September is PCOS Awareness Month

Posted on by Cynthia

As I was catching up on twitter this morning, I cam across a few posts from a few ladies talking about September being PCOS Awareness Month–I had no idea! I was diagnosed with PCOS in 2007 and have been dealing with all the problems that accompany it. For those of you who may not be aware of what PCOS is, here is an overview from the Mayo Clinic:

Polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS) is a common hormonal disorder among women of reproductive age. The name of the condition comes from the appearance of the ovaries in most, but not all, women with the disorder — enlarged and containing numerous small cysts located along the outer edge of each ovary (polycystic appearance).

Infrequent or prolonged menstrual periods, excess hair growth, acne and obesity can all occur in women with polycystic ovary syndrome. In adolescents, infrequent or absent menstruation may signal the condition. In women past adolescence, difficulty becoming pregnant or unexplained weight gain may be the first sign.

The exact cause of polycystic ovary syndrome is unknown. Early diagnosis and treatment may reduce the risk of long-term complications, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Being diagnosed was a whole process since one of my doctors scared me into thinking I possibly had endometrial cancer after seeing my ultrasound results. Needless to say, that was a stressful time. Dealing with PCOS is a kind of a roller coaster ride because it’s manageable but sometimes completely throws your body into the gutter. I was surprised to find out that not many people know about PCOS even though it is a common disorder. I try to look at the bright side: since it is hormonal, at least I have an excuse when I am a raging hormonal bitch…right? RIGHT?!

I started out with Zoya Charla:

    

This is three coats of Charla. This is the first time I wear this polish and it’s goygeous.

    

I used plate BM 321 for the design and I frankened my own stamping polish with a mix of some stamping polishes and some regular polishes. It turned out pretty good! I like that the ribbons aren’t super noticeable but you can really see them up close.

Look what happened to my bottle of Charla:

I am lucky that it didn’t completely shatter, but now I’m worried that maybe it will break at some random time because the glass is so thin on the side. Poor Charla! 🙁 I can’t believe that it’s still ok despite me dropping it down the stairs.

So besides the disgusting heat, I hope you enjoy your weekend. Till next time!

 

Come And See Who Won!

Posted on by Cynthia

Christie from Skaytanik Polishes has won my latest giveaway! I have sent her an email and will wait to hear back from her.

Thank you so much to everyone who entered my giveaway. I was so happy to see how many entries I ended up getting in the 2 weeks that this giveaway ran: a little over 800! If you’ve been following me the last 4 months, you know this is by no means the last of my giveaways. In fact, since my birthday is in September, I will be planning some fun stuff for all of you in order to share the polish wealth!

I truly appreciate all the support from all of you–it’s what makes blogging fun!

AND…my other giveaway for a FREE Julep Maven intro box is still live so don’t forget to enter. Click here for my post with all the details.

Thanks again and stay tuned for the next giveaway. 😉

Jindie Nails Chomp Chomp!

Posted on by Cynthia

Here is the polish a few of you had inquired about: Chom Chomp! When I first visited Jen’s shop, this is one of the polishes that immediately caught my attention because of the bright colors. It’s just so in your face that I couldn’t help loving it. This polish is part of her Football Season collection so it is limited edition which means that if you want it, go get it now! I wasn’t sure what polish to wear under this glitter so I went with a soft white.

    

I really love the color of this polish but it is a freaking nightmare to apply. It’s streaky as hell and it took 4 coats to get it to look like this. I am guessing this is some kind of French Manicure type of polish because it’s just too much of a nightmare to be worn alone. I actually have worn this alone before and have gotten a lot of compliments.

    

How pretty is this polish? It drive me nuts to see all that mostly matte glitter…I love it!

    

This is one coat of Chomp Chomp! over Sephora by OPI Private Access. I did a little random dotting of glitter but not enough to call it a second coat. I am really loving this glitter and can’t wait to try it over a different base color. New items are being added all the time so go check out Jen’s shop here.

