Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

Stamping Sunday: Using Two Stamps In One Manicure

Posted on by Cynthia

This is my third week participating in Stamping Sundays, and I think I finally like how my manicure turned out. First of all, I want to complain a little bit about how disgustingly hot it has been in Southern California. I spent hours in the pool yesterday which was the only way I thought I would get any relief. It doesn’t look like it’s going to get cooler any time soon so I’m going to have to just deal with it.

This is the first time I use Deborah Lippmann Dancing In The Sheets and I really like it. Orly Mysterious Curse, which I love, appears to be a very close dupe.

I finally decided to use my bottle of Max Factor Fantasy Fire, and it is all my little lacquered heart had ever hoped for. Look how gorgeous this looks with just one coat! I can’t even imagine what it will look like layered over different colors.

And lastly, I used stamp BM 310 and Wet N Wild I Can’t Stand Up Straight. We weren’t obligated to use two stamps on each nail so I decided to just alternate these two stamps. I like how this came out but it almost pained me to cover up the Fantasy Fire goodness.

What do you think of my effort today? I hope you like it as much as I do. Thanks for stopping by and keep cool!

a england Love

Posted on by Cynthia

I am ashamed to say that I had not tried any a england polishes before these three. For shame! I decided to take the plunge when  a sale was announced, and I am happy to report that I absolutely adore them. The formula was dreamy: consistent, buttery, pigmented and absolutely perfect. I kind of hate a england now because I can already imagine their polishes plunging me in a financial tailspin of epic proportions. I must have them all!!!!

GUINEVERE

GALAHAD

TRISTAM

It seems that summer has finally hit California. It has been so hot here the past few days that I am in an absolutely foul mood. Additionally, I had a major meltdown today because of HostGator. I had been thinking about having my blog hosted there and today I finally signed up. They made it sound like moving hosts would be a piece of cake and everything that could possibly go wrong has gone wrong for me. I am pretty sure that most of it is my fault, but I had asked so many questions beforehand and they really made it sound like a blindfolded monkey could do it. Alas, that is not the case. I decided to step away from it for the rest of the day since I spent all morning trying to figure it out. One of their support people called me (I had been dealing with online chat support) but I was so frustrated that I just didn’t want to talk to them. Hopefully I will be able to come back to it later and get it all straightened out. Let me tell you: WHAT.A.NIGHTMARE!

Let’s move on from my nightmare afternoon and back to the polish. What do you think of these colors? Are you as in love with them as I am? Do you have any a englands?

Thanks for stopping by, and I hope it’s cooler in your neck of the woods.

essence Gleam In Blue

Posted on by Cynthia

I think you have seen my recent Ulta polish hauls and how they tend to include tons of these cute little bottles of essence polishes.Today I have a new color that I hadn’t seen at Ulta in the past–probably because it was always out of stock. Behold, Gleam In Blue!

When I first put this color on, I was torn: is it a full on frost, metallic or a combination of the two? Well, I’m sure that you’ve heard me complain about frosts AND metallics. (I’m looking at you, Nicole!) In fact, that combination reminds me of the most horrific creation known to mankind if you are a poultry hater: the turducken! For those of you who may not be familiar with a turducken, it is a de-boned chicken stuffed into a de-boned duck, stuffed into a de-boned turkey. I am dry heaving over here. Anyway, I was surprisingly happy with this polish. It has a thicker consistency than I am used to from essence polishes, but it was still fairly easy to control. If you’re careful with your application, you could actually get away with one coat! If I had to pick one thing that I didn’t like, it would be that it’s somewhat prone to visible brushstrokes if you overwork the polish; otherwise, the brushstrokes aren’t too visible and a nice topcoat will definitely help.

And just because I feel that every mani gets better with a little stamping action, I used plate BM 312 and Konad special polish in white for this design. Pretty, right? I chose this stamp because it had a sort of whimsical, airy and cloud-like feeling to it that I felt complimented the color of this polish. Anyone else get a sort of bridal feeling from this look?

