Hello All~!! I'm Back~!!!!

Yes I know I've been gone way to long, but sometimes day to day gets busy, complicated and draining I am sure all of you can relate! ;) But I will have new art shortly! Also I need to update my giveaways section so if your having a giveaway please leave me a comment with your site info so I can add it!! Also I've been working with gel for my nails since back in July I cut them all down to nubs for my gardening which was a success!! And I did do one project a gel stiletto, I will try to get a pic up or you to see and you can give me your comments on it. :) That is it for now till I get a couple of tasks done (fixing light-box)  and starting my fill and nail art project! YAY. *hugs and thanks for visiting* :D

A brief update.

I'm so sorry I haven't posted recently, but this heatwave is unbearable. I have zero creativity right now  and I cut all my nails off. They kept breaking and I was tired of repairing. :( So I will try to take a picture of my current nails, nothing exciting though. I Purchased Harmony's Gelish to try out, so far I like it. But the color I picked is not a good base color although it is pretty!! It is thicker than Shellac gel polish but I read that its better for longer nails. Shellac did not give me the added strength when my nails grew, and thats why I decided to try the Gelish. I read the heatwave should be coming to an end soon, I can't wait!!! Thank you for all your comments and a shout out to all my new followers! *hugs* :D

KittyVixen85 Shares Awards With Me~!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yes thats right KittyVixen85 has awarded Nail Utopia four thats right 4 awards YAY!!

So if you don't know who KittyVixin85 is well make sure to check out her blog!

Thank you Kitty~!!

Whew so many awards!!!

On to the rules.... rules rules rules :P

1. Thank the person that gave you the awards, and link back to them. (did that :P)
2. Post seven things about yourself. (ugh really?)
3. Pass the love to 15 bloggers. (well ofc thats easy!)
4. Let them know they've received the awards!(okie dokie)

1. I am a HUGE Anime fan, Bleach being my favorite!!!
2.  I'm also a gamer (wow, rift, eq2, and so on) =x

3. I started a garden this year and have 7 tomato plants but no tomatoes yet! :(
4.I love foreign movies.
5. I love Hello Kitty :D
6. I love to read.
7. Can read a book in one day. =x

Now the FUN PART!!!

The 15 Bloggers I want to pass this onto:

1. Kayley's Nail Art
2. Groupie Glam
3. Naomi's Nail Art
4. yasmin @ohwhatfun
5. Men and Nail Polish (he has such cute toes!)
6. Blingernails
7. La Bella Vita
8. Liquid Jelly
9. Lindchensworld
10. Lenae Nails
11.nails by kate vergara

12. wendy @gussied

13. Naktsmeita

14. fablaiciousnails

15. Color Me Pretty

Please take a look at these lovely bloggers!! They deserve it!! Thank you again Kitty. :)

*Super Duper HUGS to all bloggies and followers*

4th of July Water Marble~!!!

Yes its been a while, but here I am with 4th of July inspired water marble!! :D It's a little early but I was thinking of maybe doing some other designs for the 4th as well. And I would have like to have taken more pictures but I cracked a nail playing with my dog LOL! So I am thinking of cutting my nails down soon. This is my forth crack/break between both hands, and I am getting slightly annoyed LOL!! Also I want to mention that Shellac does not give longer nails the added support it does with shorter nails. So I will be trying Gelish out soon to see if it gives longer nails that little bit of extra toughness. :D  And a quick shout out to Minni, just cause that girl is so damn awesome at 3D Nail Art! I love all kinds of nail art and I want to do them all,  and sometimes I get so distracted I forget my own nails!! >_<  So forgive me please for taking longer than usual to post!!! =x

Now on to the pictures~!!!

A little side note I can't believe I only own 3!!! red polishes how can that be I have no idea LOL!! And 2 of them are essie Ruby Slippers and FC (femme couture) Ruby Slippers from Sallys. LOL and yes they look almost identical, except the FC one is easier to water marble with hehe. 

