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Year: 2015

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Stamping Saturdays #55

Posted on 7 February, 20157 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m sorry that I’m showing you L’Oreal Masked Affair today because I know how hard it has been for some of you to get your hands on it. Ok, I’m not that sorry because it is a gorgeous polish, and I was excited to find it after all the swatches I had seen. I normally have a hard time finding drugstore stuff like this because the stupid displays have like 2 of each polish, so this was a major win. I don’t think that we will ever get tired of holographic polishes–this is definitely a good one. Let me show you this baby on its own before I show you how I jazzed it up for today’s Stamping Saturdays.

Ghhhaaaaa! Gorgeous. There are plenty of silver holos out there, but this isn’t really silver–it leans lavender and has a unique finish. The formula is a little thin which is normal for drugstore polishes, but it does build up nicely. I applied 3 coats for my swatches above.

Since I didn’t want to cover up a lot of this beautiful polish, I used a delicate stamp. As usual, I used my Mentality Black Opaque polish for the stamping. The image I used comes from plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample) which is one of my favorite plates!

So what are you up to today? I’m watching Peanut today so it’s been a busy morning. I just managed to put him down for his nap so that’s why I’m posting this kinda late. Anyway, I hope you’re having a nice weekend, and I will talk to you soon.

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Kilimanjaro

Posted on 5 February, 20154 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m going to tell you a story today. When I was in my late teens, I met one of my best friends in the whole world. We met the first day of college in 1997 (fuck we’re old) in French class. He walked in and I was reading a book. He asked me if this was French 200 and I looked up and said yes and went back to reading my book. Later on he told me he thought I was a total bitch. Hey, maybe I was but whatever–we became friends. In our early 20’s I got the idea what we absolutely had to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro and it seemed like a feasible idea since we were both working for Air France at that time. We made plans to go before our 30th birthdays, but then life happened and we never made it. We’re in our mid-30’s now and still talk about going, but I don’t see how that’s going to happen. Daniel hikes and does a lot of physical stuff while I’m terribly out of shape and can’t climb a few flight of stairs without getting tired. So what did I do when I couldn’t get to Kilimanjaro? I reached for Everest…yes, my Everest of nail techniques: watermarbling. I’m a swatcher at my core so “nail art” has never been my forte, but I try to do some creative things which is why I am so into the Stamping Saturday series. I’ve been trying to figure out watermarbling for the last year–no joke. Every time I have tried it, it has been such a hot mess that I get frustrated and forget about it for a couple of weeks until I get the idea to give it one more shot and end up with the same horrible results. This has been my routine for the last year–isn’t the definition of insanity doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result? SHUT IT!! Anyway, something clicked last week. I did my first successful watermarble and documented it on Instagram:

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A post shared by Cynthia (@oflifeandlacquer)

After that experience I got a little cocky. I thought I was a watermarble queen and decided that I would now try to do the decal method since I hate the clean up that is involved in the traditional method even when using tape, glue, latex, etc… If you don’t know what I’m talking about, this is a video from Yagala on IG that shows the method in action:

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A post shared by Galina S. (@yagala)

Pretty amazing, right? Well, it started it out well enough for me anyway. I used three OPI polishes for my watermarble because I have found that they work really well for me. In fact, I haven’t found a single OPI creme that doesn’t watermarble beautifully. This was my decal after I pulled it out of the water and let it dry: Pretty, right? Once I had my decal done, I basically cut it up into 4 pieces, painted my nails white, and lined up each piece on my nails while the polish was still tacky and kind of cut off the excess. After all that, I still had to do some minor clean up and then top coated everything with Seche Vite.

It’s not too bad, but I also don’t think it is that pretty or neat. I kind of smeared the design in certain areas while I was pressing the decal on my nails and that really annoyed me. I really wanted it to be perfect before I posted it on my blog, but I guess it just isn’t meant to be. I think that it looks nice from far away, but you can see all the fails up close. In the immortal words of Cher:

For me, this is the equivalent of getting altitude sickness at Everest Base Camp. Womp womp. Watermarble, I don’t know why you hate me so.

