Cynthia, Author at Of Life and Lacquer

Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

Tarina Tarantino Meteor Night

Posted on 1 October, 201430 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey, well it’s Wednesday and suddenly we’re almost half-way done through the week. You’ll never ever hear me complain about that. I think that today is going to be one of those hellish days at work so I’m already mentally preparing myself for that. When I was at work yesterda, I had to speak with someone who was so grateful after our conversation–and after I helped her fix her issues–that the genuine gratitude in her voice made up for any other grumpy people I had spoken to. I guess that’s what makes me want to go to work–knowing that I actually can make a difference in someone’s life. That and the fact that working funds my polish binges and other side stuff like food and rent–but polish comes first, you know? All jokes aside, its nice to have a job where you can feel like you accomplished something to make someone’s life better. My previous job did not give me the same satisfaction which is why I had to leave it–it was slowly killing my soul. I’ve never been a person who just works for the paycheck–if I don’t like my job, I will find one that I do like. I guess that’s one of the benefits of being single and childless–I have the luxury of being crazy and just following whatever I want to do without having to think of anyone else. Let’s move away from serious stuff and let me show you the real polish goods today: Tarina Tarantino Meteor Night.

I like blue nail polish. I know you like blue nail polish. Don’t deny it. I saw your eyes get all big when you saw this gorgeous blue. No, that was not me peeking through your window. This polish is hella pigmented so I could have gotten away with one coat, but I am a creature of habit so I applied two coats. It dried so shiny that I didn’t even need a top coat. If you want this polish, I’m sorry that I have no idea where to buy it or if it’s even available. This line used to be sold at Sephora but it was discontinued so I have no other information. Sorry!

Just because I wanted more awesomeness, I applied one coat of Nails Inc The Wyndham over Meteor Night. I like it. I like it a lot. I could have applied more coats to make this look even cooler, but I just wanted a wash of flakies. Why can’t nail polish companies make awesome flaky polishes? Someone please explain it to me!!!

I am feeling kind of nuts today. It could be that I went to sleep late or I’m just giddy for whatever reason. Oh, I almost forgot to mention this to you: I added a feature to my blog that allows people to leave me voice messages! This could either be super fun and cool or a huge mistake. lol I signed up for a free account which allows me to receive 20 messages but I’m not sure if that includes responses. We shall see. Maybe I’ll only get 1 message and I’ll feel like a loser. Actually, I take that back. Robin left me a message last night and it totally made my night. I didn’t get a chance to respond yet because I was super tired and was falling asleep but I’ll get on it posthaste! I posted on my facebook for Robin to send me an email with her mailing address because i want to send her a little gift for being the first one to use the application. Anywho, I’ll talk to you guys soon and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Cuccio Colour Rose Gold Romance

Posted on 30 September, 201429 September, 2014 by Cynthia

So I’m feeling better today–no need to call the waaambulance. I don’t know what was up with my horrible headache yesterday, but I’m glad that it’s gone. Last evening I ended up watching the rest of season 4 of Sons of Anarchy and a bunch of episodes of The Walking Dead. Yes, I watch too much TV. Whatever. A few weeks ago I got super excited when I spotted some Cuccio Colour polishes that were from the Precious Metals Collection because they dry to a suede finish. I always lament that I didn’t get a chance to get all the OPI Suede polishes so of course I was happy to find these. I only got two of them to start and the one I have for you today is Cuccio Colour Rose Gold Romance.

Isn’t this awesome? Since it is a matte/suede polish, the formula can be a little difficult because it sets up almost instantly. It’s super easy to overwork it and get an uneven result, but I think that it’s so pretty that it’s worth the extra work. I applied two coats for full opacity. Karine from Nailderella did an awesome post comparing this polish to OPI We’ll Always Have Paris Suede and they are almost 100% dupes.

Cuccio is not a brand that is usually on my radar, but you know I’m going to hunt down the rest of these pretties. What do you think of this polish? Do you like suede finish polishes in general? Thanks for stopping by today and I will talk to you soon.

