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Year: 2012

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31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 20: Delicate Print Nails

Posted on 15 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Delicate. Nothing is “delicate” about me so I had to really think about what I wanted to do with my nails today. I looked through polish stash, and I zeroed in on China Glaze Who’s Wearing What. As far as I can tell from various internet sources, Who’s Wearing What comes form the 2004 Creme Couture Collection. I can honestly say that this is my absolute favorite greyed dusty purple EVER. I am not kidding. It’s the absolute most perfect dusty purple/grey for my skin tone. In fact, I love it so much that I’m going to have to get a back up or two since I sold recently sold my extra bottle in my blog sale. (Shameless plug: go check out my blog sale–I am adding tons of new stuff every day.)

Didn’t I tell you this was a gorgeous color? For those of you who like to go dusty hunting, this is one to put on your list if you don’t own it yet. Since it’s close to 10 years old, it is not big 3-free in case that is a major concern for you. The formula is nice and definitely needs two coats. It is super important to apply thin coats because it does tend to get a little streaky as you can tell from my pics. Still…I adore it.

And here is my idea of delicate print:

I decided to use Essie Nothing Else Metals again and used a design from Bundle Monster plate BM 310. What an awesome polish for stamping! In fact, all of the Essie Mirror Metallics rock for stamping.

And in the “I eat like a pig” food chronicles, here is my dinner:

Tacos al pastor…I love you. That’s all I have to say about that.

What do you think about my delicate print nails? Did I achieve a delicate look? Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s delicate print nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Jessica Glamarama Collection Holiday 2012

Posted on 14 November, 201214 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Oh my dear glitter God, where do I begin? Last week I showed you a sneak peek of the Jessica Glamarama Collection which is their holiday collection for 2012 and we were all left wondering if it would be red overload. Let me tell you…this collection is freaking amazing. Yes, there are 4 “reds” in this 6 piece collection but they are all different enough that I did not think it was too much once I actually saw them in person. Let me also say that I really appreciate smaller collections such as this because when they are 8-12 polish collections, I inevitably feel like that are a lot of filler polishes without any real inspiration behind them. Before I blab your ear off, I’m going to move on to the swatches which is why you’re here, right? Right?!

Velvet Fantasy is one of those one coat wonders that is just a classic and a staple. It is so incredibly pigmented that you don’t need more than one coat and the formula is just perfect: smooth, highly pigmented and glossy. I have to say that I generally love red nail polish, but it’s really hard to find one that has such a perfect formula like this one.

Magic Spell is what I imagine my brain sees when I eat a bunch of Red Hots all at once. Jessica calls this a “deep crimson” which doesn’t really fit this polish in my opinion. I think that my lighting makes this polish look a little more orange than it is, but crimson wouldn’t be the first description that comes to mind. This polish was also really easy to work with and was fully opaque at two coats.

Heart’s Desire is gorgeous! If it reminds you of Cinnamon Kiss from the Spicy Dream Collection, you are right: the colors are in the same family because of the shimmer and glowing quality, but the actual color is different. Cinnamon Kiss is a lot darker, but they are definitely cousins. The formula on this one was a little tricky. It felt thicker than the other two polishes, and it felt like it was almost gooey. It’s nothing that a drop or two of thinner won’t fix so I don’t think it’s a big deal, but I thought it would be worth mentioning.

Hot Hot Hot definitely surprised me. I did not think that I was going to like it as much as I do. In fact, I love it!!!! It’s a very fine red glitter with a smattering of silver holo glitter throughout. If you want to wear this on its own, it will take 3 coats for decent coverage. It dries matte and gritty so a thick top coat such as Gelous is a must. This is also an amazing topper so I can’t wait to layer it on top of other polishes. (You’ll see some layering at then end.)

The two following shades are something that Jessica is introducing as “Disco Glitters” and they definitely look best layer over solid nail colors. I decided to swatch them on my bare nails below.

