Year: 2012

Of Life and Lacquer > 2012

YOU WON!!!! Round 2: WNW SBTB Collection Giveaway

Posted on by Cynthia

I am happy to announce the winner of the second chance giveaway: ChiChi!

You have won the 6 piece Saved By The Nail collection! I have sent you an email and will wait to hear back from you so I can mail out your nail polishes.

 

  

 

Thank you everyone for making this second giveaway so fun. Because of all of your comments and participation, I was able to surpass quite a few milestones that I didn’t think I’d get to in a long time. I think I am becoming quite addicted to hosting giveaways so don’t be surprised if you hear of another one in the near future as a great big thank you to all of you!

Thanks again for reading, commenting or just plain lurking. You are all very welcome here, and I hope that you will continue to drop by every once in a while if only to see that I’m still as crazy as ever. 🙂

~Cynthia

Dear Nails, Please Grow Faster

Posted on by Cynthia

My hair has grown enough that it is now refusing to cooperate. I had some real craziness going on today with my hair; so much so that L. was laughing at the state of my hair. It was like an out of control, curly, frizzy and lopsided pompadour. I just wish my nails grew as fast as my cray hair. :/ I really miss having longer nails to work with when I do stamping so I haven’t been playing with any of my plates for almost 2 weeks!!! The following is a mani that I did a while back but hadn’t gotten around to posting. I started with a couple of coats of Essence Black is Black.

Doesn’t this seriously look like patent leather? I think this is my favorite black nail polish.

I used plate BM 320 for this design along with Konad special polish in yellow.  I really wish that the yellow polish had been more opaque. Maybe it looks like that because it was stamped over black?

I’m not feeling particularly talky tonight so I’ll leave it at that. What do you think of this mani?

Some New Stuff

Posted on by Cynthia

I’ve been having some really crappy days lately. I think that most of it is my fault because I tend to ignore things until they become huge issues instead of just dealing with everything when it happens. At 32, I definitely should know better yet I let this happen over and over again. How many times do things have to blow up in my face before I learn my lesson? I am so frustrated with myself right now.

Another thing is that I stopped taking my meds and haven’t been back to see my psychiatrist. Actually, he moved to a different facility as of June so I just didn’t want to go through the process of dealing with a brand new person. I have an interesting relationship with the doctor who runs the clinic because she made me have a mini breakdown while I was hospitalized. How does that happen when I’m in there for a breakdown to begin with? I actually don’t recall if I’ve written about this incident yet so I’ll just gloss over the unpleasantness and say that she accused me of lying, “being too smart for my own good” and that I was only telling the doctors what they wanted to hear so they would let me go home. I remember that day very well because I was already very upset with one of the other patients who went behind my back and told my doctor about things I had told him in confidence. Looking back, I know he was just trying to help me but I felt so betrayed at the moment. I’ve seen that doctor a few times already and she seems nice now that I’m not being held against my will (ha!), but something about her makes me feel uncomfortable. I don’t know why I’ve been so hung up on all this stuff lately. Maybe it’s just that I haven’t been taking my meds? I don’t know. But I can tell you that I’m definitely tired of feeling so vacant and drone-like. I hate the hot flashes. I hate the runny nose. I hate the wacky dreams.  What would you do? What would Jesus do? lol

Anyway, I don’t know why I just went on some psycho tangent so let’s get back to simpler things like nail polish. I know I said I wasn’t going to go to my nail places but I went today anyway. I didn’t really go crazy so at least I don’t feel that bad. I went to a shop that I haven’t been to in months because I couldn’t remember if they had interesting stuff or not. Well, I did end up getting a few things. Of course.

Happy Go Lucky and Lasso My Heart are relatively new polishes but Stone Age is an oldie. I think it’s from before China Glaze went 3-Big free. It smells different. I also got the super old Color Club just because I like red, and I like the old bottles. Since it was just $1.50, it wasn’t a difficult decision. haha

Now, this is a brand I haven’t used before. I’ve seen Précision at a few places already, and I decided to get this collection because it was on sale.  This collection is actually from 2010 which goes to show you how every spring/summer we get the same darn colors and we go bonkers over them anyway.

And this is my regret for the day. Since I was dealing with some crap in the morning, I didn’t have breakfast or lunch because I wasn’t hungry. Well, by around 5:00 I was hungry like the wolf.

