Tag: Essie

Of Life and Lacquer > Essie

Don’t Hate Me! I Have A Sickness.

Posted on by Cynthia

Master enabler Nicole “convinced” me that it was ok to start my no-buy policy this Saturday instead of in the middle of the week.  And when I say that she convinced me, she just agreed with me when I put it out there. I needed no further justification to jump in my car and head over to Little Saigon for polish therapy. I told myself that I wouldn’t spend more than $20 and I stuck to it much to my surprise. It’s a good thing that everything is so cheap there or else I would have been in big trouble.

So, this is what I ended up purchasing today:

Enchantress, Showstopper

 

Jazz, A Crewed Interest, Funny Face and Turquoise & Caicos

Once I had my polish fill, I decided to stop at Sephora. Bad idea. I had gotten a few samples of Korres Wild Rose Moisturizer, and I freaking loved it so I wanted to go check it out. Since I had some store credit, I decided I might as well get something useful like moisturizer. Even though it’s starting to get hot and I have oily skin most of the time, I have noticed that my Clinique gel moisturizer isn’t helping some of the weird dry patches I’ve been getting lately. The Korres moisturizer is really thick but it feels great on my skin and best of all, it doesn’t make me break out. Of course they didn’t have it in store so I have to buy it online. Poo. I started walking around, and of course I ended up at their nail bar. My Sephora is now carrying Julep as well as SpaRitual. I was curious to see if they had Ciaté but it wasn’t available yet.  Then I remembered how much I wanted Illamasqua Nomad. No bueno. I picked it up and also grabbed SpaRitual Meditate On This and ran to the check-out before I could change my mind or grab more things.

These are new brands to me so I can’t wait to try them out. So excited!

Remember how I initially went to Sephora for the Korres moisturizer? Well, at check-out they had the usual 100pt and 500pt perks. Yawn. The perks haven’t been worth squat lately so I barely even glanced at them. The cashier told me I had like 3,000 points. I always kind of hate when they tell me my point balance because it makes me feel self-conscious like I have issues. Well, I do but still… Then I noticed that one of the 100pt perks was a mini tube of the moisturizer I was looking for. Score! I ended up taking 5 of them which is 1.7oz of moisturizer: .3oz more than the amount a full size container carries and retails for $35.00.

This is probably the most well-spent points EVER for me. When’s the last time they had any kind of full-size product even at the 500pt level? Poo to you Sephora. You have to kick it up a notch or else loyal customers, like moi, will start to go elsewhere like *cough* Ulta *cough*

Are you glad it’s Friday? Do you have any plans for the weekend? What do you think of the polish colors I got? Tell me! 🙂

The Office by Essie

Posted on by Cynthia

EDIT 6/25/12: This post has gotten tons of hits lately so. There are some really dedicated fans of The Office out there! I hope you look around my blog and find something interesting. Thank you for visiting my little spot of the the blogosphere.

 

If this is for real, my nail polish year was just made.

Someone please tell me this is not just someone’s wishful thinking because I’m about to crap my pants over here.

Essie Angora Cardi

Posted on by Cynthia

I knew that Angora Cardi was a color that some might call matronly and for a momicure mauve when I first picked it up. But that didn’t make a difference to me: I love mauves dangit. I think I just like how it looks on my darker skin tone. Now that I’ve worn it, I really love it. The color is pretty and the formula is fantastic. I decided not to do any stamping today because my konad stuff needs a little break. However, I did do an accent nail using Wet N Wild It’s All In The Cut. The collection that it comes from is probably my favorite glitter ever…and that’s saying a lot because I don’t usually use the words favorite and glitter in the same sentence. Were you able to pick up any of the limited edition Ice Baby ColorIcon Collection from Winter 2011? That whole collection was just beautiful but I hate how thirsty the glitter is; it sucks up topcoat like there’s no tomorrow.

So here is what my nails ended up looking like. Once again I was forced to take picture inside with artificial light because there was zero sun today. 🙁

 

Today wasn’t a really interesting polish day. This manicure feels safe to me but sometimes safe is good. I purchased 4 Sinful Colors polishes because they were on sale for $1.00 at Walgreens. Now I’m waiting for my 14 other Zoyas to show up….

