart within the blink of an eye.The images are very nicely etched, and the pickup is excellent. The plates come with a regular white plastic backing and a blue protective film. They do not come with a sleeve/case.However, faux leather cases are available for these if you’re interested.

As usual, I used FabUrNails XL gold stamper set for stamping.Here’s a look at the plate :

Even as I write this post, I observed that the design mockup on the born pretty store website for this plate has changed! The product code remains the same, though the images have definitely been changed. Here’s a look at the current listing:

Here’s a better look at the old one (which I have) :

Aaaand I found yet another version of the same plate! (This is so freaky)

Alright, before we get completely sidetracked by the case of the changing designs, let’s get back to business at hand.

I paired the lace prints with the new KBShimmer spring holographic polishes cause these are two of my favourite things – holo polish and lace! Everything is covered with KBShimmer’s ‘Clearly on Top’ topcoat.

Diamond Strength Basecoat – Sally Hansen

Clearly On Top Quick Dry Topcoat – KBShimmer

The 4 spring holographics are :

Blue-d Lines

Ins And Sprouts

Thistle Be The Day

Blush Money

For the lace accent, I used one coat of a sheer baby pink stamped over it with white stamping polish. Here’s what I used:

Sheer Baby Pink – Essence ‘Sweet as Candy‘

White Stamping Polish – Konad White

First up – ‘Blue-d Lines‘. This is a beautiful jewel toned Aquamarine colour. Applies smooth like butter and is opaque in 2 easy coats. If you have a heavy hand, you can probably get away with just one coat. It’s a linear holographic that shines intensely in the sun and even under fluorescent lighting. The distraction factor on all these holos is pretty high,ha ha!

Now for the pic spam!

In the shade:

It looks like a metallic blue in the shade with a slight hint of the holographic effect.

Magic in the sun :

See how insane the holographic effect is!

A close up :

Next up is ‘Ins And Sprouts‘. This is also a jewel toned Peridot shade. Applies smooth and dries fast, has a crazy holographic shine even in the shade! In all the swatches that I saw online, this colour loked more golden than green. It is most defnitely green and not golden. Must have been a trick of lighting that led me to believe it was more gold than green.

Here’s what it looks like in the shade :

It’s a stunning colour! The formula is perfect too with a pretty good drying time. I apologize if I’m repeating myself, but these are really that awesome!

Magical holo craziness in the sun:

See how insanely holographic it is! It’s also definitely green. I think this is the one out of the lot that has the most pronounced holographic effect, which is perfectly fine as it suits it a lot.

The lace is feeling ignored. I love how delicate and feminine the negative space lace is looking!

One final look at Ins and Sprouts:

Now we have my favourite from the collection – ‘Thistle be the day‘. It’s a beautiful Amethyst shade and is SO flattering on my nails! I was really sad when it was time to take it off. Great formula, beautiful colour and an above par drying time- the perfect recipe!

Here it is in the shade :

Sun, Camera and Action!

The holographic effect on this one is also very good. Gosh! they’re all so good, what more can I say?!

Now, for the last one, I decided to switch things up a bit – a black sheer lace accent instead of the white cause I felt black was better than white for this particular shade – ‘Blush Money‘.

Here’s what I used to create the black lace accents:

DIY Black Tint

Fairy Dust – China Glaze

Black stamping polish -Konad

Rhinestones – MoYou London

DIY Black Tint:

Step 1 : Take an empty polish bottle and half fill it with generic clear polish. You can use topcoat too, but I don’t think that would work well for layering, so I’d stick with clear polish.Topcoat is different from regular clear polish. If you apply any polish on top of topcoat, it can peel off – I’ve experienced this in my glory days when I thought I could use topcoat as basecoat!

Step 2 : Add a few drops (around 2-3) of black polish and 2 mixing balls and shake well. Start with a little bit of the black polish as you want to achieve the right opacity for your tint. Too little is not a problem- you can always add more black polish. Too much is annoying cause you’ll have to use up more clear polish to dilute it to the right colour.

That’s it! Your black tint is now ready!

