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Current Giveaways Reminder

Posted on 9 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Ahhh….lazy Sundays are the best, but it’s a shame that they go by so quickly. I swatched a crapton of polishes recently so I have a lot of new stuff to share with you this coming week. I also wanted to remind you of the two giveaways I am currently running:

Essie Summer Collection Minis – Ending 6/15/2013

Click on the image to go to the giveaway page

OPI Couture de Minnie Minis – Ending 6/21/2013

Click on the image to go to the giveaway page

Thanks for always stopping by and reading up on all my craziness. Have a great week, and hopefully I’ll see you around here soon.

Minnie’s Closet!

Posted on 4 June, 20139 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Hello everyone! I have some super fun news today that I am beyond excited about: I just got the news that my Minnie nail design was chosen to be featured on Minnie’s Closet on the OPI page sometime this month.

Holy mouse ears, Batman! I am so honored to have been chosen especially since I know I will be in the company of some awesome ladies with great designs. Make sure that you check out OPI’s facebook page as they will be unveiling new designs throughout the month. I previously reviewed the whole Couture de Minnie Collection and here are my swatches for the collection:

Aren’t these adorable? I decided to create something girly and sparkly with a hint of sophistication for my submission to be considered for the Minnie’s Closet gallery, and this is what I came up with:

Let me tell you that picking out each individual glitter from my bottle of Minnie Style was…hard. lol It was time consuming but I couldn’t do a Minnie design without polka dots! I also decided to incorporate a ruffian nail because Minnie is definitely a hip mouse in this collection!

And because I usually do a giveaway of minis for each OPI collection that is released, I picked up a set of Minnie Minis for one lucky reader! (I purchased this myself–it is not sponsored.) As always, this giveaway is open internationally–just enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for stopping by and supporting my little crazy blog. I hope you’re having a great day, and I will talk to you soon!

LAST CALL: Giveaway OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Minis

Posted on 3 May, 2013 by Cynthia

Hi everyone!

I just wanted to remind everyone that there is one more day left to enter my OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Minis Giveaway. Don’t forget to enter this international giveaway before it ends Saturday night. Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And here are my swatches of the collection:

Good luck everyone!

OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection Swatches & Giveaway

Posted on 19 April, 201319 April, 2013 by Cynthia

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Well hello there, my fellow polish fiends! Yes, I do have something fun for you today because I have swatched the OPI Bond Girls Liquid Sand Collection, AND I also have a set of minis for one lucky reader. Isn’t that just punch you in the gut fantastic? Fortunately, I am in a very good mood today so I was able to get these swatches done after work which is huge since all I want to do after work is die. Kidding. Sort of. Anyway, I have to admit that I am a textured polish fan, but I much prefer the sparkly kind and not the popcorn ceiling kind. Let me get to the point of this post because I’m feeling very talky tonight and I may never get to the swatches if I don’t cut myself off right now…

Aren’t the pretty all together? Let me talk about the formula here since I don’t want to repeat myself over and over again: the formula is great. They are all very easy to apply and dry really quickly. The only thing you really have to keep in mind is that it is important to let each coat dry before you apply a second coat or else you will get some dragging–what a drag. All of my swatches have two coats of polish–no base coat and no top coat. I was messing with the size of my pictures since I can’t seem to find a happy medium. I’m sorry if you find my brown nubs too huge on your screen–just look at the pretty polish, ok? On to the lovelies!

When I first saw the shades, Solitaire was the one I was least excited about. Now that I have tried it out, I really do like it because I’ve been finding white polish very fun lately. Maybe I’ve been watching too many CutePolish videos on youtube: Apply 2 coats of white polish…and lastly add a fast drying topcoat to protect your design and add a beautiful shine.” Ok, I digress. Maybe I like this one so much because it’s such a stark contrast with my dark skin?

Will I ever NOT like a blue polish? Not likely. Tiffany Case is my second favorite color in this collection because it’s so vibrant and bright. Someone had mentioned that this was a stainer, but I actually did not get any staining but I only swatched it. You will normally get staining even if you wear the polish for only a short amount of time so this was not a stainer for me at all–thank God!

Pussy Galore–Uhm, yeah…ok…it had to be pink, right? This one is a little too light pink for me to really be excited about. I like pink, but I’m more of a hot pink type of girl.

