This month's Nail It! magazine had a really cool spread about this color combo; fluorescent pink, cobalt and white, and I was immediately a fan. The pink isn't just any neon pink, it's that light, bright neon Pepto pink that seems pretty hard to find. I used Essie Punchy Pink, which is one of my favorite neons, though between us, it chips like Hell. I used it along with Zoya Purity and Ulta Whatever Floats Your Moat, a cobalt I recently acquired. You could also use something similar like Revlon Royal, OPI Eurso Euro or even a more vibrant shade like Essie Butler Please. Either way, color blocking with these colors just makes it even more eye-catching. I painted the nails white, then added a pink triangle to the moons, then did an angular, exaggerated french with the blue, then one it was pretty dry, I added a white stripe down the center. Pretty simple, but if you're hand-painting maybe a little time consuming. If I did it again, I'd go find those utterly brilliant chevron-shaped french nail guides and use those. Why do these things always occur to me once they're no longer useful? Sigh...
Click to see the inspiration for this manicure...
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!
Products used:
- Sephora by OPI XOX Betsey
- CND Sweet and Anchor Blue
- Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
- Wet n Wild Black Creme
Click for another photo..
The new watercolor trend is so pretty, and I wanted to give it a try since the weather is becoming so beautiful in my region right now. The basic technique is to paint the nails a base color, and then with several colors one after the other you dot a small amount on the nail and sort of blot it out with a larger brush with a little acetone in it. The beauty of this technique is that the less "perfect" it is, the better, so the expertise level on this would probably be at "Novice." I think there are videos on how to do this on YouTube, so search for "Watercolor Nails" and you should find something. The only trick is to use *just* the right amount of acetone to dab the paint around, and not to dab too much or it will get muddy. Paint a few nails white and give it a little practice to see what you come up with. I think it's really pretty, and with just a couple colors blotted on, it would also make a pretty background for other art on top, or even some metal studs.
Products used:
- Sally Hansen Lavender Cloud
- CND Sweet and Anchor Blue
- China Glaze High Hopes
- Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow
Click for more photos...
I recently got a backup bottle of China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, one of my favorite summer polishes of all time, and something weird happened. My new bottle is a lot lighter and less warm in tone than my older bottle. I do love the color of the new bottle too, and I thought it looked awesome next to Aquadelic and Electric Pineapple so I did a springy tribal look.
Products used:
- China Glaze Flip Flop Fantasy, Aquadelic and Electric Pineapple
- Sally Hanson Salon Lavender Cloud
- Wet n Wild Black Creme
- Seche Vite topcoat
CONTEST IS NOW CLOSED!
A few days ago we showed you swatches of the beautiful new OPI Holland Collection, and now here's your chance to win this set of minis featuring four of the colors from the collection! There are a couple simple ways to win, so read on to find out how!
Giveaway is active from the time of posting until Friday, February 17th at midnight. Winner will be notified the following day. This giveaway is open internationally except where prohibited by law or shipping restrictions.
How to win:
You MUST be a follower of Beautopia on OnSugar to win (you can follow by clicking "Start Following This Site" on the widget to the right of this post, directly below the Google+ badge), and do one or both of the following:
1) Comment on THIS post telling us which of the Holland colors you like the most. If you haven't seen them yet, click here to view swatches.
2) You can earn a second entry by tweeting the text below about this giveaway, just be sure to add the tweet link to your comment on this post.
" WIN an OPI Dutch Treats set from @BeautopiaNails! Visit http://tinyurl.com/752y5x8 for more info! "
GOOD LUCK and have a great week!
Edited to add winner.
Nubar has a new collection slated for Spring 2012 called Jellybeans. The name, I'm assuming, is an allusion to the fact that these are pretty much all jellies. The jury is still out on these, I'm a little ticked off at the application of a few of these, but there are a couple that are just drop-dead gorgeous. Some will will be great for "jelly sandwiches," the name for glitter sandwiched between a few coats of a jelly polish. Some of these won't work for that, but will still look gorgeous alone, and a couple are plain weird, one just plain hideous, but all are shiny as hell.
Click for swatches!
China Glaze's new Electro Pop collection is really inspiring. The colors are bright, beautiful and just beg to be used together. I paired up four of them, along with another China Glaze favorite to make this abstract springy floral design.
Electric Beat, a dusky periwinkle, was used as the base, then I used Sweet Hook and Dance Baby to make the flowers. With Gaga for Green and Electric Pineapple from the Island Escape collection for the leaves. Then I used a black striping polish to do really unstructured outlines to just suggest the form of the flowers and leaves. Without the black it literally just looks like blobs of color, and the black just made it pop.
Click for more photos!
It's snowing here right now. Yeah. I love snow, in theory, especially on a weekend, but for some reason I'm not jumping for joy as per usual. Maybe it's just that I'm busy, or maybe that the sparkling and magical juvenile glee at the prospect of a snow day is somewhat less appealing when one is the parent and no longer the child. But if I'm being completely frank, I'll tell you I think it's because I broke a damn nail. Yes, just one. But you know that deep down all of you can identify with my horror, my dejected and grudging acceptance of a broken nail; a lost friend. I momentarily considered applying a tip, overlaying it with a thin, harmless little layer of acrylic, but after getting out my powders and liquids, and brushes and all the other trappings of my nemesis, I chickened out and packed up and hid all the acrylic accoutrement back in the far reaches of my closet so I wouldn't be tempted. Instead, I embraced the break this time. My index finger nail had popped off at the free edge, leaving me little choice but to yell "TIMBER!" and take the rest of the girls down. It was actually liberating, and as pudgy and stumpy as my fingers look now, I am enjoying that liberation.
I can type, text and apply eyeshadow primer without a care right now. YAY! I can also apply layers and layers of gaudy, and obnoxious color combinations and designs with reckless abandon, because let's face it, nubbins always look so adorable with an intricate design. So here is a random abstract floral number using shades like China Glaze Electric Beat, Flip Flop Fantasy, Gaga for Green, and Dance Baby and OPI Did It On 'Em all on a base of white.
Click for more pics....
