Cynthia, Author at Of Life and Lacquer

Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

Bellaluna Cosmetics Fall Collection 2015

Posted on 31 August, 201529 August, 2015 by Cynthia

When it’s 100 degrees, it definitely does not feel like Fall is just around the corner. Despite this, we have a lot of gorgeous nail polishes coming out around this time to get us in the mood for Fall. Today I have 5 beautiful polishes to share with you that will definitely get you thinking about cozy sweaters and cooler weather. The Bellaluna Cosmetics Fall Collection is made up of rich and sumptuous colors that I quite enjoyed. Let me show you the shades before I tell you what I thought.

Bellaluna Cosmetics Autumn Woodlands

Bellaluna Cosmetics Frosted Eggplant

Bellaluna Cosmetics Sparkling Cranberry

Bellaluna Cosmetics Near Dark

Bellaluna Cosmetics Spanish Moss

Aren’t these beautiful? The formula on all of these polishes is great and are 1-2 coaters depending on your application. I really liked the shimmer in these polishes–especially in Spanish Moss which ended up being my favorite. A surprise favorite is Autumn Woodlands because I tend to really dislike orange-leaning polish but this one is so unique. This was my first experience with Bellaluna Cosmetics, and I can tell you that I am very impressed with the quality of these polishes. This collection will be released on 9/15 so mark your calendars! You can check out many other Bellaluna creations on etsy by clicking here. I’m sorry…you may want to buy all the things. Let me know what you think about this collection and which shade is your favorite. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Bellaluna Cosmetics

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Stamping Saturdays #67

Posted on 29 August, 201529 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Look here, California: I know it’s summer and all, but can you please give me a break? I don’t want to be sitting here in my living room and start sweating for no reason. I guess I will still have to put up with this heat for another 2 months so I’m just going to try to think happy thoughts of cooler weather. In my mind, I’m going to start moving into fall nail polish collections that will make me think of cool evenings and beautiful chilly mornings. For Stamping Saturdays I decided to use three polishes from an upcoming fall collection from Bellaluna Cosmetics. Let me show you what color I used for my base.

This smoky near black gray is Bellaluna Cosmetics Near Dark. This smoky gray has shimmery flecks that make it look so pretty and interesting. The formula is rather opaque and you can almost get away with one coat if you’re precise with your application.

For my stamped decal accent nail, I decided to use there three gorgeous colors together: Sparkling Cranberry, Autumn Woodlands and Near Dark.

As much as I love the look of decals, they are a huge pain in the ass. I also get irritated with Konad stamping polish smearing no matter how much top coat I use or how lightly I float the polish on my nails. This image is from Born Pretty plate BP-L003–have I told you how much I love these cheapie plates? They are very inexpensive and the quality is great. If you watch out for sales, you can get them at an even better price.

So what do you think? I am going to have swatches and a review of these Bellaluna polishes next week so make sure to check back for that. Besides trying to stay cool, I don’t have too much going on this weekend and that suits me just fine. Well, I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for the visit, and I will catch up with you soon!

Did you enter my giveaway yet? No? Click on the image below to enter.

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Giveaway – OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades

Posted on 26 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey guys! Today I have a fun giveaway for all of you. I have the 6 piece OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades Collection to give away to one of my awesome readers. You can check out my swatches of the collection here.

As always, this giveaway is open internationally but please do not enter if you live in a country where you know this package will never make it to you due to customs and mail regulations. Use the widget below to enter.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck!

About Mentality Nail Polish

Posted on 25 August, 2015 by Cynthia

This might just be the day that Mentality Nail Polish officially lost touch with reality. After reading the Jezebel article that was published this morning, I have concluded that I will not be using any of my Mentality nail polishes. I own about 10 of these polishes including stamping polishes, but I cannot wear them. I regularly use the Mentality Black Opaque stamping polish and although I have never experienced any issues, I refuse to in any way promote their products on my little blog. I am not here to pass judgement on anyone so if you feel like you want to continue to support Mentality by purchasing or featuring their products, that is completely up to you. Just know that you will not see any Mentality products on my blog.

As I stated on my facebook post, there are some really amazing people out there who are creating polish and testing responsibly. So for all of you who are watching the drama unfold, I hope that you realize that this situation is not an accurate representation of the indie polish community. I am very sorry for anyone who has had adverse reactions, pain, damage and stress over this situation.

OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades Collection – Spring 2015

Posted on 24 August, 201523 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Hola! I feel tired today. I know it’s freaking Monday, but I had a busy weekend. My parents went back home after a long visit so I’m feeling kinda sad about that. I know I’m 35, but I can still miss my parents! They do tend to drive me nutso 90% of the time, but that’s what parents do so it doesn’t make me miss them any less when they aren’t here. Anyway, despite the business of trying to get them all packed and ready for their flight, I did manage to do some swatching. I have a pile of about 60 polishes to swatch and I only got through 18 but at least that is a start, right? I ended up starting with these because they are from a Spring collection that was sorely delayed, and I figured that I might as well get these out of the way before I start swatching Fall collections. The OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades Collection for Spring 2015 is just what it sounds like: Spring appropriate soft shades. These are pretty heavy on the whites, but that doesn’t mean they are boring. Let me show you the six shades.

OPI Infinite Shine Pearl of Wisdom

OPI Infinite Shine Non-Stop White

OPI Infinite Shine Go To Grayt Lengths over Non-Stop White

OPI Infinite Shine The Beige of Reason

OPI Infinite Shine Beyond the Pale Pink

OPI Infinite Shine Eternally Turquoise

First of all, let me say that this collection is incredibly cohesive. They go well together and every single shade screams Spring to me. The formula on these is pretty typical of the Infinite Sine formula: rather opaque and a tad thicker than regular OPI. I have been experimenting with using my own quick dry top coat with these and so far it has worked well. I did notice that the OPI Infinite Shine top coat does stay glossy longer, though. I’m still freaking experimenting with my lighting set up and with my nail shape so I’m not that happy with how these swatch pictures turned out overall. Maybe I’m just being too picky. Overall, I am happy with this collection and can recommend these if you don’t already have something similar. I think that my favorite here is Eternally Turquoise and maybe Beyond The Pale Pink if you’re looking for something clean but not completely white. Let me know what you think of this collection. Did you pick up any of these already? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #66

Posted on 22 August, 201522 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey! I am so happy its Saturday and not just because it’s Stamping Saturdays time! I really felt like this week dragged, so I am just glad to have some time to relax and maybe sleep in a little. Even better, the temperatures are nowhere near as insane as last week, so it’s all gravy baby. Yesterday I went to Ulta to buy a bunch of stuff that I needed, but I ended up not finding most of the items I needed. While I was there, I checked out the clearance section and found a gorgeous blue polish for under $2…well, you know it came home with me. Let me show you this beauty.

This is two smooth coats of Ginger + Liz Private Poole. This polish is incredibly cream and the brush was PERFECTION. If you purchase this polish at regular price, it is $12. I don’t care for it much at that price point, but if you can catch this on sale, it’s well worth it. I actually had never heard of this brand and after some googling, the first thing that came up was a bunch of drama which is unfortunate. Still, it’s a great looking polish.

For my stamping, I used Konad White Special polish to stamp an image from Born Pretty Plate BP-L016. I really love how this turned out because blue and white is probably my favorite stamping combination.

As you can tell, I am in the process of growing out my nails again. I did nub them which is why I basically did not post all week. Now I am incredibility backlogged with my swatching. Maybe you can tell me what you’d like to see next? Here is what I have in my swatch pile:

OPI Infinite Shine Soft Shades 2015
OPI Infinite Shine Summer 2015
OPI Venice Collection
Zoya Focus & Flair Fall 2015
China Glaze The Great Outdoors Fall 2015
KBShimmer Fall 2015 (Sorry, no can do until 9/1 but I couldn’t leave it off my list!)

So anyway, let me know what you think of this mani. I’m really happy with how delicate it looks. Thanks so much for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Stamping Saturdays #65

Posted on 15 August, 201521 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Hello. Have you melted yet? It’s in the 100’s here so excuse my foul mood. Anytime that it gets hotter than Satan’s butthole, I tend to lose my shit. You see, I live in a coastal city so we don’t really need air conditioning except for a few weeks during most Summers. Even then, it’s not anything that we can’t handle, but for someone who hates the heat, I just become a miserable grump. Last night I was debating if I should even attempt to do a mani for Stamping Saturdays because I figured the heat might make my polish act up, but I am glad to report that everything went fine. I initially thought I might be able to polish my nails near a fan, but you know how that went. Anyway, let me show you the simple design I ended up with today.

I started with 2 coats of Pretty & Polished I Never Kiss and Spell. Can you believe that this is my very first Pretty & Polished?! When I saw that this baby was on sale, I jumped right on it and ended up picking up a few others as well. I was very impressed by how quickly I got my order so that’s always a big plus for me since I hate waiting for orders to ship. This polish has a very delicate holo shimmer that is not super noticeable unless the light hits it just right. The formula is nice and opaque and only requires 2 coats for full coverage. The finish does dry down matte, but you can always top coat it like I did if you prefer a shiny finish.

A few weeks ago, I bought some plates from Born Pretty because they were 50% off. Since I’m usually a cheapskate, I only bought 6. Now that I have received them, I should have gotten more because they are kind of amazing. This image comes from Born Pretty plate BP-L009 and I used Mentality Black Opaque for my stamping polish. I really wanted to do some fancy decals, but it’s just too darn hot so I once again went for something simple.

