OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go? Swatches & Review...with a little nail art

Hello, everyone!

I'll be swatching OPI Where Did Suzi's Man-go for you today from the OPI Brazil Collection! I actually had this swatch done a couple of weeks ago, I just never made the blog post. So better late than never! :)

Where Did Suzi's Man-go is a beautiful mango-orange creme. This polish is unique in my collection, and I just can't get over how gorgeous this polish is! It will definitely be one of my spring/summer go-to's! The formula was good and I used two coats for the pictures below, but you could probably get away with one!

After I bought this polish, I had set it down on my desk next to a couple of my other polishes. When I was about to swatch it, I saw I had put it down on my desk next to China Glaze Seahorsin' Around, and immediately thought that they would look good together, so I had to do a little nail art with them. Although I just decided to do some slanted tips, I think that they look really pretty together!

I hope you have a great rest of the day!

♥ Colleen

#NailArtMar Challenge: Neon

Hey polishers!

I hope your weekend has been going well! I know I've been a little lacking with my March Nail Art Challenge posts, but I'm going to try and catch up this week! So today I have my belated neon manicure.

I decided not to do this all neon, and just paint the chevron neon. I messed up a little on the chevron, but as a nail blogger, I'll still show you my fails! :)

Even though I messed up on the chevron, I love the colors in this!

Polishes used:
China Glaze Seahorsin' Around
China Glaze Pool Party
Pure Ice Superstar!

I can't wait to start wearing neon a lot more now that spring is nearly upon us and summer will be here shortly! Do you have any favorite neon polishes for the spring/summer?

I hope you have a great rest of the day!

Colleen

#NailArtMar Challenge: Ombre

Hey polishers!

Today is the second day of Californails'  "Totally Doable I Have A Life" March Nail Art Challenge and the today's theme is ombre!

For the ombre theme, I thought I would do vertical stripes using a couple of blue polishes.

Here it is:

Polishes I used:
-a light blue polish by California Colors
-Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!
-L.A. Colors In A Flash
-OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby

Although this isn't the best mani that I've ever done, I really like the blues in here and I think the little gold hearts really make it. :)


Thanks for stopping by and hope you have a great rest of the day!

-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

Swatch Time: Zoya Erika + floral design

Hey Polishers!

I hope you've all had a great weekend! I finally finished my first semester finals last week and luckily for me, I have another extended weekend due to a "cold day" today. So no school for me! :)

Anyway, this past Saturday I went over to Ulta hoping to buy some polishes from the new Spring Collections since there are so many good collections coming out. Sadly, none of them were out yet. But since I somehow am never able to leave Ulta empty handed, I ended up buying a Zoya polish called Erika, which I will be swatching for you today.

Zoya Erika is a pale pink polish with a gold shimmer from the Summer 2008 Chit Chat Collection. I would describe this polish as being very pearlescent. The formula was a little on the thin side, but thankfully it wasn't streaky. I used 3 coats for the pictures below.

Even though I'm no much of a pale pink person, I think the gold shimmer in it makes this polish beautiful! I also really like the pearlescence feel to it as well.

Here's a floral polka dot design I did using Zoya Erika as the base color.

I did the white polka dots in order to bring out the pink a little more.

Other polishes used: OPI Hey Baby, Sinful Colors Tempest, Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights, and Pure Ice Superstar!

What are your thoughts of this polish? I really like it and I think it will be useful to use for a base color for nail designs. It's actually my first Zoya polish, and I have to say that I'm quite impressed!

I hope you have a great start to your week!

-Colleen

Pink/Gold Chevron Tips

Hey polishers!

I am officially NOT leaving my house today. Thankfully my school's having a "cold day" and another one tomorrow so no school for me (and thankfully seniors don't have to make them up :D)!

I decided to do some plain and simple chevron tips today with my picks from the OPI Gwen Stefani Collection that I swatched yesterday.

Cute, simple, & free-handed. Music to my ears! ;)

Polishes used:
OPI Hey Baby
OPI Love.Angel.Music.Baby.

Have a great rest of the day!

-Colleen

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

Argyle Nails (plus announcement)

Hey blog readers!