Are you ready for the long Labor Day weekend? I am not planning on doing anything because it’s so freaking hot that all I want to so is lay in front of my fan very scantily clad. These are the times I wish I lived alone! lol I might go to the beach but I’m sure it will be a parking nightmare so maybe I will brave the bus. Oh boy…I’m sure that will be a story. So please have fun and stay safe!

essence Gorgeous Bling Bling

Posted on by Cynthia

When I noticed that Ulta has finally cleared out all of their old essence stock, I was super excited to see all the new polishes that were on display so I got a bunch of them. These polishes used to be $.99 before they did an overhaul of the line and they are are now $1.99.  Don’t fret about the price hike because the bottles are bigger and have almost double the amount of polish.

Today I am wearing Gorgeous Bling Bling.

   

I kind of like this new bottle shape.

    

This is two coats of Gorgeous Bling Bling. It has that pumpkin look to it and has flake gold glitter which makes it look a little more interesting. I am so ready for fall so I liked this color very much. The only think that I have a problem with is the name. It’s so dumb that I am almost embarrassed to tell people what color I am wearing when they ask me.

    

Now, I don’t really know why I did this, but I used NYC Matte Me Crazy on the top half of my my nails and added the rhinestones. I think I need to stop using rhinestones because I am always reminded of the Beddazler when I use them, and that’s about the tackiest thing ever.

I could not figure out what to make for dinner today. I was watching TV and a commercial for Kraft/Hellman’s Mayo came on and they showed some kind of mayo/parmesan chicken. I like mayo. I like parmesan. I like chicken (sometimes!). So I decided to try the recipe which is beyond simple.

All you need is some chicken breast (I butterflied one chicken breast to make two pieces), mayonnaise, parmesan cheese and bread crumbs. I seasoned my chicken with a little black pepper because I love black pepper. I did not add any salt to the chicken because the mayo and cheese have enough salt. Make a paste of the mayo and parmesan.

    

I placed the chicken in a foil covered baking dish and spread the mayo/parmesan mixture on top of the chicken. I then sprinkled some bread crumbs on top and placed the chicken in the oven. You can bake the chicken for 15-20 minutes at 425 degrees depending on the thickness of the chicken. I finished the chicken off in the broiler to make the top extra brown and crispy.

    

I made some rice pilaf and some green beans to accompany the chicken. Let me tell you that it came out great. It was super moist and the top was creamy and crispy. It was so incredibly easy that I’m sure I’ll be making it again whenever I need a quick dinner. I also picked up my favorite soda at Target today. Do you like tamarind?

So how has you week been so far? Tomorrow is Friday and then the month is over. Beejus time flies. Next month I will be 33, and I’m not looking forward to it. It’s not about turning older because that doesn’t really bother me; I just don’t really like to celebrate my birthday. Anyway, I hope you have a good Friday in anticipation of a great weekend.

Kiko #336 Blu Elettrico

Posted on by Cynthia

Last week I was checking out my favorite blogs and Jess from Once Upon A Polish had posted her review of Nails Inc. Baker Street. Being the Nails Inc. fan that I am, I was drooling over her swatches. I had seen this polish so many times and I kept putting off purchasing it. Why? I don’t know!!! I guess I’m crazy. I actually wanted to purchase Illamasqua Force but I have read on multiple blogs how it changes color and becomes a weird dusty murky medium blue!!! What?! I love Illamasqua, but I don’t want a polish that changes color as it ages. Look at what happened to it here on Scrangie’s blue comparison. So when I received this Kiko beauty, I knew I could pass on Baker Street (for now…ha!)

Kiko is a brand that is 100% new to me, and I was fortunate enough to receive this polish from my polish dealer, Sabrina, from Polish in Paris. Let me tell you first that I am in freaking love with this brand. I like the formula, I like the brush…I like everything!

    

How beautiful is this blue? Seriously?

    

I used Bundle Monster plate 322 for this houndstooth design and I much prefer this larger design than the one on my Konad plate. I don’t know what’s wrong with all the white special polishes I have purchased lately: they are not as vibrant and opaque as the first Konad special polish I bought and I’ve purchased them from the same seller so I know it’s not like I’m getting a fake product–at least I hope not! They also haven’t been as thick as my other special polishes so I am thinking of maybe leaving them open to see if they will thicken up a bit.

