Lately, I’ve seen a lot of hype around the OPI Sheer Tints polishes and Sally Hansen Palm Beach [super sheer] Jellies. If you haven’t seen swatches, Frazzle and Aniploish has excellent comparisons of both here. However, I have heard bad things about the OPI formula and the sheerness of the Sally Hansens, so I though I’d experiment with making my own sheer tints.
The Ingredients
They were very, very simple to make. I used red, yellow, and blue NYC polishes I already had (swatched here). You can use cremes or jellies, but make sure that they don’t have a strong white base – that won’t work as well.
I wanted to make small bottles, so I bought inexpensive Sally Girl clear polish (you can use any clear polish or top coat, or use suspension base). I simply poured out enough clear polish so that I could fit 3-4 drops of colored polish in the bottles, added the colored polish drops, shook the bottles, and voilà! Sheer tints!
DIY Sheer Polishes
They are a touch streaky (which could probably be fixed by mixing them more thoroughly), but work beautifully for nail art, which is why I wanted them in the first place.
One coat of each; the red is a little bit more opaque than I intended, and you can see that they’re a bit streaky.
Super easy nail art!
Do you ever franken (mix) your own nail polishes?
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