Franken Polish!

What is Franken Polish? I hear you say!

“Frankening” is the process of mixing existing nail polishes together to create a new and unique colour, or adding glitter to an existing polish to give it a sparkle. The name comes from Frankenstein, who was created using bits and pieces of other things.

We are super excited to be able to bring our very own range of DIY nail polish supplies to you all. We’re the only supplier in New Zealand that sells un-tinted nail polish base. So if you’re looking for a new hobby, or to start a new nail polish business you’ve come to the right place!

How do I make my own nail polish?

It really is as simple as adding colour, whether it’s one of our liquid tinters, or micas, to one of our three nail polish bases and shaking well. That’s it! You can also add glitter to make a sparkly polish – just make sure that the glitter is solvent resistant. The colour possibilities are only limited by your imagination!

We have one size bottle available at the moment, but we’ll be adding more soon. The 9ml flat bottle is a great size and comes with two metal balls to make mixing easy.

Nail polish base

We have three different untinted lacquer bases available. All our bases are developed using the “5 Free” formula, which means there are no nasties (No Toluene, Formaldehyde, Phthalates, Camphor and TSF resin).

Standard Nail Polish Base – use this base for making polishes that mostly use liquid tinters that don’t contain a lot of mica.

Silica Nail Polish Base – this has better suspension capabilities than the standard base, so it’s a great option if you want to make a polish with lots of mica or add a small particle glitter.

Glitter Suspension Base – this is the base to use if you want to really load up your polish with lots of sparkly glitters.

Colours

Choose from our range of liquid tinters – these are D&C pigments which are formulated in our 5 free base. Or for a more shimmery looking polish you can either use our Aluholo tinter, or any of our micas.

As a general guideline, we use about 1 part liquid tinter to 2 parts nail polish base (use more tinter if you want a more concentrated colour). For example – to make this pretty pink colour we used 2ml White (titanium dioxide) tinter and 1ml Red-34 tinter. Then topped the bottle up with 6ml of standard nail polish base. For micas you can use anywhere from 4-5 mini scoops up to a dozen or so. It really just depends on how dark you want your nail polish to be.

Glitters

We don’t stock any glitters at the moment, but we will be getting some in the future. The most important thing to remember when buying glitter for making nail polish is to make sure it is solvent resistant. If it isn’t then the nail polish will eat right through the glitter.

Safety Notice

Nail polish bases and liquid tinters are extremely flammable. They have a dangerous goods classification which means they can only be shipped via road (sorry no overnight deliveries are possible to the South Island)

When making your nail polish please ensure that you are working in a well ventilated area away from any heat sources such as naked flames, heaters, or even an oven. Also ensure that your unused ingredients are stored away from any possible heat sources.

It’s a good idea to put some newspaper or handy towels down on your work surface to make sure you don’t get any stray drops of nail polish on your furniture.