It has been crazy hot here in the last couple of weeks and I’ve been sweating like a whore in church. I’ve been trying to clean out my closet AND start making room for my 4th melmer since I have outgrown my polish storage once again. I have managed to clear out a lot of stuff that I just don’t need and got some new bedding. I think the pattern is kind of too busy for me since I like pristine white bedding, but I kind of fell in love with the colors and kept thinking of some stamping plates that are similar to the patterns on my comforter.

All in all, I am super happy with this truly electric blue polish, and I adore the blue/white stamping combination. I have already tried out the other Kiko beauty I received so I will be sharing that with you shortly. It’s a gorgeous duochrome! I hope you are staying cool in this crazy hot weather. Also, keep those in the path of hurricane Issac in your thoughts. Please stay safe if you are in the affected areas.

Thanks for stopping by and until next time!

Jindie Nails Water For Elephants

Posted on by Cynthia

I was really excited about trying Water For Elephants because I am a fan of gray polishes and the glitter in this polish really made it stand out. This is a color I could wear to work and feel like I was being “appropriate” but also feel like the glitter kicked it up a notch in a discreet way. I keep getting flashbacks of the Robert Pattinson/Reese Witherspoon movie as I write this. haha!

I’ll stop blabbering and show you some swatches now. 🙂

    

    

The application of this polish was fine. It was very sheer with just one coat but it was easily buildable. I didn’t have any problems in getting even glitter distribution but I still added a couple of drops of thinner which made it even easier to apply. Jen has a sale going on in her shop right now so go check it out here. Personally, I haven’t seen many gray polishes like this so I am really loving it. Thanks for stopping by and let me know what you think of this pretty glitter.

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

Jindie Nails Seeing Stars

Posted on by Cynthia

I don’t know about you, but I am really liking the idea of purchasing more indie polishes. I like feeling that I am supporting a small business that is creating something unique–especially if it’s something that I love like nail polish. When I first saw Jen’s creations, I thought they were definitely pretty and unique, but I was going through my glitter hater phase so I didn’t jump right on them. For the last couple of months, I have seriously done a 180 and started coveting and drooling over every glitter I see. I revisited Jen’s shop and OMG I went crazy trying to decided what polishes to get.  After making my choices, my polishes arrived in less than a week, and I was so surprised to find them wrapped up like this:

    

While some people may not think much of this, I think that Jen’s careful attention to things like how her polishes are wrapped and presented, shows how much she cares about her products and her customers. I, for one, really liked seeing my polishes wrapped in pretty tissue paper and ribbon. It’s the little things that make me happy.

                            

These are some macro shots of the 4 polishes I received–yeah, just to tease you!

The first polish I have decided to share with you is Seeing Stars. This is a vibrant polish with tons of different shaped glitters ranging from stars, bars and hexagons. The glitter is holographic for the most part so I love how it looks in different types of lighting. The thing that I was most drawn to about this polish when I visited Jen’s shop is the amazing blue jelly base. Because I still consider myself a glitter novice, I was very excited to try such a vibrant blue jelly with all that glittery magic explosion. I considered using this polish on it’s own, but decided to use a base color for my first attempt. I immediately thought of using China Glaze Frostbite since it is such a bright blue, but I went with a purple instead: OPI Purple With A Purpose.

    

I hadn’t used Purple With A Purpose in a really long time so I had forgotten how much I love it. I don’t think I’ve been giving OPI much love lately, but I have to say that they definitely have my favorite brush of all the brands I have tried. Their brush works PERFECTLY with my nail shape so it is a breeze to do a manicure since clean up is minimal. I actually didn’t do any clean up.

