Cynthia, Author at Of Life and Lacquer

Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

Zoya Matte Velvet Collection Winter/Holiday 2015

Posted on 4 November, 2015 by Cynthia

It’s Wednesday which means that we are halfway through the workweek…yasss! I am really looking forward to having some time this weekend to do some major swatching because I need to catch up with a lot of gorgeous stuff. I also have to do some shopping for my nephew’s birthday. I can barely believe that he will be 2 years old next week, and of course Auntie wants to buy him errrrrything. Today I’m excited to share with you my thoughts on the Zoya Matte Velvet Collection for Winter/Holiday 2015. This 6 piece collection is the perfect representation of what a Winter/Holiday collection should be: you get some icy shades and some gorgeous jewel toned polishes. Let me show you my swatches, and then I’ll let you know what I think below.

Zoya Aspen

Zoya Sue

Zoya Amal

Zoya Iris

Zoya Honor

Zoya Yves

I am a huge fan of the MatteVelvet line that Zoya has gotten so good at, so I was definitely excited to get my hands on these. I can tell you that the only two I had any issues with were Aspen and Sue because they can get patchy and apply unevenly. I think that the best way to approach these is to apply thin coats and let the coats dry thoroughly before applying another. The rest of the shades are gorgeous jewel tones that are perfect for the holidays. The standout shade for me is Yves because who doesn’t love a gorgeous blue? Someone had warned me that Yves was a stainer, but I didn’t get any significant staining. So what do you think about these beauties? You can purchase this collection now on zoya.com where they retail for $10 each. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

KBShimmer Winter Collection 2015

Posted on 2 November, 2015 by Cynthia

‘Ello gov’na! How was your Monday? Work was pretty busy today so it was one of those days where time just flew by. Now that daylight savings time started up, it feels weird leaving the office at 5 pm and it’s pitch dark outside. In fact, it started raining on my way home! The weather is weird, but I’m loving that it’s really cool now after this horrible summer. Well, I am pretty sure that you know that the KBShimmer Winter Collection was released today…unless you’ve been living under a rock. I always look forward to KBShimmer collections, and I can guarantee that you will not be disappointed!!! Let me show you a few of my picks below:

KBShimmer Coal In One

KBShimmer Claws and Effect

KBShimmer Fleece Navidad

KBShimmer Brrr-tiful Dreamer

KBShimmer Kind Of A Big Dill

KBShimmer Yule Worthy

I am missing one of the polishes that I wanted to share with you: For Fox Sake. Isn’t that the most kick ass polish name ever? I’m not going to lie…I want it just for the name. I’m here to tell you that you want all of these. Yep, I know you do. They are all gorgeous and apply like a dream, which is exactly what you would expect since we are talking about KBShimmer, after all. For the holo polishes, I took two pictures in normal light and the third pic is under LED light which is similar to what you will see in direct bright sunlight. So what do you think? Do you love these as much as I do? Do you have a favorite or favorites? Will you be picking up any of these shades? Check out the entire Winter Collection here. Hurry and pick them ALL up! Well, now that I have properly enabled you, I want to wish you a good rest of the week! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Winner Announced – OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades

Posted on 1 November, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey guys! Long time no blog! I know I haven’t been posting consistently for a few months now and I did take a month-long hiatus, but I hope that things will get more consistent soon. I’m nearing my 4 year blog anniversary, and I think this brought some renewed commitment to this little blog of mine. Today I am just doing a quick post to announce the winner of my OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades giveaway. Yeah, I know the giveaway was over like…5 million years ago. Sorry for the looooong delay. Hey, at least I didn’t forget about it!

The winner is…
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congratulations, Jennifer! I have emailed the winner and she was 48 hours to respond or else I will be picking a new winner.

I hope you are all doing well and thank you for continuing to stop by during these slow months. I am getting back into the swing of things so look for new content very soon.

Talk to you soon!