These carne asada tacos were so massive that I couldn’t eat the rice or beans. How much meat did they put in my tacos??? Anyway, they were pretty good, but I felt like death after I ate them and I still haven’t recovered 4 hours later. I hope that tomorrow is a better day. My friend L. is coming over tomorrow since she will be in the area and she’s bringing over some polishes so I can thin them out a bit. I think D. is coming over too so we might all go to the beach or just hang out. Since I linked Hungry Like The Wolf, I will leave you with another Duran Duran song that brings back a lot of memories.

P.S. “How much meat did they put in my tacos?”  That sounds kind of inappropriate.

P.P.S. I watched The Dark Knight Rises today and it was AWESOME! I highly recommend it.

Nail Mail!

Posted on by Cynthia

I feel like I haven’t done my nails in eons. Really, eons. Ever since I went chop crazy and cut my nails down to the nub, I haven’t really bothered doing my nails except for a half-assed attempt on Saturday which I promptly removed. As a little reminder, this is how painfully short my nails are right now:

Well, today I received something in the mail. Oh yes, dear readers, my liquid gold arrived!

The lovely Sabrina from Polish In Paris, recently went on vacay to London and she was sweet enough to get me a bottle of Max Factor Fantasy Fire. I know I will never get my hands on Clarins 230 so this is the closest I will get. Since my nails are still so short, I didn’t want to use any of my Fantasy Fire, but I couldn’t resist at least trying out the other polish she sent me: Essence Blue Addicted. For those of you who recognize this polish right away, yes it is a dupe for Deborah Lippmann Across The Universe. The base of this polish is pretty sheer so I knew that I would have to find a color to use as a base for this glitter gem.

So what color did I pick? Wet N Wild Blue Moon!

Pretty, right? Oh boy…look how short my nails still are. Yes, they still hurt and no, I won’t be doing this again.

AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH! I love this. Shut up. I know it’s glitter. One thing I have to mention about the formula of this polish is that it is beyond goopy. I tried it on a nail wheel before I did this mani and it was really bad. It was patchy and goopy at the same time so I knew I would have to bust out the Seche Restore. A couple of drops fixed this right up and it was a lot more pleasant to work with. Either way, it’s worth the effort because I love the end result.

I also wanted to share the cutest card and drawing that she included in my package:

Sabrina’s little sister does the cutest drawings for her and you can see some of her other work here and here. How freaking adorable, right?

I hope my nails grow quickly so I can finally try my Fantasy Fire. What base color do you recommend to use under FF?

 

Merci Sabrina pour les beaux vernis et remercie ta sœur de ma part pour le dessin. Elle est vraiment douée! Je suppose que c’est ta soeur qui a fait le dessin! 😉

Sunday Fun Day?

Posted on by Cynthia

I am such a polish loser. I keep saying that I need to stop buying so much nail polish, but I fail spectacularly every single time. I know that a strict no-buy doesn’t really work for me because all the pent-up pressure just makes me go on gargantuan binges which pretty much put me back in the negative. Sooo…what should I do? Maybe limit myself to a couple of bottles per week? (Sounds like I’m talking about alcohol!) I think I need an intervention.

This is what I ended up getting at the Walgreens sale. The colors I picked up are: Glass Pink, Winterberry (2), Kissy, Nail Junkie, Let’s Meet, Rain Storm, Ciao Bella, Savage, Blue By You, Slate, Why Not, Leap Flog, San Francisco and Irish Green.  After this purchase, I am awaiting delivery of my first a-england polishes, and I am so excited.  I can’t wait to get them. At this point, I really need to back off the polish purchases. I know this is a lot of unhealthy retail therapy, and I need to find a new outlet and coping mechanism.

Since I spent all morning/afternoon cleaning like a maniac, I didn’t eat breakfast or lunch. By the time I finished, it was 4 pm and I was starving. But…polish first! I went to Walgreens to get my polishes and then, as I was driving back home, I saw that a new sandwich place had opened up so I stopped to check it out. Well, I ended up getting this:

This is a philly cheesesteak in all its delicious gooeyness. I could actually feel it coating my arteries as I consumed it. Here’s another thing that I’m going to seriously work on: no more eating out. I really enjoy cooking so I think it would be very beneficial–financially and health-wise–to stop eating out. I’ve been eating way too much junk lately and haven’t been to the gym in weeks…this is NOT good.  This new sandwich place claimed to have authentic philly cheesesteaks. Now, I’ve never been to Philadelphia (airport doesn’t count) so I don’t know how authentic this is, but it sure was yummy with the mushrooms, onions, peppers and cheese. Why is everything that goes directly to my thighs have to taste so good??

