Hey everyone! I know it's been such a long time and you're probably tired of hearing these things from bloggers coming back from an unexpected hiatus that lasts months, but there it is. I know that while I've been gone, people have still been visiting and I really hope that the content amassed over the last couple years has been helpful. Even though my immediate plans for the blog are to resume posting, it probably won't be daily like before. Not yet, anyway. I really miss sharing my thoughts and pictures with you guys and the contact we used to have. I love hearing from everyone, and I miss it. I've still been reading tons of nail blogs on a regular basis, so I've been able to maintain a small link to the nail blogosphere, but I'm ready to take an active part again. I hope that you guys will join me, and stop in and see me from time to time:)

Click here to see the photos!

Hey guys, before I talk about this manicure I wanted to put up a little note about the blog sale: with the exception of three packages that I have to send tomorrow, all packages should be out. If you haven't received your package yet and want to contact me for the status of your package, please do so. Between the zillion emails back and forth I've got for this sale and the crazy busy post office and my mind-numbing list of things to do before Christmas, I want to make sure I'm not forgetting anything.

On to the manicure... I hear you through the computer. You are probably bored of bright multi-colored manicures, let alone leopard here on this site, but I did this manicure earlier in the week and it's all I've got to share right now since I've been so busy lately. I used several of my favorite bright colors that I use often to do this multi mani.

Thumb: China Glaze Four Leaf Clover with China Glaze Something Sweet dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Index: OPI Who THe Shrek Are You? with China GLaze Flyin' High dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Middle: Sally Hansen Pacific Blue with Nubar Baby Pink dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Index: China Glaze Four Leaf Clover and Nubar Baby Pink with OPI Shrek and SH Pacific Blue dots, Migi Nail Art Pen
Pinky: Color Club Puccilicious with Essie Shorty Pants dots, Migi Nail Art Pen

Click for more pics...

Hey guys, I'm back from the ether. I've been MIA a lot lately because it seems like a lot of stuff is going on. I'm trying to get Christmas shopping under control and decorating, and to top it off I've had a string of seasonal colds that just pile one on the other and I've been dead tired and lazy. Hopefully it's almost over and I can share lots of fun manicures and products with you through the holidays. Today I'm showing you a manicure I did last week, (and that I'm still wearing... I'm so lazy lately) that I really liked. It's inspired by Wah Nails, which is one of my favorite sources for inspiration. It's a play on this pointy-nailed tribal-type manicure, but my nails are obviously squared and I added my favorite leopard. It looks badass on the pointy nails, and on me it's sort of manifested itself as a chevron French manicure.

I used Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud, Wet n Wild Black Magic and Migi Nail Art Pen in Black on all nails, then for the colored stripe I used Color Club Puccilicious for the thumb, Essie Shorty Pants for the index fingers, Sally Hansen Pacific Blue for the middles, China Glaze Pool Party for the ring fingers, and for the pinkies I used Essie Pretty Edgy.

Click for more photos!

Sparitual A World of Compassion - $10 at apothica.com

From Sparitual's new-ish Imagine collection, this is a really unique sort of indescribable shade. It's not quite periwinkle, it's not quite lavender. There's some purple, blue and some sort of beige in the base that makes it sort of earthy and casual while still managing to make a sound. On beigey skin tones this is going to be amazing. I'm a big fan of the periwinkle, friends, and so this sucker is a big fave for me. It applies pretty standard for the handful of Sparituals I've tried in my day. The creme formula are usually slightly streaky on the first coat but are luxuriously even and creamy on the second, and this is on par. The color itself makes this a must-buy for me, and so if you enjoy the shade, I recommend it. I did a couple comparisons with well-known periwinkles and a lavender for what they're worth after the jump, but even though these are the closest shades I think I might have, none come close. If you have an idea for a polish that might be similar, let me know and I'll check the stash and see if I can do a comparison.

Click for more photos...

The China Glaze Holiday collection for 2010 is available online now at transdesign.com for $2.99 each and at head2toebeauty.com for $2.99 also. It should start to be available at Sally Beauty later in the year, but I'm not sure at what price. I imagine around $6 as usual.

The "Tis the Season to be Naughty AND Nice" collection is a whopping 16-piece collection consisting of a lot of the Christmas-y shades you'd expect, and a few you wouldn't, in a wide range of finishes. There are only a couple "predictable" shades in the whole collection, which is awesome. My overall impression of this collection is that this is typical China Glaze overachieving; a solid grouping of shades that makes you say "this couldn't get any better" then gives you even more. We all know I'm a big China Glaze fan, and collections like this are why I love them so much. Among other things I find that no one does glitter like China Glaze, and there are a couple great ones in this lot.