    

This is one coat of Seeing Stars over Purple With A Purpose. As you can tell, the blue base is VERY pigmented since it pretty much covers up the purple. The polish was a little thicker than I am used to dealing with so I added a few drops of thinner like Jen recommended and it became very manageable. It was not hard to pick up glitter on my brush, but I did have to fish for the stars. I dotted and pushed the bar glitter around a little bit to get it where I wanted it which is pretty typical of similar glitter polishes. This polish dries very glossy and there was some roughness, especially from the stars. I have not picked up any thick top coats such as Gelous, but I am planning to because any glitter lover knows that it’s a necessity.

Overall, I would say that Seeing Stars lived up to my expectations. I think that I would only wear the stars if I’m doing something festive. Otherwise, I would wear this polish any time!  If you are a glitter fan, I highly recommend that you check out Jen’s etsy shop here. She is very active on Facebook as well so you can always reach her there. So let me know what you think of Seeing Stars. Is it something you would wear? Are you a glitter lover or a glitter hater? I’m glad I could start out this Monday with a little glitter love. Thanks for stopping by my dears!

 

Stamping Sunday: Pulsating Pink And Purple

Posted on by Cynthia

I feel like I have been in a total funk lately so when I remembered the Sunday Stamping theme, I had absolutely no idea what to do. I took out a bunch of pink and purple polishes and it came down to Sation Shock Me Twice Pink and Sation Power To The Purple. I thought about combining the two, but changed my mind. So I went with two coats of Shock Me Twice pink over a base of China Glaze White Out.

    

I really like Shock Me Twice Pink because it’s neon but still delicate. It has a really pretty shimmer that shows up unexpectedly at certain angles.

    

I then used stamp Mash 48 and Wet N Wild’s I Can’t Stand Up Straight for the design.

    

Since I still wanted some kind of purple accent, I used these purple rhinestones on my design. I always think rhinestones will look better than they end up looking once I glue them on my nails. I should just give up on rhinestones already!

So how was your weekend? I hope you had fun. Thanks for stopping by despite my uninspired nails as of late. I hope this coming week finds me in a better frame of mind. I actually have another post coming soon and it is one spicy tamale full of glitter goodness. I hope you will enjoy it!

Bourjois Grenadine Tonic

Posted on by Cynthia

I have the most amazing nail polish connections in France. Yesterday I got a package from Sabrina and today I got another from Julie. Oh man…am I spoiled or what??? If you haven’t visited Julie’s blog, go visit Un Brin De Julie. Her blog is in French, but you can use google translate. She speaks English so you can always talk to her! She is so sweet and does the most beautiful nail art. Here is one of my favorite looks that she has done:

You can see her blog post here and see more pictures of this look. How freaking cute is this? I don’t know why I have always loved Navy/Sailor everything (Hello, sailor!) and this made me remember a dress my mom got for me when I was a little kid. I think I used to wear it ALL the freaking time, AND I would wear it with cowboy boots. Huh?! When I asked my mom why she combined the two, she said I was the one who insisted on wearing the boots. Oh well…tacky from birth. Anyway, here is a picture of me in the infamous dress. I think I was maybe 2 or 3 years old in this picture.

Yes, I was wearing shorts underneath! My mom knew that I liked to play with the boys and dresses and jumping off things don’t really go well together. I was such a boy growing up. I hated dolls unless it involved decapitating them, cutting their hair, burning them or making clothes for them. I envied my brother for having He-Man toys, Tonka Trucks and marbles. Since I’m a year and a half older than him, I would always find a way to butt in and take his stuff or force him to play with me. I was such a bossy kid.

The polishes I received today are two Bourjois beauties!

    

I had been drooling over the orange one, Grenadine Tonic, ever since I saw it on Ommorphia Beauty Bar. I am so lucky that Julie went out of her way to track it down for me. She also sent me this lovely lavender polish called Lavande Esquisse. (Exquisite Lavender) On to the swatches!

    

This is three coats of Grenadine Tonic. It is such a strange and lovely (in my opinion) jelly-like polish. It’s so glossy that I thought it was still wet the whole time I was wearing it. Obviously, if you don’t like VNL, this is not the polish for you.

    

Since I just picked up China Glaze Techno, I layered one coat over Grenadine Tonic. I know I’m tardy to the party on this glitter, but I just never wanted it until I found it for dirt cheap today and caved.