I don’t know if I’m done with you yet, but I think I am ready to move on for a bit. I can’t take the disappointment anymore. What are some of the techniques that you just can’t master? Do you have any tips for me? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Naturel Satins Collection

Posted on 3 February, 20152 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I can’t believe how much swatching I got done this weekend and now I have tons of stuff saved up to show you. I was in a swatching mindset and things were just going my way so that’s how I managed to get so much done. One of the collections that I swatched this weekend is the Zoya Naturel Satins Collection. To be perfectly honest, I was totally expecting to hate this one so hard because I just kind of hate dealing with most matte/satin collections because the formula on them ends up being a huge pain in the ass. Well, I know you are dying to hear what I thought (not), so let me show you my swatches before I get into it.

Zoya Tove

Zoya Sage

Zoya Rowan

Zoya Leah

Zoya Brittany

Zoya Ana

Ok, let m just say that I really like how these look. They are the perfect in between finish–everything that was promised. Surprisingly, the formula is not horrible but it’s not perfect either. For all of these I applied 1 regular coat and 1 thick coat to smooth everything out. The polish doesn’t set up lighting fast, so you have a little time to play with the polish, but it is also very easy to overwork it and get a super lumpfest. I findt he shades here very lovely and perfectly transitional as they were meant to be. I’m a little torn on these. I guess I can say that I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them either. If these had been regular cremes, I would have lost my marbles over them. I guess I can just top coat them, but I just don’t want to have to fiddle with the finicky formula. If I had to pick a favorite, I would go with Sage or Tove. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with these and can recommend them if you don’t mind the formula and the finish. You can find these on Zoya.com where each polish retails for $9. What do you think about these? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Blogiversary Giveaway

Posted on 2 February, 20151 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Has it really been 3 years? Well, 3 years and 2 months since it took me FOH-EVA to put this giveaway together. When I first started my blog 3 years ago, I basically felt like I was posting and sending it out into the void. I could count on one hand the number of people who read my blog on a regular basis, but I was fine with it because I was posting for me–as a creative and emotional outlet. Along the way I have met some wonderful women who have become life-long friends. I have also gotten the opportunity to work with some amazing brands, and I’m just excited to see what 2015 will bring to my little blog. OPI and China Glaze are the two brands that basically started my obsession back in the day, so I am very excited to have some amazing prizes for you due to their generosity.

Prize #1 – OPI Gwen Stefani Holiday 2014 Collection (18 pieces)

Prize #2 – OPI Nordic Collection Fall 2014 (12 pieces)

Prize #3 – OPI 50 Shades of Grey Collection (6 pieces)

Prize #4 – China Glaze Fan Manicure Set – Up All Night

Prize #5 – China Glaze Fan Manicure Set – Turn It Up

Pretty awesome, right?!?! This giveaway is open internationally to those 18 years or older. Please do not enter the giveaway if you live in a country with strict shipping restrictions. To enter, use the rafflecopter widget below.

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As always, I appreciate your support–you guys continue to make this fun for me and I hope that you enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it. Good luck!

KBShimmer Spring Collection 2015

Posted on 1 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Well, I wanted to get this post up early–even last night, but as usual, I got sidetracked. I had the funkiest dreams last night and I ended up oversleeping big time. I was planning to be up by 7 and I got up at 10:30. Womp womp. Now I have to rush through all my errands, laundry and cleaning. I hate Sundays. Let me tell you how excited I am to share these beauties with you!!! KBShimmer always puts out the most amazing polishes and I can already tell you that this new collection is no exception–I love the musicality of that phrase. Anyway, let me show you the pretties before I jump out of my skin. Behold the beauty of the KBShimmer Spring Collection!