I came across some really cute Argyle Nails on the GirlKarma website (which you can see here), and decided that I would try and recreate it!

Here it is:

Aren't these colors gorgeous together?

The polishes I used for this mani are:
Sally Hansen Blue Me Away!
Sally Hansen Ruby Sequin
China Glaze Pool Party
and a dark blue polish by Charlotte Russe

I absolutely love that Sally Hansen Blue Me Away! (the turquoise polish pictured). I just picked it up at Walmart the other day, and even though it has been out for a while, I think I'll try to swatch it this coming week for those of you who don't have it yet or have forgotten about it!

Anyway, as for the announcement, I'm unfortunately not going to be able to finish out my challenge, the National Day Of...Challenge. When I decided to start it, it was the end of summer and I thought it would be a good idea, but now that school has started, I don't really have the time anymore. With senior year, I'm busy with everyday homework, AP classes, college apps, orchestra rehearsals, and trying to squeeze in a little bit of a social life, so I just don't have the time to commit to the challenge anymore. I'm so sorry. I should have thought about all of this before I started the challenge. Sooooooo big shout out to the girls who did take part in the challenge (here are their blogs): The Nail Polish Sleuth, A Girl And Her Chicken Named Betty, and The Nail Snail. Thank you guys so much for taking part, it means a lot! Sorry I have to end the challenge so soon :(

Thanks for reading,
Colleen

National Day Of...Challenge: National Day of Skyscrapers (3/16)

Hey girls!

I have a short post today (because I'm SWARMED with homework :( mehhhh)

Today is National Skyscraper Day and the 3rd day of the National Day Of...Challenge, so I did a manicure attempting to do the Chicago Skyline! On my pointer finger, there is the Sears Tower (I know it's now the Willis Tower, but being a true Chicagoan, I still refuse to call it that), and the Crain Communications Building on my ring finger (that's the building that's shaped like a diamond).

So here it is:

Polishes I used:
Sinful Colors Tempest (purple background)
Sinful Colors Black On Black (Black)
Delia's Lemon Chiffon (stars)

Hope you all have a great rest of the day!! It is still not too late to join the challenge!!!

-Colleen

Neon Flame Nails

Hey nail enthusiasts!

Sorry I haven't posted in a few days, I just started school this week and it's been so busy!!

Anyway, a few months ago I came across a tutorial video that shows you how to do a marble flame design and it looked pretty cool, so I decided to try it for you today! (You can see the really good tutorial video by midnightblue716 on how to do this mani here).

Here it is:

Pretty cool, huh? To me it looks like neon fire! :) I did a neon green and pink here, but I think I might try this design again sometime with other neon colors.

Polishes I used:
-Sinful Colors Black On Black
-China Glaze Pool Party
-China Glaze In The Lime Light

Thanks for readying, and have a great rest of the day!!

-Colleen

National Day Of...CHALLENGE: National Day Of Cupcakes (#1)

Well, Happy National Day of Cupcakes everyone!

I don't think I'll be having a cupcake today, but why not celebrate?! The first day of the National Day of...CHALLENGE is the National Day of Cupcakes, so I have a cupcake mani to show you!

I painted this cupcake mani on my little sister's nails the other day, which was actually pretty hard to do. Her hands definitely aren't full size yet, and are still really small, so I didn't have a lot of room for the cupcakes. I really wanted to add sprinkles, but I didn't have a lot of canvas room :(
And sorry for the lack of good hand positioning in the pictures...we had quite a struggle...

Anyway, here it is:

Polishes Used:
Love & Beauty Pink/Gold (pink)
Sinful Colors Tempest (purple)
Nail-Licious Holly Berry (red)
Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights (darker yellow)
Delia's Lemon Chiffon (lighter yellow

If anyone else wants to participate, that would be super awesome! Have a great rest of the day! If you have any questions about the challenge, let me know via a comment or email!

-Colleen

An InLinkz Link-up

N.A.I.L. Challenge: Sea

Hey guys!

