Throwback Thursday

Today I harken back to a simpler time in the nail polish world, before there were eleventy million indie brands, a time when if you wanted an exclusive shade, you made it yourself from the materials available to you. You frankened (a la Frankenstein's monster, constructed from disparate parts). Recently I dusted off my frankening hat and mixed enough of a flakie polish to fill two bottles, one for me and one for a very close friend in Michigan I don't get to see nearly enough of now that I'm off in Idaho. I call her Miss Nikki.



My two main ingredients were Fresh Paint Sugar Crush and Cover Girl Boundless Color Pink Twinkle, with just enough Revlon Lunar and Wet 'n' Wild Black Creme to darken the base a bit.

I'd never gotten around to trying the polishes I'd gotten which purported to be Pantone's color of last year, Marsala, so I pulled those out to make a base for Miss Nikki. Top to bottom: Essence The Gel My Love Diary, Studio M Marsala Shimmer, Studio M Marsala Creme, and Essence My My Love Diary (again). All were two coats. Which one is the closest to what Pantone had in mind, I've no idea.



Then I topped the marsalas with one coat of Miss Nikki and clear top coat.



Of course I had to give the flakies a chance to really show their stuff, so I donned a black creme base, then one coat of Miss Nikki plus clear topcoat. Hello, green and gold and orange.





I also tried Miss Nikki over a red base, Orly Scandal.





I'm happy with how this turned out. Granted, the effect is not dramatically different than Sugar Crush alone, but I like knowing that my friend and I are the only two people who have this exact polish. And she'd never tried flakies before, so it was extra special.