Platinum Wishes is not really…platinum? I see a mix of steely blue-green glitter and some red-orange glitter to boot. The formula feels thick and a little goopy. I applied 3 coats for the my swatches and it was way too thick to apply that many layers. Again, this is good as a glitter topper and I do not recommend you wearing it on its own.

Glitterati is described as a champagne gold which I can definitely see, but there is also a very unique multi-chrome quality to it when you see the polish in the bottle. I see flashes of green, red and gold in the bottle but it’s not very apparent once I applied it on my nails. The formula was exactly the same as that of Platinum Wishes: thick and meant to be layered.

Now, I did a quick layering of the glitters on top of Velvet Fantasy:

From pinky to pointer: Glitterati, Platinum Wishes and Hot Hot Hot (on middle and pointer fingers)

The Glamarama collection is available now and retails for $7.50 each at www.jessicacosmetics.com and salons and spas internationally. All Jessica polishes, including the Glamarama collection, are formulated with vitamin A for maximum conditioning and UVA/UVB protection from the sun’s damaging rays. Plus, they’re quick-drying and eco-friendly, free of toluene, formaldehyde and DBP.

So, what are your thoughts on this collection? Let me know; I’d love to hear from you!

**These products were provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own.**

Precision Toxic Love Collection

Posted on 13 November, 201216 November, 2013 by Cynthia

I am crazy lucky because I have some really amazing independent beauty supply stores that are veritable treasure troves full of different brands and hard to find polishes. Every time I go to one of them, I feel like I discover something new which is what happened a few months ago when I came across a display of Precision nail polishes. I reviewed one of their summer collections here and was thoroughly impressed with the quality. Today I have to share with you one of their Fall collections called Toxic Love.

Précision I’m Addicted To You…

Précision I’d Love To Hate You

Précision Till Death Do Us Part

Précision Intoxicated

Précision Toxic Wast-ing My Time

Précision Poison Ivy

Overall, this is a very typical fall collection but I have to say that I just about died when I used Poison Ivy and Intoxicated. They are by far my two favorite colors from this collection. The formula was pretty good even though a few colors were a little thinner than I like, but they still built up nicely. The only downside about this brand is that it might be a little difficult to get it locally if you don’t like to buy online. I have a few places near me that sell them so I’m lucky. You can purchase their polishes online here. They also have a tool where you can see if there are any places near you that carry Précision products.

So what do you think of these colors? Any of them stand out to you? Thanks for visiting and I’ll talk to you later.

**These products were provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own.**

Swagbucks Holiday Hundreds Giveaway

Posted on 13 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I’ve got some awesome news for those of you who like to shop online!

Swagbucks is working to make the holidays even more rewarding with their Swagbucks Holiday Hundreds Giveaway. Starting at 12pm Pacific Time on November 14th every transaction you make through the Swagbucks Shop & Earn will get you an entry to win the $100 Gift Card of your choice from the Swag Store! As soon as the Swag Bucks show up as pending in your ledger, your entry has been earned! The first drawing will take place on the 19th and will run every day through the 14th of December – if you’re the winner, Swagbucks will contact you at whatever email address you have on your account. Entries are cumulative, so the more transactions you make, the more entries you’ll get. Travel Category is excluded. Don’t know what Shop & Earn is? Don’t fret! I’ll be sharing more info on that soon or you can check it out yourself by going to the Swagbucks home page and clicking on the drop-down menu for “Earn” and then picking “Shop & Earn.”

Haven’t joined Swagbucks yet? Sign up today and enter the code HOLIDAY100s to start with 100 Swag Bucks of your own! You can sign up for Swagbucks through my referral link here to take advantage of the bonus Swagbucks, but hurry because the extra bonus code will only be available until Friday 11/6/12.

Also, if you sign up using my referral link, you can also enter to win a $25 amazon gift card! Yes, that’s right…enter the drawing just for signing up for Swagbucks through my referral link. You can read all about the $25 amazon gift card giveaway here.

So what are you waiting for?? Don’t you want free stuff?!

