Blue and White China

Greetings Jelly Beans!

I've seen some blue and white manicures around the internet that remind me SO much of fine china, that I finally decided to give it a shot. I started with 2 coats of Wet n' Wild French White Creme, then stamped using a full nail stamp off #BM-224 and Sally Hansen Thinking of Blue. Finished with a coat of Seche Vite! If you look close on my thumb you'll see the nasty seam I got when I was double stamping. My right thumb turned out better, but I'm having so much trouble taking a non-blurry shot with my good hand I didn't even try to switch it up.


I really enjoy how effective this is! It's fresh and spring-y too! The fiber artist in me also sees reference to those heirloom applique quilts in blue and white.


One more shot in the bright light:


I've been rounding up some un-trieds and doubles from my stash, as we begin paring down the stuff in our house for the big move. Planning for an exciting giveaway! :)

Best wishes and thanks for stopping by!

♥
JQ

Silver Glitz!

Hello0000ooo000ooo!


2 coats China Glaze Cheers to You and 1 coat of Wet n' Wild Party of Five Glitters, Seche Vite and voila! Space dinosaur disco nails! Silver gilded, jewel encrusted bling nails! Eye popping fun.


Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

Piano keys and Filigree

Greetings Jelly Beans!

I was itching to use the piano keys image out of the new bundle monster set, but now I'm sad because I don't have any images of sheet music, or musical notes to go with them! I had some trouble getting the stamp lined up on my nail. I think next time, prior to stamping, I'll take my Art Deco black and draw a line where I want to follow with the image.


Also, my nails are kind of warping a bit as they grow out. I am not used to this length at all, and the images were harder to get contacted all across my nail, resulting in a skewed stamp. I had to go in with my Art Deco black and try to straighten a few keys a bit!


For this manicure I used 2 coats of Sally Hansen Hard as Nails White Tip, and then stamped the piano keys image from BM 207, using GOSH Nero. I LOVE GOSH, especially Nero. It's nice and crisp, and cleans up WAY easier than the Konad black.

Then I used the filigree image (BM21) from the old set and Wet n' Wild Blackmail (a kind of transparent black with a hint of sparkle in it) to get the grey effect. Also a bit of the sparkle transferred which was terribly subtle but it made me happy!

Lastly, before applying my Seche Vite top coat, I went over the line between the filigree and the piano keys with my Art Deco black, and touched up a few of the keys.


These totally remind me of my spats n' spangles manis! And now I want to do one of those again. :) I really like splitting my nail in half or 1/3 to 2/3 --almost like a reverse french but with a straight line, especially if the nails are filed square. :)

Have you entered my 200 follower giveaway yet? It includes a bottle of Wet n' Wild Blackmail and a Black Art Deco!

Thanks for stopping by!
♥
JQ

200 Follower Giveaway! ----CLOSED----

Hooray! Frippery Digits has reached 200 Followers!

and it is HIGH TIME I had a giveaway to show my appreciation to all you fabulous humans who take the time to visit my blog. I appreciate all your support and comments SO much!

When I started this little blog I really just thought it would be a nice separate space to post pictures of my manicures so I could send a few friends and family over to take a peek. I soon found out that the nail blogging community is full of tremendously talented bloggers and nail polish aficionados who are super supportive of each other and just plain excited about the new trends and how other folks are decorating their digits. I am having so much fun blogging with you!

Without further ado I present my giveaway:

I tried to take some accurate close ups for you, but the macro on my camera is only soso. I hope these help (pic heavy!):

3 packets of different coloured/shaped rhinestones

3 packets of sticky rhinestones in various sizes (royal blue, pearls, bright pink)

6 small vials of coloured bullion beads in gold, emerald green, red, bright pink, indigo, and silver

Art Deco striper polishes in Black, White and Silver Glitter.

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Calypso Blue

Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Thinking of Blue

Wet n Wild Wild Shine Eggplant Frost

Wet n Wild Megalast 218 Blackmail

Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Emerald City

Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Rockstar Pink

Joe Twilight (green/black jelly with rainbow flakies)

Joe Matte

Joe Grape (metallic Purple)

Revlon 190 Strawberry Electric

There will be at least one surprise polish included in this package and possibly some other Canadian goodies too! Sounds good eh? :P

I tried to represent the sorts of polishes/colors that I enjoy using or that make up a decent portion of my stash (I use a lot of drug store brands). I also wanted to give a bit of nail art goodies, since I'm a big fan. I did include 3 Joe polishes because those are a Canadian brand and I thought there might be some folks who were interested in collecting them. All of these products were purchased by me for this giveaway and have not been used, not even for a swatch. I don't receive any compensation for any products available in this giveaway. Please see my disclosure for any further info.

After much fretting over the details of a big giveaway, I have decided to keep the rules super simple.

This giveaway is open internationally! Providing the winner is an earthling, I will pack it up with care and mail it, however I won't be responsible for any possible customs fees when it reaches it's destination.

