Leadlight Manicure

Hello Jellos!  

I am very excited to show off this manicure.  It reminds me of Tiffany lamps.  I wouldn't be surprised if this image has been used with the leadlight technique before but I haven't seen it.  If you know of a link or you used it, please leave the link in the notes so I can take a peek and maybe discover a new blog! :)

1 coat Billie Cosmetics White

Stamped using a frankened black and stained glass image from Cheeky XL Plate "A"

Filled in with a small dotting tool and all my franken sheers

1 gentle coat of sparkly SH Diamond Strength Diamonds

Seche Vite to finish!

 

This manicure wore like iron.  I lightly sanded my nails, and because I knew I'd be adding a coat of sparkle I didn't want to stack up too many layers, I opted to only use one thin coat of white.  I applied it as evenly as I could get it.  Once the stamp and sheers went on top the unevenness was hardly noticeable.  I wore this for a full week! Big win, considering the time it took to meticulously fill in all those little spaces.  Totally WORTH IT.  I got tons of compliments and they felt SUPER pretty! Even when the tips began to chip a bit it was not really noticeable. 

The winners of my Gone So Long Giveaway have responded by the deadline, and their parcels are going in the mail this afternoon!  Congratulations!  I can't wait to start amassing some new goodies for the next giveaway!

Do you have a favorite leadlight manicure?  Please send me to see it!
Thank you for peeking!
♥
JQ

Franken Sheer Easter Manicure

Greetings Jellybeans!

How was your Easter?  I wore this eggtacular mani for the weekend.  Alas, it is chipped so I can't keep it much longer, but it was fun while it lasted!

 2 coats Billie Cosmetics white creme

Blobs of all five of my home made franken sheer goodies!

Stamped using Billie Cosmetics white creme and a formerly untried image from Cheeky XL A

Seche Vite to seal it all up!

What did you wear for Easter?  Go ahead, give me another lemming!  I definitely don't mind!

In other exciting news, my Gone So Long Giveaway has ended!  The winners have been notified via email from my fripperydigitsblog gmail address. Congratulations! Please email me back asap!  I realize now I never put a deadline for response in my Giveaway announcement post, but it's usually 48 hours.  I will give you until the end of Wednesday April 23 to respond. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thank you all for peeking!  Happy Polishing!

♥ ♥ ♥

JQ

Bright Bundle Monster Arrowheads

Summer is around the bend and I'm busting out the sunshine!

2 coats Pure Ice Superstar!

Vertical gradient using Franken Sheers: Pink and Yellow

Stamped using BM-410 and Billie Cosmetics White

Seche Vite

I designed this image from the Bundle Monster CYO 2013 images plate set.  I'm super proud of it!  I submitted another 10 images for this year's contest and I'm looking forward to finding out what kind of images make this years set(s).  I'm in love the CYO 2013 set because it was basically designed by a bunch of nail heads and ALL the images are totally badass.

 

I'm really happy with how the pink and yellow blended to make that awesome peach colour in the center.  This manicure looks amazeballs in the sun and shade, and if I do it again I want to try using some very fine glitter between the gradient and the stamp.  Maybe some Cover Girl Boundless Color Pink Twinkle or City Lights.  Or China Glaze Fairy Dust.  ALL THE SPARKLY.

What's on your nails today?  Do you have or know of a cool nail art blog I should check out?  Did you design any of the images from this set--or do you have a favorite image? Leave a link if you like!  Thanks for peeking!

♥

JQ

Psssst!  Only 4 more days to enter my  Giveaway! 

Franken Sheers & Splatter Stamp

The 80's have taken up residence on my nails this week.  I have no words for how happy this manicure makes me.  Personally, I feel like I haven't rocked a manicure this gnarly in a long time.  It's SO mondo.

I was totally inspired by  Punky Polish's phenomenal Watercolor Sugar Skulls manicure.  If you haven't already, you NEED to see it.  When I read that she made her own sheer tint polishes for this, I couldn't even contain my excitement.  I ran over to my stash and started yanking out jellies and a practically unused 2.5oz bottle of Beauty Secrets Hardener High Gloss Top Coat.  I poured some of it into five empty bottles that I had stashed in the back of the cabinet and then sent in a few drops of pink, royal blue, purple, green and yellow jelly-ish polishes.  It felt great to make that bottle of topcoat useful, since I never really liked it for topcoat.  I read somewhere that it does well as base coat, so I'll try that with the half bottle I have left.  

The results of my franken frenzy (pictures are clickable):

I hear that the OPI Sheer Tints have a really honey-like consistency.  These are really quite runny, but the effect was exciting.  I made my tints tintier than the OPI, purely because I couldn't believe that the pale cloudy solutions in the bottles would do a tinty enough job.  Turns out a little would have gone a long way, but I still REALLY like the result.  I don't mind that the final product isn't quite a sheer as the OPI.  I had the presence of mind to snap a picture before a splatter stamp leapt onto my nails :

I began with two coats of white creme.  I dabbed on the pink and purple corners first, then the blue and green corners and finished with yellow int he center.  The colours hadn't dried quite yet so they pooled together in acid-swirls and "moved" each other around just like watercolour!  SO HAPPY!

This is a snippet of my scrap paper.  I use white printer paper and paint on a bunch of colours and then stamp over with a bunch of different colours to see what I get.  Sometimes I will cover entire sheets with this.  I have even gone so far as to label a few.  Lower right:  I was trying to decide if I wanted to use the ampersands (BM-311) or the splatter (BM-416).  The competition was tight.  They are two of my favorite Bundle Monster images.

2 coats Pure Ice Superstar!

Dabs of all five franken sheers

Stamp: BM 416 Splatter and SH Hard as Nails Black Heart 

Seche Vite

The splatter won out by a smidge.  Can you see how the yellow overlapped with that pretty pink to make a peachy coral color?  ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

Just for the record?  I still REALLY REALLY want to get my hands on the OPI Sheer Tints, because I think I will get an insane amount use out of them.  Check out Phoenix Beauty Lounge for some amazing ways you can use them!  

Thanks for peeking!

♥

JQ