Gleam In Blue was one of the 10 new colors that were introduced in the Colour & Go line for Spring/Summer 2012. essence products can be purchased at ULTA, HEB, Fred Meyer and Shoppers Drug Mart if you’re in Canada. These polishes still retail for $.99. However, it appears that this line is being re-designed with a new bottle shape and with a price increase to $1.99. I will follow up on this once I start to see the new stock at my local Ulta.

So what do you think of this polish? Too frosty/metallic-y? Do you think the stamping compliments the polish, or was it better on its own? Let me know what you think and thanks for stopping by.

Remember: Enabling = Caring

****This item was sent for review. This in no way influences my review and opinion of the product.****

Zoya Kimmy

Posted on by Cynthia

I really want to get through all my Zoya polishes and swatch them all, but I seem to acquire more bottles than I can keep up with. Last week I bought a few new Zoya babies and this is the first one that I decided to try. Kimmy is such a bright red with gold shimmer and I was instantly attracted to it despite the fact that I don’t usually like metallic-looking colors. You want to know the best part? This is a one-coater!! I used two here, but you can get away with one thickish coat.

Since I was in a MASH plate binge, I decided to use plate 45 for this design with Konad special polish in black.

 

And the last three pictures are just of my latest binge. I can’t wait until I get to play with all of these colors, especially the a-englands!!! I am going on a no polish week and giving my nails a chance to grow and recover…hopefully I will be able to stick to it and not freak out about a whole week sans polish.

So how was your Monday? I think it’s still the most dreaded day of the week for a reason. Thanks for stopping by my lovelies!

Round 3 – WNW Saved By The Nail – Saved By The Bell Giveaway

Posted on by Cynthia

No, this isn’t déjà vu! Since I got really lucky and found a bunch of the LE Wet N Wild Saved By The Nail polishes, I decided to put them on here for another giveaway. I keep reading on twitter how so many people can’t find these and really want them so here I am again. I wish I had been able to find the whole collection, but all of the CVS stores I went to were missing Pom Pom Kelly and Chick Magnet Zack. Just as a reminder, here is what the colors look like:

  • +2 entries Follow my blog
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  • +2 entries Tweet About the Giveaway (you can do this once a day!)
  • +1 entry Follow me on Pinterest http://pinterest.com/LifeAndLacquer
  • +2 entries for facebook fans

You can enter by clicking on the following link a Rafflecopter giveaway or you can head over to my facebook page and click on the Giveaway Tab.

Again, this giveaway is open to US and Canada residents. I hope people are still excited about these despite not being a complete set. Thanks for continuing to support me by stopping by and commenting; it’s a pleasure to get to know all of you.

I also forgot to mention the most important part: I decided to do this giveaway because of all the milestones I was able to reach last month due to all of your wonderful support. You all have no idea how much this blog has helped me, and I never thought that I would meet such lovely ladies.

Good luck!

Stamping Sunday: Silver, Gold or Bronze As An Accent

Posted on by Cynthia

I seriously feel like I need to tone it down. This is the second week that I create something for the group Adventures In Stamping and it’s a big fat fail again. I don’t know what it is about challenges, but it seems that I come up with the tackiest ideas ever. I don’t even know what I imagined anymore when I came up with this monstrosity, but at least it wasn’t as bad as last week’s look…at least in my opinion.

I started out innocently enough with China Glaze Exotic Encounters. I don’t know how many times I have said this, but the On Safari collection blew me away. I was really excited when the promo pictures came out and after I got them, they were everything I had hoped for and more. Kudos, China Glaze. “Well done. Whoo, whoo, whoo !” à la Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman.

Beautiful color, right?

The next step was taping off my nails in a diamond pattern and I used plate MASH 46 for the design and Wet N Wild I Can’t Stand Up Straight for the stamping polish. I should have taken a picture of that before I went ahead and added the glitter but I spaced out and forgot. It actually looked interesting before I added the glitter. This Dare To Wear glitter called Disco Ball and it is full of different holo glitter shapes. I think it will look very pretty over a dark base.  Once again, I’m not thrilled with this manicure, but I like it a little better than last week’s.

And for Sunday’s food porn, here is my breakfast: a delicious egg and chorizo breakfast burrito. Yes, it was heavenly!