I used 2 coats of the sheer black tint over my basecoat. Then I added one coat of Fairy Dust and then stamped over it with black lace. Topcoat and you’re done.

Blush money is based on the Pantone 2015 colour – Strawberry Ice. It’s a beautiful peach-rose mashup and is slightly different from the other holos in this line. This one has a subtle gold shimmer that runs throughout the polish and is visible on the nail. Also, the holographic effect on this is more scattered than linear. I used 3 very thin coats in the pictures below, and you will definitely need at least 2 coats for this one. The formula is great, just like the other ones and the colour is very pretty too.

Here’s the finished look in the shade :

Looks almost neon doesn’t it?

A closer look at the fairy dusted lace :

A closer look at the scattered holo effect in Blush Money :

Hints of sunlight:

Under the sun :

The last one!

For my final thoughts, I’m really impressed with these KBShimmer holos! I know her crellies are pretty much perfect, but these holos are not far behind. They are very easy to work with. Apply really smooth and need at most 2 coats to become completely opaque. A third coat does not change the colour, you get the same colour regardless of the number of coats you apply.

Here’s all 4 looks :

This entire exercise took about a week and a half as I couldn’t bring myself to remove my polish to swatch the next shade immediately. I wore each of these for roughly 2.5 days each, except for the last one which I had on for 3 days. I didn’t experience an chipping or ‘tiredness’ in my mani. Admittedly, 5 days would’ve been better to test that,but who has the time!

Anyway, If there’s only one polish you want to buy, my recommendation is ‘Thistle be the day’. It’s a perfect pale pinkish purple and it’s safe to wear at work too! If you do wish to purchase the BPS lace plate, you can use my discount code NPPQ10 for 10% off on your purchase.

This has been one hell of a long post! Thanks for sticking around till the end!

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May 7, 2015
Nail That Technique -March 2015, First up -Dry Brush

Dry brush is one of the easiest techniques there is. I’m so happy this is a legitimate technique, cause it seems so easy.There is no right or wrong way when it comes to a dry brush as everything falls into the realm of the “abstract”.

Another moniker for the dry brush is “Distressed Nails” as made popular by Chalkboard Nails. This is because the results of a dry brush can look like a punk/grunge inspired design based on the colours used (for example – Neon Yellow, Neon Pink and Black on a White Base)

The steps to a dry brush are fairly simple:

1. Choose your colour palette for the look. You can use as many polishes as you like.

Suggestions : For a Peaches and Cream look, pair a Peachy Pink with White

Denim inspired – Blue and White or Black

Meadow -Green with White and Yellow

The combinations totally depend on what polishes you own.

The fake patek philippe remains a symbol of luxury that is accessible for enthusiasts seeking affordable alternatives.

2. I had oceans on my mind, so I went with two complimentary shades of blue polish – Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy Wild Card and Full House. These polishes are new to the Indian market. They were launched only a few weeks back and I’ll review them soon.

Here is the dry brush mani I created for this prompt (pic taken outside in natural sunlight):

What I used:

Basecoat – Diamond Strength from Sally Hansen

2 Blue Polishes – Revlon Colorstay Gel Envy “Full House” and “Wild Card”

Topcoat –“Clearly on top” by KB Shimmer

Some optional shell studs from Aliexpress

3. Start with two coats(or three if they’re needed) of your base colour (in my case, the lighter of the two blues- Full House)on your thumb, middle and ring finger.These Colorstay polishes do not require a basecoat. However, if you’re doubtful about staining, I’d recommend a base coat. I used Sally Hansen’s Diamond Strength basecoat.

4. Take the second polish (Wild Card) and wipe off as much as possible on the neck of the bottle. There must be little to no product left on the brush. Now drag the brush along the length of the nail from the base to the tip. You can break the line into 3 or 4 segments for an interesting look.Next, dip the tip of the brush back into the polish, brush off the excess as before, and drag the brush width-wise from one end to the other, perpendicular to the first brushstroke and intersecting it.Typically, you can just drag the brush any which way you want. Doesn’t matter. I’m just listing the steps I used in case anyone is interested in recreating this look.

