Spring Double Stamp

Hello!  I'm still here!  Just in the middle of gardening season and getting my perennial bed sorted out so I have dirty paws lately.  So I pulled a manicure from the not so distant past, that I created to celebrate the first days of spring.

In the spirit of all the lovely birdsong, bursting blooms and budding trees:

I forgot what combinations of polish I used for this manicure--pretty sure the base green is Barielle Mint Ice Cream Cone, and I put a light coat of Covergirl Boundless Color Pink Twinkle over every nail before sealing with my favorite topcoat Seche Vite. I used image plates: BM003 (flower), BM-204 (green, stamped twice), BM-410 (dragonfly), as well as one Cheeky XL plate.  The pink nail is a kind of pond manicure with a sheer pink jelly.

Do you have a favorite spring manicure?  Or a favorite colour nail polish this spring/summer?

Thanks for popping by!
♥
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

Manicure refresh: Pure Ice Free Spirit

Greetings fellow earthlings with nail blings!

Manicure refresh!

 

This is a manicure from a few months ago, when I picked up a bottle of Pure Ice Free Spirit.  I wore 2 coats of Free Spirit alone for 4 days and then repaired the manicure with a sponge gradient using Orly Shockwave, Revlon Heavenly and---it was either Cover Girl Boundless Color City Lights or China Glaze Fairy Dust.  (I love them both and want to paint them all over EVERYTHANG).

Topped with Seche Vite!

  

I LOVE THAT GREEN.  I have a thing for green.  I really enjoyed wearing this manicure and I always find it so satisfying when I can revive an old mani and make it last a few more days.  

Have you ever refreshed a manicure?  How did you do it?  

I am having a giveaway! Have you checked it out?  Bundle monster 2013 CYO plate sets, Sinful Colors, Kleancolor, Joe Fresh...

Thanks for peeking!  Happy polishing!

&hearts:

JQ

Super Bright St.Patty's Day Mani!

Greetings Jellybeans!

I thought I would try something crazy bright for a St Patty's themed mani!  Lately I can't get enough chartreuse and lime.  If you click on these you might get a better hint of the shimmer.  You lose the splatter pattern of the image,  but man...I think it is one of my favorite images from Bundle Monster's 2013 CYO set.  It's so versatile and fun!  I wish I'd thought of it when I was designing my entries!  I'm so glad someone did!

2 coats of Pure Ice Wild Thing

+ (Kleancolor Jazz Olive + BM-416 splatter) 

+ (American Apparel Hunter + BM-406  Celtic hearts) 

+ Seche Vite 

Full Sunlight:

 

What do you think would look great for St Patty's? 

Thanks for checking in!

♥

JQ

Black and White Blended Stamp on China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

Ooooh! I really love this one! 

Base: Seche Clear

Main Colour: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk

Stamp Colour: Claire's Black Hole, Billie Cosmetics French White

Image Plate: BM-221

All images should be click-able for a closer look! I hope you like it... 

Thanks for peeking!

♥

JQ

Pastel Snake Skin

For this manicure:

2 coats Pure Ice Superstar!

Sponged areas of various pastel colours

Image plate: BM-215

Stamp Polish: Claire's Black Hole

1 coat Essie Shine of the Times

Top: Seche Vite

Things are insanely busy on out little acreage this summer.  The boys are very active.  Lots of general upkeep.  Gardening and keeping my nails pretty is a big deal!  I just love watching all the perennials burst into bloom!  Still waiting on the Peonies (my absolute favorite).  They are so lush, voluptuous and heavy...

I also have a show of my inkle woven and tapestry pieces at a local gallery/coffee shop and am preparing for the reception! Very cool!  I am doing some weaving demonstrations.

What's your favorite summer pastime?

Thanks for peeking!
♥
JQ

Fishy Experiment

For this manicure:

Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

1 coat Essie Vermillionaire

Sponge gradient: SH Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed and WnW French White Creme

Stamped using Essie Good as Gold (Image from XL B)

1 coat Essie Shine of the Times

Seche Vite

I am really loving adding a coat of sparkle/flake-y on top of stamping.  Here I was hoping I could add to the fishiness of the manicure.  I still want to work on this idea, because it holds multiple possibilities! I was aiming for a Koi fish manicure but hubby didn't go straight to fish scales, just saw "vintage", so I'm not sure if this translates.  I might try with a more scale-like stamp next time!

Thank you for taking a peek!  What's on your nails?  

♥

JQ

TGIF Rainbow Gradient

 OMGRAINBOWSPARKLYGOODNESS!!!!!

It is SO obvious that my cuticles just plain angry with me, and on top of that, the blue stained them, but I couldn't NOT post this manicure win. This one makes my heart go boom every time I look at it.  And the shimmer adds a real kick that I couldn't capture completely in the photos.  

DRIVING HAZARD. 

I wish I was more pro-star at the care and maintenance of my hands.  I have taken to using cuticle oil morning and night so see if that helps.  So far no flare ups with this Orly Argan Cuticle Oil!

Base: Revlon Quick Dry Base Coat

White underlay: 1 coat Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear White On.

Sponge (cuticle to tip): duri cosmetics Kinky Pleasures,SH Xtreme Wear Going Green, SH Insta-Dri Lightening, SH Xtreme Wear Sun Kissed, Essie Lacquered Up

Stamp:SH Hard as Nails Black Heart

Plate: Cheeky XL B

Sparkle: SH Diamond Strength  Diamonds

Top: Seche Vite

Thanks so much for stopping by!  I hope everybody has a fantastic weekend!  
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

JQ

NOTD: Barielle Mint Ice Cream Cone and Nail Art

For this manicure I used a base of Seche Clear, and 2 coats Barielle Mint Ice Cream Cone, then a wide stripe of Sally Hansen X-treme Wear Sun Kissed and a thinner stripe of Essie Little Brown Dress, then once it was dry I masked off all but a thin strip of brown and stamped using BM 214 And GOSH Metallic green.  Topcoat: Seche Vite.

