Year: 2012

Of Life and Lacquer > 2012

September Birthday Extravaganza #1

Posted on by Cynthia

Now that things are almost back to normal with all my blog drama, I am launching my first Birthday Month Giveaway…The Notorious BMG. Nice!

A month ago when Ulta was clearing out their essence stock, I purchased so many polishes with the idea of using them in a giveaway. I really do love these polishes because the formula is great, and they have awesome colors as well.  So for this giveaway, I have 5 lovely shades:

Ultimate Pink, Let’s Get Lost, Just In Case, Space Queen and Where Is The Party?

Here are some swatches of the colors. Don’t worry…I used my own bottles of these polishes for the swatches. The bottles that are up for the giveaway are brand new and unused. 🙂

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Open to US, Canada, France and UK residents. When you follow my blog via email, make sure that you confirm your subscription because otherwise you won’t show up as a subscriber when I choose a winner.

While you are at it, don’t forget to enter my other giveaway for a FREE Julep Maven Intro Box. There are only a couple of days left to enter and it’s 100% free.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Today has just been a crappy and hot day. I feel so lethargic when it gets this hot. I am sure you’re all getting tired of hearing me complain about the heat by now. I just hope that the heat lets up because this is when the wildfires get insane in California.

I don’t know how many of you are familiar with something I like to call THE SANDWICH. Actually, Lesley and Nicole also call it the same thing and I think it was Lesley who initially called it that. My brother is a huge fan of THE SANDWICH and he asked me to make him one for dinner tonight since he works until around 8:30. THE SANDWICH consists of: Tuna, mayo, mustard, pickles, lettuce, tomatoes, hard-boiled egg and cheese of your choice–I like provolone. Does it sound disgusting? Well, it isn’t. It’s such a delicious combination. Today I decided to add bacon to it since I need another push towards coronary artery disease. I wanted to add avocado but it doesn’t look like it’s ripe enough yet. 🙁 I usually make it on plain wheat or white bread, but tonight I took it another step closer to culinary armageddon: a crusty baguette. Behold my creation:

    

Does it look disgusting to you? Well let me tell you: this sandwich = foodgasm. Ladies who have had this, back me up. lol The thing I want to warn you about when you eat this sandwich is the heinous breath that you will get afterwards. Yes, it is worse than you imagine.  The use of the baguette and the bacon pushes this sandwich to another level so I had to think about it. This sandwich will now be known as The Pantagruel. If you don’t know who Pantagruel is (I’m sure my lovely French readers will get the allusion), he is a character in a series of novels written by Francois Rabelais. Pantagruel and his father, Gargantua, were crude, excessive and obscene–kind of like this sandwich! See? It fits perfectly. By the way, we get the word gargantuan from from Rabelais’ Gargantua. I always like knowing tidbits like that. I’m easily amused.

Oh, and I also got my Sephora order today:

I don’t usually buy too many Sephora by OPI polishes unless they are on clearance. I got all three polishes for $13–not bad considering each polish sells for $9.50. Since Sephora was offering free shipping to VIBs last week, I ordered these without having to pay for shipping. I also redeemed 100 BI Points to get a small bottle of Coach Poppy. Yay!

This is probably the longest and most rambling giveaway post ever,  but I had a lot to say!  Don’t forget to check out my “Giveaway Alerts” page to see other giveaways that other lovely ladies are currently running. See? I’m looking out for you and want you to win polishes. 😉

Thanks for stopping by and good luck!

Julep Sasha

Posted on by Cynthia

If you’ve taken a peek at my facebook or twitter page, you probably know that I’ve had a mini meltdown about all the issues I have encountered while trying to move my blog to a different host. My blog is going to look messed up for a couple of days while I figure out how to work around all the hurdles that keep popping up every time I think I have things figured out.  I will leave that drama for another post because I just need to get my mind off it all and upload a post I was working on earlier today.

Before I get into my review and swatches of Sasha, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a FREE Julep Maven Intro box. There are only a couple of days let to enter so why wouldn’t you enter? It’s free and there is no obligation to purchase anything else.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

You can also sign up to be a Julep Maven for just $0.01 for your introductory box!!! YES, JUST ONE PENNY! How? Well, let me tell you how. Sign up by clicking on my link here and use promo code MAVENINTRO  By signing up using my link, you are helping support my blog so click away! 🙂

For more information about the Julep Maven membership program, here are some details from Julep’s website:

As a Julep Maven, your monthly subscription of just $19.99 delivers exclusive access to at least $40 worth of products handpicked to suit your style.After your introductory box, you’ll start receiving a Julep Maven Box each month, including:

  • At least $40 worth of customized products elegantly packaged in our exclusive giftable box
  • New, never-before-released colors and treatments sent FIRST to you, before anyone else
  • Past hits and cult favorites–the products our girlfriends can’t live without.

Your Maven subscription also comes with free shipping, 20% off all purchases in the Julep Maven Boutique and the peace of mind that comes with knowing there’s never any obligation to buy.

We’ll send an email previewing your upcoming Julep Maven Box on the 20th of each month. Like what you see? Do nothing and your box is on its way. Want to try a new style, send your box to a friend or skip the month? Just log into your account between the 20th and the 24th to submit your request.