This Giveaway ends June 24th. This means that the minute it is NO LONGER JUNE 24th ANYWHERE on this earth my giveaway is closed. ;)

To get your one and only entry all you have to do is: Be a PUBLIC follower of Frippery Digits via Google Friend Connect (GFC) and leave me a note in this entry with your GFC name and your email so I can contact you if you are the lucky winner. Please ensure that you are signed in to GFC when you leave your note.

I would love it if you'd include a note telling me what polish/goody you are most excited about in my giveaway. It won't get you an extra entry but it would help me put together my next giveaway. :)

I will assign every entrant one number, in the order they were submitted, and the winning number will be selected by using the sequence generator at random.org. The lucky winner will have 48 hours to respond or another winner will be selected.


THANK YOU!
Good luck!
♥
JQ

Blended argyle with GOSH Metallic

Happy Friday everybody!

Lately I've been playing with stamping using my GOSH Metallics over similar creamier base colours. ABOP left me a note last entry saying it would be cool to see some stamping with more than one colour on the plate. I had been thinking the same thing! I've seen some pretty awesome multi-coloured stamping around the blogs and I figured I'd give it a whirl!


I'm THRILLED with it! I decided I'd use a dark base so that I could really see the contrast this first time. For my base I used a frankened black Wet n' Wild that I made into a slightly shimmery charcoal grey. I don't own a single charcoal colour! What?? The closest I have is OPI My Private Jet and it's more brown-y, plus I thought the holo sparklies might detract from my pattern.



Left to right: Seche Clear, frankened charcoal colour, GOSH Metallic Green, Blue and Pink, Seche Vite. Konad Image Plate M60. I painted a coat of Seche Clear, then one thick coat of my frankenpolish (it was teh gooey but it dried fairly quickly), then dragged the brush from each GOSH metallic across the image horizontally first with pink, then blue, then green. When I scraped I did it in the same direction I brushed on the polish, and I did it a few times just to blend the colours together a bit. I stamped so that the pink is at my tips every time. Next time I want to try diagonal.



Once again with the scaly look. I DIG. It's fun because I'm trying for a very reptilian quality with the tapestry I am currently working on. It actually distracted me from weaving yesterday because I kept admiring how my nails looked next to the leaf of my rose at the lower left hand corner.


Here's a couple more shots of the polish outdoors and indoors. The colors are actually a bit deeper in reality so the transition is quite visible. I just can't get enough of it!


In the two shots where you can see my thumb, you can see that it gets a bit messy on the one side. Even the Konad full nail images are not wide/long enough for my thumbs. The tip and the right side I tried to stamp on a little extra and it's gibbled but from a distance it doesn't draw attention. :P

Thanks everyone for stopping by and I hope you all have a great weekend!
♥
JQ

Dragon Scale

Hi everybody!

This one was a guest mani for my friend who was up visiting from the 1st to 10th (hence why I haven't been in to post!)


I was inspired by the Wet n' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy that we picked up while shopping. It's a super sheer polish that shines gray, fuchsia, and green. I thought it would lend itself well to a scale effect. I've been really wanting to try a snakeskin style manicure for awhile so we bit the bullet! We used four coats of Gray's Anatomy and still didn't get full coverage so I would use it in the future for layering, or sponging rather than full manis. Also, she told me that two nails just peeled right off within a day so I am wondering if that was just a bad combination with the base coat or if the polish itself a bad egg. I sure hope not! I lurv it.


My camera just doesn't want to capture the duo-chromeness on either manicure. This one looked grey green with a dash of pink but in the photos it seems more golden.


And this is the manicure I did for myself this morning.


My cuticles are icktastic right now. And I got black polish smeared into the dryness so it's staining. Also my nails are considerably bigger than the BM image plate so I had to match up the stamp on every nail but my pinkie. YIKES. and it shows. :( Kay now that I've made you notice that here are a few more shots. I got a bit better show of pink when I went in the shade. All of these should be clickable.



In the photos the manicure still looks pretty sharp but the pink and blue sheen is almost invisible. In person these nails are delicious and shimmery blue emerald and pink under the sharp contrast of black. Any suggestions for how to catch that or do I just have to invest in a better camera?

For manicure #1 I used 4 coats of Wet n' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy, for manicure #2 I used 1 coat of Revlon Top Speed Ocean, and one coat of Nicole Count on Me (super pretty, tiny fleck, sheer, baby blue and pink). Then for the stamping on both I used BM image plate 21 Honeycomb and GOSH Nero. Seche Vite topcoat to finish!