Kiara Sky Fireball

Posted on 29 September, 201429 September, 2014 by Cynthia

What a craptastic Monday. When I went to bed last night I had a headache and when I woke up this morning I had such a nasty headache that I felt nauseated. I ended up calling out sick to work, and I still have this stupid headache.

I don’t know why I like this movie so much. I still say “It’s not a toomah” at random times. I’ve been feeling so crappy lately, and I’ve had some doctor drama which I was going to write about yesterday but didn’t get around to it. Let me show you the pretty polish I tried yesterday instead of dwelling and stupid stuff.

Isn’t Kiara Sky Fireball a festive glitterbomb? Like every other Kiara Sky polish I have tried, this one is also perfection in a bottle. It is perfectly opaque with two coats, and it applies like a dream.

Well, I hope this headache goes away soon. I wish I could enjoy my day away from work, but it looks like that’s not gonna happen. Let me crawl back into bed, close the drapes and hide under the covers. How’s your Monday going?

Winner Announced – OPI Peanuts Collection

Posted on 29 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi everyone. I hope you’re having a good Monday. I’m a little late in announcing the winner of the OPI Peanuts Collection, but that’s just cause I’ve been preoccupied with other stuff. I’ll be writing about that in another post, so for now join me in congratulating the winner:
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Congrats to Amy! I have already contacted her and she has responded so she’ll be getting her prize in the mail soon.

I have 2 more giveaways that will be ending soon so make sure that you enter if you haven’t done so already:

OPI DS Polished Quartz

OPI Pink Of Hearts BCA 2014

Thanks for entering and good luck if you entered the other two giveaways!

Stamping Saturdays #38

Posted on 27 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey guys. I hope the weekend is treating you well. I’ve been pretty lazy today, so excuse the late posting for today’s Stamping Saturdays. I wasn’t feeling too inspired today so I had to dig through my melmers a bit to figure out what polish to use. Well, I found a pretty one that I hadn’t played with in a long time.

This pretty is the Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer in Parachute Purple. This type of lighting doesn’t show just how amazing this polish is. The formula is pretty nice, but it does tend to dry a little dull. I also noticed that the polish dries super fast so you can overwork it very easily.

Here I used different lighting to show you the beautiful blue shimmer in the polish. Isn’t it gorgeous?

Then I went ahead and ruined the polish by stamping this busy pattern over it. I should have used a pattern that doesn’t cover up the gorgeous base. Something about this pattern and how it transferred looks sloppy to me. I don’t like this at all. In case you were wondering, this pattern is from Cheeky plate CH33. I feel like I’ve been producing more fail manis lately than usual. Yeah, I know that I tend to be hard on myself but maybe the issue is that I haven’t felt super inspired lately. Maybe I just need to KISS…Keep It Simple Stupid.

So what are you doing today? I’ve been catching up on Project Runway, Scandal, Hell’s Kitchen and How To Get Away With Murder. To be honest, I was expecting to like HTGAWM much more. I’m pretty meh on it right now which sucks because I LOVE Viola Davis. Maybe it’s going to be one of those shows that takes a while to grow on me. I am planning to watch a bunch of Sons of Anarchy tomorrow. I noticed that there was an article about SoA creator Kurt Sutter so I’ll be reading that soon. Anyway, I hope you’re doing well. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Kiara Sky Echo

Posted on 26 September, 201425 September, 2014 by Cynthia

I am so glad Friday is here. Even though I had a super short week, I feel like time dragged big time. It’s officially Fall now so there is no excuse for 90 degree weather. Get it together, California! Unfortunately, I think we will be having some scorching days ahead so I’m going to console myself with polish colors that remind me of Fall. The beauty I have for you today is Kiara Sky Echo.

Isn’t this beauty amazingly gorgeous? Not only is it beautiful, but the formula is also to die for. Isn’t this like Fall in a bottle? This brand is just blowing out of the water which is why I picked up a bunch of other colors last week. I’ll be playing with them some more this weekend.