SO polishes used:

FC (femme couture) -  Ruby Slippers

Sally Hansen - Blue It

Sally Hansen - Lavender Cloud

Top Coat - Seche Ultra - V

(UV activated top coat)

which smeared my water marble ARG!!!!!!!

Yes I know Lavendar Cloud is not a true white but to be honest I was to lazy to take my butt to the store for a different one >_<

Please let me know what you think, would love your thoughts!!! :D

X&D Lizard Shatter Crackle .... Yummy crackle shatter goodness~!!

 A little different post today about this Shatter/Crackle polish I purchased on ebay. The seller is everbella and they have 30 different color shatter/crackle polishes. Now before I show my swatches I made I will tell you a little about the polish. 

Its not clumpy at all, in fact it has a thin consistency, which makes it easier to work with. You can make little tiny cracks or huge shatter type effects, also you can go over the areas that already have the polish on it. You don't have to worry about it not cracking if you get polish on it, you can add to it to make bigger cracks. I personally think its great, after trying the Sally Hansen overcoat crackles I hesitated trying any other crackles. But I decided to give this one a try since I couldn't find any swatches online. The color I picked is BH-14 its a dark green and it has shimmer!!! I made three samples showing different color combinations and strokes. I did not put it on my nails because I have China Glaze Awaken which is a dark silvery color, and knew it would not show up well. :(  

The polish came with a base color which is picked randomly I think, the color  is a light shimmery green very pretty has no name but a number 05 on it and a top coat with a bunny on it!

 This sample I painted at an angle and does not have a top coat.

I painted across on Wet n Wild - Fuchsia Rama polish that had a fade effect on it. Can you see the glitter in the crackle? Love it!

Base is the color that came with it 05 and topcoat.

Base is an orange with only numbers 56 and  Zoya - Gabrielle. This one at the top I used very little polish to create the tiny cracks, then filled up brush to make the bigger cracks down.

So here are the samples I think you can click on them to see it larger. I also recorded some video of painting the orange nail working on editing it now since I recorded in parts since I had to wait for the polish to dry hehe

So what do you think? :)

*Hugs* to everyone that follows my blog or just visits. I appreciate it!  :D

Building, Making & Decorating

Warning pic heavy!!! =x

After I finished my foil nails I decided to work on a couple of projects. Storage for my fast growing nail polish collection and a light box for pictures. First up nail polish storage now I know I don't have as many polishes as some of the nail polish collectors do, but my addiction started around christmas. And I am now the owner of 153 polishes give or take some floating around on my desk hehe. So I looked at IKEA's Helmer and the 3 drawer storage (melmer) at Micheal's and decided on the one at Micheal's because of the additions that I can add around it for other crafty items. :D

And my little diva decorated it for me.

And now for the light box fun!

The tutorial I used to make the light box I will post at the end of this.

 Here's how to make it.

First up a cardboard box I used a 12" x12" x12" box, but you can use a bigger box. I would not go smaller than 12x12x12, tho.

Basically we are gonna cut windows in three sides of the box. 

I used a knife to slice the boxes, but if you have a box cutter that would work to. Try not to cut yourself okay? Don't need any blood in our pretty nail pictures do we? ;)

  For the next step you will need tracing paper, vellum paper or  tissue paper and tape the paper to the sides of the box. This is the paper I bought at Micheal's.

And my light box with the paper taped on! :D

I also cut the top and bottom flap off and left the sides on to help control the lighting.

 

Also for the inside you will want to buy some construction paper to fill up the space (which I forgot to buy).  >_<  and you'll need at least one light source for the outside a bright lamp or work light will work. Also it might help to put the camera on a tripod to keep it still during the exposure.

You could even use the sun, making it come from whatever direction you need by rotating the box.

If you use only one light, the tissue paper acts as a fill reflector all around your subject. If you want to kill the reflection on the darker side, stick a square of black poster board on that side on the inside and also on the top.