Hope you’re having a nice Sunday! Let me know what you think of my stampicure.

Deborah Lippmann Almost Paradise

Posted on by Cynthia

I finally got around to using another one of my Deborah Lippmann beauties. This is one of the 4 Deborah Lippmann polishes I got on major clearance on HSN, and I love them. Yes, they are expensive but I think the formula is pretty freaking dreamy. I think these would be a perfect splurge for a special occasion like a birthday, Christmas or Saturday night…hee! I don’t see myself splurging too often on DL polishes, but I think I will really be on the lookout for special and unique colors that catch my attention.

The first thing that comes to mind when I look at this polish is key lime pie. Hmmmm…who doesn’t like that?! Just the sound of it sounds decadent with a refreshing citrus punch. Have you ever had key lime cheesecake? Enough food talk; can you tell I’m hungry right now?

This is such a pretty color! I wasn’t sure it would suit my skin tone, but I actually really like it. Since cremes are my favorite polish finish anywhere, this was a no-brainer for me. The first coat was streaky, but I wasn’t expecting any less. The second coat evened it all out perfectly

It’s official: Insta-Dri polishes are awesome for stamping. Doesn’t Blue By! look amazing over Almost Paradise? I used plate MASH 43 for this design.
I think my stamping mojo is 100% back! Let me know what you think of this design.

Hope you’re having a great weekend, and thanks for stopping by!

Rant

Posted on by Cynthia

I don’t know how to really feel about this. On one hand, I am happy that people like my pictures and swatches enough to use them in their articles, but it is also frustrating to feel that they think so little of me that they don’t even bother to ask me if it’s okay to use them.  I googled “Wet N Wild Saved By The Bell” and this is what came up on THE FIRST PAGE. I looked at the second page and it was more of the same.

Picture Link 1

Picture Link 2

Picture Link 3

This video here used my swatches and bottle pics in their video. There is a credit mention, but I don’t recall anyone even shooting me an email to see if it was okay. The people over at Buzz 60 seem to be the ones responsible for this video, but it’s all over the place from AOL to The Detroit Free Press.

Video Link 1  Shown on Channel 9 News Front Page

Video Link 2  Shown on First Coast News Front Page

Video Link 3  Shown on AOL

Video Link 4  Shown on Detroit Free Press

You want to know what really annoys me? I am more than happy to let people use my photos. I am honored when people ask me if they can share them on their blog or article which is why this is so disappointing to me. Don’t get me wrong: any blogger who is just starting out and is slowly building readership loves the exposure and treasures every single new reader and commenter. For those of you who blog about cosmetics/nail polish, you know how time-consuming it is to swatch color after color, take a billion pictures hoping a few of them come out right, edit them and then have to write up a post. I do this because I love it. I love sharing all my polish finds and what I think about them, but this is still my work; I spend my time and energy on it.

I hope no one thinks I’m taking all this too seriously or that I’m blowing it out of proportion. It’s just frustrating. Why can’t people just ask? I know that sometimes images get shared around the internet and it becomes almost impossible to find out where the images initially came from so I know that MOST people aren’t doing this to be rude, but it doesn’t stop it from being just that: rude and inconsiderate.  For other bloggers who may have used my pictures without permission–even if you gave credit–I would recommend that you read the following article. There are a lot of things that I didn’t know when I first started blogging so please read this article that one of my favorite bloggers, Amanda, shared on her blog. Don’t let yourself get wrapped up in something like that. It’s unfortunate, but it could happen to anyone.

Anyhow, let me know what you think about this. Am I just being too sensitive?

Entity Pearl Brights Collection for Spring/Summer

Posted on by Cynthia

I don’t know about you, but it doesn’t really feel like a true summer here in California. I know it’s been incredibly hot in other areas of the country (and the world), but I feel like we have had an atypical summer for sure. Today was fairly hot and I was very uncomfortable in my dusty havens when I went looking for some new nail polishes.  I was definitely feeling the heat today! When I got home, I just wanted to play around with some summery colors and lo and behold, these beauties were waiting for me. I’ve always thought of Entity Beauty as a company that caters more to the professionals since I had never really seen their products at any of the nail supply places I frequent. The only time I came across their products was at one of my favorite nail salons.