And here is the belle of the ball, my precious Jinx. I always have a soft spot for vibrant orange polishes so this one does not disappoint–it actually looks like it’s on fire. It’s a beautiful combination of orange-gold-coral. I just can’t get enough of it. If there is one color that I would call essential from this collection, it would be Jinx.

Honey Ryder is just gold. Textured gold. Am I the only one who is thinking of Goldmember right now?

And lastly, here we have Vesper. Vesper had a lot of promise when I first saw it, but I think that the color really just covers up everything that makes this polish interesting. It’s way too dark…it looks like lumpy grape jam. This one is my least favorite of the collection. Sorry Eva Green, OPI did you wrong!

And now you can win your very own set of minis! As always, this is open internationally but please check the customs regulations of your country before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Let me know what you think of this collection. What is your favorite color? Do you have a favorite Bond Girl? Who is your favorite Bond? Are my pictures just too huge? Do tell! Also, check out my blog sale because I put up 4 of these polishes. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Disclosure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Essie Resort Collection For 2013 – Swatches & Giveaway

Posted on 31 March, 201331 March, 2013 by Cynthia

The products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Ahh…happy Easter, my polished peeps. I haven’t been doing much today after my Easter brunch with the family. It was actually really nice, and I’m proud to say that I didn’t overeat to a point that I felt sick. Lately my stomach has been really sensitive–especially because of stress–so everything makes me want to vomit. Lovely, right? Anyway, I hope that you’re having a great Sunday whether you celebrate Easter or not. So what do I have for you today? I have my three picks from the Essie Resort Collection for 2013.

I decided not to get the 4th color just because I wasn’t feeling like adding ANOTHER red to my collection. I almost passed on the purple/pink one as well, but ended up getting it just because I couldn’t help myself. Before I get into the swatches, I want to mention that I had a hell of a time getting these to look nice. I am not sure if it was me or the formula. I’ve read on a few other blogs that I really trust that the formula was really great, so I don’t know what to think. It could be all me to tell you the truth. I’ve been feeling kind of blah about my blog lately to the point where I’m thinking about just stopping altogether. It takes such an enormous amount of effort and sometimes it just feels like no one even cares. Now, don’t get me wrong–I appreciate all the wonderful people who always follow, read and comment but there are just times when I feel people think this is frivolous–just nail polish, you know? Anyway, I hope it’s just a temporary slump for me. Let’s get on to the swatches!

Ok, Under Where was my absolute least favorite of the three because it is so freaking ho-hum. I mean, we just came off the Madison Ave-Hue Collection (my review here) where there were two pink/lilac/purple colors which I felt was overkill and now here is another one? Ugh…this is going to become one of those colors that I’m going to start to dislike out of pure over-saturation. The first coat of this was super streaky so I applied a second coat which caused some bald spots–most likely because I just didn’t give it enough time to set. The third coat seemed to fix it up.

Dude, First Timer took my breath away. I just love greens like this. I am wondering how this one compares to Mojito Madness which I unfortunately got rid of a while ago so if anyone has both, let me know! I’ve been thinking about re-purchasing Mojito Madness so maybe I won’t have to. The formula on this one was a little less problematic for me so two coats were sufficient for full coverage.

At first glance, In The Cab-Ana was the color that I went gaga for when I first saw the promo pics. While it is that perfect robin’s egg blue that I adore–maybe a little more turquoise than say, Illamasqua Noble. This particular polish flooded my cuticles pretty badly, but again, I think that was mostly my crappy application. I applied 3 coats for the swatches above.

Now, if you want a chance to win a mini set of all 4 colors in the Essie Resort Collection for 2013, enter using the widget below. As always, this giveaway is open internationally but make sure you know your country’s customs regulations before entering. I will not be responsible for any lost or confiscated prizes.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, my Nailtiques giveaway ends in one more day so make sure you enter that one too! Click here to enter. Overall, I think that I could have done without Under Where and I would have been perfectly happy with just First Timer and In The Cab-Ana. Let me know what you think of these shades–are you over the pink/purple/lilacs like me? Thanks for stopping by today and catching up.

P.S. I’ve put some of these polishes up on my blog sale since I bought back ups thinking to do a giveaway with them but I opted to by a mini set with all the colors instead.

