Beautopia Nails

The Beautopia Nail Art Contest Starts Now!

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 18:00:15 EDT

Sponsored by China Glaze, Nailene, and wowsocool.com

I am so excited and beyond happy to announce the Beautopia Nail Art Contest! Hopefully in time we'll consider this the First Annual Nail Art Contest, but for now I am just thrilled to officially get started. I originally planned for it to start on April 1, but it's obviously starting a little early. I am so happy to offer some great prizes from amazing sponsors. Prize packs for the Grand Prize, and 1st and 2nd Runners-Up are below the rules.

If you're a fellow blogger, a regular reader, or you just happened upon this page, we welcome you to enter. Below is an outline of the how to enter:

This contest will run until midnight Friday, April 30th.
You may enter as many designs as you like
Send entries to BeautopiaNailArtContest@gmail.com with photo of your nail art and the list of products used to create it. Make sure to put "Nail Art Contest" in the subject line.
Please name your design and include it in the email.
Contest is open internationally unless your country prohibits shipments from the US
By submitting your nail art design to the contest, you're giving your permission for us to post it on Beautopia (with credit to you of course)

When you submit your designs, feel free to include a tutorial and we might post it here on Beautopia. I know that a lot of you have blogs and do tutorials already, so if you want to share it with us that would be great. Keep in mind that you can do the nail art on others, maybe a friend or family member, and it will count. Also, you may choose to make your designs on a set of false nails and this is also acceptable. The main thing is that we want to see how creative you can be, and how you can inspire others with your designs. So many of you, I know, already are doing nail art, or getting more into it, and I hope that this contest will inspire us all to be even more creative.

Prizes below may be added to while the contest is going on, so check back for any updates!! I'm going on vacation and who knows what kinds of fun things I might find to add to the pot!

Good luck to ALL who enter, I can't wait to see what you all can do! Also remember to check out the sites of the amazing sponsors who made the prizes unbelievable! China Glaze, Nailene, and wowsocool.com!! I am so happy to be able to have prizes from companies whose products I use myself and recommend to you.

GRAND PRIZE:
Full set (12) of China Glaze Up & Away Collection
Full set (6) of China Glaze Khrome Collection
$50 Gift Certificate to WowSoCool.com (not pictured)
China Glaze Ink Nail Decals
Nailene French Manicure Tip Pen
Body by Brigitte Body Wax Kit
Nail Art Carousel
Loose Glitter in Emerald
Package of gold metal studs
Package of square gold glitter

1st Runner Up :
China Glaze Spontaneous
China Glaze Code Orange
China Glaze Passion
China Glaze Ink Decals
China Glaze No-Chip Topcoat
China Glaze Calcium Gel Fortifier
Nailene So Real and Couture Nails
Gold striping tape
Loose Glitter in Multi Color
Assorted rhinestones
Assorted decals by That's It? and Nailene
Gold Nuggeting Foil
Body by Brigitte Body Wax Kit

2nd Runner Up:
China Glaze It's Poppin'
China Glaze Ravishing, Dahling
China Glaze Platinum Pearl
China Glaze Ridge Filler
China Glaze Non-Yellowing Topcoat
China Glaze Ink Decals
Nailene So Natural Nails
Decals by Thats It?
Assorted Laser Striping
Emerald Rhinestones
Body By Brigitte Body Wax Kit

Houndstooth Konad Manicure with China Glaze Recycle and Millennium

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 16:00:32 EDT

China Glaze Millennium is the absolute BEST silver polish to use for Konad, in my humble opinion. While the China Glaze Romantiques frosty finish is amazing for Konad, the two polishes I've got out of the Khromes collection are even better. They cure without a brush-mark to be seen and are highly reflective. When used as a stamp, they make such a crisp and dramatic line. I applied the houndstooth pattern from Konad plate m63 using Millennium over China Glaze Recycle, which is a slightly warm-toned grey. In most lights there wasn't much contrast, but in indoor low lighting the silver design was very prominent. While outside, the grey base appears a bit lighter and the only real contrast is in the finishes.

Click for more photos!

OPI Designer Series Exclusive Nail Polish

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 14:00:51 EDT

DS Exclusive is a highly holographic polish with a magenta base color in the same family as DS Extravagance, but a little more vibrant and slightly more sheer. This is one of my favorite OPI Designer Series polishes, and I got in the mood to swatch this because I'm on vacation in Clearwater, Florida, and the first time I came here I wore Exclusive. It brings back such awesome memories. There's not much to say other than what I already have and that it's got a super vibrant and holo-ey :D

Click for a couple more pics

OPI Designer Series Amethyst Nail Polish

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 12:00:11 EDT

OPI DS Amethyst is really more of a lilac. It would fit in perfectly this Spring with all the lovely lilacs we've seen by everyone from OPI and Essie to China Glaze to Essence. The best thing about this polish is that unless you're in bright light and looking right at it, this polish is super work-friendly. It's a very neutral shade and the holographic shimmer is very delicate and understated. I don't know if this is still available, but it's worth a treasure hunt if you can find it for sale in a salon or beauty supply. It applies beautifully in two coats, which is rare in the world of holographic polishes.