Polka Polka Polka

Posted on by Cynthia

I love John Candy and when I started taking pictures of this mani, I instantly thought about this scene in Home Alone. I remember that my dad took my brother and I to watch Home Alone when I was 11 years old, and I thought it was one of the greatest movies ever made. It has become a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition to watch this along with It’s A Wonderful Life. I think it’s so amazing how things will stick in your mind from your childhood, and they will always bring warm memories. Sorry for the crappy video quality but it’s the only one I could find on youtube that wasn’t super long.

As soon as I wrote in my previous post that I was going to take advantage of the lovely sunglight, it immediately became overcast. Normally I would have had at least 2 hours of useable sunlight, but it didn’t quite work out. I was forced to take pictures inside with artificial light. Poo.

I ended up using one of the new polishes I purchased today: Essie Mint Candy Apple. How gorgeous is this color? Besides falling in love with the color, I couldn’t be happier with the formula. It flowed like butta. I used China Glaze White Out as well. It’s a color that I don’t use often, but I like the formula and opacity.

 

I really like how this manicure turned out. It’s so fresh and spring inspired.

What do you have going on this weekend? Anything fun?

New Loot

Posted on by Cynthia

It’s sunny today. It’s sunny and there is a great breeze outside so it’s absolutely perfect. Once it starts to get warm, the area where I live starts to get really congested with traffic from people going to the beach. There is a freeway a block away from me that pours into the main street heading down to the beach so it takes eons for me to get around that. Dang it people, stop swarming to the beach!

I thought it over and I decided that I will get the new Essie Poppy-razzi collection so I went to another one of my favorite nail stores to see if they had it out yet, but they said it would be coming in later. Welllllll…what’s a girl to do when there are thousands of bottles of nail polish all around?  I ended up picking up a few summery colors and a couple of very dark and vampy colors–something that my dark nail polish twin over at Nails Of Many Colors would like.

Lately I have been really into Essie. I don’t know why all of a sudden I’ve been buying tons of Essie. I think it’s because they are becoming much more adventurous with their collections. Can you remember when Essie was all about really blah pastels? I like pastels, but I need variety too!

 

Jessica is another brand that I’m enjoying more of lately as well. These are such dark colors that will look awesome this fall. I don’t really adhere to seasonal colors so I’ll wear whatever I want, whenever I want.

 

And lastly, I got some cuticle oil to keep on my nightstand. I have really been neglecting my cuticles lately, and they have been looking super gross.

 

I’m trying to decide what to do with my nails right now. I just accidentally smashed my middle finger with a sliding glass window so I’m dreading the idea of possibly losing my nail and having to wait for it to grow out and all that. It was so painful that I thought I saw little stars like in cartoons when someone gets hit by an anvil.  Well, since there is a lot of sunlight right now, I’d better get my mani done so I can take some decent pictures of it.

Essie Sure Shot Resort Collection 2012

Posted on by Cynthia

I had Essie on the brain when I woke up today so I went to look the Resort Collection. Since my usual nail place hiked up their prices on Essie products, I ventured out to a couple of new stores. It paid off because I got these for $3.50 each. Score! I don’t know if it’s just me, but these colors don’t look like a cohesive collection. The colors seem to be all over the place, but I still like them individually.

Pink-a-boo is the one color I was not that excited about. However, I really like it! Essie is known for all their soft pastel shades so they really know how to do them right. I had read that this was a nightmare to apply, but I did not have any major problems with it. It’s soft and milky pink with some iridescent glitter. You can see the pink and lavender tinge of the glitter in the bottle, but it doesn’t show up much on the nail. Because it is so light and sheer, I needed 3 coats.  This color just seems classy to me.

Sure Shot is such a juicy color, j-j-j-juicy!

How awesome would it be if this song played whenever you entered a room wearing Sure Shot on your nails? Hahaha! Am I a weirdo? This hot like magma fuschia is absolutely gorgeous. It has fine shimmer throughout which makes it look even…juicier! I didn’t have any problems with application and 2 coats were all I needed.