When using two light sources, you can change the light intensity by moving one of your lamps further away or closer.

The tutorial I used can be found here :)

My little diva wanted to take pictures first hehe

Shes a natural!!!

Now on to mine~!!

(polishes in picture from left to right Gabrielle, Dovima, Crystal, Edyta, Midori, and Ibiza)

I still have to buy larger size construction paper but for these I borrowed some of her construction paper. After all it was a test to see how my light box worked, so I used my Zoya polishes.  They  finally came in from the recycle event, there was some error or some thingamajig that prevented me getting it sooner *shrugs*. I will make a post about them as soon as I swatch and take more pictures. :D

Well my quest for my light box solved and I have storage for my polishes for now. 

So what do you think?

Foil crackle kinda thing

I was on My Nail Graffiti Blog last week and read how Amber did a Foil crackle tutorial, and I thought it was brilliant!! So I put on my Mad Hatter's Hat and got to work (evil undead cackle) !!!  After playing with Sally Hansen Overcoat Crackles I was so done with them. The only one I kept was Fractured Foil, the other ones I did not like at all (Antiqued Gold, Distressed Denim, Vintage Violet). I tested and tested and retested and thought they were crappy. Fractured Foil was the only one that either did not get clumpy or lumpy, or didn't look like crap or crackled consistently. Enough about those back to Amber's Foil crackle!! Though it did take time to get it right, I was persistent. My left hand looked great before the clear hit it.... and I should have keep reading down the page about fast dry top coats. NO Fast Dry Top Coats with Holographic Foils it will burn the finish off!!! What I did find out that UV gel Top Coat will not burn the foil yay~!!!! Also Amber mentions some regular top coats might work that are not quick dry, you can check out her blog here.
So now my right hand gets the spot light hehehe :D

To get this look I used Sinful - Hotspot
Silver Dots Foil

On my left hand I put on some China Glaze Techno to give it some sparkle but the pictures are meh. So I will keep trying for better pictures. :)

Sally Hansen Crackle

Last night I picked up Sally Hansen Crackle in Antiqued Gold to give it a try. I only have one other crackle and its China Glaze Fault Line so I wanted to compare the two. Well First off I don't know if the glitters are a different texture since I don't have the OPI Silver Shatter. I can say the brush with the Sally Hansen is small and the glitter kinda clumpy sometimes. Trying to figure out the amount to brush on evenly was a challenge. So I guess I need OPI Silver Shatter to compare better  or go get a Sally Hansen non glitter to compare with my China Glaze LOL.

with camera flash

Edit: I forgot to mention the polishes underneath the crackle sorry :(

Left: I sponged Sinful - Hotspot, Forget Now, Rise and Shine, Out of This World
(yes I went on a Sinful spurge) ;x
Middle : Sally Hansen - Twisted Pink
Right: wet n wild - Blue Moon

Would love your comments on Crackles since I do not have much experience with them. :D

Reshaped nails and Iron Butterflies!

Hello all, well I was not happy with how some of my nails were curling in so I decided to reshape them. And some funky nail art for them. :D I couldn't decide what to name the art so I named it after the polish I used hehe it kinda fit so I went with it!

with camera flash

Still working on getting more pictures, I am so picky LOL!!

Polishes used:
Base: Orly - Iron butterfly

Stamping with China Glaze - Millennium

Butterflies with a mix of China Glaze - Millennium & LOL
Top Coat: Poshe
Final touch: China Glaze - Matte Magic

Image Plates used: mash m44 & m21 (I don't know if these are  exact Konad dupes but I think so) ;)

Would love to know what you think about the new nail shape and nail art :D

Blue and Gold Water Marble

Call me crazy but I attempted to water marble essie - smooth sailing. Which I can honestly say I wont do again unless I am completely bored and feel like a challenge hehe. So without further delay here are some pictures. And yes I cut my nails down, so I could do some gardening without breaking them all LOL!