 

Before all the blog drama happened today, I decided to use my other Julep polish:

    

This is two coats of Sasha. This color is seriously vibrant, and I’m still on the fence about how I like it on me. Regardless of what I think of the actual color, I am happy to report that the formula was absolutely perfect: creamy, buttery and very pigmented. What else can you ask for when it comes to a creme polish?

Since I’ve been trying to experiment more,  I busted out some other colors and my handy dotting tool to see if I could come up with something interesting.

    

You be the judge: cute or disasticure as Nicole calls them?

So what do you think of Sasha and my feeble attempt at nail art? Don’t be too hard on me. I can stamp and that’s about it. haha! I am super excited because it looks like I might get my newest set of plates sometime this week. Considering the drama I’ve been dealing with, that would make me super happy!

I’m going to say it again: enter my giveaway because who doesn’t love free stuff?! Oh, and Nicole from Polish Me Please! is also giving away a Julep box. Hello! Two chances to win a box if you enter both. You can enter her giveaway by clicking here.

I’m sure you’re sick of giveaways, right? (Sure you are!) Well, get ready because I have some giveaways lined up this month since it’s my birthday later in the month. I don’t usually like to celebrate my birthday, but I do like excuses to host giveaways! Stay tuned because one goes live later today. 😉

 

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

Essie Oldies

Posted on by Cynthia

As a fairly recent nail polish addict, it pains me to realize how many amazing collections I have missed out on pre-2011 because I wasn’t really following any of the major brands. I was an occasional nail polish wearer until I started getting weekly salon manicures. It was something that I would do every Friday after work to help me de-stress and just put work out of my mind for the weekend. So when I think of all those amazing–and sadly discontinued–collections that I missed out on, I just want to cry! (I’m looking at you China Glaze OMG!)

I am always on the lookout for older polishes so I tend to spend a lot of time searching online for information. I especially like to collect REALLY old nail polishes mostly for the vintage bottles, but that’s a whole other obsession that I won’t discuss right now. There are a lot of polish etailers out there but today I’m going to talk to you about Beauty Stop Online. They have a wide range of products (not just polishes!) so you should definitely check them out if you’re looking for quality products at a good price.

Today I have two Essie polishes that pre-date my polish hoarding days: Poor Lil’ Rich Girl & Looking For Love.

                                                          

 

Poor Lil’ Rich Girl is from the Winter 2004 Frozen Assets Collection. You are probably thinking that there are tons of dark red nail polishes out there and you are right: there are! While this color is not terribly unique, I can never turn down a glossy and vibrant creme polish. Application was not a problem even though I needed 3 coats to even out the color. This is not a straightforward red; I think that it has some brown in it that gives it a vampy feel. This is the type of color that I love to wear when my nails are this short. And before I forget, I can’t stop singing “Rich Girl” by H&O every time I look at this polish!

  

This polish thoroughly confused me. From the Spring 2008 In The Mood Collection, Looking For Love is not a polish I would normally wear, but I think that I have been trying to branch out. Essie is known for their delicate sheers and pastels so I decided to give this one a try. In the bottle, this color appeared to be gray with some blue but once I got it on my nails, I saw a slight lavender/lilac tinge to it. Upon googling this polish, I came across a lot of information from other polish fiends stating that there appeared to be two versions of this polish (My Private Jet anyone?!) While I like the end result, this polish was kind of a streaky nightmare. It took 4 coats to get this manicure done.

If you’re interested in checking out what other Essie colors are stocked at Beauty Stop Online, you can click here and browse through their selection.

When did your polish obsession start?

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

Jindie Nails Underwater Disco

Posted on by Cynthia

What a freaking hot weekend. I’m sitting here with a fan running full force on me and I’m still hot. It’s September…hurry up, Summer, and go away. I have been putting off working on my nail polish storage project because it’s been so hot I just get flustered and annoyed. Even doing my nails is a pain because I feel like the weather affect my nail polish–is that even possible??

Today I decided to try the last of my Jindie Nails polishes: Underwater Disco. I couldn’t decide what color to wear underneath it since Underwater Disco has a clear base. Then I remembered a green polish that I don’t wear too often so I had to dig it out from my melmers.

I started with Nicole by OPI Green Up Your Act!

    

I love this dark army green. I don’t have many Nicole by OPI polishes mostly because I think they are a little overpriced. I also kind of hate the bottle shape. I know, sometimes I’m picky about silly things. I usually wait to get them on sale at Target.

    

I love how this really looks like some kind of magical underwater scene.I don’t know why I keep thinking of The Little Mermaid…ha!

    

Look how gorgeous this is! This is one coat of Underwater Disco over Green Up Your Act!  There is so much depth to this glitter. The large hex glitters were a little difficult to get on my nails…even when they were on the brush, I usually brushed them right off. I think it’s worth the effort to place a few matte blue hex glitters on your nails because they look awesome!

    

I was curious about what other base colors would look like paired with Underwater Disco so I used Jessica Lime Cooler, Jessica Barely Blueberry and Entity Pearl Turquoise. What do you think of these other color combinations?

If you haven’t seen my swatches of the other 3 Jindie Nails polishes I own, check them out: Chomp Chomp!, Water 4 Elephants and Seeing Stars. If you’re interested in seeing more polishes from Jen’s shop, don’t forget to visit her etsy shop here.

Are you on glitter overload yet? I’m not! 🙂 I hope you’ve had a nice weekend and hope you enjoy your Labor Day Monday!

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

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.****