Get ready for your newest obsession: beautiful chameleon paint (aka mermaid paint) that shimmers and changes color. While this paint is gorgeous, it's more than just eye candy. We'll tell you how to get the look. And, more importantly, we'll tell you how much it costs...
Real-Life Mermaids
This kind of paint goes by many different names. Some call it chameleon paint, and others refer to it as mermaid paint. In other settings, it’s known as color changing paint, or flip paint. But no matter the name, the effect is the same: pretty hues that reflect light in unusual ways.
Mix It Well
Chameleon paints are created using a special pearl ink pigment that's treated with metal. Depending on the specific treatment that’s applied to the initial pearl pigment, different colors of paint are achieved.
Drive the Rainbow
The pearl pigment contains tiny reflective flakes that act like millions of microscopic prisms. They bounce light around in different ways depending on their light source, which is how a car can appear purple from one angle and blue or red from another.
A Million Hues
What’s even more fun is blending various chameleon paints together. Mixing two different color flip paints will create a hybrid of the two colors, and with some experimentation, this has been used to create some very unique hues.
A Difficult Substance
Color changing paint has been around for a long time, although it’s only recently begun to see a rise in popularity for painting cars. The obvious reason for this is that this kind of paint isn’t exactly cheap, and only recently has the technology involved in creating the paint become more affordable.
Many Modern Uses
One common use for mermaid paint is in security stamps and on currency. Because of the complex process that’s required to create the paint, it’s difficult for forgers to adequately simulate the official look. Bank tellers can therefore very quickly and easily spot forged notes because they don’t have the same multicolor sheen on special printed areas.
Looking Special
Chameleon paint application is not easy, especially on something as big as a car. This is one of the reasons why auto factories don’t make common use of these colors. They’re best for people who really want unique cars that look nothing like anything else on the road, and don't mind spending the cash to get the look.
Dark at Heart
Typically, chameleon paint is only applied over the top of a dark black base coat. The reason for this is simple: Chameleon paint is slightly transparent, so a lighter base coat would shine through and the color-changing effect would be less noticeable.
Steady Hands Required
A lot of care and attention is needed to spread chameleon paint evenly. Another quirk of this semi-transparent paint is that it can end up blotching and looking very untidy if it’s not sprayed uniformly, as two coats of paint produce a different effect than a single spray.
Avoiding the 'Skunk' Look
A common mistake for someone unfamiliar with chameleon paint is to paint over some areas twice, most notably a car’s door handles. The best way to achieve a consistent paint spray is to walk back and forth over the car, spraying in stripes rather than patches. Even then, it can be hard to avoid the so-called “skunk” look where a single stripe of paint looks brighter and more noticeable than those around it.
Layering Color
The upside of this difficult transparent paint is that two different colors can be layered on top of each other to produce even more varied effects. Thus, in the hands of an experienced professional, this paint can make a car look absolutely magical.
All Things Bright and Beautiful
Traditionally, mermaid paint could only be used to make very bold, bright colors. This is another reason why many car owners avoided the paint for a long time, until more recently, when new technology led to the creation of more varied — and less garish — shades for painting a car.
Not Exactly Cheap
Considering the very careful attention to detail that’s required to get a good paint job with chameleon paint, it’s not surprising that this will cost you a pretty penny. If you’re looking to get your car sprayed in one of these colors, you should be looking to spend a minimum of $3,000, while some paint jobs can cost upwards of $10,000.
A Risky Game
It can also be a bit of a gamble as to what effect your chosen paints will eventually create. Colors that shift with light sources don’t always come out looking the way owners hope they will, and it’s not as if this expensive job can be redone if it’s not quite what the car owner was looking for.
Lacking in Sheen
It’s also worth noting that chameleon cars don’t tend to look all that shiny. The shimmering paint reflects light in odd ways, so cars rarely have a bright, glossy sheen to them even if they’ve been newly waxed. Some consider this a necessary sacrifice for such a beautiful finish.
Valuable
The upshot of this expensive paint is that it can add a lot to the value of your car. Even so, you’ll need to find a buyer who appreciates the particular hue you’ve chosen to use, and that can be difficult, because the shifting nature of this paint makes its appeal very subjective.
Heating Up
Chameleon paints that change color based on angle are only one kind of interesting car paint. Thermochromatic paint, for example, changes color based on temperature rather than light source, and this has many useful applications in the real world.
A Literal Lifesaver
In some factories, thermochromatic paint is used to warn workers of hot pipes and work surfaces. So if the paint on these surfaces has changed color, it’s an indicator that the area has reached dangerous temperatures and should not be touched.
Hot Rod
Thermochromatic paint can also be used on cars, both as a way of highlighting engine temperature (which is very practical) and to create amazing shifting colors (which is less practical, but more awesome).
Buzz Buzz
Another similar paint changes color based on electrical current. If a current is passing through the paint, its electrons arrange themselves differently, changing the hue of the car. As with thermochromatic paint, this has many practical safety applications, but it also looks cool when a car can change color with the flip of a switch.
Impractically Perfect in Every Way
Chameleon paint is gorgeous, but not without its flaws. If you’ve got the cash, and if you’re willing to deal with the downsides of this luscious car coloring, this might be a project you’d like to invest in. The rest of us will just have to make do with our boring, static-colored cars.