These are from outside to get the shiny glitter of course, must show glitter!!! I think they came out alright, used a lot of the essie polish to get both hands done. So what do you think?

Polishes used: essie smooth sailing & Milani - Gold Lame

I am thinking about a light box, I have read some blogs that use them, but I know nothing about them. I also found links to making them yourself, so my fellow bloggies I need your help and info on them. Is it better to buy or do the DIY ones work just as well? And do you take the pictures from the front or have a cut out on top and take the pictures from the top? Would love all input on this!! 

Thanks so much and Happy Polishing :D

A Wonderful Surprise!!!!

I woke up and found a nice surprise I was given an AWARD!!!!  I was given the Liebster Award!!!

From Minnie thats so sweet of her, Thank You Minnie HUGE HUGS!!!!

The Liebster Award is designed to be awarded to blogs 

with less than 300 subscribers to spread the blog love 

and get them out to a wider audience.

 The Rules are:

1. Post displaying the award, 

linking back to the person who awarded you.

2. Pick 3 blogs and let them know they're awarded.

  I picked these 3 awesome bloggers!!

Queen of Friggen Crap 

Brilliantly Polished Art 

karamellilunta

Congratulations~!!!!! 

Hope all the Mommies out there had a Great Mothers Day! :D

My Lil Budding Nail Artist!

My little Diva who is 5 years old wanted to design nails like mommy how could I resist! These are the ones shes finished so far. I painted the background on the first one I was planning on using it to practice some designs, but she swiped it for her own design LOL. Lets see if you can figure out what the second nail is! hehe

Its rain following on a tree!

Hope you enjoy these as much as I do.

Butterflies!!

Even though its been raining here every day I keep thinking spring designs LOL!! And I don't know if I would wear this color again it kinda worked for this design. But I was wanting to pull out my hair when I put the Top-Coat on and it smeared!!!!!!!!! I've used Seche Vite in the past I remember that smeared to so I used a different one this time Out The Door top-coat but it smeared to!!! :(  So here are my butterflies hope you like. I didn't take many pictures cause I wasn't happy about the smears.

The base polish color is Essie - Sand Tropez

for stamping I used a mixture of colors.

For the flowers I used China Glaze - Solar Power , Konad Special Polish - Pink and Princess Special Polish - Princess Pop Green. I blended them on the image plate and scrapped then stamped. 

For the Butterflies I used China Glaze - Hyper Haute, High Def, LOL also Konad Princess Special Polish - Princess Light Grey & Princess Pop Green. 

Image plates used: mash m20, m78, m21

Plate B16 (I don't remember how I got sorry)

Sorry bout my awful looking dry hands and cuticle. =x

If you would like I can post pictures of the image plates used just ask. :)

I did take photos of when I put on Hard Candy matte-ly in love I will post them soon. If you would like to see me do or try to do hehe a certain design  let me know!!! :D

Nothing going right ....

Rant post.......... Ever have one of those days or few days where nothing is working right LOL. Or so undecided cant make up my mind. I was debating another water marble or to do some konad stamping, since I haven't done much since Valentines mani  and I got the mash set I finally decided to do konad stamping.  So then I started out with Wet n Wild -Gray's Anatomy and found out it didn't work well for what I wanted to do, polish change time. So then I decide well lets do a spring color and thought well already did baby blue so thats out. 

So then I begin swatching pinks and oranges and I only have 2 oranges  right now I did take advantage of the Zoya earth day promotion since I figured that would be a good time to add Zoya to my nail polish collection since I don't own any and did pick out an orange but they haven't arrived yet. :( 

Then I swatch the 2 oranges I have and decide on Sally Hansen - Sun Kissed its a bright orange and didn't like the application but used it. So I begin picking images and colors and I was going ok until I realized the ones I finished were upside down and that would be a pain to photograph ugh, and the orange was looking to pumpkin'ish. Polish change again and more swatching..... :( And a rude awakening I really need more polishes hahahahahaha. Like a nice neutral color would be nice, but I don't have any. :( So its time to go shopping hehe and see what I can find. Wish me luck!!!! 