    

And lastly, I ended with one last coat of Grenadine Tonic for a strange jelly sandwich. Let me tell you something: this may not look impressive in my pictures, but when I went outside, it was completely magical. It was like my fingertips had the sun in them! I was actually blinding myself with the orange shine. People stared. People ran away in terror thinking I was a Drew Barrymore Firestarter-like creature. In short, I loved this.

And just to give you a better idea of my depravity, these are the polishes I have acquired in the last 2 days. Yes, 2 days. In the famous words of Patrick Henry: “Give me polish, or give me death!” I am 90% sure that’s what he said.

For fun, here is a little flash mob video that my friend shared:


I worked for Air France for a few years in my early 20’s and she said that she could totally picture us doing that. Haha. What a crazy time, but I loved that I was able to travel so much.

Wow, I’m tired. Crazy day today. As always, thanks for stopping by.

Sation Hot 4 Teacher + OPI Spotted

Posted on by Cynthia

Young teacher, the subject
Of schoolgirl fantasy
She wants him so badly
Knows what she wants to be
Inside her there’s longing
This girl’s an open page
Book marking – she’s so close now
This girl is half his age

I am a rabid The Police fan so I don’t need much encouragement to burst out into song whenever something reminds me of one of their songs. When I got Sation Hot 4 Teacher, I started singing “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” at the store. Seriously. I’m not lying. People already know I’m a little “whacky” at my usual nail places so they didn’t think anything was out of the ordinary.

My freshman year of college, I was hopelessly in brain love with my literature professor. His class was at 8:00 am. and I never missed a single session despite the fact that it was 3 times a week. I would sit in the back of the class and literally swoon when he would regale us with his stories or get into deep discussion about Mark Twain, Emily Dickinson, John Dunne, Baudelaire or TS Eliot. I found ways to take more of his classes which I did. One year, in his American Literature class, we had to write a paper on Kate Chopin’s The Awakening. At the same time, I was reading Jean Anouilh’s version of Antigone in my French Literature class so I incorporated both books and heroines into my paper. The reason why I still remember this is because he wrote such glowing comments on my paper that I felt I was walking on air for the rest of the week.  So while I really was “half his age,” I wasn’t some ingenue. I don’t even think he was extraordinarily handsome when I look back, but he was so intellectually stimulating that I was so into him. Sadly, not that it mattered because I wouldn’t have done anything anyway, he was happily married. So, Dr. B****, I really wanted to brain bone you. Oh yeah, really badly. (Yes, I’m a nerd. SHUT UP!) Now, if only he had been the one to compliment me in class all the time and act creepy when I went to his office hours for help instead of my Comparative Religion professor…no, the irony is not lost on me.

Talk about tangents…back to the nail polish. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: I LOVE SATION. Hot 4 Teacher is another polish from the Class Of Sation Collection, and I am in love with its radioactively bright magenta goodness. Like most neons, this dries to a satin finish which I like but much prefer it with a coat of Seche Vite.

Here are some shots of Hot 4 Teacher with and without topcoat:

    

    

    

And now for the polish I was super excited to receive…OPI Spotted!

    

I received OPI Spotted courtesy of the lovely Sabrina from Polish In Paris. (Merci ma belle! Merci mille fois…tu n’imagines pas combien j’adore ce vernis!!!) I had already read online that it’s important to apply this very thinly or else you won’t get many spots. As you can tell, I applied it too thickly on my pinky so I didn’t get  much of the spotted effect. You really have to apply the thinnest coat possible if you want a lot of spots. And just to make you more jealous, she also sent me 3 other polishes that look amazing and that I can’t wait to try. Eat your heart out:

Ok, so I really didn’t mean to rub it in your face, I just feel like I won the polish sweepstakes. 😀

So what do you think of Hot 4 Teacher? What about my inappropriate obsession with my lit professor? What are your feelings on OPI Spotted? Is it something you would wear?

Thanks for stopping by and catching up with me. I hope you will be back. I swear I’m not psycho. Really, I’m not…….