First let me say that I am kind of amused by the unique bottle shape. These are the first nail polishes that I’ve tried that have this round bottle, and it just makes them stand out a bit. As far as I’m concerned, packaging is a big part of initial brand appeal so they score points on that end right off the bat. To get to the nitty-gritty of it all, these polishes had a pretty nice formula. I am in the habit of applying very thin coats which usually forces me to apply 2-3  coats of polish. I opted for 2 thicker coats for these swatches and that seemed to work pretty well. I was actually surprised that I didn’t have more problems with the yellow polish since they are notoriously hard to work with. I’ve been on a yellow kick lately so I really liked this color! While these colors are definitely summery, they aren’t necessarily neon. They dry shiny and smooth and with a lovely pearlized shimmer that is noticeable yet not over the top. I know you’re all thinking that you may already have similar colors to these, and I agree that most polish hoarders fans will have dupes no matter what. Either way, this collection is cute and worth checking out if you like bright colors with a pearly/shimmer finish.

So now that I’ve blabbed for a while, here are the swatches:

    

PEARL FUCHSIA

    

PEARL ORANGE

    

PEARL RED

    

PEARL TURQUOISE

    

PEARL VIOLET

    

PEARL GREEN

    

PEARL YELLOW

For more information on where to purchase Entity products, you can visit their website and locate a distributor and/or salon in your area. You can also visit their facebook page for all their latest news and announcements. If you’re interested in purchasing these polishes online, you can find them at  Trans Design.

So tell me: what do you think?

****These items were sent for review. This in no way influences my review and opinion of the product.****

Thank You!!!

Posted on by Cynthia

When I first started this blog, only about 2 people knew about it and they were my only readers because I was writing mostly personal stuff. I needed to get it out of me so that it could stop torturing me. I started writing about my issues here about 6 months after being released from a psychiatric hospital, and it turned into a cathartic exercise since I was still resisting any kind of therapy. Since then, I have met some of the most caring group of women I could ever hope to meet. Not only do they listen and offer advice, but they share their own experiences and make me feel like I’m not alone.

Once I started blogging about nail polish more regularly, I would get so excited every time I got a new follower or a new person who would comment on my posts. I slowly started to see my readership grow each month and this made me feel like people were actually interested in my opinions and thoughts about nail polish, make up and just random topics. I saw a nice jump in blog visit for the month on June so I told myself that I would LOVE to reach a few milestones for the month of July:

1) Reach 300 published blog posts

2) Reach 100 followers

3) Reach 10,000 views for the month

Well, I managed to reach all of those thanks to all of you who take time out of your day to check up on what craziness is going on in my head.  The most exciting part was that not only did I reach 10,000 blog views in July, but I actually got a little over 16,000! For a little blog such as mine, I feel like that was such a huge accomplishment. Nicole from Polish Me Please! had been encouraging me to use twitter and when I finally did, that’s when I started seeing an increase in traffic.  So thank you Nicole and thanks to all the lovely twitter ladies who always make me laugh!

I was so happy to have hosted 2 giveaways last month for 2 sets of the Wet N Wild Saved By The Nail, Saved By The Bell inspired nail polishes. I would have loved to give out more sets but they became pretty impossible to find as a lot of you noticed. If I randomly find more, I will be sure to add them to my next giveaway. I am planning to hold another giveaway in the near future as a thank you to all of you who have made me feel so welcome in this lovely nail blogging world. Once I figure out what the prize will be, I will let you all know.

I posted last night how I received my MASH plates and how excited I was to try them out today.  I am happy to report that these plates are awesome!! I used a few of the designs to see how well they stamped. I have to say that Wet N Wild I Can’t Stand Up Straight is my favorite silver to stamp with. Look how great the designs turned out!

My brother is taking me out to dinner tonight (for once!) so we’re headed out in a little while. I hope I can control myself and not stop at any place that sells nail polish on the way back home. Uggghhhhh! Wish me luck!