Make Your Own Nail Polish

Every pigment in this store is a raw material. It is the colour, and nothing else: to wear it you need something to suspend it in and something to put it in. That is the fun part, and it is easier than it looks.

Where to get the base and bottles

Check out our sister site, DIY Nail Polish, for bases, liquid tints, top and base coats, empty bottles, and starter kits with everything you need to begin. Australian supplier, shipped from here. Add a pigment from this store and you can make your own shimmer, multichrome, flakie and glitter polishes. Shop DIY Nail Polish.

How much pigment

Start with far less than you think. A pinch goes a long way, and the flakes and multichromes go further still, because they are highly concentrated. Add, mix, look, add again. It is very easy to overload a bottle and end up with something gritty that will not level out, and almost impossible to fix once you have.

What to expect from each family

Multichromes and colour shifting pigments build in thin layers and work over dark and light bases alike. Aurora and iridescent shimmers come alive over a dark base and settle to a soft pearl over a pale one. Flakes want a thicker suspension base so they stay suspended and do not sink. Mirror chromes are the exception: they are rubbed onto a cured surface rather than mixed, so they are not a bottle project.