Dream It Up Nails joined the Her Campus Blogger Network!

Happy Friday all!

You may have noticed that I now have a Her Campus Blogger Network button on my blog's sidebar, and that's because I've joined the Her Campus Blogger Network!

The Her Campus Blogger Network (also known as HCBN) is a network of blogs written by young women on a variety of topics. Some of these topics include: Fashion, Beauty, Career, DIY, Entertainment, Family, Food/Cooking, Greek Life, Health/Fitness, Lifestyle, travel, and more! I'm listed under the beauty section.

You can also feel free to apply to be a part of HCBN! Click here to be directed to the HCBN page with the blogger application link! You can also just click on the Her Campus button located on my sidebar to be linked to this page. Joining HCBN is a great opportunity for bloggers to form a community and share ideas and inspiration with one another across a multitude of topics. There is also editorial and sponsorship opportunities available from Her Campus and their partners.

And, if you are a brand looking to showcase your product, you're in luck! HCBN also provides brands with the chance to reach 400+ digital influencers and their audiences through product distribution and sponsored posts. For more info on this, just click the HCBN link!

I hope you think about joining in!

Colleen

China Glaze City Flourish Collection: Metro Pollen-Tin and What A Pansy Swatches & Review

Happy Monday!

I have a couple more China Glaze polishes to share with you today: Metro Pollen-Tin and What A Pansy from the China Glaze Spring 2014 City Flourish Collection! After seeing some of the promos, I wanted to get a couple more other than the polishes I'll be showing you today, but unfortunately they were fresh out of most of the polishes from this collection at Ulta.

Anyway, on to the swatches:

First up is Metro Pollen-Tin.

Metro Pollen-Tin is a very pretty marigold creme (a yellow color with a slight orange undertone). I wasn't very happy with this formula because it ended up being very thin and streaky. So in order to even everything out, and since this polish dried really quickly with a satin finish, I used a top coat over it. It's not that I minded the satin finish, it's just that I really think the top coat evened it out better and really brought out the marigold color. Shown in the pictures below is 3 coats (2 thin coats, and 1 rather thick coat).

It's really a shame that the formula wasn't so good because the color is really pretty!

To end on a better note, the next polish is What A Pansy. 

What A Pansy is a beautiful purple-toned periwinkle creme. It's gorgeous! And thankfully, the formula was fine for this one! I used 2 coats for the pictures below.

The top picture is what it looks like in indirect light, and the bottom picture is in direct light. As you can see, the direct light makes the purple-tones look a little lighter.

I find it interesting how different formulas can be for polishes even in the same collection! Although I was a little disappointed with Metro Pollen-Tin, I love What A Pansy! Do you have any favorites from this collection?

-Colleen

Seahorsin' Around from China Glaze Sea Goddess Collection Swatches & Review

Hey polishers!

Long time no blog! I guess I just let pretty much all of February get by me without doing very much posting... :(

But on the bright side, I have an awesome polish to swatch for you today! It's called Seahorsin' Around from the new China Glaze Sea Goddess Collection!

Seahorsin' Around is a turquoise metallic texture polish with a gold shimmer. Personally I think this polish looks like it has a silver shimmer, but in China Glaze's description of it they say "Splash around in this mermaid-tail turquoise with soft gold shimmer." But either way this polish is definitely a beauty! I didn't have any problems with the formula and I used 2 coats for the pictures below.

The following two pictures are of Seahorsin' Around with a top coat. I love, love, love this polish! The turquoise color of it reminds me of the ocean and summer!

I had never used a textured polish before and I didn't think I would like it because I normally like having smooth nails, but I ended up liking the textured finish of this polish. I really wish I would have bought a couple more from this collection! (I probably still will lol)

I hope you have a great rest of the day and a good start to your week!

-Colleen

Sally Hansen Triple Shine Vanity Flare Swatch & Review

Hi again! I hope you're having a great Sunday!

I just posted my monthly review post of January, so if you haven't seen it check it out here. Basically it just talks about what I posted about in January and outlines what's coming up next on the blog in February!

Today I have a swatch of a polish from the Sally Hansen Triple Shine Collection called Vanity Flare.

Vanity Flare is a purple creme polish. Although it's not the most original of purples, it's definitely a polish that I'll be reaching for to use with nail art designs and just to wear plain! It had a nice formula and went on smoothly in two coats.

And I have to say, Sally Hansen definitely didn't lie when they labeled this polish line as "Triple Shine." Vanity Flare is very shiny without a top coat, which you will see in the pictures below.

I added this picture below to show you that this polish comes with a cap on top of a cap. I thought it was kind of nifty. :)

And because Valentine's Day is just around the corner, I thought I'd add a little heart accented nail. I know they're not really Valentine's Day colors, but I thought the mint color looked pretty on top of the purple. The mint polish I used was Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet from their Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear line.

Do you have any polishes from the Triple Shine Collection? Are there any that you really liked? After seeing some pictures of some of the glitters in Triple Shine Collection, I might have to pick up a couple more! :)

Have a great rest of the day! I can't wait to watch the Super Bowl!

-Colleen

Dream It Up Nails: January 2014 in Review

Hey everyone! And happy February!

I’ve decided to start doing monthly blog reviews compiled of everything I do each month, so that hopefully they will inspire me to post more frequently than I have been. Because if I do more posting, then I’ll have more to talk about during the monthly reviews. :)

So let’s talk January.

I didn’t get to post as often as I had wanted (or had outlined in my New Years resolutions) due to finals and starting a new semester and what not. But I still posted more in January than I had in December, so I am improving!

Here’s a collage of what I’ve done in January:

Blog Posts In January:
-Fish Scales Manicure
-Flower Penguin Nails
-Gwen Stefani for OPI Collection Swatches: Hey Baby & Love.Angel.Music.Baby
-Pink/Gold Chevron Tips
-Swatch Time: Zoya Erika + Floral Design

In January I did a few nail art designs and swatched my two picks from the Gwen Stefani for OPI Collection (that I was very excited about, I might add). If you want to see the actual post for any of the posts I did in January, check out the links above. I think my favorite was the Flower Penguin design, the one modeled off of my penguin figurine.

Coming up in February, I have more swatches coming your way as well as some more item-inspired nail design posts (for example, I'm planning to have a "Mug"spiration week where I do coffee mug inspired nail designs...I mean, who knew you could get so much nail inspiration from a coffee mugs??).

I hope you stay tuned! :)

-Colleen