Used with a pink and brown palette, the steps above can be used to create tweed nails too.

Apply topcoat to seal your dry brush. You can use those topcoats that smear everything for this mani, it’ll help the colours blend and give a better, more “fuzzy” appearance.

5. Paint your index and pinky nails with the blue used to dry brush (Wild Card). Apply topcoat and wait for it to dry. Then put a tiny bead of topcoat where you want to place your stud and wait about 5-10 seconds, then place the stud over the bead using tweezers and press down. The bead is to anchor the stud to your nail bed and increase the longevity of your manicure. I’m still wearing this mani as I type and it’s lasted me 4 days without the shell falling off. Pretty good if I say so myself.

Another look indoors with fluorescent lighting:

That’s it! you’re finished. The steps took longer to describe than the actual mani itself!

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March 12, 2015
DIY Stamping Plate Sleeves

Recently I purchased some nail stamping plates that didn’t come with their own sleeve. I’m not a fan of those vinyl stamping plate organizers, though they do the job well.I had this idea to make my own sleeves using simple craft supplies.

Things you’ll need:

1. Card Paper – you can get these in a variety of colours and these are good for decorating too

2. Fevicol/ Craft Glue/Elmer’s Glue

3. A pair of normal edged scissors and a pair of Zig Zag craft scissors

4. Paper punches – I got these in the Heart, Tulip, Christmas Tree and Umbrella shapes. FYI , they’re now available in India anywhere between INR 60- INR 250 depending on where you get them

5. A pencil and an eraser

6. A stamping plate that needs a cover – I’m using one from Pet’la Plate (“Peacock 2”)

Step 1

Known for its slim case design, the richard mille rm 67 01 replica is popular with collectors who value comfort and elegance.

Place the plate on the card paper and trace its outline. Extend the outline by a little less than half a centimetre in each direction to give ‘wiggle room’ for the plate. Next, add two more rectangles on either side of the middle one. These will form the flaps of the envelope that overlap each other. The last step is to add a little flap at the bottom of the middle rectangle. Cut out the outlines with the scissors and your cover should look like this :

Step 2

Fold along the hatched lines and make sure the fold is in a single straight line.

Step 3

Place one flap over the other and glue it. Next glue the bottom flap. Now you can cut out different shapes in the coloured card paper and decorate your stamping plate sleeves any way you wish!

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March 7, 2015
How to make your own polish from scratch (Indie Polish)
I have been obsessed with owning a black and white glitter topper ever since I saw Maybelline’s polka dots range a year ago. However, it is not yet available in India and I also couldn’t find any reasonable options for getting my hands on it ( >$50 for a polish that’s under $10! , highway robbery alert ) so I decided to try and make my own.

After reading endless articles/blogs/revision of chemistry concepts (when I’m obsessed, I’m OBSESSED!) I came to the following conclusions:
1. Do not buy clear polish and put glitter in it because – the glitter won’t remain suspended. It’ll just settle at the bottom after a while, and you’d have to shake the bottle before every use. (Not attractive at all).
2. If you haven’t used glitter meant for nail polish, it’ll probably leach colour and you’d have wasted a few bucks for nothing.
Now that begs the question, why won’t the glitter remain suspended?

This has something to with the clear polish that you use to mix your glitter in. The glitter polishes use a specific kind of suspension base (i.e. transparent polish with special chemicals) that has a chemical ingredient that allows the glitter particles to remain suspended in the polish and not settle at the bottom of the bottle into a goopy mess.

The same thing is true for the other DIY polishes where you can add old eye shadow to clear polish and get a beautiful shade that is only temporarily good. The eye shadow particles will also sediment at the bottom because the clear polish is not a suspension base.

Moving on, this is what you will need to make your own indie glitter topper:
1. Suspension base meant for glitter polish – As I said before, this is absolutely required since your glitters won’t remain evenly distributed inside the polish if you use any other kind. There are a lot of varieties out there and I would recommend a 5-free base if possible.Here is a pic of the one I used:
Alternative: you can use an existing glitter polish and customize it with other glitters that you like. This works because it already has the right suspension base.

