Fish Scales Manicure

I hope you had a great Christmas and a very happy New Years! I can't believe that it's already 2014.... I have so much happening for me this year from graduation to starting college to trying to be a better blogger, I have a feeling that 2014 is going to be an incredible year!

By the way, I've really enjoyed seeing all of the "Top ____ of 2013" 's that I've seen from other nail bloggers. It's so interesting to see how different everyone's favorite polishes were for 2013. To each their own, I guess. You should check some out if you haven't already!

Today I have a fish scale manicure to show you, that I modeled off of Julie's design on her blog Tales of Knit and Nails.

Polishes Used:
Orly Angel Rain
Sinful Colors Whipped 

Julie did hers by using a stamping plate, and since I don't own any stamping plates I had to do it free hand. Which explains how the lines in hers came out so nice and thin whereas mine's a little thicker. I should really invest in some stamping plates (I've always wanted to try them) and some more nail art supplies for this year...but my fish scales design looks pretty good for not having used a stamping plate if I do say so myself! I just wish I could have made the lines a little thinner. One of my New Year's Resolutions is to get better at nail art...which means practice, practice, and more practice! ;)

Anyway, I hope you enjoy the rest of New Years Day today! I wish you all the best for 2014!

-Colleen

Golden Leopard Print

Hey nail enthusiasts!

I hope the beginning of your week has been off to a good start! Today I have for you a golden leopard print design, modeled off of Emily's manicure on her blog Very Emily.

Here it is:

I have to say, I really like the stunning gold behind the leopard print! Sorry the last picture looks like my hand is claw, lol. I just wanted to show you the thumb too, so you can see the whole mani.

The polishes I used were:
Sinful Colors Strapped (grassy green)
Sinful Colors Black on Black
& a shimmery gold polish by Charlotte Russe

The Sinful Colors Strapped polish is from the Sinful Colors Leather Luxe Collection, which I will be swatching by the end of the week. I won 5 of the polishes in the collection from Tabitha's giveaway over at her blog Lacque Enthusiasm, and I can't wait to show them to you!

-Colleen

Zebra Dress-inspired Mani

Hey all! Happy Manicure Monday!

I have another object-inspired mani for you! Today I started cleaning/unpacking things from this past school year (yes, I never got around to doing that all summer lol), and I started going through my closet. After cleaning things up off the floor of the closet (where I tend to stash stuff when I "clean my room") I found my old Christmas dress from two years ago, one with zebra print on top and a purple stripe in the middle. I didn't even think I still had it. Anyway, I thought it might be a cool thing to model my mani after!

Here it is (by the way, the L.A girl polish is Violet purple, not the indigo color it looks like in the picture):

Oh, and here is the dress it was modeled after. I'm sorry the picture is so awful (I had no good natural light since it has been cloudy out all day today), but just know that the stripe/ribbon right below the zebra print top part of the dress is a Violet color, not the indigo it looks like in the picture.

Overall, I think the mani turned out okay....I think next time if I were to ever repeat this mani, I would use a lighter color (maybe red or coral?) that wouldn't blend in with the black as much. Anyway, the polishes I used were Sinful Colors Black on Black, L.A. Girl Hustle (purple), and L.A. Girl Disco Ball (white).

Hope you like it! Have a great rest of the evening!

-Colleen

Purse-Inspired Mani

Hey everyone!

Today I have for you a mani inspired by one of my purses! It's a Betsy Johnson purse, with a mix of leopard print and roses. Here's a pic of the pattern:

I thought it was really cute when I got it, so I thought doing a manicure off of it would be pretty cool!

Here's my mani:

I thought it tuned out pretty cool! Actually, I think it's my best mani yet :)

For the gray base color, I used a sparkly gray from Sephora by OPI, which was from the 2012 Holiday Collection. For the light maroon color used for the leopard print, I used another Sephora by OPI polish, again from the 2012 Holiday Collection. For the black, I used Sinful Colors Black On Black. The two pink colors used in the roses were Sally Hansen Ruby Sequin and a hot pink by Delia's; and the green used was Essie The More The Merrier.

I hope you guys like the mani! If anyone would like a tutorial posted, please let me know via the comments or by email (see the contact me tab)!

Have a fabulous rest of the day,

-Colleen

Turtle Shell Nails

Well, Happy Saturday everyone!

It's finally a gorgeous day in the Chicagoland area today. 75 degrees and not a cloud in the sky :)

Anyway, today I have for you a design that has been at the top of my Nail Design Bucket List: Turtle Shell Nails! Overall, I think it turned out pretty good. Here it is:

I love the pear-green color with the coral!! For something a little different, here's a picture of it with a ring (which looks almost like a turtle shell to me):

 For this mani, I started out with 2 coats of Essie The More The Merrier (the pear-green color) on all fingers except my ring finger. For the coral base color on my ring finger, I used 2 coats of Delia's Coral Cascade. Then, to get the turtle shell pattern, I used a gray color with shiny silver undertones from Sephora by OPI Holiday 2012 Mini Collection (I threw out the box which had the names on it, sorry) for the turtle shell print on the nails that had green on them, and used another glittery gold polish from Sephora by OPI Holiday 2012 Collection (Which again I don't know the name for) for the turtle shell print on the coral-colored nail. To make the turtle shell print, all I did was take a tooth pick and draw a small hexagon on the nail, and continue drawing hexagons connecting to the first hexagon. For a better turtle shell print, make sure to draw that first hexagon in a different place on each of the nails. I hope that all made sense....

That's all for today....hope you have a great rest of the weekend!!

-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