The products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Nailtiques Moscow Review & Giveaway

Posted on 18 March, 201317 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

This weekend, a friend and I decided to go polish shopping. As if she really needed to force my hand! Unfortunately, all of the places we were trying to go to closed early so we ended up finding only one place that was still open. I don’t go to this particular beauty supply very often, but they always remember me because of the sheer quantity I usually purchase. Nothing was really catching my eye, so the owner asked me if I had ever tried Nailtiques. To be honest, I have heard of the brand but never really tried any of the products. She brought out this red and told me I would love it so that is how I ended up with Nailtiques Moscow.

The formula on Nailtiques Moscow is pretty darn flawless. After the first coat, I could have left it alone, but this polish has a crelly-like formula so I had some VNL. I applied a second coat and that pretty much took care of the VNL problem. I also felt that this polish dried lightning fast so you don’t want to overwork it or else it can get goopy on your nails. My one complaint right now is not so much about the polish but the brush. I like how the brush fans out, but I feel like it’s too squared so I had to work really hard to apply the polish on the curve meeting my cuticles. I did get a bit of polish on my skin and holy moly it’s crazy pigmented. I had to go over those areas a few times with my brush and acetone to get it all off.

I also bought this really cute mini set to give away which includes a base coat, top coat and a mini manicure kit. The color included is Moscow which I just reviewed above.

In order to enter this giveaway, use the rafflecopter widget below. The only requirement is to be a blog email subscriber but you can earn additional entries as outlined below if you wish.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m really interested to hear if you have tried Nailtiques because I have heard some really good things about their products–especially their nail care line. After this positive experience, it is very likely that I will scoping out some additional items to add to my collection. Let me know what you think of this color–are you a red polish whore like me?

Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Collection & Giveaway

Posted on 4 March, 201310 February, 2019 by Cynthia

*************Come check out my blog sale!**************

Hello there and happy Monday everyone! Yeah, yeah…I hate Mondays too, but let’s try to be positive, ok? I had a rather uneventful Sunday full of laundry and cleaning, but I did have fun on Saturday night. I had mentioned that I was going to watch Zero Dark Thirty, and I can’t tell you enough how much I recommend that you watch this movie. It’s amazing and I swear that I was on the edge of my seat the whole time. I was the same way with Argo–I just love suspense movies, but I feel like a wreck by the end. Oh, and I also made an astounding discover: Red Robin sells Guinness milkshakes. Whaaaaat??

Well, hello there Mr. Guinness milkshake. Where have you been all my life? The shake is made with Guinness , Jameson and chocolate ice cream. Need I say more? It’s actually really tasty and for a Guinness lover (yes, lover…I can drink this stuff for breakfast) such as myself, I was super excited to try it. I’m sure it’s one of those limited time type drinks, so that makes me sad. I’m shedding dark brown Guinness tears.

Wait, wasn’t this post supposed to be about the new OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Collection? Could have fooled me. Anyway, let’s get down to business. Here are the lovely shades that make up this new collection.

There are three soft jelly-type polishes, 3 glitter top coats and one new Liquid Sand Color. Are you ready to see them?

OPI Glints Of Glinda – “Only a good witch could turn beige from meek to chic.“

OPI I Theodora You – “This adorable, sheer pink is bewitching on you.“

OPI Don’t Burst My Bubble – “Don’t wake me…I’m dreaming about puffy clouds of white.“

The formula on these three polishes was identical: very delicate, airy and sheer central. I am not usually a person who really likes very sheer polishes, and I think these are like almost clones of last year’s NYC Ballet polishes. However, I do think they are pretty and like they way they ended up looking on my nails. I can see these working very well for jelly sandwiches as well. I applied 3 thick coats of each polish for these swatches because I wasn’t diggin’ the super obvious VNL.

Are you ready for the glitters?

OPI When Monkeys Fly! – “I’m simply bananas for this gold confetti.“

What’s with the taco glitter on this polish? Yo NO quiero Taco Bell. I don’t really have anything similar to this glitter so I like the idea of it, but those huge curling hexes are a big no-no. The strange part is that after I applied top coat, the glitter felt pretty smooth on my nails but still LOOKED all curled and weird.

OPI Lights of Emerald City – “White confetti adds city girl flair and style to nails.“

This is the glitter I was most excited about trying, and I can say that it’s still my favorite of the three, but the application is kind of difficult. It’s really hard to get glitter on the brush without getting wayyyyy too much of the clear base. The base seriously felt like gel–like rind of runny hair gel. It was strange. I resorted to doing some dabbing, fishing for the white mate squares with a toothpick. Maybe a little too much work went into this, but I do like the end result. I’ve seen some swatches of this over a dark color and it looks amazing!