So yesterday after work I stopped by Sprouts to buy some groceries because I wanted to cook dinner and also make something for lunch today. Well, I was walking around the store and people were like “Hi Cynthia!” all over the place which was weird because I didn’t know any of them. When I was walking by the frozen food section, I saw my reflection in the glass case and noticed that I forgot to take off my work badge which has my name and picture on it. haha…great. Here I was walking around like a big old derp with my work badge hanging off my shirt. Tonight I’m helping my bro surprise my sil for her b-day, but I won’t mention what’s going on in the off chance that she randomly reads this post. The awesome part is that I get to see my little Peanut. Yay! As far as the weekend is concerned, I don’t have too many plans except maybe some stuff with friends to celebrate my birthday which was on Monday. Other than that, I’m planning on being a bum, watching some Sons of Anarchy and doing some swatching. What do you have going on this weekend? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and don’t forget to join us tomorrow for Stamping Saturdays!

The Lacquer Ring – Supernatural

Posted on 25 September, 201424 September, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m going to say this up front: I do not like how my mani turned out today. You know when you imagine a mani and it looks so awesome in your mind but then when you actually execute it, it falls short…way short? That was me last night. I really thought that this was going to look awesome but somehow it just didn’t quite work out. Today’s The Lacquer Ring prompt was Siobhan’s choice and she chose “Supernatural” which includes mythical creatures and of course I gravitated towards mermaids. Let me show you how this manicure started out…

For my mani base, I used two polishes from the Disney Ariel Collection Whatcha-Nail-Callit Mini Set which was a gift from Amy. The first one is Devotin’ To Floatin’ and the second one is called Ariel.

Sephora X Devotin’ To Floatin’ is prettier than I thought from the bottle shot. It’s a little too frosty for my linking, but the formula is nice. I used two coats for my swatches above.

Sephora X Ariel is a green tinged clear polish base with tons of glitter. This made the polish look a lot more green in real life, but the curse of my camera continued to make this look more blue.

I then used Layla Flash Black and plate MASH 39 to simulate scales.

Do you see what I mean? This just does not look good. It looks very muddled. I’m sad about this mani fail but hey–you can’t win them all. Hopefully you’ll forget about this mani once I show you the beautiful polish I have lined up for tomorrow. hehe

Anyway, don’t forget to check out all the awesome submission from the other ladies who make up The Lacquer Ring. Thanks for stopping by today and I will talk to you soon!

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SpaRitual Arroyo

Posted on 24 September, 201423 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Back to work today after a 4 day weekend. It’s painful. Oh so painful. During 2 of my days off, I took care of Peanut which was such a treat. He is 10 months old now and has such a huge personality. Now that he is mobile, he is quite a handful but I enjoyed every minute. I especially enjoyed our 3 hour nap yesterday afternoon. I think that we should have nap time at work. What do you think? Yeah, I don’t think my manager is going to be on board with that. On Sunday I went to my friend’s house and she brought out SpaRitual Arroyo. She complained that when she bought it, she didn’t know that it would be matte. She then offered it to me since she said she probably wouldn’t be using it. When have I ever said no to polish? I was so excited and couldn’t wait to try it out. Let me show you this gorgeous polish.

SpaRitual Arroyo is a beautiful mauve-y pink with a beautiful golden shimmer. The formula on this polish is fantastic…and out of this world for a matte. It does dry very quickly, but it’s so easy to apply. I used two coats for full opacity.

And here is what this beauty looks like with a shiny top coat. I have to admit that I prefer the matte finish.