OPI Venice Collection Fall 2015

Posted on 29 September, 201528 September, 2015 by Cynthia

I know it has taken me forever to post swatches of the OPI Venice Collection, but it’s better late than never, right? I won’t bore you with all my personal drama today just so we can focus on the actual pretty polish. Let me tell you that I ended up getting this collection pretty late so that affected my swatching time frame as well. Besides that, I’ve also been struggling with just blogging in general so that contributed to the late review too. I’m just a mess lately. I’m sure that you have seen 5 bajillion swatches of this collection so let’s make it 5 bajillion plus one. First of all I would like to mention that when I first started seeing reviews of this collection, I thought that I would be bored out of my mind with the colors, but I still wanted every single one because I love Venice. Venice is such a magical place–like a city stuck in another era. The first time I went there, it was Spring of 2000. I was studying in Paris and I took off for 2 weeks because I wanted to go to Rome for Easter and it was during the 2000 Jubilee. Rome was kind of a nightmare during that time, but I did get to finally see the Sistine Chapel which was huge for me. Anyway, while I was in Venice, I pretty much fell in love with the city. I enjoyed my time there even though I was traveling alone; I always managed to meet interesting people during my travels and Venice was no exception. I think that my love for Venice was the main reason why I wanted to love every single shade in this collection. Would I still love them if they weren’t Venice themed? Now that’s a question for which you will get an answer down below. Let me show you my swatches first.

OPI Gelato On My Mind

OPI Purple Palazzo Pants

OPI A Great Opera-tunity

OPI Tiramisu for Two

OPI I Cannoli Wear OPI

OPI Be There In A Prosecco

OPI It’s A Piazza Cake

OPI Amore at Grand Central

OPI O Suzi Mio

OPI My Gondola Or Yours?

OPI Gimme A Lido Kiss

OPI St. Mark’s the Spot

OPI Venice the Party?

OPI Worth A Pretty Penne

OPI Baroque…But Still Shopping

I don’t know about you, but I do not get “Fall” when I see this collection. I don’t get “Winter” either. What’s up with these shades, eh? Putting that aside, I do love all of the Venice references in the names, and I’m hoping that in the future we will have a Florence collection since 1) That is my favorite city in Italy 2) Dante 3) Uffizi Gallery 4)Birthplace of the Renaissance. I guess I could go on forever, but for now I am happy to have a Venice Collection. As far as the polishes are concerned, the cremes are the stuff that dreams are made of. They are delicious. They are heavenly. If you like creme finish polishes, you will not be disappointed. The only polish I will steer you away from is OPI Baroque…But Still Shopping because it’s a monstrosity in the vein of Pineapples Have Peelings Too–enough said. I am also happy that there are 10 reds in this collection because I really have had enough reds from OPI…and no silver chrome in this collection either which is refreshing. Overall, this collection is beautiful. Even if the colors don’t exactly seem to fit with a Fall/Winter theme and seem more Spring appropriate, that does not detract from the quality and the inspiration. On another note, I feel like I am starting to like my new lighting set up. I feel like the colors are more accurate than with my previous set up which is always a good thing. What do you think of this collection? I think a lot of people felt underwhelmed, but I can assure you that the quality of these is superb and you will probably be surprised by how much you may end up liking some of these. If you have already picked up some of these, let me know what you think. Do you have any favorites that you will be picking up? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will catch up with you soon.

The Lacquer Ring – Watermarble

Posted on 24 September, 201523 September, 2015 by Cynthia

Today I will start my post with an apology the my fellow bloggettes from The Lacquer Ring: I am sorry I chose watermarble as our prompt this month. I truly am sorry because I also had a hell of a time doing a proper watermarble. I attribute my trouble to the weather because last week it was hotter than Satan’s nutsack in a leotard. I made 4 attempts at doing a presentable watermarble to share with you guys today, but it just did not work out. I basically gave up at my 4th attempt and you will be seeing the results shortly. I don’t think I will be doing another watermarble while the heat is still torturing us. Anyway, let me show you my pitiful watermarble…

The clean up was a bitch because I kept getting air bubbles at the cuticle area so the gap next to the cuticle is larger than I would normally like. I used two KBShimmer cremes for this watermarble because KBShimmer is awesome for watermarbling due to the creaminess and pigmentation. I’m almost embarrassed to post this, but I could not pass on posting today since I tortured everyone else with my prompt.

