Accidentally Amazing Franken

I think I will name this one Accidentally Amazing because that is, quite honestly, what this little beauty is!

Today being July 3rd, I was contriving all sorts of beautiful July 4th manicures in my head. I wanted a patriotic glitter mix (that most indie brands have adeptly covered already) but don't own one personally.

I set out to create a patriotic polish. I was going to combine red glitter and blue glitter and put it in a white base and throw some silver hexes in.

What I ended up doing was this:

- 1/2 bottle of clear top coat
- 15 seconds worth of OPI Excuse Moi
- 10 seconds worth of OPI Last Friday Night
- 3 drops (and 2 drops too many) of Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear, Blue It
- 5 drops of Model's Own Snow White
- 5 drops of Model's Own Indian Ocean
- 6 drops of Prevail, unnamed sheer light blue with duochrome green/pink shimmer
- 10 drops of Urban Outfitters Dust

Before I mixed everything up, it looked like dis.

Rainbow BRAINSSSS

And thus, my totally off-kilter and ultimately unpatriotic manicure was born!!! Well, to be clear, it is not that it is unpatriotic. It just...doesn't have any notion of the red, white, and blue in it anymore. It is, however, still an ultimately gorgeous mix....in the bottle at least! Bear with me, as I type this, even I don't know what it will look like on my nails. I'm too busy staring at the tantalizing glitter in the dark blurple (hopefully jelly) base!

Before I proceed, enjoy the bottle shots taken in my basement with semi-ok lighting courtesy of my camera. I know, not the best camera or location. I'll do it justice tomorrow when I rock this mani to the beach! And hunt down my digital camera.

In the bottle, the nail polish connoisseur in me describes Accidentally Amazing as a mix of large silver hexes mixed with a myriad of medium hexes, duochrome shimmer and sparkle suspended in a sheer blurple jelly base.

At one coat, I see that the mix is indeed sheer. This opens up my world to layering possibilities I will test in the future. It is not overly bumpy yet, and the glitter is showing well against the sheer! I'm excited - I was dreading a situation where the glitters would get lost in the dark base!

After applying a second coat, I am content to stop right here. It is really, really REALLY pretty! No glitter is lost, the rainbow of medium hexes and holographic microshimmer is beginning to stand out, and it's still very tame - I could probably wear this without applying top coat. There is still VNL, but the base color is not streaky. There are no brushstrokes. And no matter how yellow the nail and imperfect the smile line, you can't tell. The color built up incredibly! I don't want to put on a third coat, but I must for the sake of swatches!

The third coat isn't too bad. It got rid of the VNL but doesn't look thick or bumpy. I must have gotten really lucky with this mix! Hm, let's see what else I can tell you. Everything dried quickly, again, even without my top coat. Of course it has some texture, but nothing too gritty or bumpy. I'm going to put some top coat on anyway, but this thing shines like craaaaazy on its own.

Accidentally Amazing - 2 coats on pointer, 3 coats on all the rest

Just another really quick adjustment. I put on some top coat to finish the look. Totally dry and smooth to the touch, and need I say it, amazing. Click the photo to enlarge and enjoy the glossiness!