And also I would like to say Welcome, Hello and Thanks for becoming a follower!!!If you have anything you would like to see more of don't hesitate to speak up!!!

*Hugs to you all*

edited to make it easier on the eyes hehe

Hello Kitty Bunny Tutorial up!

My first tutorial is up in the tutorials page!!!!! If you have time please take a look and give me your thoughts. Good bad whatever! I can take it!!! hehehe

I added a Poll on to add Twitter to the blog if you get a moment would you take it. :D
EDIT : Poll removed. :P

Thanks
Happy Polishing and Designing~!! :D

Easter Nail Art!!!

Happy Easter Everyone!!!
I''m finally done!! LOL I decided to do fancy eggs and just not any fancy eggs Faberge Eggs!!!!

More pictures on the way.

 with camera flash

Taken outside on a gloomy and rainy day.

I re-did the rose it was bugging me hope you like this one better. :D

The Faberge eggs I used to make my designs are Memories of Azov, Lilly of the Valley, Rose Trellis, Coronation. Think I got a little carried away on gems hehe. So what  do you think? Love, like or hate.....

Polishes used: China Glaze - TTL, GR8, L8R G8R
OPI DS - Original, OPI Jade is the new black
Revlon - Blue Lagoon

I took pictures of the paints that I used and some video when I made Hello Kitty Bunny. The eggs I took some video but haven't check it yet to see if any makes sense hehe, since I screwed up many times and started over many times!!!

Sneak Peak Easter Nail Art .... Staring Hello Kitty Bunny!!!!

Just a quick post of my Hello Kitty Bunny till I finish the rest of the nails hehe.

Nail Polish btw I love this color!!

Revlon - 092 Blue Lagoon

Easter Water Marble FUN!

Yes another water marble... why you ask? Cause its fun to do hehehe and I thought it would be cute. And my nails look like Easter eggs :D

Hope you like :)

Only outside pictures for now the ones I took inside came out blurry. :(

Polishes I used:

Sally Hansen- Bubblegum Pink - Blue Me away - Mellow yellow - Blizzard Blue

I am going to try and do a tutorial but I am still sorting the video I took.  Let me know what you think.

Cherry Blossoms with Matte Top Coat

I was out shopping and I found Hard Candy - Matte-ly in love matte topcoat and decided to try it out on my cherry blossoms before I took it off. I also compared it to the China Glaze Matte top coat - Matte Magic and couldn't tell the difference. China Glaze - Matte Magic I have on my pointer finger and ring finger and Hard Candy - Matte-ly in love on thumb, middle finger and pinky.

So matte top coat on nail art like or not?  

As always happy polishing and fun nail designs~! :-)

Water Marble Nail Art Fun!!!!!

I was on Colette's Blog  My Simple Little Pleasures  and she had pictures of her Easter water marble nail art. They are amazing she is the master of water marbling!!! So I decided to finally give it a shot ... and here is what I came up with.  Thinking of doing the blue and green after my Easter design I like the combination of the colors. Would love to see your thoughts on this. :D

 My first attempts trying out which nail polishes worked together and could be used.

 This is my attempt on my nails.

 Cloudy day so pictures are a little dark.

I had Essie - Turquoise & Caicos painted already on my nails with some lighter mint green sponged and did the marble over it, but I think if I had white base it would have come out much brighter. But not bad for a first try I think. :) I am going to try and redo with white base and see how it comes out since I have a cracked nail I need to repair. :(

Colors used for the marble were

Sally Hansen - Bubblegum Pink
Sally Hansen - Mellow Yellow
Sally Hansen - Blizzard Blue
Sally Hansen - Blue Me  Away