She’s Picture Perfect was such a weird looking color when I first saw the bottle. It’s grayish lavender/lilac and kinda blue all at once. Then it has that hot pink shimmer that doesn’t seem to fit. This one was an absolute nightmare to apply. I don’t know if it was just my bottle but it was just so difficult to work with.  I actually applied it and removed it twice before I took pictures of it. It was so streaky and gross. Ugh! I hate it when I get a dud like this. I still think it’s a unique color so I am not giving up on it. I will just have to mentally prepare myself for frustration when I decide to wear it.

No More Film is a creme. I love cremes. I don’t know if I love this one. It has some purple in it so I should love it, but I just don’t know. I definitely love how saturated the formula is. I could have applied just one coat–that’s how thick and pigmented it is–but I applied 2 thin coats out of habit. I had to work super carefully with this because I did not want to get any on my cuticles. Can you imagine what the clean up would be like for a formula this dark and pigmented? AAAARRGGHHHH! I am not sure of how many similar colors I may have so I’m glad I picked it up. Now that I think of it, I don’t think I really have something close to this indigo creme.

Overall, it’s an interesting collection but nothing I am totally in love with. What do you think about these colors? Do you have a favorite?

TOMS & Essie

Posted on by Cynthia

A few weeks ago, I heard about a promotion on TOMS’ Facebook page. I don’t really recall entering it, but apparently I was entered to win a free Essie polish. Lo and behold, I received it yesterday!!! Wow! And I had just complained that I never with anything. If you don’t know anything about TOMS, here is the “About” info on their Facebook page:

In 2006, American traveler Blake Mycoskie befriended children in a village in Argentina and found they had no shoes to protect their feet. Wanting to help, he created TOMS, a company that would match every pair of shoes purchased with a pair of new shoes given to a child in need. One for One.

Five years later, TOMS realized this movement could serve other basic needs and launched TOMS Eyewear. With every pair purchased, TOMS will help give sight to a person in need. One for One. As more everyday choices have the power to impact the lives of those around the world, the TOMS movement will continue to grow and evolve.

The polish I received is a limited edition color named Barefoot in Blue. It is a sheer color but very buildable. I love it!

And here it is with a design from plate M73.

So thank you TOMS and Essie for the beautiful nail polish. Don’t forget to check out the details for the One Day Without Shoes Event on April 10, 2012.

Color Club Back To Boho Part 2

Posted on by Cynthia

I spaced out and realized I didn’t get around to posting the other half of this collection. I actually much prefer this other half because I find the colors more interesting. This is an older collection from Fall 2011 but it’s still really nice in my opinion. Some of these colors don’t scream Fall to me so I’d still use them any time. Enjoy the swatches!

Nomadic In Nude is just such a weird color. It’s like a putty color that just reminds me of a corpse. Yeah, how’s that for morbid? This color was such a pain in the ass that I don’t know if I am really excited about wearing it again. I mean, it’s not really a color that I would normally gravitate towards and when you add the problematic formula, forget it! I had to apply 4 coats to make it look somewhat smooth and even then it still looked a little bumpy. A coat of Seche Vite helped to even it out a bit.

Earthy Angel is the perfect café au lait color. This is not a color that I would have picked up in my earlier days of nail polish obsession, but I’m definitely starting to like nude colors more and more. It has a decent formula and I thought it was going to be fine with two coats. However, once I looked at my nails more closely, I noticed some bald spots where the polish dragged. It looked pretty good with the third coat. I knew this color would be the perfect matte mannequin manicure polish so I applied a coat of Essie Matte About You.

Not satisfied, I applied a coat of glitter to see what it would look like. Here it is with OPI Servin’ Up Sparkle from the Serena Williams Collection.

And finally I mattified it–glitter and all.

I really like this look!

New Bohemian was unexpected for a Fall collection. It’s definitely a spring color for me. It was a lot more sheer than I expected so it took 3 coats for full opacity. I really love this color but it’s such a common color now that it’s not that exciting. I immediately wondered how close this would be to China Glaze’s For Audrey so I swatched them side by side.