I have a few more manicures to share and then I am completely out of backlogged manis. My nails are still painfully short so I haven’t been doing too much with them so I’m probably going to take a little break from the nail posts until my nails grow out. I do have some other stuff I want to share like my make up and polish storage so I may do that. I haven’t really been writing too much personal stuff lately and there is a post that I have had in my drafts for weeks, but I just haven’t posted it because it’s so personal. In fact, I don’t think I’ve ever expressed what I wrote in that post to anyone in my life so it makes me nervous even though there is “some” anonymity to this blog still.

Lastly, a friend posted this on Facebook, and I just thought it was the most inappropriately brilliant thing I had ever seen:

I apologize if you find this offensive, but I still think it’s hilarious.

I hope you have had a nice weekend and don’t forget to enter my latest giveaway! It’s over in a few days. 🙂

Under The Sea?

Posted on by Cynthia

Who doesn’t love the little Mermaid? I was so in love with this movie when I was a kid and I still love the music from it. Disney animated movies seriously have the best songs. Anyway, the reason why I was reminded of this song is because the following nail color and stamp combination kind of reminded me of bubbles under the ocean. Maybe you won’t see it, but I totally feel a bubbly aquatic vibe from them.

I started with Sation Miss McTeal as my base color.

What a beautiful color, right?  Then I stamped over it, albeit sloppily.

I like how this looks but I wish the stamping was crisper. What’s the point in having the special Konad polishes if my stamping is still going to look blurry? Ugh! I did this mani about a week ago so I feel like I’m past my stamping low, and I finally got my mojo back.

Earlier in the week I cut my nails down to the nub. In fact, I over cut them in the sense that they actually hurt. There is no white part showing on my nails and they are freaking painful. I don’t know why I did that…it was a moment of short nails frenzy. That means that I haven’t done my nails for most of this week now and I’m ok with that since I’m still trying to nurse my shorties back to health. I do NOT recommend doing this; I doubt anyone is dumb enough except me. Oh, here is a funny story: One time my mom and dad got into an argument (my parents only have two volume settings: loud and LOUDER) so my dad was angry and he had one too many beers that evening. Later that night my mom cut his toe nails as short as she possibly could. I don’t know how she came up with this idea, but it was brilliant! The next day my dad couldn’t figure out why his toes hurt so much when he walked since he couldn’t remember anything happening the night before. My parents are crazy…and then they wonder why I am the way I am. I think my parents have such a unique relationship. They’ve been married 34 years and they fight/bicker every single second of the day yet they can’t live without each other. My dad has the most explosive temper on the planet (thanks Dad for passing that along to me!) and my mom is the queen of the naggers. Can you imagine what that’s like? When they come to visit, it is like they are a 24/7 live comedy show. It no longer bothers me because all I can do is laugh at their antics. Despite their “unique” relationship, they are the most loving parents anyone could ask for. 🙂

Before I forget, I wanted to show you how I finally organized my stamping plates. This was such a pain in the rear to get done. I had to put up little squares of contact liner to place inside each pocket so the plates don’t slide out. I’ve seen quite a few people do this and I thought it was a great idea!

How do you store your plates? Speaking about plates, I only have a bunch of Konad plates and the newest Bundle Monster plates so I was wondering if anyone has any other plate recommendations. Let me know! I’d love to hear about your favorite plates.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

P.S. Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a second chance to win the WnW Saved By The Bell nail polish collection.

 

Round 2: Wet N Wild Saved By The Bell Polish Collection Giveaway!

Posted on by Cynthia

Edit 7/26/2012: GIVEAWAY CLOSED & WINNER ANNOUNCED HERE

Because of the positive response to my first giveaway, I decided to hunt down another set of polishes for a second giveaway. It was way harder this time because most of the CVS stores I went to had just a couple of colors left. Thankfully, I did get a complete set! Since I decided to make my first giveaway US only, I am opening this up to US and Canada residents.

