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Year: 2012

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New Year’s Resolutions – Blog Sale

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I have never been one to really make New Year’s Resolutions because I feel that it just sets me up for failure. I get all excited as if starting something on January 1st is really going to help me keep my resolutions any better than if I had started in December. Well, I’ve been wanting to make a lot of changes in my life because, frankly, my life is stagnant. I feel like I am stuck right now and I need to move forward. I want to make a commitment to myself to lead a healthier life which means exercise and healthy eating (sorry, no more THE SANDWICH meals except on very rare occasions). More importantly, I want to take care of my mental well-being. Since I have been off my antidepressants for a good 6 months, I know that I am in a place where I no longer fear that any little thing will shoot me down the spiral of anxiety and depression. I am actually feeling good! Wow, I never thought I would say that. It’s not to say that I don’t have my moments, but I feel that everyone has those moments…right?

One simple thing that I want to do is get rid of clutter. I am not really a person who holds on to tons of stuff at home so the clutter that my polish stash has become is really bothering me. I am an organized person and I like to keep things clean and simple, so the overflowing melmers in my closet are bugging me. Really bugging me. The truth of the matter is that I acquired my close to 1,000 bottles of polish in the last year and a half because I was going through a severe depression. Nail polish became my escape. Does that sound silly? Well, let me tell you that when I was hospitalized, one of our activities was to paint each other’s nails. Imagine that…a bunch of loonies painting each other’s nails. 😉 I always wondered what therapeutic effect this could possibly have, but in all honesty, it just gave us something to do and to focus on instead of flipping out or acting out like some of the other patients. Now, don’t get images of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in your head. In reality, we were all pretty “sane” in the psychiatric ward—some of us just had a few “problems” to work through. So when I was released, I continued painting my nails and that is when all hell broke loose. Some of you who have been with me from the beginning will recall those 20 polish binges that I would post so often…remember that? Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that I don’t love nail polish anymore. I still love it and probably always will, but I want to start fresh again. I have so much that I don’t even know what to do with them anymore so that is why I am having this blog sale.

You all know I am a master enabler, so starting today you are welcome to a 20% discount off your polish order if you are a blog email subscriber (discount does not apply to shipping). You can check out the items I have for sale by clicking here. I will be putting up more items as I sell more of them so check back occasionally. So there you have it. 🙂

Nubar Absolute

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I was looking through my melmers today trying to decide what other polishes to put up on my blog sale (yes, go check out my blog sale now!), and I ran across Nubar Absolute. Believe it or not, I didn’t even realize I had this lovely polish and was shocked that I hadn’t worn it before. I had to remedy that immediately. This is the manicure I did today:

Read below to see what I used for this look.

Nubar Absolute comes from the fantastic Prisms Collection from 2010 which predates my polish obsession. Thankfully, I was able to find some of these locally so I snatched them up. I absolutely love this polish, but I do have some beef with it: it is super SUPER sheer. I had to apply 4 coats because I still had VNL at 3 coats. I found that because the polish is so sheer and the holo pigment particles are so fine, this polish dries very quickly. Absolute looks pretty but not that spectacular in regular light, but boy did it blow me away once I went out and it caught the sunlight…it really shines. Despite having to apply 4 coats, I still love how beautiful and delicate this polish is.

I’ve been all about stamping lately so I pulled out Konad plate M3 and used two designs for the stars. I don’t know about you, but stamping is not as easy as some people make it out to be. It takes time to get the hang of it so I don’t now why I’ve been seeing people say that stamping is “cheating.” I’m a stamper at heart because it was the first “nail art” I ever did when I first became obsessed with nail polish. I really like how this turned out–especially because the stamp didn’t cover up much of the lovely base polish.

What do you think about Nubar Absolute? Are you a Nubar fan? Let me know what you think!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 28: Pattern Inspired Nails

Posted on 1 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I can see the finish line…I can see it! After today’s challenge, there are only 3 more challenges left, and then we are done! I am pretty sure this is my first AND last challenge…not that I didn’t enjoy it for the most part but it was just to much and way too long. While I wondered that the heck to do for the pattern inspiration, I saw this really cute paisley pattern dress in my closet so I decided to just use my paisley stamp and not worry too much about it.

Want to know how I created this mani? Read below….

I freaking love Jungle Queen. It’s one of my favorite–if not my favorite–polish from the On Safari collection. This is two smooth coats.

And this is Jungle Queen with one coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire which I am now calling Jungle Queen On Crack.

I used Essie Nothing Else Metals to stamp the paisley design from Bundle Monster plate BM 315.