This polish comes from SpaRitual’s Fall 2014 Colletion, Wander, which seems a little out of place in a Fall collection. But hey, I’m not complaining because it’s freaking gorgeous. What are you up to on this fine Wednesday? I’m just trying to figure out what to do for tomorrow’s The Lacquer Ring post. I had a long weekend to get it done, but of course I procrastinated because it’s one of my talents. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

China Glaze Apocalypse Of Color Collection Halloween 2014

Posted on 23 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Are you one of those people who love Halloween? I kind of stopped liking it once I was old enough to stop trick-or-treating. I mean, it’s not like I am a huge fan of the Halloween debauchery–how slutty can women dress isn’t really something I look forward to. Besides, I’m 35 now (it was my birthday yesterday!) which means that I’m old and crusty now. haha Why did I bring up Halloween? Because I have the China Glaze Apocalypse Of Color Collection to share with you today. Unfortunately, I am missing one polish and I didn’t buy the Ghoulish Glow because I’m not interested in the glow in the dark thing. Let me show you the 4 polishes that I piked up.

China Glaze But Of Corpse

China Glaze I Love Your Guts

China Glaze Don’t Let The Dead Bite

China Glaze Rest In Pieces (over China Glaze Liquid Leather)

The collector in me is annoyed that I didn’t get the 5th nail polish which is Getting To Gnaw You. This polish is like a dark brown/near black polish with copper glitter. I didn’t realize that I had missed it when I bought this collection, and then when I did see it, I wasn’t that impressed by it so I passed. Now that I’ve seen some swatches, I wish I had picked it up because it looks interesting. I have to say that the first two polishes: But Of Course and I Love Your Guts are really unique. I know the matte texture can be polarizing, but I think that China Glaze really nailed these polishes because they are soooo Halloween! I can go without the other two, but I think they are a nice addition to the collection.

Yesterday I took Peanut to the mall for a carrousel ride and we also made a quick detour to the Disney store. He instantly gravitated towards Woody.

I was looking at some other stuffed toys and I saw an even bigger version of Woody and I yelled: “Look! A really big Woody!” That comment didn’t seem to go over very well with the adults in the store. Whatever! It’s not my fault that they have dirty minds.

So what do you think about this collection? I think it’s pretty cool, and I like how unexpected some of these polishes are. I think this collection should be out everywhere in October just in time for Halloween. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Ultra PixieDust Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 22 September, 201421 September, 2014 by Cynthia

I think that for the first time I am uttering these words in a sincere manner: HAPPY MONDAY!! I am taking a couple of days off from work, and I am enjoying the crap out of them. Instead of doing nothing all day which is one of my favorite things to do (sleeping being another favorite), I am babysitting my little Peanut. He turned 10 months old and is now crawling and getting into EVERYTHING. I am planning on taking him to the mall for a ride on the carrousel and then maybe a trip to the toy store because his auntie loves to spoil him. Besides the Peanut/Auntie time, I don’t have much planned today. This weekend I did some swatching and a lot of Netflix watching–namely Sons of Anarchy. I am not up to season 4 but I kind of want to stretch it out because I don’t want it to end!!! I know this is the last season so I’m going to be sad. Well, one of the collections I swatches this weekend is the Zoya Ultra PixieDust Collection for Fall 2014. To be honest, I first thought that these polishes looked like Valentine’s Day threw up in my polish. They are all red…? Before I get into it any further, let me show you my swatches.

Zoya Oswin

Zoya Arianna

Zoya Noir

In the bottle, Arianna and Oswin look almost exactly alike. On the nail, they do look slightly different: Oswin is more red while Arianna leans more berry. They are both nice but they don’t make my heart skip a beat. Enter Noir…ahhhh, Noir. You are such a gorgeous, sexy bitch. I absolutely love the dark base on this polish. These polishes are supposed to dry super matte but only Oswin dried completely matte on me. Zoya did share a video about how to apply these. When I first saw the video I snickered because how many of us need a video in order to know how to apply polish? However, I now know why my polish didn’t dry completely matte:

After the first swatch, I used OPI’s Glitter Off which is why I think the polish didn’t dry completely matte. I also didn’t allow enough time in between the first and second coat. Matte or not, these are pretty. Am I all excited about this trio? Nope. The standout for me is Noir and I can’t wait to wear it again. To purchase these polishes, you can go to zoya.com where they retail for $10 each. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!