OPI Which Is Witch? – “Is this silver glitter with iridescent sparkle or the other way around?“

I don’t have much to say about this one. Very easy application and super sparkly. Even though it has some of that dreaded hairy glitter that I am not a fan of, it’s so tiny and fine that I’m not going to complain about it. And really–who doesn’t love holo glitter?

OPI What Wizardry Is This?

Last but not least, here is the poop colored Liquid Sand. I kid, I kid…not really. I was a little disappointed that this wasn’t chunky like the previous Liquid Sand offerings, but I actually ended up loving this. It’s an unusual color and it really sparkles in the sun. I didn’t get a chance to top coat it, but I’ve seen some amazing swatches of it with a shiny top coat. Removal was super easy which I always appreciate.

And just because I love doing this, I am holding a giveaway for a set of minis. Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay! Just enter using the rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open internationally. Since I am still struggling to pick a winner when my giveaways end, I will repeat this: the only requirement is to be an email blog follower. If you don’t receive an email asking you to confirm your subscription, that means that your email probably didn’t go through so you won’t show up as a follower when I’m trying to pick a winner.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So let me know what you think of this collection–which are your favorites? Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you have a good start to the week.

P.S. Some of these are going on my blog sale so don’t forget to check it out here.

Celebrate Good Times! – Giveaway

Posted on 18 February, 2013 by Cynthia

As some of you may know, I have been going through some pretty intensive training for my new job these last 4 weeks. My employment actually depended on passing training successfully so I’ve been really stressed out lately thinking that I might be unemployed again. Well, today I finally got the news that I have passed my training and will be starting my job in the coming week. More than 50% of the people that started with me in training either dropped out or were let go so I’m still shocked that I’ve made it through. I know that I was down on my job a couple of weeks ago because it seemed so difficult to get the hang of everything, but I have started to feel a little more confident in my abilities. I just wish I could get to a point where the sound of the phone ringing at my desk won’t make me want to shit my pants. (Ok, that’s disgusting but I know some of you know what I’m talking about!)

Besides being happy about having landed this job AND passing the training, I am also really excited about reaching some milestones–namely 1,000 likes on my Facebook page. I am also very close to reaching 1,000 Twitter followers and my blog isn’t that far behind. I just want to thank all of you and my favorite way to give back is to give you pretty polishes! I decided to pick up an extra 6 bottles from the China Glaze Avant Garden Collection to give away to one lucky reader.

I know I’ve said it before, but I want to remind everyone to confirm your subscription to my blog via email in order to be eligible for this and all my giveaways. I was so bummed out when I was trying to pick a winner for my Euro Centrale Minis giveaway, and so many people who entered were NOT showing up as subscribers so I had to disregard their entries and move on. The only mandatory entry is to be a blog email subscriber, and all other activities are optional. As always, this giveaway is open worldwide but PLEASE make sure that you know what the customs restrictions are in your country before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I am on an unofficial swatching break right now since I nubbed my nails last week AND my hands are still recovering from the unfortunate chemical damage that I inflicted on myself during my last cleaning binge. I have also been super stressed because of work so I’ve been lagging on swatching, catching up on my favorite blogs and even more shameful: responding to comments on my own blog. Let me just say that even if I haven’t responded YET, I do read every single comment. I love to hear what you all have to say so I feel like such a turd for not responding in a more timely manner.

I currently have a crazy backlog of swatching which includes:

China Glaze Avant Garden Collection

Nubar Sweet Escape Collection

OPI Oz Collection

Venique Goes To Hollywood Collection

Jindie Nails lovelies

Jade Holos

Oy vey! When am I going to get all of this done?I think that I am going to have a very interesting weekend. Now that I will have my permanent schedule at work, I think I will be able to schedule things better. I also want to thank all of you who sent me incredibly encouraging emails and private messages on Facebook when I was struggling with work. It meant so much to me and it helped me stay positive despite feeling overwhelmed.

I am very fortunate to have so many things to celebrate right now! Thank you for your continued support.

