Experiment #12: Mirrored chameleon chrome powder

I was curious as to the effect that chrome / chameleon nail powder might have on the resin. This was before I saw Masherisha's video. At the time of watching her video, I'd already purchased some powders from a Shopee seller. I admit that I didn't know exactly what I was doing. I've only ever had basic pedicures done, so I had no idea about all these powders and it turns out there are several types(?). Cos I saw on YouTube nail art videos (I can't believe I'm watching NAIL ART VIDEOS!) that there are chameleon sequin paillette flakes which look white but turn your nail colour (usually a black base) to different shades, depending on which powder you use, and then I saw "chameleon nail powder pigment chrome glitter" which is actually coloured, and when rubbed onto nails (again a black base) turns the nail chrome and holo, i.e. highly shiny and reflecting several different colours, depending on which way your turn your fingers and view the nails under the light. I saw the Youtuber pat on the paillette flakes so that coverage on the nail was uneven and the black base showed through the glitter, giving the nail a sort of dappled effect as if bits of coloured foil had been applied onto the nail. That looked nicer than a full coverage, which still looked dappled and uneven but with less black showing through.

Anyway.

I thought I had bought a bunch of chrome powders, because the name of the product was "nail art gorgeous chameleon mirror powder manicure chrome pigment glitters". But when I opened one of the pots to try -- I chose green because green is my LEAST favourite colour, so it is perfect for experimentation; tak sayang nak guna! -- it turned out to be FLAKES:

And because it was FLAKES, it was HELLA MESSY. I didn't expect it to be messy. The so-called "powder" came with an applicator (looks like an eyeshadow applicator), and I thought it would be simple to dab it on the nail. But every time I dipped my applicator into the pot, the flakes would shift about and fly out due to the movement disturbing them, and glitter got absolutely EVERYWHERE. Fortunately, I had seen this tip from Crafterzdelights about using cellophane tape to remove glitter from silicone moulds, and it worked like a charm! I got the glitter off my table, my self, my silicone mould, and everything else that it managed to get on.

I wanted to know if the so-called "powder" would give a different effect on a different colour base, so I first poured a clear layer of resin into the moulds, and cured.

Then I rubbed the so-called chrome "powder" onto the hard surface of the cured (clear) resin.

I figured I'm just doing it backwards from how nail techs do it on nails. They put the colour on first, then the chrome powder, then seal the powder with a glossy top coat. I'm putting the clear coat first, then the chrome powder, the the colour.

To colour the resin, I gently shaved off some flakes from Daiso's soft pastels. I chose black cos chrome powder is always used with back; white, because I wanted to see what it would look like on a light base; red and blue, just to have variety; and there was supposed to be yellow but the yellow accidentally got a little mixed up with the blue, and turned green instead lol. I then poured the colours into the respective moulds.

I cured this for 5 minutes under my UV CFL 36W lamp, cos I was afraid the pigments might interfere with the curing process as they sometimes make it difficult for the UV light to penetrate and activate the photoinitiators which cause the resin to harden. Then I popped the resin out to see what it looked like. Here are the results:

I think I can see some subtle differences, especially with the red-base one, but overall nothing major. I'm now wondering if it would be different if I were to actually rub the colour onto the base colour instead of onto the clear layer. But that means I can't use a mould; I'd have to use a bezel and work from the bottom up, like I would if I were applying the chrome powder to an actual nail. And I kinda don't want to "waste" any of my bezels on a mere experiment. Hmmmm.