I hope you've been having a great day so far! Today I have for you  a 'Sea' themed mani for the NAIL linkup challenge. When I thought of 'Sea' somehow this is what came to my head: seaweed and Jelly fish. lol.
Here it is:

I wasn't sure which one I liked better, the Jelly fish with or without polka dots, so I decided to show you both... :)

The blue background is L.A. Colors In A Flash; the two greens used for the seaweed were Essie The More The Merrier and China Glaze In The Lime Light;  the light purple of the jelly fish is Sinful Colors Tempest; and the polka dots is L.A. Girl Hustle.

I hope you like it! ;) And by the way, I got a little bored today, so earlier I made a little blog collage that I wanted to show you!

Have a great rest of the weekend!!

-Colleen

Mint & Gold Bracelet Inspired Nails Round 2

Happy Friday everyone!

I'm so glad the weekend is finally here! Today I am continuing on with the accessory-inspired nail trend of mine, with a mint colored bracelet with gold curves and silver studs. Here it is:

I'm sorry there's a really bad glare on the pictures. It was really hard to capture the gold, since it is so shiny. Also, it's kind of hard to see, but like the silver studs on the bracelet, I tried to add dabs of silver glitter on top of the gold, but it's really hard to see in the pictures.

For this mani I used Sally Hansen Mint Sorbet, a sparkly gold color from Sephora by OPI, and a silver microglitter from Charlotte Russe.

I hope you all have a great weekend, and thanks for reading!

-Colleen

By the way, check out the Whale's Nails Blog for an awesome giveaway here.

Saran Wrap Infinity Nails (Bracelet Inspired)

Hey all!

I just went shopping the other day at Charming Charlie and bought myself some cool accessories that also gave me some inspiration for nail designs. Yeah!! So the next couple of days I will be doing designs off of some of the accessories I bought.

For today, I have a bracelet that has cloudy purple beads (that's where the saran wrap fits in) and a studded infinity sign. Here's the mani I did off of it:

I did this mani using Sinful Colors Tempest, L.A. Girl Hustle, and a silver microglitter from Charlotte Russe (no name).

I hope to do a few more accessory-inspired manicures for you within the next few days!!

Thanks for reading!

-Colleen

P.S. Don't forget to check out the awesome giveaway on the Lacquer or Leaver Her blog here.

Lily Pad Nails

Hey all!

Today I have for you another nail design that has been on my summer bucket list: Lily Pad Nails. Although it didn't really turn out like I had in mind, it looks okay nonetheless. Here it is:

For this mani I used a pastel blue color from California Colors, China Glaze In The Lime Light and Sinful Colors Black on Black for the lily pads, a gold/pink color by Love & Beauty for the flowers, and a dark blue color and grainy silver glitter by Charlotte Russe. It's pretty cute...but I might have overdone it a little bit with all the polka dots...

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

-Colleen

N.A.I.L. Challenge: Sun

Hey guys!

Brigits Digits, eeeeknailpolish, and Crafty Nail are doing another challenge, this time a mini August challenge called N.A.I.L. (Which stands for Nail Art Ideas Linkup). You can see the post on the Brigits Digits blog here. And, the theme for Aug. 7th-11th is Sun.

So, here's my mani....it's definitely NOT my best mani, but it's all I could do tonight...I'm insanely tired from walking around all day at the college visit I went to and I'll leaving at 5 am tomorrow to attend another one (yeahhhhh). But with out further ado, here it is:

I didn't really know what to do after I finished the sun, so I decided to do chevron for the rest of the nails. The polishes I used were:

-Nicole by OPI Hit The Lights

-Delia's Coral Cascade

-a grainy glitter polish by Charlotte Russe

-a sky blue color by California Colors

I have to say though, do you remember the Mr. Sun song from like preschool? Because this mani reminds me of it lol :)

I also bought a few new polishes at Sally's the other day, and unfortunately I probably won't be able to get around to it until Monday Night, because I'll be doing some more college road trippin' and visiting family out of town and won't get around to it. 

Thanks for reading!! I'm off to bed....Good Night!!

-Colleen

NOTE: I don't think the link up is open yet, so I'll have to add my link tomorrow morning when it is

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