So what have you been up to? Anything cool? Well, I hope you’re doing well. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to check out the other watermarbles below. Talk to you soon!

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Essie Leggy Legend Collection Fall 2015

Posted on 21 September, 2015 by Cynthia

So this post has been in the works for like 3 weeks, I think. I don’t really have an excuse except that I’ve just been feeling super blah about blogging. After close to 4 years, part of me thinks that I’m nearing the end of my blogging adventure. Lately I have felt almost resentful for the amount of time that I spend on this blog to the detriment of my personal life. When I don’t blog for a while, it’s almost like I have my life back and do much more for myself. I haven’t made a decision to just stop, so for now I will continue to blog when I feel like it without putting any pressure on myself. For today’s post, I have the Essie Leggy Legend Collection for Fall 2015. It’s a very typical fall collection so let me show you my swatches before I tell you what I thought about it overall.

Essie With The Band

Essie In The Lobby

Essie Color Binge

Essie Leggy Legend

Essie Frock ‘n Roll

Essie Bell-Bottom Blues

I really wanted to like this collection but nope. There is nothing wrong with it, but it just does not catch my attention nor does it excite me. One great thing about this collection is that the formulation on all of them is pretty great which we all know can be hit and miss when it comes to Esssie. The shade I was really looking forward to is Essie Bell-Bottom Blues because of the pink/purple flash that was apparent in the bottle, but sadly it disappears once it’s on the nail. If I had to recommend one polish from this collection, it would be Esssie Frock ‘n Roll because it’s interesting and very fall-appropriate. So what do you think about this collection? Have you picked up any of these shades? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #68

Posted on 5 September, 2015 by Cynthia

Saturdayyyyyyyyyyyy! I’m so happy that it’s Labor Day on Monday because I have a 3 day weekend. Of course I’m planning to do NOTHING except maybe swatch a little. I still have a pile of stuff to get through so hopefully I’ll get through everything over the long weekend. Last night I was binge watching stuff on Netflix (what else is new?) and I decided to just work on my Stamping Saturdays mani instead of leaving it for today. To start with, I wanted to use a densely packed glitter that I recently picked up from Pretty & Polished.

This gorgeous glitter is Pretty & Polished Arcane In The Membrane. The base is slightly tinted so you do tend to get decent coverage with two coats. I ended up applying a third coat just to make it all more uniform.

I decided to go simple with my stamping, so I used an image from Born Pretty Plate BP L-003 and used my white Konad polish. This is so simple but I really like it!

So what are you up to today? I’m just going to relax and enjoy my long weekend. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Sally Hansen Miracle Gel – New Shades

Posted on 3 September, 20152 September, 2015 by Cynthia

Hello and happy Thursday! Today I have a few new shades from the Sally Hansen Miracle Gel line to share with you. I’m continuously impressed with the quality of the polishes in this line–not to mention that the colors are gorgeous. I did these swatches a couple of weeks ago when my nails were longer and square so don’t let the sudden shape change trip you out. Let me show you a small sampling of new colors.

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Teal Twin

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Blue Hue

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Get It Bright

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Block Party

Sally Hansen Miracle Gel Up The Ante

I really like all of these colors, but I’m especially obsessed with Blue Hue because it’s so clean and crisp. I really like all of these colors especially because the weather is so hot and some of them are bright summer colors. You can pick these up at your local drugstore or any other places where Sally Hansen is sold. What do you think of these? Have you picked up any of them? Thanks for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon!

