This design was from last month before the move that destroyed my nails. Grrrrrr. I think that I'm going to try to get them back to this shape and length, but due to a few splits, it may take me a while. Oh well, it was nice while it lasted! Anyhow, this design was based on an editorial nail I saw in Nail Pro Magazine, and it was by CND. I added and embellished a little more and changed the colors, but the design reminded me of a rising sun, so I went with it.
Owing largely to the fact that I've been utterly distracted from my nails for the last month, I completely missed that Essie had a new collection of chrome-finish polishes out and only when I saw them hiding on a back shelf near the lotions did I finally realize! There are five colors, I believe. Or at least there were five colors available when I found these. In this collection you'll find a silver, a gold, a steely blue, a rose, and this bright brushed-copper shade. I passed on all but Penny Talk mainly because I already have China Glaze Millenium and 2030 which are spectacular silver and gold chromes respectively. I also passed on the blue and the rose because I have other similar China Glaze polishes from the Romantique collection. That left this copper, and while I've already got a copper chrome, CND Copper Chrome, this is very different and even more beautiful in my opinion.
While CND Copper Chrome is very metallic as well, it's a lot more warm and orangey whereas the more rosy Penny Talk is like a bright, newly-minted penny, or the glowing brushed copper of a new copper-bottom pot. You need to be careful to avoid brushstrokes in the finish, but as long as it's applied evenly and vertically, and as long as you give the first coat a couple minutes to fully dry before applying the second, you'll notice that most of the strokes disappear as the polish dried. Topcoat will make them reappear for a bit until it dries, but then the finish will be extremely metallic. I really recommend this polish. You may take or leave the other four, but this one is a must-see.
I finally got it! Don't ask my why it took me so long, because Wallis has been on my wishlist since the very second it came out, but I bought the flipping polish and I am not disappointed. I won't wax poetic about Wallis, you've heard the praise being sung before, but DAMN! It's is gorgeous. Sephora is finally carrying Butter London and so I really didn't have any reason to delay anymore. This is two coats, and the color is a bright golden olive and the finish is just to-die-for. It's unbelievable. It's like a foil/glass fleck/flat microglitter or something. And it almost appears speckled. Also it basically glows in the sun. Wow.
Long time, no see! I have been away from the site for a little while due to a huge move. We recently relocated to the other side of the city... I honestly think cross-town moves are worse than longer-distance moves... It's sad but true that I've been completely preoccupied with getting the house in order for literally a month. The move absolutely played Hell with my nails, so my almond shape is gone for a little while so that I can grow out a couple breaks I sustained. Ick. I had taken a few photos of polishes and designs while my nails were still in the pointy-ish shape, so I will be posting those later this week, but they're older. Right this second, my poor, beleaguered nails are the short squares you see here... Anyway, on to the post!
From the upcoming On Safari collection from China Glaze is Elephant Walk. This s one of the more interesting shades from the collection in my opinion. It's billed as a grey, with no mention of the gorgeous green leanings it has. I was really pleased with this polish, the color is wonderful and unique, but the formula was great as well; great coverage. There's a bit of colorless ribbon-candy shimmer in there that just gives the polish more depth, you really don't notice it in most lights. The tealy-green tint makes this polish really special. It's similar to Essie Sew Psyched down to even the shimmer, but it's cooler than SP. It's almost like China Glaze Recycle and Essie School of Hard Rocks had a baby, but with some shimmer. As a bonus, it also matches one of my favorite handbags; my Hayden-Harnett Lorca in a color called Zeus, which is a green tinged stormy grey! I was wearing Elephant Walk this past week and I was thinking what a cool color it was and how I'd love to have a top or a bag that color and I realized I did! Very serendipitous and I can't wait to wear them together this Fall!
I was so excited about this release because the blue known as International Klein Blue is my favorite color. Since it's such a rare and distinctive color, I decided to splurge. I only have three or four RBL polishes and like with Chanel, I only buy the ones I find to be unique enough to add to my inventory. I was a little sad about this one.
First off, the color lacks the gorgeous glow of IKB, it's positively dull. Secondly, it's a lot more purple than IKB. I can understand it's hard to make a polish that exact color, as it's so complex, but the promotional bottle pics all made it look exactly IKB. My photo makes it seem a little brighter than it was in person due to the flash. Regardless, it's still a very pretty color and I'd have been willing to forgive it for it's very un-IKB-ness except that applying this polish is like trying to spread craft paste on with a popsicle stick in a room with a high-velocity fan blowing directly at you. I've used literally a couple thousand different polishes in my life and I was just horrified by this. I love my other RBL polishes, but this one is a stinker. I saw at least one pre-release review that shouted that this polish was "self-leveling" and although I've met precious few polishes that DO NOT self-level, I'll be damned if this one DID NOT for me. The finish is plasticky, and the polish that inevitably dries around the neck of the bottle turned into a flaky, cheap plastic-like mess.
