Cynthia, Author at Of Life and Lacquer

Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

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?

Preview: Jessica Cosmetics Glamarama Holiday Collection 2012

Posted on 6 November, 2012 by Cynthia

You all know how much I love Jessica Cosmetics nail polishes. I mean, really love. When I got these promo pictures, I literally jumped right on here to share them with you. I had seen some images floating around and I was really interested in seeing more pictures. Check them out:

It looks that this 6 piece collection has 4 reds in it. 4!!!!! I am a fan of red polish, but I wonder if these will all be different enough for me. Still, I can’t wait to see these in person. It seems that the majority of brands have put out their holiday collections already so let’s get the ball rolling on these.

What are some of your favorite holiday polish colors?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 17: Striped Nails

Posted on 6 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ahhh…election day is here! I’m not one to lecture people so I won’t get all soapbox-y on everyone. For me, voting is a privilege, a right and a responsibility. There are so many people in other areas of the world who are not allowed to vote so I’m not about to piss on election day. I don’t care about your politics–just make your voice count. To think that less than 100 years ago, women were not allowed to vote makes me wonder why so many women don’t vote.

Anyway, enough politics talk. Today is day 17 of our 31 day challenge so we are a little over half-way through. I think that the fact that we have spaced it out has made it seem like it is just draaaaaaaaaaaaaging, but at the same time I like the fact that I have a few days in between to do other things. The challenge calls for striped nails today and as usual, I had no idea what to do. I took out my Nubar Jeans trio and told myself I had to use these three for whatever look I settled on. In case you’re not familiar with Nubar, this is the trio I am talking about:

Faded Jeans – Boyfriend Jeans – Dark Wash Jeans

This trio is supposed to be a dupe for the Les Jeans de Chanel Collection, but I don’t know how similar they are since I don’t own any Chanel. I’ve seen a few swatches and they do seem to be pretty similar, but I can’t assert that they are 100% dupes. I started out with a full manicure of Faded Jeans.

This polish is pretty, but I found the application kind of weird. It was opaque at two coats but when I looked closely, it had some streaky bald patches so I had to apply a third coat. Luckily, the other two polishes did not have this problem.

I then left a little area at the bottom and polished the rest of my nail with Boyfriend Jeans and let that dry a bit. I then left another small strip of the Boyfriend Jeans color and polished the rest of my nail with Dark Wash Jeans. Don’t worry if the lines look a little crooked because the stripping tape will make it all look neat. (Can you tell I’m not good at tutorials? hahaha)

So there is the finished look. What do you think? I had a hard time photographing these colors because my skin would turn so red in the pics. I tried to color correct as much as I could without affecting the polish colors, but since I am a big edit fail, it didn’t turn out so well. My hands are in a terrible state right now because I decided that I didn’t need no stinkin’ gloves to clean with bleach. Yeah…moron.

Don’t forget to check out the other striped manis for today’s challenge. Talk to you soon.

Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer In Reflecting Pond

Posted on 5 November, 20125 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ok, so my pictures turned out like crap today. Well, crappier than usual, that is. I was rushing and I didn’t review my pictures of the base polish before stamping over it so I got stuck with ugly pics. Then I did the same after I stamped and didn’t check out my pictures. So there you have it: lack of planning = craptastic pictures. Boo. I don’t know what possessed me to pull out this polish today since it is 90 degrees outside, and I’ve been letting the temperature guide my polish choices. I got this polish along with Parachute purple a couple of months ago but hadn’t gotten a chance to try it. Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer In Reflecting Pond is a very pretty jewel toned green. This reminds me of Pixi Evening Emerald, Essie Dive Bar, etc… Just like Essie Dive Bar, Reflecting Pond has a very promising pink/purple flash in the bottle that completely disappears on the nail. So disappointing!

I am only posting one picture because all the other ones were beyond bad. This one is pretty bad too but it’s the best of the ugly bunch.

Same goes for this picture. I used Bundle Monster plate 322 and Essie Good As Gold for this houndstooth design. Normally I loooove anything houndstooth but I am just not feeling this manicure today. Ugh…maybe it’s just my crappy mood today.

Last night I went to dinner with one of my best friends and we seriously piled out. We went to a seafood restaurant where you basically order shrimp, crab, clams and various other delectable crustaceans by the pound. You choose a seasoning (lemon pepper, Cajun, etc) and a level of spiciness and they then bring out a plastic bag full of your seafood selections boiled in your seasoning of choice. Your only utensils are your fingers, paper towels and your plastic bib. hahaha Behold the shrimp massacre!

Did you get a load of my fingers after our meal? Whoa. Let me tell you, I am still feeling the aftermath of this feast. I feel like garlic is seeping through my pores. Ugh…I don’t know if I’ll be back soon despite how yummy the meal was.

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? I can’t wait for election day! I take voting very seriously so I’ll be up super early to cast my ballot!

Winners Announced – Sephora Breakup Giveaway

Posted on 4 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Thank you to everyone who entered my latest giveaway. It was really great to hear your thoughts on bad customer service and how you react to it.

The winners are as follows:

Jessica G. – Prize Pack #1

Maribeth R. – Prize Pack #2

Alley G. – Prize Pack #3

Congratulations ladies! I’ll be contacting you shortly for your mailing info so I can get out your prizes ASAP.

I also wanted to mention that there are still quite a few people entering without being subscribed to my blog. Sometimes there might be glitches and such so I do contact people when they don’t show up on my subscriber list but come up as a winner. Usually the problem is that they did not confirm their subscription. The same goes for twitter: they say they tweeted but do not provide the link as proof and can’t provide it when I ask about it either. I guess that’s just the way things go when you hold a giveaway. I just wanted to remind everyone that I do in fact check. 🙂

I think I mentioned that I will be having another giveaway this month related to Swagbucks. I wasn’t able to do a Swagbucks Saturdays post this week but I will be doing one tomorrow with more details about the giveaway. The prize will be a $25 gift card to Amazon.com so make sure that you check back if you’re interested in entering.

Thanks again for supporting my little blog by commenting, interacting with me on facebook/twitter and just plain reading my random ramblings. Your support means a lot to me.