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Wind Swarm

KBShimmer Eyes White Open

KBShimmer Blush Money

KBShimmer Blue-d Lines

KBShimmer Ins And Sprouts

KBShimmer Thistle Be The Day

Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! These are gorgeous. There is not a single problematic polish in this lot–they were all opaque at two coats an applied smoothly. I changes my lighting up a bit for the holographic polishes so I apologize for the shine on my skin in these pictures. The holos are just so mesmerizing–can we ever get enough of holos? I don’ know what else to tell you about this collection besides I’m sorry….I’m sorry that your wallet/bank account is about to get lighter because you will want every single one of these. The collection consists of 12 polishes total and they are all just as amazeballs. The polishes will retail for $8.75 each and will be available on Friday, February 6th, 2015 at www.kbshimmer.com. Will you be getting any of these? Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Stamping Saturdays #54

Posted on 31 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey girls! Saturday is here again which means it’s time for another Stamping Saturdays. Last week I ended up doing my mani early because I knew I would be ridiculously lazy this weekend. In fact, I have gotten a lot of swatching done so I am almost caught up….until more collections start to drop. Ever since Friends was added on Netflix, I’ve been watching episodes non-stop. I actually have the whole collection on DVD, but it’s so convenient to have the entire series on Netflix. I had forgotten how much I loved the series! Anyway, let me show you what I came up with today.

This beauty is China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer from their Spring Road Trip Collection. It’s the most gorgeous bay blue with a delicate microshimmer throughout. The formula isn’t great, but I think that I can be forgiving for a color this gorgeous.

I then used and image from plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample) and Mentality Black Opaque stamping polish. The more I used this Mentality stamping polish, the more I love it. It’s very opaque and it doesn’t stain at all the way the Konad one does.

After I finished my stamping, I decided to apply a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust just for some added sparkle. I think that it ended up muddling the manicure overall, but it looked really pretty out in the sun.

So what do you think about this mani? I liked it but it definitely is not one of my favorites. Don’t forget to check out the other Stamping Saturdays manis below. Don’t forget to join us by adding your link below and by using the hashtag #StampingSaturdays on IG so I can find you. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Essie Cashmere Matte Collection 2015

Posted on 28 January, 201528 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey chickadees! How is your week going so far? I can’t believe that we are almost through the last week of January. Holy frijoles! Where does time go? I’ve been chugging along…working, swatching, buying a million polishes…new year, same old same old. I am pretty excited about all of the Spring collections that are about to drop so that’s definitely keeping my swatching schedule busy. I should have the Zoya Satins up on the blog next week (since quite a few of you have asked me), the KBShimmer Spring Collection will be on my blog on 2/1 and you are going to DIE–it’s amazing. I will also have the Essie Resort Collection up next week and the Zoya Spring Collection as well. After that I am expecting my shipment of OPI Hawaii and some of the Infinite Shine polishes that I’m super excited to try out. So yes…lot’s of fun stuff coming to ye olde blog. Today I have a collection that I had been lusting over ince I first saw swatches. I stalked my beauty supply until they came in and of course I grabbed them all. Since I’m the one person on the planet that adored Belugaria, I was thinking I would enjoy these “different” polishes. Before I get into my thoughts (and oh boy do I have thoughts), let me show you my swatches. Here is the Essie Cashmere Matte Collection for your perusal.

