Hello Readers:
Today I am going to share something a little different, a little more special, with you. As an early warning, this post will be rather long so grab a snack or some coffee and enjoy! ^_^ I have been planning this post for awhile now, but due to unexpected circumstances it couldn't be accomplished until now. Most of you know from reading my Facebook page that I recently had a vacation, and one of my destinations was important to this post.
First off, some time last year I shared My Ten Friends post about her friend's Kickstarter Project called "Banned Books for the Blind". As one of the perks for donating to the project Mei-Lynn from My Ten Friends was going to create two special polishes inspired by two of the books used in the project, one was "War of the Worlds" and the other was "Frankenstein". As an avid reader and a huge fan of My Ten Friends, I knew I had to help out.
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When I received my polish inspired by Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein" I knew exactly what I wanted to do. I wanted to wear this polish, and bring the bottle for a visit to the famed Frankenstein Castle. The castle was first built back in the 1200's and had many uses before Mary Shelley brought forth Frankenstein's Monster. It is thought that Mary Shelley heard about Frankenstein Castle during her trip down the Rhine river, and the tales of the alchemist Johann Konrad Dippel (1673-1734) who was believed to have used Frankenstein Castle to do experiments in alchemy (including creating artificial life) from the bodies he was to said to have grave robbed. It is also believed that Dippel even signed his name "Frankenstein" in reference to his residence. (Info about Dippel found thanks to this article from the University of Pennsylvania). None of this was a proven fact as there are many people who were believed to inspire Mary Shelley's novel, but I believe Dippel to be a strong contender.
Now, on to my trip and the polishes trip to Frankenstein Castle, which is mostly in ruins now but is still interesting to see. (Apologies that the bottle is a little blurry in some photos, I had trouble getting both bottle and castle in focus at the same time)
Sadly, I couldn't find any signs that said "Frankenstein" on it so no bottle photo with a sign, but the castle visit was great. I love visiting historical sites like this, and it was awesome to bring the inspired polish along for the ride. It was like history meeting up with the future (kind of corny thinking I know but still awesome in my opinion.)
Now, onto the fabulous polish itself. Mei-lynn based her inspiration of "Frankenstein" off of the description of the monster given in the book:
"His limbs were in proportion, and I had selected his features as beautiful. Beautiful! Great God! His yellow skin scarcely covered the work of muscles and arteries beneath; his hair was of a lustrous black, and flowing; his teeth of a pearly whiteness; but these luxuriances only formed a more horrid contrast with his watery eyes, that seemed almost of the same colour as the dun-white sockets in which they were set, his shrivelled complexion and straight black lips." ~Mary Shelley's 'Frankenstein'
"Frankenstein" is a chartreuse yellow based polish with different sized hexes in green, gold, and turquoise plus a smattering of black shreds. Below are my swatches of the polish which I think hit the nail on the head from the description in the book.
Lives up well to the book description don't ya think? I used three coats of polish over a clear base coat, and a clear top coat. Everything went on smoothly, no issues. I usually don't go for yellows and oranges because they look awful with my skin tone but this shade isn't too bad.
As this polish was an exclusive for the Banned Books for the Blind Project it isn't for sale, but you can check out the My Ten Friends website to get some of their other fabulous polishes.
Until next time.
-Andi