I've put all 16 shades in one post so you can have them all together in one place for comparison and shopping purposes. Below I'll show you each shade in one to two photos then give you a quick review; hope you enjoy!

Click to see the swatches!!

It's official, I'm obsessed with leopard. It shouldn't be news to you... I am also in love with Migi Nail Art Pens. I received a sample of the black and white pen, and will review it soon, but I've been using the hell out of it. I plan to purchase a couple sets soon. Anyway, they happen to make doing leopard print really fast and easy so I did a couple more leopard designs this past week.

The first one is a base of Barielle Cowl of the Wild and then dots of OPI Who the Shrek Are You? I loved this combo so much. The neutral creamy brown really popped the citron color.

The second one is a french tip of China Glaze Classic Camel, then dots with China Glaze Goin' My Way (These are both from Vintage Vixens)

Both designs are pretty simple and standard, especially with the Migi pen. Not much copy this time guys because I'm so incredibly busy getting ready for the wedding on Sunday. I have a few posts saved and though it's only a couple random swatches and one how-to video I hope it doesn't bore you till I get back in town next week. I probably won't be available to answer comments or emails for the next few days, but I promise I'll respond to everyone as soon as I get back :D Thanks for reading, guys!

Click for more photos...

Congrats to Gnoma Jessica Schiavone! She entered the giveaway via Facebook. Thanks everyone for entering!!!

I love China Glaze's new Awakening collection for Halloween so much that I decided to grab an extra to give away! Read on to see how:

Giveaway is open globally to followers of Beautopia through Google Friend Connect or the OnSugar system (both are available to the right of the page.) There are several ways to enter.

1) Leave me a comment on this post telling me why you want to win the China Glaze Awakening collection!

2) Follow @BeautopiaBlog on twitter and retweet this post. To retweet click the "retweet" button at the top of this post.

3) Post about the giveaway on your blog. It can be an actual post or if you have a Giveaways section just add it in. Then leave your link in a comment in this post.

4) Become a friend of Beautopia on Facebook and write on my wall and let me know your favorite shade from the Awakening collection. Not sure which is your fave; check out my review on it!

Good luck to everyone, I can't wait to read what you think! Giveaway ends at midnight EST on Saturday, September 18th. Winner will be chosen thereafter.

China Glaze Awakening Collection - $10 at transdesign.com

When Halloween collections start being released, it's such an exciting time for me. Among other things it means that Autumn is nearly here, and I'm not exaggerating when I say I absolutely LIVE for Fall! Another thing is that the "holiday" itself is just a lot of fun. It's pretty much also guaranteed that there will be awesome nail polishes coming. My first Halloween purchase of this year is China Glaze's Awakening collection. Not to be confused with China Glaze's pink-with-gold-sheen shade of polish, this is a set of three super cool glitter polishes. Last year's Fortune Teller by China Glaze was one of my favorite polishes ever. Spellbound was another that they released for Halloween but sadly I didn't manage to get my hands on that one, and I'm still bruised by that, haha. This year I bought the Halloween set the very day it went online, and I'm pretty happy with it. I've swatched and reviewed each of the three shades below, so click to keep reading!

More on China Glaze Awakening Collection...

Here's a Konad design done using one of my favorite nail art polishes of all time, China Glaze Passion ($3.50 at amazon.com), and my latest favorite from Nubar; Verde ($7.49 at bynubar.com) ! After using two coats of Verde I used Passion and Konad plate m64 ($7 at wowsocool.com) to stamp the design over top. The overall look was really cool because the surface of Verde is infused with golden flecks, so it almost appears like a metallic overlay on some sort of exotic granite. If you haven't seen it already, watch this video to see how to do Konad stamping!

Click for more photos...

China Glaze Vintage Vixen collection - available starting in early July online and at Sally Beauty

The Fall shades I've seen so far for this year aren't only about the rich and vibrant colors, or the deep vampy tones. While they're all those things, they also seem to be about finish and texture more than ever. This 12-piece collection from China Glaze hits on almost every finish, and even invents a few we've not seen much of before now. I am really into this collection; from the throwback 1940s names and vibe, to the rich and interesting shades and finishes, I'm all about these polishes. I've done some swatches for them, and if you'd like to see them and hear what this girl thinks about them, keep on reading!

Click for more...