Mood #1: "Hey, I want a polish of this color." Basically, filling a gap in my collection.
Nameless pastel yellow franken
This one I did at the behest of my SO who said he wanted something that kind of resembled Jelly Belly Buttered Popcorn jelly beans. Since I didn't have the color, I made one up.
Mood #2: "I like it but I'd like it better if..."
Then there are times where I know of a polish (either have seen it online or own it) that I like the idea of but I think I might like it more if it were more this way or more that way. This was the case with Barielle Falling Star. It's striking and interesting but there's something about it that I didn't like enough to order (though I ended up being disappointed that I didn't). I love the copper glitter but I think it's too sparse and the single color/size was too flat for my taste. I call these dupes but they're more "inspired by a true story" type frankens.
Sometimes, my straight-up frankendupe attempts get downgraded to this category when I can't figure out how a certain effect is achieved. Or when I decide that I like the franken as is, screw that it doesn't exactly resemble whatever I'm trying to copy.
Consolation Prize, v1.0 (still needs tweaking)
Close-up of Consolation Prize
I definitely didn't try to copy Falling Star. I just took a couple of elements I liked: a lightish blue and a color of glitter that isn't often found in blue polish (would've preferred a copper like in the actual polish but I settled for red instead). Then I just went to town and added whatever else I thought might look fun mixed in.
Mood #3: "Ooh, I like it... but I'm not going to buy it."
Then there are times when I do frankendupes because I'm either too cheap/stubborn to buy a polish that I really love the look of OR when there's a popular polish that seems like it may present a novel challenge. (Frequent candidates for these are Lippmann and RBL polishes...) Predictably, these take the longest since there's a whole routine to it: find every big picture of the target polish (swatches and in the bottle), stare at these pictures, read as many descriptions of its appearance, finish and application as possible, identify possible components, then pick out all the polishes in my collection that could go into that. Maybe mix a couple of things on a paper plate to get a start but generally, I work in the bottle (hint: start with really small amounts). Today's NOTD is an example of that. Don't feel like shelling out the cash for RBL Scrangie but was curious to see if I could reproduce something like it. These are the worst: whenever I get the urge to frankendupe, it's just an irresistible mood: I NEED to do it immediately, to the best of my ability, RIGHT THEN AND THERE.
I was in the middle of finishing up some transcription for my research when the urge to frankendupe RBL Scrangie hit. The result:
Pale Imitation, v1.0 (definitely needs tweaking still)
Like I mentioned on NB already, it needs to be more jelly, darker, a tad bit more red-toned... sigh. A frankendupe is truly never finished.
And then there's Mood #4 (which has no NOTD illustration at the moment): "...I wonder what I'd get if I mixed these together." Some of my best frankens... and biggest disasters. :)
Anyway, back to research now that I've done a frankendupe... and posted about it. Whew. Needed to get that out of my system.
P.S. Remember to enter in the BB Couture for Men giveaway using the form in the upper right of the webpage!!