I’m not feeling too talky today…I am not feeling well at all. I had some pizza and it somehow started a lot of bad stuff in my stomach. lol Let’s leave it at that. hahaha Let me know what you think of this mani and don’t forget to check out Nicole’s IKAT nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Winner Announced: $25 Amazon Gift Card

Posted on 30 November, 2012 by Cynthia

And the winner is….Tami L! Tami, I have sent you an email so please get back to me and I will process your $25 Amazon Gift Card.

This giveaway was kind of a bust because I think the rules were not clear and I got a bunch of people entering who did not qualify. Meh…I guess that’s my fault because the process seemed confusing to so many people. It’s ok, though–now I know what NOT to do next time. lol

However, I wanted to say that quite a few of you have been killing it with the Swagbucks and nothing makes me happier than to hear that you are able to earn some extra cash for the holidays. As you may recall, the main way that you could earn extra entries was by being active on Swagbucks to begin with. For ever 20SB you earned on the search & win tool, you could earn an extra entry. Anyone care to guess how many extra entries Tami earned? 28!!!!! She earned over 500SB from the search & win tool that she can now add to her Swagbucks pot and then redeem those points for something awesome….and now she also has a $25 Amazon gc. Congrats Tami! 🙂

A big thanks to everyone who entered and stay tuned for more weekly Swagbucks updates. Since December brings my one year blogging anniversary, I will be planning some fun stuff so don’t forget to check in from time to time.

Color Club Holiday Splendor

Posted on 30 November, 2012 by Cynthia

For someone who is always saying that holidays suck, I seem to be strangely festive this year. I got my Christmas tree yesterday, and I’ve been wanting to always polish my nails with Christmas colors. Today is not an exception since I decided to wear my favorite green glitter: Color Club Holiday Splendor. Holiday Splendor is the stand out gem from Color Club’s Beyond The Mistletoe Holiday Collection 2011 which was just a complete holo glitterbomb win. Do you want to see what my mani looked like? Well, here we go…

Read below to see what I used for this manicure.

I don’t know about you, but I think this polish is magical. Because of the tinted base, you only need two coats for full opacity. It does dry a little gritty so a nice top coat is a must if you want a smooth finish.

This is just a bonus unfocused and blurry picture that really shows off the amazing holo in this polish. Seriously, how can you not love this??

Since I’ve been on a stamping kick lately, I used Cheeky plate CH 52 and Konad’s special white polish for this design. It almost pained me to cover up Holiday Splendor, but I really love the holo goodness peeking out randomly.

So what do you think about Color Club Holiday Splendor? Did you get any polishes from this collection? Thanks for stopping by and talk to you tomorrow!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 27: Movie Inspired Nails

Posted on 29 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ok my nail peeps, after my previous royal screw up which ended up with me not even posting any challenge nails, I had promised that I would post my manicure no matter what. I am still on the fence about my mani but let me tell you a little bit about why I chose the movie I did. Some of my fondest childhood movie/book memories revolve around Dr. Seuss. Even as an adult, my love for his work has not diminished. In fact, I credit Dr. Seuss for getting me my first Au Pair job when I was in France. My first interview was with a family with two little girls and after my interview with the parents, I was introduced to the 2 young girls. I talked to them and one of them demanded that I read a book to her so I looked at her little collection and zeroed in on The Lorax. I new I had them. Once I opened up the book, I remembered how much fun I had reading that book so I shared that with them..even singing some of the song from the movie version. Of course they loved me and I got the job. So while I racked my brain to figure out what to do for today’s movie inspired nails challenge, I knew I had to find a way to use How The Grinch Stole Christmas. Hey, it’s nearly December, and I just bought my Christmas tree today. I was telling Nicole that I got a tiny tree and that it was still $30. $30 for a sad little Charlie Brown tree!!!! I don’t care how tiny it is. What counts is that it’s mine and that I’m going to have fun decorating it.

So without further ado, here is my How The Grinch Stole Christmas manicure:

Do you want to know how I created this manicure and what products I used? Read on…

All the polishes I used are from China Glaze: White Out, Emerald Fitzgerald,Westside Warrior, Sunshine Pop, Adventure Red-y and Liquid Leather. I found that Westside Warrior was a little too dark so I lightened up the color a bit with Sunshine Pop. The only other tools I used were dotting tools and a very thin nail art brush. I can honestly tell you that doing free-hand nail art is getting a tiny bit easier and I am so glad to have participated in this challenge because it pushes me to try things I normally wouldn’t. I’m totally not happy with the clean up on this mani, but I was tired and just wanted to get them done already!

So what do you think of my Grinch nails? Do you have any fond Dr. Seuss memories?

Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s nails–they are super cute. Thanks for stopping by and catching up with me.

