Beautopia Nails

Rock 'n' Roll Nail Art with CND Shellac

beautopia — Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:39:44 EDT

This is a week old Shellac manicure, so forgive me that it's a little grown out, but it has lasted beautifully except for the fact that I did lose one little metal stud, which you might not even notice. I've been pretty much wearing CND Shellac exclusively as opposed to regular polish for work, so I've been trying to experiment more and more with art using Shellac so I can keep it crazy yet still have it last. For this manicure I went for a Rock motif, using Union Jacks, edgy darker shades and weird eyeballs. The concept wasn't very sharp, but what it lacks in cohesiveness, I think it makes up for in coolness and color. I used several Shellac shades along with CND Additives (pure color pigments), plus some metal studs.

Products used:

CND Shellac in Cream Puff, Black Pool, Wildfire, Purple Purple, Hotski to Tchotchke
CND Additives in Cerulean Blue and Haute Pink
Metal studs from Born Pretty Store

CND Shellac + Additives Red and Purple Gradient

beautopia — Sat, 01 Sep 2012 14:56:09 EDT

Here's a Shellac manicure I did at the salon today on one of my co-workers. I used CND Shellac in Purple Purple and then using CND Additives pigment Powder in Bright Red I made a gradient starting from the cuticle towards the free-edge. We thought this was an awesome end-of-Summer transition look and since the client in this case is a hair stylist, her Shellac'd nails should last more than the usual 24 hours she gets from a manicure. I loved how the red became almost burgundy over the purple and how the creamy red gradually faded into iridescence.

Royal Cabochon Nail Art

beautopia — Tue, 03 Apr 2012 14:13:52 EDT

I'm still in the process of figuring out how to do a gradient to my own satisfaction and it's not turning out like I'd prefer, however I did like the final product that resulted here, even though it's not how I originally pictured it. I think a lot of the reason I liked this despite my technical failure is the color palette. I really loved these colors together. I added some gold to the edge and the result sort of reminded me of a cool cabochon on a vintage cocktail ring or something, hence the name.

Products used:

Sephora by OPI XOX Betsey
Illamasqua Jo'mina
Nails Inc Belgrave Place
Orly Luxe
Seche Vite topcoat

Bright Gradient Zebra Nail Art

beautopia — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 21:03:06 EST

I've been wanting to do a zebra gradient for a while, and I finally gave it a whirl. I used some polishes from the newest OPI and China Glaze polishes together to make a nice rainbow along with a striping brush. with the flash the deliniation between the colors is really obvious, but in most lights and not so close up it looks like a true gradient, which is cool. Very excited to try this with neons and then over black instead of white.

Products used:

China Glaze White on White
China Glaze Purple Panic
OPI A Roll in the Hague
OPI Did It On Em
China Glaze Aquadelic

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