Purple Roses

Hey everyone!

I'm so glad that the weekend is finally here! After seeing the lovely purple roses Jayna did on her blog The Sequined Nail, I just HAD to do my take on purple roses. You can see her purple roses on her blog here.

Anyway, here's mine:

For the mint-colored base, I used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, for the light purple in the roses I used Sinful Colors Tempest, for the dark purple I used L.A. Girl Hustle, and for the green leaves I used Essie The More The Merrier. I have to say, I really like these roses against the mint base color.

How I did it:
1. 2 coats of Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet
2. dab on small flower-like splotches of a light purple...to do this I used the end of a bobby pin
3. take either a toothpick or a striper nail brush (I used a toothpick for mine...I personally think that toothpicks are a little easier to control) and outline the light purple splotches with a dark purple polishes
4. take a toothpick or a striper nail brush and draw thin lines within the roses to give it more depth
5. take a either a toothpick or a striper nail brush and draw some thin lines with a green polish for the leaves of the roses.

And there you have it. If anyone wants to do a rose mani like this one with purple or another color (maybe orange or blue?) I would LOVE to see it!!

Have a great rest of the weekend!!

-Colleen
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Basketball Themed Nails

Hello nail enthusiasts!

Today I guess I was feeling a little sporty and decided to do basketball themed nails. I modeled my mani off of Mattania's basketball nails from her blog at qtplace.com . You can find a link to her basketball nails and tutorial for them here.

Here's mine:

I really kind of like how they turned out. I think if I ever do basketball themed nails again, I will actually add a rim to the net like lines. The nail polishes I used were California Colors Pastel Blue, the white was L.A. Girl Disco Ball, the black was Sinful Colors Black on Black, and the orange-y color was Delia's Coral Cascade. To do the lines for the basketball and the nets, I used a striper brush. For the shape of the basketball itself, I just dabbed it on in a circle with the end of a bobby pin.

Hope you like it :)

-Colleen


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Cherry Nails

Happy Monday!

It was back to teaching swim lessons for me today, so that is why I'm posting later in the day than I usually do. I decided on a Cherry Nail design for my mani, since my Mom bought a big bag of plump cherries from the grocery store today that I feasted on after work (YUM!!). So here's my mani:

 I started with two coats of a polish I just bought the other day, Sinful Colors Pinky Glitter, which by the way I LOVE. I'll have to do a swatch on this (even though it's been out for a while). Then for the cherries, all I used was the end of a bobby pin, using Nail-Licious Holly Berry. For the cherry stems I used a small-point dotting tool and used Sinful Colors Black on Black, and used the same dotting tool for the leaves using Essie The More The Merrier.


Overall, I have to say I was rather pleased. You probably can't tell from the pictures (because they are kinda still bad quality, sorry), but the pink sparkly polish was absolutely gorgeous in the sun light! And the best part about it was that the hot pink with the glitter actually showed up on the nail which was a pleasant surprise, since usually tinted glitters never show up as good as they look in the bottle.

Anyway, I hope you have a great rest of the evening!

-Colleen








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Bumble Bee Nails

Happy Sunday, everyone!

I just bought a new yellow polish, Nicole by O.P.I Hit The Lights from the Selena Gomez Collection, and the first thing I thought when I saw it and was that it looked like a bumble bee yellow. My little sister wanted me to paint this design on her, so here it is: (just a note, sorry these pictues aren't the best. I took these pictures at night so I didn't have the natural light in the pictures.)

I have to say, I think the bee on the thumb is kind of cute :) 

For this mani I used two coats of Nicole by O.P.I Hit The Lights from the Selena Gomez Collection for the yellow, Sinful Colors Black on Black, Nail-Licious Holly Berry for the red, and California Colors Pastel Blue for the blue.

Hope you like it!

-Colleen

 * follow me on twitter!! @dreamitupnails *

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Mint Mani For TALIA JOY

Hey, guys.

If you haven't heard already, 13 year-old Talia Joy has been called home to heaven a few days ago from losing her battle with cancer, and many nail bloggers have started giving their tribute to her through mint-colored mani's, the color of her mani before she died.

Although I have only recently discovered Talia, I wanted to make sure I gave my tribute to her as well. Pictured above is my tribute to the wonderful Talia Joy Castellano. Rest in peace, Talia. My thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends.

-Colleen

Zebra Print Nails

Good morning!

