Saturday, June 11, 2011

on 36 comments

My first 'spectraflair' franken

Like so many other people, I jumped on the Spectraflair bandwagon so I could create my very own holographic polishes. I am so super excited about my first attempt.


Super macro to see the holo.


This is what the pretty polish looks like indoors.


Here's my ingredients.


I just used clear polish with about half a teaspoon of Ultramarine Blue pigment purchased from TKB Trading.  The bottom baggie is my spectraflair pigment.  Just look at the holo from the baggie.

Despite what you think, this is not a drug shot.  It's just a sample pic to show you how much spectraflair pigment I used.  This is flour, and that is just a regular thin straw (4mm) cut into a spoon shape.  So while this picture is huge, the actual amount of spectraflair used was tiny.

What I love about this stuff is that the finished polish is totally smooth, unlike a holo glitter.  

Some things I have learned about Spectraflair from reading other posts and my experiments:
  • you need to use a jelly finish polish, don't use a cream or the pigment will just get lost.
  • add a tiny bit of pigment at a time, you don't need a lot.
  • there is a point of pigment saturation, where just adding more pigment doesn't make it more holo, in fact it makes it less holo (probably because the light particles can't escape because of the density of the pigment)
  • The more pigment you add, the lighter your polish will be.  It will make a black polish gray very quickly.
  • you need to start with a suspension base, otherwise the pigment will just settle to the bottom of the bottle. This means, start with something that already has stuff suspended in it such as pigment or glitter, or buy something like the suspension bases from TKB Trading.  Not that I have tried these because they don't ship them internationally yet, but the reviews are good.
I bought my spectraflair off ebay. I know there are are stack of girls out there that have bought this stuff to make frankens and I haven't heard of any one of them having fingers fall off. However, if you choose to get some, you do so at your own risk. If you haven't read My Lucid Bubble's post on this stuff, you should.

So who else has got some Spectraflair, and a have you made a franken with it yet?  If so, feel free to leave me a link to your posts in the comments.

36 comments:

  1. Oooo that is awesome!! I love it!

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  2. When does the franken polish contest is over?

    Nice franken, BTW!

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  3. Voting closes tonight. I will post the winner tomorrow.

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  4. Spectrawha?? Never heard of this stuff! Tell more.....

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  5. I'm waiting for my Spectraflair to arrive, I also got it from Ebay, thanks for the tip about which polish to use it with, I hope I can get a great result.

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  6. Thanks for the info...I was wondering if that style of pigment would work! I have some I used for home made mineral makeup....Now I can't wait to try! (course...it won't be blue LOL)

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  7. que lindo color tienes, me gustan los azules
    bye

    http://conestilodeysimari.blogspot.com/

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  8. Carly - I read all about spectraflair on various nail polish boards (http://forum.purseblog.com/nail-care/holographic-lovers-join-me-667644.html). Someones friend and had some of this pigment for spraying cars, she thought she would mix it with polish to make a holo. Then someone found a guy selling it in small amounts on ebay, and lots of girls went out and got it. It seems safe enough to use, although says to use gloves and a mask when handling. Most people are using it to create dupes of the original MPJ.

    Jazzqueen64 - I'm sure you will create something awesome with it. Let me know how you go.

    Gottwinkies - Ohhh what pigment do you have like this for home made mineral makeup? This one is for car paint :)

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  9. I haven't picked up any SpectraFlair yet but I should. I am loving all the frankens I've seen made with it. I absolutely love blue holos and yours is gorgeous!

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  10. Do you know your spectraflair is what mircons or grade? like 14 or 20 and fine or standard?

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  11. Chillitan - mine is "Silver 1500-20 Standard Grade" - That was all that the guy on ebay was selling. I can hardly imaging what the 1500-14 fine grade would be like!!

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  12. How many bottles do you think we could make with 1g?

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  13. Penelope - My bag is 3 grams and that is probably way more than I need. I reckon I could make about 50 frankens out of my batch, so probably about 15 out of one gram. Bearing in mind that I use mini 5ml franken bottles.

