Sally Hansen Pacific Blue Franken Polish Dupe

If you find yourself reading this, then you are most probably a nail polish addict like me. And you either have the discontinued Sally Hansen Pacific Blue, or have been on the hunt for it.

It was only a couple of months ago that I finally stumbled across an original bottle of Sally Hansen's Pacific Blue in my local Walgreens. It is a habit of mine to check the Sally Hansens whenever I go to any store that carries them, always in the hopes that I would find an original bottle. I had previously checked this store, numerous times, and after about a year of searching, I had finally found the golden ticket and scored one of these beauties...

Since I knew that I would have to be sparing in how often I used this, I thought, "wouldn't it be nice if I could come up with a franken dupe for this". For those of you who do not know what a 'franken' is, I'm referring to a polish that you make yourself by combining ones you already have.

I knew that I had a very similiar polish  in my stash...Sinful Colors Endless Blue. I would consider it an 'almost' dupe for Pacific Blue, with the differences being that Endless Blue is a hair darker, and it lacks the neon purple that Pacific Blue seems to have a hint of. So my thinking was that I could use Endless Blue as my base, lighten it up with a cream white, and add a hint of a purple and see what happens.

The closest to neon purple I had was Illamasqua's Stance. It's kind of a warm purple, that on the nails looks very bright. I'm not quite sure it's considered a neon, but it was the closest thing I had. I used Sinful Colors Snow Me White as my white cream, but I think any white cream would work (but the measurements may be slightly different).

I used an empty bottle that I cleaned out, added a mixing ball that I hijacked from a different polish, and went to mixing...

My exact measurments were:

Sinful Colors Endless Blue 3.8 grams

Sinful Colors Snow Me White 0.7 grams

Illamasqua Stance 0.9 grams

It's approximately a 4:1:1 ratio.

These measurements are in grams, and because most people may not have gram scales, it may be easier to use the ratio for measurements. Maybe use a disposeable plastic teaspoon for measurements? However you do it, if you do decide to franken up your own Pacific Blue dupe, please take a picture and tag me on instagram, tweet me, or post it on my facebook page. I would love to see it!

In pics above, the dupe is on the left (square bottle), original on the right

Left & Right pictures: Dupe swatched on all fingers except thumb. The thumb is the original formula Pacific Blue. Middle Picture: original formula Pacific Blue on all fingers

Can you tell the difference? Do you own a bottle of the original? If so, do you use it sparingly, and how much of your bottle is left?

Nail Polish #AtoZChallenge

...nail polish.  Polishing my nails is one of my favorite pastimes.  I used to polish my nails all the time, and then I had kids, and the hobby took a backseat for many years.  It's only recently that I've picked it back up.  After my ankle surgeries, when I was non-weight bearing and in bed most of the time, I found that polishing my nails made me feel good about myself even if I hadn't showered for days and was sporting yoga pants and a sports bra.

I actually find polishing my nails very relaxing, so as long as I have the time, I change my polish up about twice a week.  My favorite colors to wear are corally pinks and dark blues.

Do you enjoy polishing your nails?  If so, what are your favorite polish colors to wear?

If you're not a nail polish lover, if there something you do, cosmetically, that gives you a little pick me up?  Facials, hot shaves, hair coloring, etc?

Celebrate the Small Things -- Oct 24

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

The biggest thing we are celebrating this week is FOX...as in the channel.  I don't know what happened, but we lost FOX a couple of months ago.  Since we don't have cable, we rely on our Roku box and an actual antenna that is set up in the attic to watch tv (we're so old school).  Our antenna provides us with "regular" channels (i.e. CBS, NBC, ABC).  Last night, while my husband was channel surfing, he discovered that we miraculously have FOX back...and in the middle of the World Series.  You must understand one thing...my husband is a baseball fanatic...a serious crazy man when it comes to baseball.  Getting this channel back during the world series is like a gift from God.  Peace and joy can now, once again, reign in our house. 