The con?

It also has glitter. So, you can only add to it, you cannot make a 100% custom polish.

Where can I find glitter suspension base?

If you live in the USA, it’s fairly easy.

There are lots of online stores that sell it – tkbtrading, Etsy, misfitson8th and lots more.

If you don’t live in the USA, there are still options – color4nails, misfitson8th and loads of sellers on Etsy ship to international destinations.

The catch here is in the quantity. Since nail polish is flammable, it is categorized as hazmat( hazardous material) and anything over 4 fl.oz ( ~120ml) is classified as paint and the shipping costs become phenomenal ( >$100!!!). (I’m listing the USPS/Fedex classification here btw, but this is also generally true of other carriers/courier agencies).

But…. I’m guessing that no one wants that much suspension base!
1. Glitter – This is the fun part! Go crazy and choose whatever type of glitter you like. The only requirement is that it should be solvent resistant glitter. This basically means that the glitter shouldn’t leach colour when it’s mixed with nail polish, and it should not disintegrate inside the polish either (eww.)
Once again, you can get your hands on some ‘solvent resistant’ glitters at lots of places. I got mine from Etsy.
1. An empty nail polish bottle and some stainless steel ball bearings
A crazy variety of empty polish bottles are available on Etsy and Aliexpress…. OR, you can just clean out an old empty polish bottle using acetone.

Fill 1/4^th of the bottle with acetone, shake it to get to the polish residue and then dispose the acetone in an environmentally safe way – do not throw it in the sink or in the toilet! This ends up in the ocean and leaches the coral reefs (yeah, I’m not kidding, Google it).

Instead, you can throw it on some tissues and wait for it to evaporate (this also harms our envt. btw, but I think it’s the lesser of the two evils)

Ball bearings aka mixing balls are easy to find. You can order them online from franken polish suppliers or get them at your local mechanic or hardware store. Just ensure that you’re getting the stainless steel variety of ball bearings, these are less reactive and mostly harmless. The other kind – chrome plated ones, are bad. The plating wears off when they are put into nail polish and what you get is an attractive glitter topper that’s also a carcinogenic cocktail.
1. Tiny funnels, the kind used by perfumers.
These are also available online at a variety of stores. They are useful because you can easily put glitter into the empty polish bottle. They can also be used to pour the glitter suspension base into the bottle without spilling it all over your work area. You may also use them to put acetone into the bottle for cleaning it out.
1. A well ventilated area.
Nail polish is volatile. Hence, you cannot use the fan or the air conditioner since it’ll probably result in the solvent evaporating from your suspension base and will result in goopy leftovers.

Keeping this in mind, sitting in an enclosed ill ventilated area is not a good idea. You can end up inhaling a lot of nail polish / acetone fumes and this will make you nauseous. So, sit outside when it’s not windy, or sit in a larger room.

To avoid damages due to potential spillage (acetone/ suspension base – the possibilities are endless), cover your entire work area with old newspaper and spread one or two tissues over the part where you’ll be pouring stuff from one bottle into another. This way, the tissue is handy for some on-the-fly wiping or mopping up.

Procedure:
1. Take the empty polish bottle, put in 2 steel ball bearings. Put the funnel in the bottle and put in as much glitter as you deem necessary. If you’re making 15ml (.5 fl oz) of polish, you’ll need about 1-1.5 grams.
2. Use the funnel to pour in the glitter suspension base. If you’re good at pouring stuff into a small mouthed bottle, you don’t really need the funnel.
3. Close the nail polish bottle and shake like crazy. It’ll help if you have some nice background music to shake to, ha ha!
4. As a precaution, if you’ve bought your glitter and suspension base from separate sellers, I would recommend that you mix a test batch and observe it for 24 hrs to ensure that (a)The glitter is not leaching into the suspension base and (b)The glitter particles are still evenly distributed in the nail polish and have not sedimented at the bottom.
That’s it! Lemme know what you think in the comments below.

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March 6, 2015