Cookin' Up Frankens: Nightlock

"Katniss & Peeta next to the Cornucopia, prepared to 'kill themselves' with a handful of nightlock berries after the gamemakers decided they wanted to change the recently changed rule that there could be 2 victors from the same District..."

"Nightlock berries are the poisonous berries that Katniss uses to allow both her and Peeta to win the 74th Games. The berries are infamous for the lethal poisonous juices that are inside. The Nightlock juice functions similarly to potassium cyanide and can kill anyone who eats it instantly. The only known sources for these deadly berries in the Hunger Games Series is in the arena at the 74th Games and around District 12 and District 13. Foxface died after accidentally consuming them during the Games when she followed Peeta Mellark going to get them, thinking that the berries were edible. Katniss's father taught her that the berries were poisonous when teaching her about edible plants and berries in the woods. Nightlock berries were also some type of rebellion from the capital. Without knowing it Katniss made a mockery of the Capitol, it started a spark of the rebellion.

Their name is derived from the toxic nightshade and hemlock, both extremely poisonous plants.

Nightlock is also the keyword for The Holo and when said three times in a row causes The Holo to explode as a safety precaution.

It is also the poison pills (also known as Nightlock) that were made by District 13 given to the soldiers in Mockingjay.

Near the end of the movie, Seneca Crane is locked in a room with nothing to eat except nightlock, a cruel twist likely ordered by President Snow for allowing both Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark to win."

- The Hunger Games Wiki

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After that little story refresher, I shall move on to my actual franken! And of course my 1st franken has to be inspired by and dedicated to my love for THE HUNGER GAMES!!! Last week, I wrote my favorite & best blog post of all time on Maria's, Nails Made Simple, blog for a guest post in honor of THG midnight premiere.  I just had to write another blog post for Hunger Games :D I've only been blogging for about 3 months now, and I've been seeing the explosive fad of "frankens" popping up everywhere, & turning into a phenomenon of bloggers going rogue & creating their own lines of indie brands.  Most of these indie brand polishes/glitters are selling out & are in high demand.  I wanted to feel like part of this big polish trend by making my own little polish creation!  Yesterday I saw a new Deborah Lippman polish called "Ray Of Light" swatched by Stephanie - Imperfectly Painted and thought to myself...instead of paying $18+ for a DL, why not just try to recreate it & make my own better cheaper version?! HELLS YES! Last night while taking a shower, my mind was suddenly flooded with ideas about what the name of this franken should be...what did it look like? what did it remind me of? what things am I interested in/excited about?? The. Hunger. Games. Once making the correlation of the potential polish's deep blue/indigo color & some aspect/item from THG, i thought...NIGHTLOCK.  Pretty & unassuming, but deadly. Those little lethal berries were evident throughout all 3 books, as you could see from the info at the top of the post.

The Recipe for My 'Nightlock' Franken:

a splash of Essie "No More Film"

a squirt of OPI "Russian Navy"

a dash of OPI "Play 'Til Midnight"

a smidgen of OPI "I Juggle Men"

a touch of NOPI "Count On Me"

a pinch of Essie "Shine Of The Times"

a hint of Finger Paints Flakies "Flashy"

So, I wrote up this post before applying & taking pics of my franken....sadly, it didn't exactly come out how I hoped. It seemed so promising in the bottle. Maybe the addition of colors like Russian Navy darkened more than I wanted it to be.  I wanted it to be a little lighter of an indigo/jelly.  And I think some of my flakies overpowered the gorgeous subtle iridescent shimmer that was mixed in.  Let me know what you think...maybe it's not so original.

 First, I dumped a bottle of Pure Ice out that I never cared for, rinsed it a few times with some acetone, let it air out, the started pouring in a little bit of each polish starting with the blue Essie. 

 The following are outside in direct afternoon sunlight. In the sun for some pics, it looks more dark than it really is

 Indigo Blue with subtle iridescent shimmer & copper/pink flakies

 really had a hard time capturing the polish in the bottle

In the pic below, you can kind of see the rose gold/sunset shimmer hidden in the indigo

 Here now in the following pics, you can see how blue/slightly purple-toned it is

Well, that's it for my 1st franken....what did you think of "Nightlock"??? Not original enough? It was a fun first try for me.  I was so excited to play with the polishes & make something just for The Hunger Games.  I'll keep honing my skills!  Thanks for stopping by & don't forget to check out 1 of the 2 Taylor Swift songs from The Hunger Games movie soundtrack!

Team Peeniss!!! Peeta + Katniss = the forever love <3

"Eyes Open", by Taylor Swift - The Hunger Games Soundtrack