I hate to give such a negative review, especially for a product by a brand that I admire so much, but I intensely disliked this polish and want to put this out there for anyone debating what to do with that $27.50 ($20 plus $7.50 in shipping) burning a hole in their pocket. I heard that the early ones that shipped to people for reviews had the same sort of symptoms that I'm experiencing, but that they would be addressed, but unless I got one of the original formula, the issues were not addressed, so caveat emptor my friends.
OPI's new The Amazing Spiderman collection is about to be released in store and there has been a lot of noise about this polish. Not only because it's a pretty rad multi-chrome, but because it's a Chanel Peridot (see my Peridot review here) dupe. With Chanel polishes now fairly assaulting wallets at a price of $26, it's nice to see a less expensive alternative to a popular shade. I've got several photos of OPI JSTL, and then below I have a couple comparison photos.
As far as this polish, It's pretty much a dead-on dupe of Peridot. It's somewhat sheer, but with three thin coats you get full coverage. The color in most lights is pre-dominantly an amber gold with a seafoam green and light turquoise showing up from time to time. The wear was pretty average, I tested it for two days and didn't have any tip wear or chipping. It doesn't show stroke lines as much as Peridot, which really didn't have much in the way of stroke lines in the first place; it's just mainly more metallic whereas Peridot does have some foil-like flecks which scatter light a little more. JSTL doesn't really have that and so it has a more linear light reflection.
To celebrate the grand opening of Beautopia Nails' new Etsy shop, I'm doing a giveaway! Two people will each win a set of custom hand-painted nails. The winners can choose any design on my site or in my shop and they'll be made to order. There are a couple ways to win and you can enter daily if you so desire. I'm trying out Rafflecopter for the first time because putting in names in to the randomizer is pretty time consuming. And this way you can enter multiple times without causing me to pull my hair out and wish fervently for death! :D WIN! The contest will start today and will run until Friday, April 27th and the winners will be chosen and contacted the following day. Good luck!!!
Even if you don't win, please check out my shop and if you find something you like, or would like to order a custom set of your own, use the code BEAUTOPIA10 for 10% off your first purchase!
PS: I've never used Rafflecopter before, so if there are any issues, please let me know!!
I know I haven't posted in a few days, but I have a good excuse! I've been working feverishly creating nail sets for my new Etsy shop! I'm so excited and I hope that people actually buy them. It would be a real bummer if they didn't because I feel so proud of the work. I'm really enjoying making the sets. It's a bit of work, and I feel like I've been doing nothing else but I really, really love doing it. I have 15 items already up in the shop, two of which are just custom listings. I am going to give myself a much-deserved night off and go over and have a picnic with my hubby and kiddo at my mom's tonight, though I do plan to give her a mani-pedi. So it's there will still be nails and painting involved, but I will love the instant reward of doing an actual person's nails after a week of painting disembodied plastic.
Also, you may have notice I changed my masthead thingy. I did that to match my new business cards and also the packaging for the nail sets that I have on order. Just doing a little sprucing up around my little piece of the interwebz as I take this little step in another direction. thanks for reading !!!!
As far as I know, this is the first time my name or any part of my body has been in a national magazine, so I had to share. My hand/name is in the May issue of LHJ. A couple months ago I got an email from someone at LHJ asking if they could use one of my photos in a column, and of course I said "totally." Very cool. Nothing huge, just a pic of my hand wearing Esse Mesmerize and a little blurb where I said that to me it's a very nautical feeling color. Plus my name. I didn't recognize all the other names, except for Michele Mismas of All Lacquered Up. It's on page 48 if you've got the issue :)
I liked the other day's watercolor nails a lot, so I used a similar technique for this design. I started out with a nude base color, then used three different polishes to make the "dip-dye" look. I put a dab of each color and used a brush and some acetone to wash it out in a line up the nail. Once I had all the colors in, I used a brush with some black polish to make some random zigzags. I wanted them to be somewhat haphazard, because I wanted it to have a sort of distressed look. It reminds me of this batik sarong I used to have, and I like it!
