Winter 2013 Archives - Of Life and Lacquer

Tag: Winter 2013

Of Life and Lacquer > Winter 2013

LCN Homecoming Collection – Winter 2013

Posted on 25 November, 2013 by Cynthia

Let the Thanksgiving gluttony begin! Today we had a Thanksgiving luncheon at work and we stuffed our faces with trip tip, delicious carb-loaded sides and way too many desserts. Whatever happened to my diet, you ask? Erm…what diet? Anyway, it was fun to fart around with my colleagues for a few hours today. As I’m getting ready for Thursday’s cook-a-thon (I swear I wrote cock-a-thon like 4 times), I have a short but sweet collection to share with you: the LCN Homecoming Collection for Winter 2013.

Fist up we have LCN Knitting Wool. This is a mild creamy yellow that applies a little streaky but it builds up nicely. I always expect streak city with these types of colors so I was pleasantly surprised that it looked good with two coats.

I love all the gorgeous and inky blues that have come out this Fall/Winter, so LCN Home Sweet Home is definitely a great color to add to your collection. This color is so pigmented that it could almost be a one coater but I think it does need that second coat. It dries super glossy and best of all: it doesn’t stain!

LCN Chocolate Fudge made me a little hungry. This looks so delicious! It’s a very rich brown that fits in well with the season. The formula was very pigmented and super buttery.

And lastly we have LCN Berry Punch. It’s a pretty magenta shimmer that has some duochrome type of effect when you look at the bottle. To be honest, I wasn’t that excited about this color, but it is pretty.

Overall, I find this collection to be nice but a little uninspired. The colors aren’t really exciting, but the formula on all of these is pretty fantastic which is what I have come to expect from LCN. Each polish in the LCN Homecoming Collection retails for $7.50 and they are available now at the LCN Boutique. Be sure to follow them on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest to stay up to date on all of their announcements. Are you over these Winter collections? Let me know what you think!

Nubar Alter Ego Collection – Winter 2013

Posted on 30 October, 2013 by Cynthia

Are you guys ready for Halloween? I’m not planning to do anything so I’m not going to dress up nor am I going to give out candy. I’m probably just going to watch a whole bunch of scary movies at home. We are having a Halloween potluck at work so I’m making my much requested red velvet cupcakes. People at work are always talking about them so I’m happy to oblige since I love baking. I’ve had such a busy day today because I’ve been doing laundry and just general cleaning along with other errands. It makes me kinda mad because I can never seem to just enjoy a day off. Anyway, I also ended up finishing up my swatches of the Nubar Alter Ego Collection which is what I have for you today. This collection is made up of 8 glitter top coats in lightly tinted bases. I layered 2 coats of each glitter top coat over a corresponding solid color, and I got a pretty effect. The formula on all of the polishes is exactly the same: a little goopy but I think it helps you control the glitter application. Let’s take a look at the Nubar Alter Ego Collection, shall we?

Nubar Kristal (over Color Club Silver Lake)

Nubar Trixie (over Color Club Age Of Aquarius)

Nubar Blondie (over Color Club Neon Orange Sunset)

Nubar Vixen (over Color Club Endless)

Nubar Elektra (over Color Club Neon Sunrise)

Nubar Gipsy (over Color Club Abyss)

Nubar Satine (over Color Club Red Rocks)

Nubar Roxy (over Color Club Factory Girl)

Overall, I think that these top coats are pretty but for a lacquerhead like me, they are so boring. I mean, these are not anything that we haven’t seen before so I’m not excited about them at all. I feel that Nubar has been striking out lately and to be honest, so have a lot of other brands. I wasn’t that impressed with Nubar’s Summer and Fall collections either so I hope they get over this slump. The last Nubar collection that I loved was My Sweet Escape for Spring which I reviewed here. Nubar can be a little hard to come buy since I’ve only seen it at independent beauty supply stores, but you can purchase them online where they retail for $8. If you’re interested in any of these, they are going on my blog sale so make sure that you check them out there along with a lot of other goodies. Let me know what you think of this collection–I’d love to hear from you. Are you a Nubar fan? Thanks so much for the visit, and I’ll talk to you soon.

P.S. My giveway is ending in a few hours. Have you entered?? If not, click on the image below and enter for your chance to win some Mariah Carey Holiday Liquid Sand Minis.

Zoya Zenith Collection – Holiday & Winter 2013

Posted on 29 October, 201327 October, 2013 by Cynthia

On the heels of posting a Fall collection, today I have a Winter/Holiday collection for you. Now, I know you have probably seen about a gatrillion swatches of this collection, so bear with me: you haven’t seen this collection on MY nails and we all know my nails are special. I mean, look at them: they are long and squared and they grow out of my fingers! I mean, really—I must be the only one, right? Oh, I’m not? You mean everyone has nails? Pfft…fine. Just indulge me then and let’s take a look at the Zoya Zenith Collection for Winter 2013.

I don’t know what it is with me and blues lately, but I just can’t get enough of them. Zoya Dream is a bright jelly based blue with a crapton of scattered holographic particles. I love how the holo looks suspended in this base! It’s a little thin so I had to apply two thick coats to build up the opacity.

I know what you’re thinking: is that you, Aurora? Uhm, no, it is not. Zoya Payton does have a few things in common with Aurora, but the base color on Payton is a lot darker. Dark purple/burgundy with scattered holographic glitter? Yes, please! I can totally get on board with this beauty. The formula is also thinner on this one since it is a jelly, but it does build up easily—just make sure you give it enough dry time in between coats.

Are you a purple lover? I am! However, I didn’t find Zoya Belinda that exciting to tell you the truth. Maybe it’s because it has a metallic finish and I am a total hater when it comes to that finish. Who knows? The formula on Belinda was surprisingly thin for such a dark color. It was bald spot central so I ended up applying 3 thin coats to make sure I had complete coverage.