Seche Irresistible

Posted on 28 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As most of you may already know, Seche came out with its first line of nail polishes a few months ago, and I was super curious about it but hadn’t come across the line at any of my usual places…until yesterday. I came upon a big display full of Seche polishes so of course I had to pick one up. My first instinct was to grab one of each, but as a reformed polish hoarder, I backed away from the display and only chose one polish to try out: Seche Irresistible. I felt proud of myself! I also think that it’s a good idea since this will be my first experience with this line of polishes but not my first experience with the brand since I am a pretty loyal Seche Vite customer.

Let’s look at my final mani:

This is my finished manicure. Do you want to recreate it? Read below to see what I used.

Seche Irresistible is a vibrant and shiny red-berry colored polish. It is a one-coater if you are careful, but I applied 2 thin coats for these swatches. I had heard that some people experienced shrinkage with these polishes when they used Seche Vite, but I am happy to report that I did not. This polish dries incredibly shiny and glossy which I love! I usually don’t have a lot to say about polish brushes, but I tend to prefer wider brushes (my favorite being OPI’s Pro-wide brush) so I wanted to mention that the Seche brush is pretty thin.

Despite the thin brush, I didn’t feel that it made that much of a difference in application for me. The brush does not fan out as nicely so I did have to be more careful with it because it would be very easy to flood my cuticles with polish–which I HATE.

I used an image from Bundle Monster plate BM 319 for this design along with Konad’s special white polish. The red and white is definitely getting me in the mood for December and Christmas!

What do you think about Seche Irresistible? Have you spotted these polishes already? Since I have you here, I might as well pimp out my blog sale again. I added A LOT of new polishes today so check it out. Please help me give these babies a new home–I just know they won’t get any use here anymore.

Thanks for stopping by and see you tomorrow where I will find a million way to mess up tomorrow’s movie inspired challenge.

Birthday Polish: Make Up For Ever Black Tango Red Black Nail Polish

Posted on 27 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I don’t think that it’s a secret that I love Make Up For Ever so when I heard that they were putting out their first trio of nail polishes, I nearly had a coronary…and then I heard that they wouldn’t be available in the US. Wah wah. 🙁 Enter my other French polish fairy godmother, Julie, from Un Brin de Julie. When she sent me this polish for my birthday, I squealed with delight.The Black Tango collection for Fall 2012 showcased four new aqua creams in a limited edition palette, three matching nail polishes and a lipstick. The three nail polishes are Red Black, Blue Black and Green Black and I have Red Black to share with you today. Are you ready for awesomeness?

This polish is somewhat thin so I decided to apply three very thin coats which is what you see here. In low light, this polish will look pretty much black but get this baby out in some direct light and it smoulders. Sorry about the lighting…either my monitor is going nuts or my skin looks super pink here. Lobster-type hands?

Anyway, this polish is amazing and the only sad part is that it is so tiny. It’s only .25oz which just makes it that much more precious. So thank you again, Julie, for the amazing polish. She also sent me two other really cool minis including a Mavala which is a brand I’ve never tried, but I’ll share that with you another time.

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 26: Video Game Inspired Nails –FAIL!

Posted on 27 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I feel like a total failure today because I don’t have a manicure to share with you. I’m sorry, Nicole! First, I want to say that I was not short on ideas, but they turned into nightmares once I tried to execute them. I did three, yes three!!!, separate manicures that all looked completely disasterous. My first attempt was inspired by the Neo-Geo game Bust-a-move which I used to play with my brother all the time. How does one mess up bubbles/circles? Ugh! Then I tried my hand at doing a manicure inspired by Chrono Trigger which is my favorite RPG of all time. Huge mistake. This turned out worse than my Bust-a-move manicure. And lastly I tried to do some Tetris nails. Oh dear Fish Jesus, how could I even mess that up? I think today was just not a good nail day for me so I decided to just stop there. However, Nicole more than made up for my lack of inspiration with her awesome Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nails.

Aren’t these adorable? Click on the picture or click here to see her post about these nails and how she created the look.

Today I went to my dusties because I was on the hunt for a few polishes for some lovely ladies whose birthdays are coming up. Well, I scored! Unfortunately, I also scored like 10 polishes for me. I am a failure all around today. I really hope that I don’t completely mess up on the next challenge. No matter what I come up with–disaster or not, I will post it. I may regret this statement.

Swagbucks Cyber FUNday

Posted on 26 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Cyber Monday is going to be INSANE at Swagbucks.com – they’re having a Swag Code Extravaganza all day long, which means that you can get 70 extra Swag Bucks if you snag all of the codes throughout the day! Be sure to get to Swagbucks.com bright and early so you don’t miss a second of the fun!

If you haven’t joined yet, make sure that you click here and join under my referral link. Not only will you be able to participate in the Swag Code Extravaganza, but you will also be able to enter my giveaway for a $25 amazon gift card which you can read about here.

The Swag Code Extravaganza begins today at 4am PST which is a little early for us on the west coast, but they will have plenty of opportunities throughout the day so good luck!