Essie Coat Couture

Essie Spun in Luxe

Essie Wrap Me Up

Essie Just Stitched

Essie Comfy In Cashmere

Essie All Eyes on Nudes

When I first saw swatches of these, I was like chomping at the bit: Essie. Check! Shimmer. Check! Luxurious mattes. Check! Beautiful transitional colors. Check! Then I tried them. Uncheck errrything. I think that these look absolutely horrendous on me. In the words of a friend who shall remain nameless: “these essie cashmere mattes or whatever make your fingers look shitty.” I seriously cracked up reading that because it’s so true. These look kind of foul on me. Not only do they look gross on me, but I had the hardest time working with them. You can see how uneven my application looks in my pictures. Part of it might be that I have a really damaged and uneven nail surface right now, but I also found them kind of goopy and just hard to deal with–like most mattes. I think that top coating them might have helped to make them look more smooth, but I was just not in the mood to even deal with them any longer. In their defense, the idea of what these could have been is freaking spectacular. The shimmer in these polishes elevates them–makes them infinitely more interesting. The shimmer doesn’t disappear on the nail so of course that excited me to no end. Now, if you want to see swatches of how gorgeous they can look, you can check out Eugenia’s post or Karen’s post about this collection. They made me want them bad…and then I wanted to drop an a-bomb on the whole collection. I’ve started to call them the Cash-smears Collection just cause I don’t like them and cause I’m terribly sad about it. Look, I wouldn’t be this sad about it if I didn’t love Essie so much. I feel like I write this in 80% of my Essie reviews–not a good trend. haha Anyway, considering how torturous this collection was, I leave you with Shakira’s La Tortura cause they were pure torture to apply…and because this video features my #1 hot lava Alejandro Sanz. Yep, enjoy…and I’ll talk to you later.

China Glaze Road Trip Collection – Spring 2015

Posted on 27 January, 201527 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Hello! This is kind of a late night post for me since I usually like to post in the morning, but I’ve been kind of out of it lately so I figured that since I got a burst of energy now, I might as well write this up right now before I go to bed. If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you know that I love China Glaze. You also know that I never miss out on a collection because…well…I am a freak and have no self control. When I first saw the promo shots for the China Glaze Road Trip Collection for Spring 2015, I just about pissed myself just because I love spring collections, I love China Glaze and I love anything that remotely hints at travel. As soon as my beauty supply got these in, I got the whole lot so I could try them all out. Well, how do you think it went? Let me show you the colors before I get into the dirty details.

China Glaze My Way or the Highway

China Glaze License & Registration Pls

China Glaze Boho Blues

China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer

China Glaze Sun’s Up Top Down

China Glaze Trip of a Lime Time

China Glaze Pop The Trunk

China Glaze I Break for Colour

China Glaze Pack Lightly

China Glaze More To Explore

China Glaze Pinking Out The Window

China Glaze Wanderlust

While some of you may think that these colors are kind of boring and that you’ve seen them all before, let me tell you that even for a nail polish freak like me that really has one of EVERYTHING, I really REALLY loved these colors. Maybe it’s because it’s one of the first Spring collections that I have gotten my hands on after a bunch of Fall and Winter colors, but I really fell hard for this collection. It just seems so cohesive and just plain pretty. The blue shades are gorgeous, the pink/peach colors are a gradient selection made in heaven. Hell, I even loved the yellow…and the green…the green! Ahhh…seriously, I really loved these colors. But. BUT! I hate using the word but because I always feel that everything that comes after the word but basically negates everything that came before it. However (a fancy but), I found the formula on these–not ideal. I don’t know if all of a sudden I suck at applying polish, but all of these felt kind of streaky. The only ones that didn’t really give me any trouble were My Way or the Highway, Boho Blues and License & Registration Pls which only required 2 thin coats. The rest of the polishes required 3 coats…some of them thickish. That definitely did not make me happy. If you’re a person that uses base coat and top coat, that’s like 5 coats of polish on each nail!!! 5 coats of polish make me a sad panda. I haven’t seen too many reviews of these polishes out yet so I don’t know if I just suck at doing my nails now or if others will also find them a bit streaky. Most of these polishes have a really lovely microshimmer that doesn’t show up too much in my pictures but man they look pretty when the light hits them just right. I don’t know about you, but when a polish is really pretty like some of these, I tend to be more forgiving for some formula issues. Ultimately, I would highly recommend the three blues that I mentioned above and a few others if you’re ok with some formula issues. This collection officially comes out in February, but I know that you can get them at a few places already. What do you think of this collection? Will you be getting any of these? Let me know! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #53