Here is some boring rule stuff:

The Holiday Hundreds Giveaway is only for US/Canada Swaggernauts
Promotion starts at 12pm PT on Thursday 11/15 and runs through 12/14
Every day we’ll draw a winner and they’ll get the $100 Gift Card of their choice from the Swag Store
Every transaction you make through our Shop & Earn is another entry to win
Entries are cumulative, so the more transactions you make, the more entries you get
Your entry is earned as soon as the Swag Bucks show up as pending in your account
Winners will be notified via the email on their Swagbucks Account and have 7 days to claim their prize
First prize Drawing will occur on Monday, 11/19 at 12pm PT
Go to the Shop & Earn homepage each day at 12pm PT to see the latest winner and list of previous winners
Special Bonus drawing will be held on January 31st, 2013
Travel Category is excluded

Birthday Polish: Dollish Polish It’s A Me, Mario!

Posted on 12 November, 2012 by Cynthia

One of the pivotal moments of my childhood was in the late 80’s when my parents finally caved and bought my brother and I a Nintendo. The NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) became like a babysitter for my mother because it would keep my brother and I entertained for hours. Any time she wanted to punish me, she didn’t take away the TV or my toys: she took away the Nintendo. Although I was only 8 years old, I became quite good at Super Mario Bros. and my life’s goal became to pass all 8 worlds. I don’t even remember how long it took me to pass the whole game, but I do remember the day it happened as if it was just yesterday. I had gotten to world 8 stage 4 and I had no more lives left and I was little Mario which meant that one touch would kill me. I made it all the way to Bowser/Koopa and in some random inspiration, I just ran under Bowser when he jumped up and pulled the bridge out from under his feet. At that point, both my brother and I stared at each other neither daring to utter a single word. Once we saw Princess Toadstool, we both screamed. I threw the control in the air and we jumped up and we hugged each other while still jumping up and down. Does this make me sound silly? Maybe. But I don’t think I can remember any other massive accomplishment at that age that rivaled the sweet triumph of beating Super Mario Bros. This video is of level 8-4 and obviously this person is pretty good at the game. I just wanted to show you what it looked like:

Even the music made me what to cry. So why am I telling you about my nerdiest of nerdy childhood moments? (Ok, there is another moment that is nerdier than this: I created a “Plant Club” and made all the neighborhood kids join. It involved digging holes and looking for pre-hisotric plants and fossils. Yeah, stop laughing. Now. Bite me, ok?) The reason why I am sharing this is because you might start to imagine what a video game and polish boner I got when I heard about Dollish Polish’s Super Mario Bros. Collection. So when I got It’s A Me, Mario! from the lovely Amanda (go check out her blog–she’s awesome!!) for my birthday, I was seriously in Nintendo heaven. I’ve been admiring it on its velvet cushion for the last month or so and finally decided to use it. I started with 2 coats of Essie Butler Please:

When I applied the first coat ofButler Please, I was kind of surprised at how watery it seemed. It was really thin and kind of streaky. However, after a second thick coat, it was fine.

And here is the star of the show:

This is 1 coat of Dollish Polish It’s A Me, Mario! The blue and red glitter was not very hard to apply, but getting some stars was a serious bitch. I had to fish for those stars for what seemed like ages. In the end, I don’t care that I had to fish for stars because they were worth it. I love this polish.

Ready for some food porn?

I didn’t have anything to eat for lunch so by around 5:00, I was starving. I wanted a sandwich–with a twist–so I decided to go to El Gallo Giro which is a chain of Mexican food restaurants that are based in Socal. I was craving horchata as well so I thought it would be perfect. This was my lunch/dinner:

This thing was massive–massively delicious. It is a carne asada torta which is basically a grilled steak sandwich. They grill thin steak and layer it in a toasted bun with mayo, cheese, lettuce, tomato, jalapenos and guacamole. Holy moley this was good…and I’m full until next week.

What do you think of my Super Mario Bros. mani? Do you have any nerdy childhood moments that you would like to share? No? Just me? Alrighty then.