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  14. How heavy is your micas mineral pigment? I was thinking if I should order clear polish for micas or glitter suspension if I want to do holo frankens.

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  15. Received my spectraflair today from Ebay, can't wait to have a play......

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  16. I cannot find it on ebay? it's called spectraflair?

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  17. Hi girls!
    I am a Uk custom paint manufacturer based in Cambridgeshire and can supply spectraflair at £7.50 per gram, if you are interested please email me Chris@paintspraydesigns.co.Uk
    Or you can visit our website www.Customcreationpaints.com
    We accept paypal!
    We can also supply 3 way colour pigments!

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  18. Thank you Kitties26 to letting me know there is this awesome staff on earth for Holo!!!!I've been constantly searching ebays and google since read your post, but could not find where to get it at all. The seller on ebay must stop selling it.
    I've sent an email to the UK seller who posted before me. Will keep it posted if I get any reply.

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  19. Hi ladys,

    Ok I am going to be setting up some new listings via EBay so you can buy as and when you need it, I will let you know when I have made the listings via this blog.
    I will have to charge a little more to cover EBay costs I do hope you understand!
    I will also be listings other 3 way chromaflair type pigments that you can use also.

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  20. Christopher - SWEET - I can't wait to see your listing, I'm so looking forward to playing with some new stuff.

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  21. Hi
    E bay Listing is now live for Spectra flair please just type in spectra flair I will pop up worldwide hopefully any probs just let me know!

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  22. Got my spectraflair, thank you so much for sharing this because your blog influenced my purchase and I'm glad I did. The best one is where I've added Spectraflair to a clear polish which means I can use it as a top coat and make any polish holo - woop woop!! Just wish I had a decent camera to show you a photo of the holo.

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  23. What happened to the pigment listings? I can't find them on eBay.


    www.beautometry.blogspot.com

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  24. Hiya, hope you don't mind I've mentioned you in my Blog about Spectraflair here's the link http://wendysdelights.blogspot.com/2011/07/spectraflair.html

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  25. Hello, where can I buy this Spectraflair pigment? I do not see it on ebay.... :(

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  26. Joy - You need to go to ebay.co.uk and search for spectra flair (two words). I did not purchase from this seller though, I got mine from the USA from Sid Mose who now sells through http://metaldetector.ecrater.com/c/1421968/paint-powders

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  27. I got mine for Sid too. but I am never getting from him again. he's such a lousy seller. and I've heard many complaints about him AFTER I paid mine. he took a month to send my powder and didn't reply at all AFTER I made payments. BEFORE I make payments, his replies were so prompt. bad experience. =(

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  28. If any of you are in the USA, you can only get them from one person. I spoke with the manufacturer of this stuff, and they gave me his name. When I contacted him, he told me that he used to sell on eBay, but you won't find him there anymore. You can get it through eCrater, but you have to send money to him through PayPal directly. I ordered mine and after I sent payment, I got mine in less than a week. It's beeeeautiful!!

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  29. I can't find where Chris has it on his website www.Customcreationpaints.com for £7.99, can someone send me a direct link?

    also soguesswhat11-can you tell me wehre you got it? thanks!

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  30. Barbe Saint John/ Saints and Sinners® -
    Chris sells spectraflair through ebay UK, but he jacked his prices way up to £14 now. The only person in the USA selling (and who sogesswhat11 would be referring to) is Sid Mose who sells through http://metaldetector.ecrater.com/c/1421968/paint-powders

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  31. I get my spectra from a different compnay. they are amazing there!!!! they have tons of different stuff then the other spectra company, but there purchase minimums are high as well. But I am soo happy with it!

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  32. So beautiful. I'm from Brazil and I'd like to know what it is necessary to create a Sand Nail Polish. I think there is a powder that dries the nail polish and then the sand effect appears. But I don't know. Do you know something about that?

    www.lindezabykarllavieira.blospot.com.br

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I live in Canberra, Australia with my husband, Mr Ten and Miss Eight. My blog is all about nail polish, and a few other bits in between. You can contact me at morenailpolish@iinet.net.au