Posted on 24 January, 201524 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Aren’t you guys happy that the weekend is here? Last night I found Masked Affair at my local Rite-Aid and I am still wondering why the display only has two of each polish…is that ridiculous or what? Anyway, I had a pretty big polish week because I bought a ton of new stuff that I’m already regretting but hey–that always happens to me. As usual, I had no idea what I wanted to do for today’s Stamping Saturdays so I just went with the flow. Let me show you the gorgeous polish that I used as my base.

This gorgeous polish is OPI Taylor Blue (press sample). If you don’t know the story behind this polish, make sure that you read it here. This gorgeous polish is so incredibly shiny and has a beautiful crelly consistency.

I then used Mentality White Opaque to stamp an image from plate MoYou London Sailor Collection Plate 07 (press sample). While the Mentality polish stamps beautifully, it has more of a pearl off white finish and I was really looking forward to an opaque white creme. I got so excited with my mani, that I top coated it with OPI I Can Teal You Like Me (press sample) before taking pictures of it. Womp womp. I really love how this looks but dang those bubbles kill it. I’m getting irrationally upset with the bubbles so I may have to take Emma’s suggestion and try the Dance Legend Top Aquarelles.

Minus the bubbles, I love this!!! What do you think? I’m starting to feel really gross because of the Santa Ana winds which make my allergies go bonkers…i’m not looking forward to that so I’m loading up on Benadryl. I have an eye exam later this morning which I’m not looking forward to. Lately I’ve been having tons of issues with my vision which is a huge concern since I’m diabetic. However, I’ve had all the check ups with my doctor and she said my eyes are perfectly healthy. I’ve noticed that I have a lot of trouble seeing up close now with my glasses, and by the end of the day, my eyes are so painfully dry that I can barely see. I bought some eye drops last night and when I got home I realized it said they were for dry “aging eyes.” Yep, I’m old. Well, I hope you’re having a nice Saturday so far and don’t forget to join us for Stamping Saturdays by adding your link below and tagging your posts on IG with #stampingsaturdays so I can find you. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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The Lacquer Ring – Splatter

Posted on 22 January, 201521 January, 2015 by Cynthia

I need to tone it down a little today because I’m almost roid raging over a freaking nail. So here I am all happy with being able to use my swatching hand again, and I was all showing off my new nail shape and all…and BAM! My pink nail split lengthwise. How does that even happen? I’ve never had that happen before so I was like…WTF nail? I managed to file it down enough to where the split ended, but now I’m just waiting for the next nail catastrophe. Oh, and I also have a nail starting to peel/break on my non-swatching hand. Of course this happens when I have about 30 polishes to swatch because the universe hates me. Let me get off this rant for now so I can actually show you what I’m supposed to be talking about today: The Lacquer Ring! Yep, we are at it again with a new prompt which was chosen by Amanda. She chose splatter nails, and of course I had to take the easiest way out because, at Sweet Brown says, Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!

I started off with a simple black base using Jessica Velvets & Pearls (press sample) which is a pretty standard black creme. It has a great formula so no complaints here.

I then used Jessica Standing Ovation (press sample) to stamp this splatter image from Konad Plate M70. I thought the contrast would be better, but I kind of like how this looks. I should have left well enough alone but nooooooooooooo…

I then used my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) to mattify the whole mani and basically ruined it. I do not like how this looks matte. I should have used a different stamping color to make it stand out more when I mattified it.

Welp, I’m sorry I brought you this craptacular mani today. I just gave up. I had a long day and just didn’t have it in me to do anything different after this fail. Hopefully I’ll do better next month. Womp womp. Check out the links below to see what the other ladies from The Lacquer Ring came up with–it sure can’t get worse than this. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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