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 19: Floral Print Nails

Posted on 12 November, 201212 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I was at a loss today. I didn’t want to do any dotting tool flowers but knew I couldn’t really freehand any flowers unless I wanted my nails to look messy and silly. Stamping to the rescue! As much as I try to stay away from stamping during these challenges, I know that I am just NOT good enough to whip out my nail art brushes and come up with something amazing. Well, let me tell you that stamping didn’t help me much today anyway. I actually did two looks today and I am not really happy with either. I’ll show you the one I settled on first and then I will show you the one that made me try again.

First, I started with OPI We’ll Always Have Paris.

We’ll Always Have Paris is one of my favorite dark polishes from one of my favorite collections: La Collection De France. This polish is just so pretty, super pigmented and shiny.

I used Bundle Monster stamp BM 323 for this rose design and alternated white roses and metallic roses (using Essie Nothing Else Metals.) Why did I do that? I have no idea. I was just kind of irritated and frustrated with my first design. Are you ready to see it?

Ehhhh….I don’t know what to say about these either. I wish I had just stuck with my simple mani of We’ll Always Have Paris and stopped there. As I’ve said before…not every mani is going to be a winner and clearly these are way at the bottom of the totem pole. The next challenge calls for delicate print…what the heck am I gonna do then?? At least I have a few days to think about it.

A Giveaway For My Swagbucks Peeps!

Posted on 10 November, 201211 November, 2012 by Cynthia

EDIT 11/11/12: Since I got a few questions via email about this, I apologize that I wasn’t more clear about this in my post. This giveaway is only open to those who signed up or will sign up for Swagbucks via my referral link.

I had previously mentioned that I would be having a giveaway for those of you who decided to give Swagbucks a try. Well, here it is! I am holding a giveaway for a $25 Amazon.com gift card. So what do you need to do in order to enter the giveaway? You just have to sign up under my referral link here. That’s it! That will give you one entry. If you want more entries, this is what you can do:

Follow my blog
Follow me on twitter
Follow my facebook page

And lastly–for every 20SB you earn through the search the web & win tool, you will earn an extra entry. Please note that you should NOT be using the search engine tool JUST to win Swagbucks. You should be using it for legitimate searches–just like you search in Google. It is all pretty random and wins can be as little as 7SB to as much as 50SB…I’ve gotten 50SB from a search win before so I know it happens. I will add these extra entries manually at the end of the month. I will be counting from November 1st so if you’ve been active since the beginning of the month, you probably already have an extra entry or two.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

If you are new to Swagbucks, you may be wondering what I’m talking about when I mention the search the web & win tool. Basically, Swagbucks also has a search engine function. When you’re searching something and you get a win, it looks something like this:

So if you haven’t joined Swagbucks yet, sign up here. If you have any questions as to whether you are signed up under my referral link, you can always ask me since I do get that information. I’ll be doing another post about more ways that you can earn Swagbucks! I would really like to hear from those of you who have signed up and how things are going. I can tell that at least a handful of you are really working it!!

China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection – My 3 Picks

Posted on 10 November, 201210 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As a reformed polish hoarder, I no longer rush out to get whole collections just for the thrill of getting a whole collection. I have become a little more discriminating when it comes to my polish purchases so when my local beauty supply got the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection, I rushed over to see what it looked like in person. I’m not going to lie: the colors are pretty but most of them are not unique or must-haves for me. After my initial impressions, I decided to get three polishes from this collection: Water You Waiting For, It’s A Trap-eze! and Whirled Away.

Water You Waiting For was the first polish that caught my attention. I can never resist a good blue–especially a blue glitter. I know some of you are probably snickering since only a few months ago, I was a sworn glitter hater. Don’t fret–I’ve seen the error of my ways. I was hoping that this glitter would be a little more opaque (like the fine glitters from the On Safari Collection) but the glitter is not as fine and the formula is a little thin. I applied three coats here, and I felt like it definitely needed all three.