I'd also like to celebrate my acupuncturist.  She is a wonderful healer who works wonders sometimes when it comes to my aches and pains.  The past couple of weeks have been hard on my body because of the drastic temperature changes (read more about this here).  I feel very blessed that I have an all natural alternative to western pharmaceuticals.

On a lighter note, I'm also celebrating my two new nail polishes that I got for a steal!  I was back at Walgreens this week and picked up a Wet n' Wild polish on sale for $1, and found another polish on the clearance rack that was priced at $2.12.  When the clerk rang me up, he asked if I would like to use my Walgreens rewards.  Um, yes please!  So I had $3 taken off my order.  BAAM!...two awesome new nail polishes for 12 cents!

Happy Weekend!

What are you celebrating? 

If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse

 

Celebrate The Small Things -- October 17

It's Friday and I'm Celebrating The Small Things!  Celebrate The Small Things is a weekly celebration where some bloggers have decided to post about something worth celebrating...no matter how big or small it is.

The first thing I'm celebrating this week is new nail polish.  My daughter and I stumbled upon a new, inexpensive brand of polish while at Walgreens the other day.  And they were on sale for $1...so we got a handful.  In case anyone out there is a nail polish loony like me, here are the colors from left to right:  Sinful Colors brand Boogie Nights--a coral, Sugar Sugar--a shimmery maroon red, Bali Mist--shimmery lilac, You Just Wait--shimmery pale pink, and Midnight Blue--a royal blue color. 

 

And let's be honest, that blue is very close to being TARDIS blue (this is a Doctor Who reference for all who don't get it.  And if you don't get it, please stop reading and head on over to Netflix or Amazon Prime and get watching!).  If you've ever read my "About Me" page (you probably haven't, but that's okay), then you know that TARDIS blue is one of my favorite colors.  So, currently this is what I'm wearing...

The best part for me about nail polish is that it doesn't really matter what kind of health I'm in, I can still jazz up the fingers.  I remember my grandma letting me polish her nails every now and again.  It doesn't matter your age, your weight, your health, or your money situation (I mentioned the $1 price tag, right?), almost everyone can feel pretty with newly manicured nails...even if they are short and stubby like mine.

Of course, since they were so cheap, I went back yesterday and got a couple more...and since I was already there, I picked up a few more polishes that were on sale :)

 

Left to right: Sinful Colors Basecoat and Folly--a magenta.  Sally Hansen's Cinny Sweet--a shimmery cinnamon red, Insta-dry top coat, and Chic Pink--shimmery light melon.  I normally don't wear a basecoat, but the light pink color I picked up doesn't have a lot of color payoff.  I'm hoping that it will show up better with a basecoat...and if not, I'm only out a couple of bucks.  Actually, I think Walgreens has a good return policy...I may have to check on that.

I'm also celebrating finding a new orthodontist for my son.  My daughter is done with braces and is in the 'wear retainers for life stage' (yes, that's a thing), but my son is really just at the beginning of his journey with orthodontics.  We haven't been too happy with our current doctor, so finding a new one is one of those things I can cross off my "to do" list.  And the best part is that the new guy is only five minutes away...thank heavens!  What nobody ever tells you about the orthodontist is that you need to go every 5-6 weeks when you have braces or any other appliances in your mouth (my son currently has expanders).  That's a lot of visits, and it will be so much easier now that we won't have to travel a few towns over.  I've actually sat in traffic for over an hour, for what is normally a 20 minute car ride!  Ugh!

 

Happy Weekend!

What are you celebrating? 

If you'd like to Celebrate The Small Things, visit our wonderful host, VikLit @ Scribblings of an Aspiring Author for more information.  And don't forget to check out her co-hosts:  Diana Wilder, LG Keltner @ Writing Off the Edge, Katie @ TheCyborgMom, and CaffeMaggieato @ mscoffeehouse