July 2015 - Page 2 of 2 - Of Life and Lacquer

Month: July 2015

Of Life and Lacquer > 2015 > July

OPI Coca-Cola Collection 2015

Posted on 14 July, 2015 by Cynthia

I feel like I’m finally getting back into the groove of posting. I haven’t been very good about preparing my blog posts in advance, but I am making an effort to post even if it’s late in the evening. Lately I’ve been suffering with some ridiculous headaches. They are so strong that they wake me up, but I think that maybe it’s something related to my meds that I sometimes forget to take. Of course I immediately thought of that Kindergarten Cop scene about the tumor, but I’d rather stop the psycho self-diagnosis for now. I guess that if they continue I’ll have to go see my doctor, but damn I hate going to Kaiser. Anywho, today I have two polishes to share with you which were added to the Coca-Cola Collection. Last year, OPI put out the Coca-Cola Collection which I reviewed here, and this year 2 additional shades have been added in honor of the Coca-Cola bottle’s century anniversary. Whatever you may think of soda, we’re talking about polish here. Polish! Let me show you the two new shades.

OPI Centennial Celebration is described as a “shimmering pewter” and that’s pretty accurate…but another silver/metallic? I think that out of all the super similar polishes that OPI has put out lately, this one is one of my favorites. I don’t normally like metallics and definitely don’t like a billion of these silver/pewter colors, but this one is just nice. It is fairly thin, but it builds up nicely. I’m wearing 3 thin coats in my swatches above.

When I first saw OPI Visions of Georgia Green I pretty much assumed I would hate it. I wrote it off completely until I actually wore it. And you know what? I actually adore it. It’s such a weird ugly/pretty shade that I couldn’t help loving how unique it is. I’m sure that it’s going to be one of those controversial shades that some people like and some people hate so I’ll just let you make up your own mind.

If you’re interested in picking these up, you should be able to find them already at the usual places that sell OPI. So what do you think? Will you be picking these up? I am not sure if you can get these individually, but if you can, I’d probably pick up Visions of Georgia Green if you can only get one. Well, thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Nail Envy Strength In Color – Giveaway

Posted on 13 July, 2015 by Cynthia

Hello there! How was your Monday? If you knew how much swatching I got done this weekend, you would be extremely proud of me but now comes the hard part: actually putting the post together. womp womp. When I tackled my swatch pile, I really wanted to try out some of the newer products so I decided to try the new OPI Nail Envy shades. To be honest with you, I have never tried OPI Nail Envy mostly because my nails are super healthy and strong. However, I know many people swear by this treatment and credit it for giving them strong nails. Most people I know use it religiously as a base coat so I was excited to see that the treatment now comes in 4 shades that can be worn alone. For someone like me who is lazy about nail polish, these are perfect! Believe it or not, I don’t wear polish during the week for the most part, so applying a treatment like Nail Envy that actually has color would probably work out great. OPI has released 4 Nail Envy shades:

Hawaiian Orchid: A tropical pink with hints of light purple
Samoan Sand: A warm beige-pink
Bubble Bath: A sweet candy pink
Pink to Envy: A Nail Envy exclusive shade in sheer light pink

I only have three of the four new shades to show you today because I got two of one color. If you are OPI fans, I’m sure you’re familiar with these iconic colors anyway.

OPI Nail Envy Pink to Envy

OPI Nail Envy Bubble Bath

OPI Nail Envy Samoan Sand

Since I ended up getting two bottle of OPI Nail Envy in Bubble Bath, I will be giving it away to one of you!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This giveaway is open internationally so use the widget above to enter. Good luck!

Stamping Saturdays #61

Posted on 11 July, 201511 July, 2015 by Cynthia

Last night I tried to get ahead of the game and started working on my Stamping Saturdays mani, but it turned out to be a big failure. This morning I decided to finally try out my OPI Color Paints since I was still confused about how to use them. I am happy to report that my mani wasn’t a complete disaster, but I guess I’ll let you be the judge of that.

The OPI Color Paints is a collection of 8 blendable colors and 1 silver color which is to be used as a base color. For my mani, I used SIlver Canvas, Magenta Muse and Turquoise Aesthetic.

This is what Silver Canvas looks on its own. It’s a typical brush stroke-prone silver so there’s not much to say about it.

For this design, I left very little polish on my brush and created a swirl pattern with each color and letting them overlap slightly. I really like the effect I created and the best part is that it was beyond easy.

And then I stamped this flower design on top of the swirly base since this is for Stamping Saturdays after all.

So what do you think? I’m pretty satisfied with the end result! I hope you are having a nice weekend because I sure am. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Vintage Polish: Orly Satin Luxury

Posted on 10 July, 20159 July, 2015 by Cynthia

Well, I am sure that you are on pins and needles for the unveiling of my second #vintagepolishfriday right? RIGHT? To be honest, I have a bunch of super old polishes mostly because there are some massively awesome dusties in my area, and I like to hoard weird old stuff. I have talked about the old Orly Satin Hues polishes that I have purchased but I really didn’t recall wearing this one before until I checked my blog tags. Regardless, I decided to wear it again because it’s pretty and because I felt like it. Today’s oldie is Orly Satin Luxury.