I know people tend to be very “opinionated” when I change my nail shape, but I took the plunge anyway. I decided to go with an almond shape about a week ago and now I am just waiting to get more length so that I can do some serious swatching. I’m afraid to ask: what do you think of my new nail shape? Well, I’m going to spend my afternoon with my peanut brat so I hope you enjoy your Saturday as well. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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The Lacquer Ring – Holographic Blue

Posted on 13 August, 201512 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Sometimes I get nostalgic about brands or polishes that are no longer around, so when I was riffling through my melmers, I started going through my Sephora by OPI Collection. I remember when everyone was going bananas for Metro Chic way back in 2008/2009. At that time, I wasn’t really into nail polish but I remember trying to pick it up at Sephora, but it was constantly out of stock. I became so annoyed with this that I ended up not getting it until a few years later. Once I really got into nail polish around 2010, I started collecting polishes from this line. I always felt that the quality of this line was really good (duh! OPI), so I was sad to see it discontinued. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been that obsessed with the Formula X polishes that Sephora put out. I mean, they are good quality but they haven’t caught my attention much, but I’ll still purchase a bottle here and there. I decided to use one of my favorite shades from the discontinued line for today’s The Lacquer Ring post which centers around holographic blue.

Sephora by OPI Slushied is a gorgeous shade that was part of the Glee Collection. The formula on it is a little thin so I had to appy 3 coats for full opacity. If you want this same color with a more opaque formula, you can try OPI Roadhouse Blues.

For the holographic part of the prompt, I used some large chevron vinyls to outline the design with Layla Ocean Rush. I don’t know about you, but Layla holo polishes don’t last on me at all unless I put them over a base color like this.

So what do you think about this mani? I think it’s pretty simple, but I really like the way it turned out. I hope your week is going well and yay for it almost being the weekend again!! Thanks so much for the visit, and I will catch up with you soon.

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China Glaze FYI

Posted on 12 August, 20159 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey girls! What’s crackalackin’ today? I’m just chugging along trying not to let the heat completely kill me this summer. I absolutely hate the hot weather so in my head I am already dreaming of Winter because it’s still super hot during the Fall here in SoCal. I hate you and your long Summers, SoCal! Anyway, today I am showing you the newest baby from the OMG Collection: China Glaze FYI. I picked this up a couple of weeks ago so I was beyond excited to get my hands on it. Unfortunately, my excitement fizzled pretty quickly. Let me show you why…

This is three coats of China Glaze FYI…or is it? Where is the holo? I mean, I do see some holo and the formula was identical to some of my other OMG polishes, but I ask again: WHERE IS THE HOLO? I was very disappointed but then I figured I should check the holo in direct bright sunglight since the OMG polishes look pretty meh in indoor light. Did that do the trick?

Not really. I mean, it really does warm up the polish and you can kind of see more holo but it does not have the strong linear holo effect that I was expecting. Did I get a dud? Worst yet, did I get a fake? I just don’t know what to think. All of the pictures I have googled show a much stronger holo effect so I am sad and confused.

If you have this polish, does your bottle look like mine? Is the holo this weak on yours? Could it be the age of the polish? I just don’t know why mine looks so lackluster and I’m trying really hard not to think I got a fake bottle. I did get it on evilbay so I know there are always risks but this is so disappointing! Despite my disappointment in regards to the holo, or lack thereof, this is a very pretty nude! It reminds me of a lighter beige version of Butter London All Hail The Queen. So what is your verdict? Do you think I got a fake? Thanks so much for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon!

China Glaze Laser Lime

Posted on 11 August, 20152 August, 2015 by Cynthia

My love for nail polish is making me a little crazy. A couple of times a week I spend an hour on eBay searching for old and discontinued polishes because I am convinced that I will stumble upon some gems. I know I’m a little delusional in thinking that maybe I’ll get Clarins 230 or Essie Starry Starry Night at a reasonable price, but that doesn’t stop me from searching for that unicorn. What actually ends up happening is that I find interesting discontinued polishes at very reasonable prices so I end up getting one…or two…or a few. The most recent polish that I picked up on eBay is China Glaze Laser Lime from the discontinued Tronica Collection. Let me show you this pretty.

Why is it that polish companies discontinue awesome collections? I know that a lot of people were disappointed with the Tronica Collection because it wasn’t like the OMG Collection, but they are beautiful on their own. I really love green polishes so China Glaze Laser Lime is another great one to add to my stash. The formula on this polish is very thin and I experienced drag on my second coat. I made sure to leave extra time between coats to avoid creating any bald spots. What you see above is three coats. Pretty, eh?

So what do you think of this polish? Do you have any others from this collection? Do you buy polish on eBay or do you think it’s too risky? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!