It may be a little difficult to tell from these pictures, but these are not exact dupes. They are definitely close but you can tell that For Audrey is brighter with more blue while New Bohemian has more green in it. Do you need both? Probably not. But you know me…there’s never enough polish.

Shabby Drab kind of reminded me of China Glaze’s Secret Peri-wink-le but it photographs so purple. It was pretty sheer but the color was buildable without any issues. It’s a dusty lavander periwinkle color that I really liked in this collection.

This color is right up my alley. Rad Monad is one of those purple, taupe, gray, beige mixes that are ever present now. Remember when Metro Chic started a frenzy? This was super pigmented and only required two coats.

Lastly here is Red-ical Gypsy. I don’t have much to say about this color. It’s nice. It’s dark with some magenta/berry in it. Very saturated and only needed two coats.

These colors should be readily available in case you’re interested in getting any of them. Ross continues to carry these collection sets for $7.99 so keep an eye out for them if you’re looking for a good deal.

Orange You Glad It’s Almost Friday?

Posted on by Cynthia

After the big fail at my doctor’s office, I decided to change my nail polish to get the stench of disappointment off my fingers. Incidentally, last night one of my lovely readers told me that red is a color that schizophrenics gravitate towards after I posted about red being my color of confidence. It made me laugh because it reminded me of one of my roommates at the psych ward. She was an older lady who snored so loud that it took me a week to finally be able to sleep with her snoring in the bed across the room. I remember that the first night I was admitted, it was past midnight so I had to go to sleep right after they checked me in and strip searched me…yeah….strip search. I guess I can imagine people try to sneak dangerous things in. So anyway, once I got into bed, this lady was snoring so loud and made so many choking sounds that I actually got up to talk to a nurse because I thought she was dying or something. Sorry for the tangent. The reason why I laughed was because my roommate was schizophrenic and she was obsessed with wearing red lipstick. She had no teeth, but she couldn’t live without her red lipstick. Go figure.

The color I chose today is Calligraphic Calico by Finger Paints. Finger Paints can be found exclusively at Sally Beauty Supply. I’ve had this color for a while and I really like it. I think Finger Paints puts out pretty decent polishes, and I do grab some when they have a sale going on.

 

Then I used Essie’s As Gold As It Gets to paint my tips. It’s not that noticeable in these pictures but it looks pretty cool in the sun.

 

Calligraphic Calico is a color that I really like. It’s orangey with a little pink and very subtle gold shimmer. I’m really happy that we’ve been seeing so much orange lately because I love the way it looks. So what do you think?

Purple, Purple, Purple!!!!!

Posted on by Cynthia

I know I’ve said it a million times, but I’ll say it again: I love purple. China Glaze’s Grape Pop is really one of my favorite classic purples. It’s such a rich and saturated color that applies like a dream. I really love wearing this color. After I painted my nails, I wanted to use one of Essie’s flaky Luxeffects topcoats but I didn’t want to completely cover up the purple goodness so I decided to paint a triangle of flaky delight.

Beejus! Didn’t I tell you this color was amazing?! And that’s just two thin coats.

You can’t really see the triangle with the flash but wait for the low light….

Purty, right? Anyway, it’s been super windy and dry here in So Cal so my skin has been acting crazy: it’s so dry in certain areas that it hurts. I’ve been having to use extra hand cream on my hands as well. Thank you L’Occitane for your amazing hand creams.

Well, I’ve been watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy on Netflix for the last 5 hours!!! I watched the movies when they first came out in the theaters and re-watched them on Netflix a few times. Now they have come out with a Special Extended Edition that has 2 extra hours that were cut out of the movies that were shown in US theaters. The trilogy was originally shown on TV in Sweden so they did end up cutting stuff for the theater edition. If you’ve never seen these movies, I highly recommend them. Noomi Rapace is amazing as Lisbeth Salander. I haven’t watched the American adaptation yet, but I hear it’s pretty good as well.

I hope you all had a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by.