It’s nearly impossible to find good information about this line of polishes. I’ve seen people say these are from early to mid 90’s. I have no idea. I contacted Orly eons ago hoping they would be able to give me some information but they pretty much ignored my email and social media inquiries so whatever. I always get a kick from seeing the huge old massive bottles that Orly used to have: .75 oz!!! I think this polish is absolutely gorgeous, but the formula is kind of bad–super thin and it will flood your cuticles like it’s nobody’s business. Despite having to apply 4 coats–yes, 4–I really love the color and the finish. Although the polish looks a little brush-strokey in my pictures, it’s not that noticeable in person. There are other colors from this line that have an amazing satin shimmer so I’ll definitely show some others at a later time.

So I hope that you liked today’s polish blast from the past. I am looking forward to sharing more of the oldies in my stash so don’t forget to check in next Friday. Also, other ladies may be participating in #vintagepolishfriday on Instagram so check out the hashtag for more vintage polish goodies. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

The Lacquer Ring – Metals

Posted on 9 July, 2015 by Cynthia

If you know me, you know that I groaned when I saw that the prompt for today’s The Lacquer Ring post is Metals. UGH! I hate metallic polishes 99% of the time (with very few but very notable exceptions), but I realized I had the perfect polish to try out today since it is fairly new and was sitting unswatched in my polish pile of shame. Let me show you what I came up with.

This OPI Centennial Celebration which is part of a new duo that was added to the OPI Coca Cola Collection from last year. One more silver, OPI? Is silver becoming the new red at OPI? I guess I wouldn’t mind it so much if I liked silver but I really don’t son blaaarrghhh. The formula on this is rather thin but it builds up really well, and it’s not the most brush-strokey thing out there. Please excuse my bad pictures. I had so much drama with my freaking camera and my skin looks kind of odd. I am having a lot of gastro-intestinal problems so I’m beyond dehydrated. I know, TMI.

And then I decided to add metal…on metal? I rarely use studs like this but I figured this would be the perfect time. I feel like I did such a lazy manicure but I think it actually looks kinda neat. I was going to do some chevron stuff, but I literally could not spend another second on my nails tonight. I am resolving to clear out and post all of my drafts so wish me luck with that one!

So what have you been up to lately? I’m just off in lala land it seems. I need to get on my nail game, but it’s been frustrating lately so I’m just kinda taking a step back–or so I have been saying for the last few months. ha! Regardless, I am glad I have my girls to keep me updated on what’s going on in the nail blogosphere. Don’t forget to check out the other metals inspired manis below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Vintage Polish: China Glaze In The Mood

Posted on 3 July, 2015 by Cynthia

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! Are you off today? I am and I thoroughly enjoyed sleeping in until 10 am. I can honestly say that it felt glorious, and I wish I could sleep in every day. I ended up going to my nail places to see if they had any new stuff, but the trip was a bust because they had nothing that I wanted. To top it all off, traffic was insane so it took me an hour to even get out there even though it normally takes 15 minutes. I hate traffic. Anyway, today I was browsing on IG and I came across a post from Nichole and she was sharing an old Wet n Wild nail polish under the tag #vintagepolishfriday You know that I’m going to just right on this vintage polish train because as a nail polish ~~hoarder~~ collector, I get excited when I see older bottles of nail polish. Let me show you the polish I decided to wear for my very first #vintagepolishfriday

I wish I knew more about this line of polishes, but information is super sketchy online. It appears that the Chine Glaze In The Mood Collection was originally released in 2001 but there were subsequent releases. Unfortunately, the polish is not labeled and does not have a name so there isn’t really a way to track this down. Since the polish is so old, the color changing properties are pretty much nil so it no longer changes color in the sun. One thing that I did not notice from looking at the bottle is that it has a gorgeous gold shimmer that is only visible in direct sunlight. If you don’t like the smell of old polishes, this one will probably kill you because it stinks like polish chemicals of yore. I guess I’m weird because I really love the smell of older polishes. The formula was super thin too so I had to apply 3 coats for full opacity. This is not really a polish I would wear again just because it’s finicky and I have other pinks that are much easier to work with. For me, this is more of a collector’s polish and I am happy to have it in my stash.

So what have you been up to lately? I’m going to get all the shopping done for tomorrow’s BBQ tonight and hopefully I have time to do a 4ht of July mani. I did attempt to do one last night but it was a disasticure since I had a few (a lot) of beers at the same time–yeah, don’t ask. I hope that I can do a vintage polish post here and there because it’s always fun to see some of the oldies we have in our stashes. Don’t forget to check out Nichole’s IG–I love her swatches and nail shape so you won’t be disappointed. Anyway, I hope you’re doing well today and thanks for stopping by today.