Left to right: Nicole by OPI Count On Me, Revlon Top Speed Orchid, Revlon Top Speed Ocean, Wet N' Wild fastdry Gray's Anatomy. Again with the photos not capturing the prettiness. *SIGH*


Yep, that's totally a Lush shampoo bar container. It's almost perfect for holding my BM and Konad image plates. The lid pops off due to the weight of the plates so I usually have an elastic around it. Just one idea for storeage. I do really like the trick of using trading card sleeves and a binder for easy browsing. Might have to switch eventually. :)

Hope everyone is having a stellar weekend!
Cheers!
♥
JQ

2 Christmas Manicures before I catch my flight!

Joyeux Noel!

This was last week's festive manicure! My take on Christmas holly and wreaths. I painted a white base, then stamped using my new Apple Green Konad special polish, then painted around it all with Essie's Lacquered Up. A few red dots for the holly berries!



My new friend Alikat came over for a manicure Monday and we had a nice evening visiting and painting and stamping. :) This is the Chrismtas mani I'll be wearing for the trip home! Hopefully it will get the gals in my family inspired for their own manicures! There are a few slumber parties in the works. :)


I was inspired by PHD 's red manicure with snowflake so I used it on my ring fingers. :)

Merry Christmas everybody! I'll be back again with blog posts in mid-January!
<3
JQ

Rose Mani

Hello everyone! I'm back after a wonderful week visiting with my parents. I never got online much during that time, and I didn't get a chance to really sit and play with polish either! But I have a few pictures of a recent manicure I did for a floral nail art challenge that the gals at Fab ur Nails and Art of Nail put on.

I think challenges are a ton of fun! They are a great way to get inspired. :)


I wanted to do a blue rose manicure inspired by some old wallpaper/fabrics. Hooray for turquoise and olive green!

To do them I painted two coats of Wet N Wild French White Creme for my base. Then I placed a few large dots of my Sally Hansen X-Treme Wear Blue Me Away! and smaller dots (slightly off center) of Revlon Royal on each nail. While they were tacky I used a toothpick to spiral the polish into a rose. I found a YouTube demo shortly after I finished this mani that would have made the process even neater. If you want to see how dot roses are made click here.


I used the same kind of technique with the leaves using an elongated dot for each leaf, and while it was tacky drawing down from the outside edge at an angle towards the center (twice on each side). Then I went in with my Art Deco royal blue sparkle and jazzed up the roses a little before applying my topcoat.


Thanks for dropping in! I have another post for the next Fab Nail Art challenge that I'll put up tomorrow, and then I should be caught up!

Cheers!
JQ

A rose by any other name...

I know I really like my naildo when:

I wear it for longer than 48 hours and still love it

I'll actually do that layer of top coat every other day thing to prevent chipping.

I have to patch at least three chips before I finally resign myself to removing it, and even then I grit my teeth.

It has pet names

Meet "Sealed with a Kiss" aka My Shakespeare Nails/Love Letter:



I used three coats of Wet n Wild French White Creme for the base, then stamped the black quills using Bundle Monster plate # 15 and Konad special polish in black. I stamped Love,rose, kiss and heart images in red off BM plate #'s 02, 03, 09 and 14 using Wet n Wild Red Graphite from the Precious Metals series. OMG love. I wonder if I can still find those, and if the others would work for stamping just as well. The special polishes are just too expensive for me right now. I was so thrilled to find out that most metallic polishes lend themselves well to it. So this will curb me for now.

I used my black Kiss nail art striper for the ink lines and blotches. Top coat and voila! Romance tips!



So I stayed up ultra late a few nights ago in a polymer clay frenzy. I was learning the basics for making these Fimo logs I've been hearing about. I chose the citrus one for a start. I totally feel a new craze coming on. My craftysense is tingling. :)



The lemons were the last ones and they look the most pristine. I'm getting the hang of it and having all kinds of ideas for my own special looks!

Okay that's all for today. I'm off to fix chip #2 on my mani, because parting with them so soon would be such sweet sorrow.

:P
JQ

Jealous Hearts (Spats n' Spangles variation)

Happy Friday everybody!

I really loved my Neon Spats n' Spangles mani, so I thought I'd do another version of it last night using my Sally Hansen X-treme Wear greens.

I like this striped tips mani better on my square nails, but it still looks pretty. The first one is my left hand and the second shot is my right. For the first time I actually had equal success with both hands. I think I am beginning to feel more comfortable with the striper brushes.



I used Wet n' wild French White Creme for the base, then painted 3/4 of the nail with alternating Sally Hansen greens. The dark one is called "Going Green" and the lighter one is called "Green with Envy". Pinstripes and -I'm going to call it the smile line but plse correct me if I'm mis-using it- were accomplished using Art Deco black striper polish. I used a bundle monster stamp for the hearts using Konad special polish in Black Pearl.

Again with the blurry! I'm convinced I'm missing something with this little camera.



Rhinestones in two different greens (light on the dark and vice versa) complete the Spats n' Spangles effect! Topcoat and Voila. Jealous Hearts. :)

Hope everyone has a terrific weekend despite the fact that fall is closing in. Hey. Winter isn't all bad. At least not until January. :P

Cheers!
<3
JQ