Material help for particle effect

Been making a blood material to use in a Cascade. made some decent progress so far by making a nice blood splurt. but i was wanting to refine my material more. Its translucent, unlit and has an opacity map at this stage. I was looking to make the blood a lot more liquidish and crimson like with some highlights. i thought of adding some panning normal maps and specular values carry across to cascade ? whats the best way of carrying these things over and would i be wanting to keep my material translucent?