Silly Lily Winterberry Review & Giveaway

Posted on 13 February, 201313 February, 2013 by Cynthia

I’ve been feeling so damn blah for the last few days and then bam! I got my period. TMI, I know…but this is a good thing since I had not gotten my period in about 6 months. As someone with PCOS, this is a regular occurrence so I tend not to dwell on it. I’ve been feeling stressed out and restless so I hope that it was just my hormones acting up. It has definitely felt weird not being able to do my nails these past few days but it serves me right for not wearing gloves and for impulsively nubbing my nails. I do hope that both my hands and nails have recovered by next week so I can start swatching the OPI Oz Collection (and launch my giveaway for a mini set of Oz Polishes) and the China Glaze Avant Garden Collection. I also have a Venique collection to swatch and a few other indies that will be here any day now so I’m going to have my work cut out for me. Today, I am going to show you a polish I swatched a couple of weeks ago: Silly Lily Winterberry.

Out of the three Silly Lily creations that I purchased recently, this is by far my favorite. I love that the base is a lightly tinted jelly and love all the various glitters. The black glitter in this makes me feel like I sprinkled cracked black pepper all over my nails. I can imagine that this polish would look amazing over a very light and delicate purple or lilac. I don’t think I have ever seen anything similar to this polish so I hope that you are excited to learn that I am giving away a brand new bottle of Silly Lily Winterberry to one lucky reader. This giveaway is open internationally so please make sure that you know the customs regulations and restrictions of your country before you enter. I will not be responsible for any lost, damaged or confiscated packages, but I will be extra sad if any of that happens. Use the rafflecopter widget below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Also, don’t forget that my giveaway for a set OPI Euro Centrale minis is going to end in a couple of days so don’t miss your chance to enter here.

I hope that you like Silly Lily Winterberry as much as I do. I also hope that you stop by Lily’s facebook page here to show her some love so she can continue to create these lovely polishes for us to ogle and purchase. You can also visit the Silly Lilly Etsy Shop so you can peruse all her other creations!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Disclosure: Silly Lily Winterberry was purchased by me at a reduced rate for review and giveaway purposes. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

Silly Lily Bunny Eggs – Review & Giveaway

Posted on 1 February, 20131 February, 2013 by Cynthia

The weekend has arrived, and I don’t think anyone is as glad and relieved as me. I am in serious need of some bed rest, and so far that is all I have planned for this weekend. Of course I’m going to try to get some blog stuff done so I don’t feel so pressured and rushed to get things done during the weekend. I know I’ve said it before, but I am seriously bummed that I have been neglecting my blog so much since I started working. Hopefully once my training is over and I have my regular schedule, I’ll have more time to dedicate to my blog and reading all the awesome blogs I’ve been neglecting as well. Tonight I ended up spending some time with one of my friends and we went out for coffee and then watched a movie at my place. It was a low-key evening which is exactly what I needed. I also took a little break to paint my nails which is what I’m going to show you now. Behold, Silly Lily Bunny Eggs.

Ok, this isn’t Bunny Eggs, but I wanted to show you what base color I decided to use. This beauty is Illamasqua Velocity. I’ve worn it quite a few times in the past, and I thought that the lovely light purple would make an amazing base for Bunny Eggs. As always, the formula on Velocity was perfection.

I know Easter is still far away, but how cute is this polish? I don’t think that my pictures do it justice. It’s just so delicate and bright at the same time. I have to say that I felt that the polish was a little on the thick side so I did have to add some thinner so that I could apply it without causing a mess. I have come to realize that this is the norm when a glitterbomb is involved. I think that they key to applying a polish like this is to use very thin coats which is what I did. I applied 2 thin coats here.

And now, here is your chance to win your very own bottle of Silly Lily Bunny Eggs! Use the widget below to enter and don’t forget to share with your friends! As always, this giveaway is open internationally but please make sure that you know the customs regulations of your country. With all the issues surrounding international shipping, I just want to make sure that you understand that I will not be responsible for those problems but will do my best to make sure that your package arrives safe and sound should you live outside the US and you win the polish.
a Rafflecopter giveaway

I think I’m posting this just in the nick of time before midnight here on the west coast. I hope you all have a wonderful weekend. Be safe if you’re planning to have some Super Bowl festivities. Thanks for stopping by today and I will talk to you later!

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were purchased by me. Silly Lily Bunny Eggs was purchased by me at a reduced rate for review and giveaway purposes. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.