Zoya Mosheen. Bar glitter. Barf City. Just say no.

Since I hate anything with a metallic/foil finish, it should come as no surprise that I did not like Zoya Cassedy. Look, it’s not that I think it is ugly…it’s just ugly on me. When I swatched this one, I immediately thought of Frosso since she loves everything gunmetal. The formula on Cassedy is actually pretty great. It’s thick so it gives you a lot of control and it’s super opaque which means that it is a happy one coater. If you like this finish, I’m pretty sure you will like this polish.

Ok, I don’t know what’s wrong with me lately, but I’m liking things I would normally hate. When I first looked at this collection, I immediately declared that Mosheen, Cassedy and Seraphina were barf central and I would hate them. Well, that applied to Mosheen and Cassedy, but I actually ended up liking Zoya Seraphina! I don’t know if the fact that it doesn’t look that metallic-y saved it, but I quite liked how it looked on my nails. The formula is a little thin so I applied 3 coats for full coverage.

Well, there you have it: my psychotic thoughts on the Zoya Zenith Collection. I am not a person who particularly likes holidays, but being that we are nearing that time of the year, I always remember all my dumb childhood stories. I was always such an imaginative kid, and I actually CONVINCED MYSELF that I had seen Santa Claus. It all started out with me deliberately making up a story about Santa coming to my house and I told it with such fervor to my 1st grade class, that the lines between made up and reality blurred and I believed my own story! Now I’m starting to think that the whole “I was abducted by aliens” story may not be real either. Oh well, whatcha gonna do about that?

This collection is available now to be purchased so open up those wallets (which are probably permanently open if you’re a polish nut). To stay up to date on everything Zoya, make sure that you follow them on their website, Facebook, twitter and instagram. Let me know what you think about this collection: do you like it? Does it give you the warm and fuzzies in your lacquered heart? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will catch you later.

Essie Shearling Darling Collection – Winter 2013

Posted on 7 October, 20137 October, 2013 by Cynthia

I had such a bummer day today. There are certain days when I can tolerate my job better than others, and today was one of those days when I was just incredibly sad about being at a job that slowly kills my soul every day. After work, I decided to go get my newest lemming: Tom Ford Black Sugar. When I stopped at Bloomingdales, they didn’t have the Fall collection yet so I went to Saks. They didn’t have it either. I was totally defeated and decided that it wasn’t meant to be. I guess I saved myself the $32 for now, but I can’t guarantee I won’t be back there next week. I am instead consoling myself with some Ben & Jerry’s Chunky Monkey.

Anyway, today I have the Essie Shearling Darling Collection for Winter 2013 to show you. Before I get into the swatches, I wanted to remind you that these are three finger swatches due to the breakage of my pointer finger nail.

Oh the humanity! That is a total nubbin, and I pretty much lost the entire free edge. I won’t really get into HOW i broke the nail but let’s just say that a very hard chicharron was involved. Ok, I know that sounds super dumb so let me elaborate: If you don’t know what a chicharron is, it’s basically a pork rind. It was a special chicharron with the meat attached, and I was trying to break off a piece. When it snapped off, it also snapped off my nail. Nice. My gluttony has once again punished me. So now that that I have shared that dumb story, let me show you my swatches of the Shearling Darling Collection.

Haven’t we seen tons of these darkened blues this Fall/Winter? It doesn’t matter to me because Essie Mind Your Mittens is absolutely gorgeous. I can’t get over how glossy this looks–and this is without top coat!!! The formula was nice and opaque so I only needed two coat for full opacity.

Where to start with this color? Essie Parka Perfect is a beautiful greyed dusty blue with hidden shimmer that only becomes apparent at certain angles. The formula was a little streaky so I used three very thin coats which worked out well for me.

I think that Essie Sable Collar is the absolute winner in this collection. It’s so beautiful!!!!! The microshimmer really comes out in sunlight and depending on the angle, you see some brown, grey and burgundy. Seriously gorgeous! The formula was nice and needed two coats.

While being the collection’s namesake, Essie Shearling Darling is nice but not exactly exciting. The reason why I really like this polish is because it is amazingly shiny and smooth and as we all know, I can’t resist a gorgeous creme. It almost has a squishy crelly quality to it. The formula is great and it just SCREAMS Fall.

Essie Toggle To The Top is a unique polish in my collection–I don’t think I have anything similar to this. At first I thought that this polish was pretty close to Essie Leading Lady, but there are some differences. I think Toggle To The Top has a darker jelly base but the glitter is pretty similar. The formula was kind of gritty which is to be expected. I got some dragging when I didn’t let each coat dry. I ended up applying 3 thin coats for even coverage.And lastly, here we have Essie Warm & Toasty Turtleneck which is the token lilac/purple in so many Essie collections. This one, however, is one that I can get on board with because it’s more of a gray purple which makes it look dusty and absolutely gorgeous. The formula was nice, and I needed two coats for my swatches above.

Overall, I am very happy with this collection. After a few disappointing collections, I am glad that Essie is bringing us interesting collections again. Best of all, I feel that the formula on their polishes isn’t so problematic anymore nor so hit and miss. This is a solid collection with beautiful colors that perfectly go with the cooling temperatures. One thing I did want to mention is that there seems to be some confusion about two polishes and that they might be mislabeled. Apparently the labels on Mind Your Mittens and Parka Perfect are switched on some polishes. I have no idea which is the correct labeling so I guess we will just have to wait and hear the official word from Essie.

Let me know what you think about this collection. Do you have any favorites? Thanks for stopping by today!