Ruby Kisses Khaki Nail Color

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 10:00:29 EDT

You know, I can't really say where to find these. Perhaps eBay? The only Ruby Kisses polishes I've ever gotten were in swaps or gifts, so I don't know. I think they're random salon and/or beauty supply store finds. I've never seen them for sale in person, but the RK polishes I have are some of the most unique colors and finishes I've seen in a brand. It's a shame they're not easier to find. If you have any tips on finding them, and you don't mind sharing the info, I'd love to know!

Anyway, Khaki is actually a deep olive green. It's shimmer finish is ever-so-subtle in all but the brightest of lights. It appears most times like an almost creamy deep army drab green. In bright lights the golden-olive shimmer comes through and it's unbelievably gorgeous. I'm not sure this flatters my skintone, but I love it. It's such an interesting and beautiful color and it actually applies wonderfully for a little-known and HTF brand!

Click for more photos!

New York Summer Poppies Nail Color - Plus an OPI Black Magic Mountain Comparison

beautopia — Mon, 29 Mar 2010 08:00:52 EDT

New York Summer nail polish in Poppies is such a pretty shade to only cost $1.60. The subtly shimmery gorgeousness of this velvety plum feels a bit more expensive. The application and appearance make this such an amazing buy. The photo above is Poppies on all fingers. While I was putting on the first coat, I was reminded of OPI Black Magic Mountain; the same subtle ribbon-candy shimmer and deep cherry-plum shade rang a bell, but as you can see it's a bit darker and more red than BMM. Plus it's got a nicer texture! WTF who said that?

Click to see the Poppies and BMM comparison

Silver Lining - Blue Holographic and Silver Chrome Konad Manicure with China Glaze

beautopia — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 19:52:22 EDT

For vacation, I had originally recreated the French mani with pink and white hibiscus flowers that I did earlier this month , but in the cleaning frenzy that usually leads up to a vacation for me, I totally ruined them :( So I decided to do something more travel-friendly, and more, well... me! So I took China Glaze 2NITE from the OMG collection and used Konad plate m79 to stamp metallic silver China Glaze Millennium clouds over it. The result of the chrome on holo is amazing in person. The silver clouds seem to be 3D. The almost float on the blue holographic background and as I move my hands the clouds seem sort of like they're moving against the background.

Click for another photo

China Glaze Octa-Gone Wild

beautopia — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 17:49:07 EDT

China Glaze Octa-Gone Wild is from the now discontinued (CRY!) Kaleidoscopes collection. Some of these are still available on the sites of the distributors, like transdesign, 8ty8beauty, and head2toebeauty, but I don't know which site has which right now, so don't quote me. The weird thing about these polishes is that the holographic pieces of whatever the shimmer is made of is huge and the shapes are seemingly random. I wish I had a microscope but I think I'd feel mildly ridiculous analyzing nail polish with one. Don't act like you don't want one for the same reason. Wait. It's just me? Dernit.

I loved Octa-Gone Wild because of the soft purple color to it. It's not over the top, it's just right. It's beautiful when layered as well! I remember when these first came out. Up till then the OPI Designer Series original launch were about the only holo game in town and I counted down the hours till the Kaleidoscopes arrived then proceeded to buy almost every one. It was a field day on the Makeup Alley nail board when these things arrived. If you were there, you're probably nostalgic about it. China Glaze made dreams come true.

Shimmery Taupe.... Nail Polishes?

beautopia — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 15:32:13 EDT

Rimmel Night Life

Everyone is into taupe polishes lately, but they're mostly cremes. Chanel Particuliere, anyone? And lots of us love shimmery taupe shadow (maybe not as much as the girls at Pink Sith), so I wanted to share my two favorite shimmery taupe polishes. I think they may be my only shimmery taupe polishes, but whatever. Work with me here.

Rimmel Night Life is part of the now discontinued line of Underground polishes by Rimmel. Some of these shades have a new formula incarnation within the Rimmel brand, but I'm not sure if Night Life is one of them. I do hope so. It's a beautiful cool creamy taupe with a unexpected fiery shimmer. The application on this one is great, two coat perfection.

Another favorite of mine is another discontinued beauty, MAC Toast of the Town from the Barbie collection a couple years ago. It's taupe with green shimmer and a strong rose flash. Very unique and much prettier than it sounds. This one is super HTF, I'm sorry about that, but it's so worth the wild goose chase! I don't say that about a lot of d/s polishes, but this one is a must have if you can find it. If you like this, you might also like OPI Have You Seen My Limo which is a darker, cooler cousin of this one. HYSML is a cool midtone brown-grey-plum combination with minty shimmer and a rose flash. It's an HG of mine, I'll have to swatch it for you guys soon.

MAC Toast of the Town

Click for a zillion more photos

OPI Designer Series Extravagance Nail Polish

beautopia — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:59:48 EDT

This is another "holo interrupted" polish from the OPI Designer Series like Fantasy and Diamond, which I showed you recently. You'd feel gypped by the lack of strong holo if only the almost textured shimmer weren't otherwise making you drool. The color is basically like a magenta. If you're familiar with OPI DS Exclusive, it's a bit darker and more opaque than Exclusive. This applies like the other DS polishes; immaculately. If you like the OPI DS polishes Extravagance, Diamond and Fantasy I highly recommend you try Color Club Wild at Heart which has that same "almost holo" feel to it.

Click for another photo