China Glaze The Great Outdoors Collection Fall 2015

Posted on 2 September, 20151 September, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey there! Welcome back. Apparently this will be “Fall Week” on Of Life and Lacquer because today I have the China Glaze The Great Outdoors Collection for Fall 2015. When I first saw pictures of this collection, I wasn’t SUPER excited. I wasn’t On Safari excited, if you know what I mean. Still, I felt there were quite a few shades that looked interesting so I was still looking forward to trying out all of them. What else can a polish addict say? I am kind of in a better mood because the weather has decided to cool down a bit which I am eternally grateful for. I hate getting the heat rages so you know that I’ve been much more mellow as of late. One thing that has come up is that my car is on the outs again. I bought this car 2 years ago and have logged like 16,000 miles. Two months ago my transmission crapped out so it was repaired under my warranty and now I’m sensing the same issue again where my car does not shift out of first gear. Seriously? I am going to have the biggest fit if this is just going to be a revolving door of issues. I bought a brand new car so I shouldn’t have to deal with these issues so early on, right? Anyway, enough complaining about my car and let me show you my swatches.

China Glaze S’More Fun

China Glaze My Lodge or Yours?

China Glaze Change Your Altitude

China Glaze Let’s Dew It

China Glaze Take A Hike

China Glaze Sleeping Under The Stars

China Glaze Free Bear Hugs

China Glaze Check Out The Silver Fox

China Glaze Wood You Wanna?

China Glaze Cabin Fever

China Glaze Gone Glamping

China Glaze Pondering

I think this collection is weird, but weird in a good way. Isn’t S’More Fun like the weirdest color to make an appearance in a fall collection??? If you like yellow/green polishes, you’re going to love this one regardless of how much it sticks out like a sore thumb. I am absolutely in love with My Lodge or Yours? and Change Your Altitude–they are such gorgeous neutrals but again, they seem to be more spring appropriate. This whole collection has a little bit of everything: delicious cremes, glitter, foils and duochromes. I had ZERO issues with the formula of these which is always such a wonderful thing to say because you know that if the formulation sucks, nothing will save it. The China Glaze The Great Outdoors Collection is available NOW at all the usual places where you can purchase the brand such as Ulta and Sally Beauty Supply. So which shades will you be picking up (or have already picked up)? Let me know what you think! Thanks for the visit today, and I will catch up with you soon.

KBShimmer Fall Collection 2015

Posted on 1 September, 20151 September, 2015 by Cynthia

I’ve been dying to share this collection with you. Any time that I get pretties from KBShimmer, I freak out and want to post everything immediately because how can anyone keep so much awesomeness to themselves?! The KBShimmer Fall Collection for 2015 is made up of 12 shades: 4 cremes and 8 glitters in different finishes. Today I have my 6 picks from this collection to share with you. Let’s jump right in, shall we?

KBShimmer Such A Vlad-Ass

KBShimmer Teal It To My Heart

KBShimmer Talk QWERTY To Me

KBShimmer Fig-get About It

KBShimmer Dark & Twisty

KBShimmer Carpe Denim

Are you diggin’ these as much as I am? As usual, the cremes are perfection. Do I really have to say this? I mean, we all know that KBShimmer does kick ass cremes. The glitters are just so freaking pretty. For you holo lovers, don’t forget to pick up Fig-get About it (ghaaa! love the name!). In fact, just do yourself a favor and get them all. If I had to pick a favorite, I think I would go with Carpe Denim just because I love blue and I love glitter and I just can’t get over how gorgeous and squishy this polish is. The official release date for this collection is 9/15 but I’m sure that all you nail afficionados knew this already. I’m really happy to have two indie brand posts on my blog this week because I want you to know that I still support indie makers–responsible makers–who create quality products and provide great customer service. What do you think of the shades I showed you today? Which one(s) will you be getting? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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