It’s A Trap-eze! is one of those milky glitters that have been popping up so much lately and that I always fall for. This reminds me of the Nails Inc. Sprinkles polishes without having the awesome one coat formula. I applied two coats here and as you can see, I have quite a few bald spots. Despite the mediocre formula, I still really like this polish because it’s like a birthday party explosion on my nails.

Whirled Away was the glitter I zeroed in on when I first saw promo pictures because I was so excited to see a mainstream brand take some direction from the indie community. This is not a dupe of Sticks ‘n Stones, Putting On The Ritzzz or Connect The Dots but it is obviously similar. I layered this over China Glaze Aquadelic, and I quite like this combination. You will have to do some dabbing to get the large glitter to go where you want it to, but I think it’s worth the effort.

Overall I am pleased with these three polishes, but I feel slightly underwhelmed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m glad I only picked up these three. I’m not saying that I won’t perhaps get a couple of other colors once I see swatches and convince myself that I MUST have them. That’s just something every polish lover has to contend with.

So, let me know what you think. Have you spotted these polishes yet? Are there any colors that you can’t wait to get your hands on from this collection?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 17: Animal Print Nails

Posted on 9 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As usual, here I am posting super late. I am such a spaz. I was pretty busy today so at least I have an excuse. Since I was short on time and lacking any really creative ideas, I decided to resort to stamping. I know, I know…I kind of cheated. But hey, at least I got the right challange design unlike other people. *cough* Nicole *cough* hehe.

I decided to finally use one of the glitters that so many people raved about when the China Glaze On Safari Collection came out. Now, which one to use? I Herd That or I’m Not Lion? I decided to give I Herd That a Whirl…

This glitter is absolute perfection. I am not kidding. It’s easy to apply, it covers nicely with only 2 coats and it just SPARKLES like a mofo. I love it and can’t believe that I have waited so long to use it.

I used Konad plate M57 for this design along with Konad’s Black special polish. I think it came out pretty well. I am definitely happy with the simplicity of this mani. I Herd that is definitely the star here, and I can’t wait to use I’m Not Lion!!!

Since I have you here, don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am doing a huge purge of polish. Most of my polishes have only been swatched once, and I really want to find a new home for them since I know I won’t use them much. You can see all the polishes I have for sale here.

Don’t forget to check out the other animal print manis for today’s challenge…or a floral mani if you’re Nicole. Let me know what you think and talk to you later!

Birthday Polish: BB Couture

Posted on 8 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Today I have a super fun post for you! Well, I call it super fun because it was really fun for me to write and even more fun for me to receive these lovely polishes. My birthday was back in September so I’m a little behind on doing this post that I had planned as soon as I received these. Some lovely ladies and I started a little birthday polish exchange group a few months ago. The first polishes I received were these two gorgeous BB Couture babies from Lesley:

Junk In The Trunk is a polish after my heart. It’s blue, it’s shimmery and it’s super opaque–what’s not to love? Since this was my first experience with BB Couture, I was so pleased with how easy the formula is to work with. I did not have to do any clean up with this mani–zero. The formula is medium thick and extremely opaque so I only needed two thin coats.

Michael is another amazing color. It’s a dark greyed purple with some muy caliente shimmer. I love how subtle the shimmer is in this polish. This polish comes from their men’s line which I didn’t even know existed. Upon doing a little research, this polish comes from their Infamous Lovers collection which pairs a female polish with its “infamous” male lover. The couples represented are: Adam/Eve, Anthony/Cleopatra, Clyde/Bonnie, John/Pocahontas, Romeo/Juliet and….Michael/Carla? I wracked my brain to think of famous Michael/Carla couples but could not think of any. It turns out that this duo is named after some friends of the owner–how cool is that? This polish was also perfection to apply and only 2 coats were needed.

Since we are such The Office nerds, both Lesley and I immediately thought of Michael Scott. I took it one step further and I swear I kept singing the Michael Scarn song and even tried to do the dance.

So thank you Lesley! These polishes are so freaking cool.

What do you think? Have you tried BB Couture yet?