As promised, I am going to show you a design I made with Sinful Colors Tempest that I had swatched yesterday. I chose to do Zebra print because I really hadn't done it on the blog yet, so I gave it a try.
Here it is:

I made this design by using 2 coats of Sinful Colors Tempest as the base color. Then, I used Sinful Colors Black on Black for the stripes, using my handy dandy striper brush. By the way, sorry again for the bad lighting. This picture was done at night so I didn't have the natural light I  had wanted.

I hope you like it :)

Have a great rest of the day,

-Colleen

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Leopard Print Mani

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Yesterday I swatched Essie's The More the Merrier, and had said that I would do a nail design using it as a base. Since I haven't shown any leopard print on this blog yet, I thought I would do one for you today.

Here it is:

This mani started out with 2 coats of Essie The More the Merrier as the base color. The black I used for the leopard spots was Sinful Colors Black on Black, and the pink was Love & Beauty Pink/Gold. All I used to make the leopard print spots was the end of a bobby pin, so really, anyone can do this at home. All I did was use the end of a bobby ping to dab on some pink splotches, and then used the same bobby pin to add on some black splotches, lines, and dots around the pink areas. Trust me, the messier it is, the better the leopard print actually looks.

I hope you have a great rest of your weekend!

-Colleen

PIG Mani

Hello again, nail enthusiasts!

I’ve got yet another manicure for you today!! My little sister’s favorite animal is a pig (I don’t know why, I guess it just is), and she wanted to have a pig-themed manicure.

Sooooooo….I modeled her manicure off of Rina Alcantara’s “Three little pigs” mani on her blog, Simply Rins (you can check hers out here). Mine probably looks a little more cartoon-y.

Main Colors: For the thumb, pinky, ears, and main part of the pig’s snout, I used Love & Beauty Pink/Gold (it’s a lovely pink color with a light gold shimmer that you probably won’t be able to see in the picture). As for the base color of the middle three fingers, I used a pale pink, shimmery polish from True Girlz (it doesn’t have a name).

Subcolors:

Delia’s Coral Cascade, a blue pastel by California Colors, and L.A. Girl Disco Ball

I hoped you like this mani! My sis sure does!

Have a great rest of the day,

Colleen

Polka for Polka dots!

Hello, there!

I actually got a lot of compliments form my family on my polka dots in my 4th of July mani yesterday, so I decided to do more polka dots today in summery colors.

For my white base coat I used L.A. Girl Disco Ball (which was still a pain due to how runny and streaky it is). For the Polka dots, I used Delia's Coral Cascade, and a hot pink and lilac color also by Delia's (these don't have names...I got them a long time ago).

To make to polka dots, all I used was the end points of bobby pin. And just an FYI, the pictures don't really capture the vividness of the colors....they are actually a lot brighter in real life.

I really liked how the polka dots turned out, but as for the zebra print on my thumb, not so much. I think I need to bend the lines a bit more for it to look more realistic. But, hey, I'm learning as I go :)

 I'm going to try to make it to the store today to buy some new nail polish....any suggestions? Anyway, thanks for reading and have a great rest of the day!

-Colleen

USA Independence Day Nails

Happy Independence Day, fellow Americans!

This morning I gave myself a red, white, and blue mani using: L.A. Colors Static Electricity (Blue), Nail-licious Holly Berry (red), L.A. Girl Disco Ball (white), L.A. Girl Celebrate (red, white, and blue glitter on my thumb), and N.Y.C. Starry Night (silver glitter on my pinky and pointer fingers...this is my favorite glitter!!).

Here's my mani:

Side Notes about my mani:
-the white polish I used, L.A. Girl Disco Ball, was a PAIN. It was very streaky and runny, which is weird because my other two L.A. Girl polishes aren't like that at all. I mean, the formula was so bad, that when I started painting my sister's 4th of July nails, in her exact words she said "Ummm, Colleen? It feels like you're pouring milk on my nails." Soooo it looks like I will have to find another white polish.
-The red I used, Nail-licious Holly Berry, was awesome. I literally only used one coat, and it was stunning. You probably can't tell from the picture, but it has a really pretty shimmer in it.
-I used the end of a bobby pin for the polka dots
-please don't judge my ring finger. I messed up, and had already spent so much time on my nails, I reeeeally didn't feel like redoing it.

Peace, love, and FREEDOM,

-Colleen