  • +2 entries Follow my blog
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I hope I see some entries from my lovely Canadian polish sisters! Please click on the link below to enter via Rafflecopter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

The giveaway starts today and will close on 7/27/2012 at 12:01 am EST. It’s a bummer to hear that so many people are having a hard time finding this collection so I’m happy to get this for one of you. Good luck everyone!

YOU WON!!!! WNW SBTB Collection Giveaway

Posted on by Cynthia

Kirsten K. come on down…you are about to compete in The Price Is…wait…no…You won the 6 piece Wet N Wild Saved By The Bell Collection!

  

 

I have sent Kirsten an email and have asked her to contact me before Sunday to claim the prize. If I don’t hear back from her, I will pick a new winner.

I want to thank all the lovely ladies who entered. It has been a blast getting to know some of you through your own blogs. I love it and hate it because now I am seeing even more polishes to drool over!!! I hope you will all continue to visit every now and then–you will always be welcome!

–Cynthia

American Classic California Copper

Posted on by Cynthia

Never in a million years did I think I would actually like this color, but I do because it’s so rich and pretty! If you’ve read my previous posts about American Classic, you know that I am still trying to figure out where this phantom brand comes from. I haven’t given up, but I’ve just been too preoccupied with other things to really put in the time into making phone calls and such. Oh well…I choose to just enjoy the nail polish for now and worry about its origins later. The brush for this bottle was way wonky. Actually, it was the plastic stick that hold the brush that was deformed and somewhat bent. It didn’t really interfere with the application of the polish so it’s not a big deal.

Does this qualify as a frost? Normally I am not a big fan of frost finishes and rarely purchase them, but this one looked so different from anything else I own that I couldn’t resist. It almost makes me think of molten magma…I said almost, okay?

 

Here I used plate BM 313 with the black special polish. I have been a little annoyed lately because I have been messing up my stamping a lot. I don’t get it! I hate it when it gets all smudged. Since my nails aren’t too curved, I’m going to stop rolling the stamper and just stamp the crap out of my nail by just pressing down. Hopefully that works better.
It was so hot today. Ugh! My brother and I went to Red Robin for dinner (Yum!) and I got a grilled chicken caesar salad wrap…it was so good. I hadn’t had a wrap in a long time. and it really hit the spot.

 

The giveaway is ending in less than an hour…I can’t wait to see who will win. 🙂

OPI DS Signature

Posted on by Cynthia

What is it with the weather? It was so humid today that I didn’t even attempt to do anything with my hair despite the fact that I had to go grocery shopping. I am a brunette Annie today! I really want to let my hair grow out, but days like this make me want to cave and get my usual pixie/faux-hawk/pompadour cut.  Do you even know how easy it is to manipulate short hair? My hair is wavy and easily holds a curl with the right product or straightens out nicely if I put in the effort. However, my hair, in this humid weather, looks something like this:

     

Just shorter.  Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!

Anyway, since the weather wasn’t cooperating I wasn’t feeling good at all so I did what I love to do when I’m feeling crap-o-licious: I cleaned and I did a few loads of laundry. I am a meticulous laundry folder (thank you Martha Stewart for teaching me how to fold fitted sheets properly!) so I had “fun” folding all my clothes, rolling up my underwear…yes, I have a system of rolling my panties and arrange them by categories I have devised. No, I won’t go into that because you might run away screaming.

Enough of my idiosyncrasies and on to the polish du jour!

Isn’t she purdy? The pictures above were taken in a light box so it was really hard to capture all the holo magic. Below, I took three more pictures in direct sunlight.

The last picture here is blurry because I felt you could see the holo a little better. The linear holo on this polish is nowhere near as crazy amazing as the Layla holos produce, but this is still really pretty. I wasn’t that into nail polish when the original OPI DS line came out so I never thought I’d own these  without having to pay crazy eBay prices (which I refuse to do). You can’t even imagine how psyched I was when I found a few bottles of these at one of my dusties. I got this one and DS Sapphire which I will be trying in the near future, but I can already tell that I will love it. After I purchased these, I went back and picked up two more bottles to use for a giveaway. 🙂 Since I’m so lucky to have such amazing dusty luck, I want to spread the luck and love!

How have things been in your corner of the world? I can barely wait for fall and not just for the nail polish collections. By the way, can you tell me what show “Jeannie Bad Perm Victim” appeared on? (Hint: Show within a Show…no, not Hamlet.)