Today I have an epic post on some of the frankens I made with diamond pigment! What is diamond pigment (DP) you might ask? It is a cosmetic grade holographic pigment which could be an alternative to the now hard to get SpectraFlair (SF). But is it really as good as the real thing?
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Diamond Holographic Pigment - 35 microns |
So this is what diamond pigment looks like in a bag, looks a lot like SpectraFlair doesn't it? I quickly mixed some up in a clear base and compare it to SF:
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Diamond Pigment vs. SpectraFlair |
On the left is a tiny scoop of DP in clear base, and on the right we have SF in a clear base. Apologies for the poor photo quality, but you can see although both pigments show strong linear holo effect, the SF bottle has a smoother prismatic effect to it.
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Diamond Pigment - one coat |
I then applied one coat of the DP base to a purple creme, and am surprised at how pretty the holo looks! Yes, it is more of a scattered holo, but the rainbow effect is still quite vibrant!
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Polishes made with Diamond Pigment & SpectraFlair
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Here are some polishes that I made with DP. Firstly I created the base color by mixing up some oil based colorants, then I added a tiny scoop of DP to complete the look. A quick tip when you are working with holo pigments or shimmers. Always mix the powder/pigment in a jelly base so it can shine through the polish. If you mix it in a creme/opaque base, you will find you can barely see the holo/shimmer no matter how much you add into the mixture!
I am quite happy how they all turned out, especially the orange, pink, and the reddish grapefruit one. I have also included one that I made with SF into the collage for comparison, can you tell which one looks different? It is the bottom left one, where the holo effect is more linear and smoother.
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Bottle shot of polishes made by moi :) |
So there you have it, I hope you find this post helpful! Although Diamond Pigment is not a dead set dupe of SpectraFlair, it is a pretty good alternative, especially when it is much cheaper than SF! I got the DP at $8USD per gram, and if I am not mistaken, SF (mixed in clear base) is now being sold at as much as $15-$20USD per gram. Since a little bit of pigment goes a long way, one gram of DP would give you many hours of frankening fun, so it is definitely more cost effective if you are a franken newbie like me!