I aimed so that one stripe of the full nail design transferred onto the brown.  Definitely more successful on my left hand.  My right looks smudgy! 

My camera doesn't do yellow tones well, so this is not an accurate representation of Barielle MICC.  These look a bit washed out, to be honest.
 

Thanks for checking out my blog!  Happy painting!

♥

 JQ

Cheeky Rainbow Skittles

 

 Yes, I stayed up WAY past my bedtime.  For a rainbow XL stamping frenzy! Photos taken  in a hurry the morning after I did this because we were driving into the city and I had a feeling I would ding them up while we were gone.  And I DID.  Badly.  L.A. COLORS BASE/TOP, you make me sad.

 Base L.A. COLORS BASE/TOP

Colors: OPI Pamplona Purple, SH X-Treme Wear Sun Kissed, OPI Green-Wich Village, OPI Off With Her Red!, SH Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue, Nina Ultra Pro Like Butta

Stamp: SH Hard as Nails Black Heart

Plates: Cheeky XL plates A, B, D

Top: Seche Vite.

 

I wanted to play with all the different images, and had done a similar manicure with BM plates on my friend Jenna a few Christmases back, because we couldn't decide on just one.  My favorite is the pebbles on my pointer finger on the above image.  That was my instinctive choice for a full mani, and now I know I could have gone with it. Personally, I think it is the most successful combo.

 Glad I took these before I left, even though I wish I'd been able to get better shots.  The first image (flash) is actually quite nice and gives a good idea of how it looked overall, but it really made me shiny.

I LOVE MY NEW PLATES!   

Happy painting y'all!

 ♥

JQ

Cheeky Image Plate Review

GUYS. I got some seriously CHEEKY mail a week and a half ago. ;p

I splurged and ordered these fabulous rectangular nail plates from Cheeky.  AND THEY ARE SO BADASS.

I am a Bundle Monster gal.  I have 6 Konad plates from when I first started and the rest are all BM. I LOVE THEM. 

But a good friend and fellow nail head let me in on the fact that you could get these other image plates through amazon.ca  And that they had pretty much a whole plate full of PAISLEY. I got 8 plates. The price has even gone down slightly from when I bought these, but my order averaged to less than 10$/plate, which I think is pretty reasonable.  I did the math, counting all the images over 8 Cheeky plates. There are 563.  In the 3 BM sets there are 440. I also took the average images per BM set.  (140, 150, 150) which is about 146.5.  Then divided the number of images in the Cheeky set by 145.5 to see how many BM sets it is the equivalent to. 3.84.  Anyways.  I'm not a math wiz by any stretch, but that was enough to tell me I got a pretty decent deal. SO. PICTURES.

The packaging was great.  Inside the bubble wrap lined envelope, each plate had a little sleeve of bubble wrap.  I got a cute little card congratulating me.  It's a party!  A nail art party! 

 

They all had that nice protective blue film that just peels away, and a really cool touch is that each plate is backed with pink plastic and it extends beyond the plate, so it gives a really nice finish, while keeping your paws, the table, and the other plates from getting scratched.

Shiney!

 

Another thing I really appreciate is the size of the full nail images.  They are nice and big! Big enough that I can select the area to paint and transfer to the nail. Every full nail image has one concave edge that makes them very versatile;  It eliminates the need to have separate images for french tips, and gives me the option for a moon manicure effect as well.I have decent sized fingernails, and I really dislike trying to double stamp.  It's so hard to get a good seam. 

For reference here is a picture of the large Cheeky images next to a larger BM image and the original BM full nail image:

I also like that a lot of the images have reflections so you can stamp the other paw, or mess around with mirroring.



Not only do they do reflections, but also a few different sizes of the same image.  So you can do that darn pinky finger the same as the others, or give the thumb a big one.  :)

 

 Thanks Cheeky!



I'm a fan!



Here are a few pics of the manicures I have done so far:

 

The very first one was the celtic image.  I absolutely HAD to find out what that looked like.

Base: China Glaze Concrete Catwalk 

Stamp: GOSH Metallic Green.  

Plate: Cheeky D

Top: Seche Vite



Manicure #2 kinda reminded me of circuit boards.
Base: Finger Paints Go Van Gogh
Stamp: Essie Good as Gold
Plate: Cheeky B
Top: SV



 Manicure #3 was subtle. I only got a quick shot in the evening, but irl it looked way prettier.
Base: Sally Hansen CSM: Wet Clay
Stamp: Billie Cosmetics Reign
Plate: Cheeky B
Top: SV



Currently!

Base: Sponge gradient OPI Off With Her Red, CR #89, Billie Cosmetics Orange
Stamp: Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Black Heart
Plate: Cheeky A
  Top: SV


Thank you so much for popping by!  Happy painting!

♥
JQ

Golden Kisses Valentine Mani

 Happy Valentine's Day!

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 Base: 2 coats Orly Decades of Dysfunction

Sponge tips: Sinful Colors Vacation Time

Full nail: 1 Coat Sinful Colors Glass Pink

2/3 nail: Cover Girl Pink Twinkle

Stamp Polish: Essie Good as Gold 

BM Plates: BM02, BM03, BM-303 (large thumb Kiss)

Top: Seche Vite

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Thanks for stopping by!  May your Valentine's Day be filled with the loving company of your friends, family, and partners.

Give yourself some TLC today!  You deserve it!

♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥

JQ