Cynthia, Author at Of Life and Lacquer

Author: Cynthia

Of Life and Lacquer > Articles by: Cynthia

Giveaway Time!

Posted on 30 June, 201429 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi everyone! As early as it is, I hope that you’re having a nice Monday. I had previously mentioned on Facebook that I was planning a giveaway for all of you, and I am here to deliver! I know I haven’t been posting too often, but I am so happy that you all continue to visit my blog and chat with me on Facebook. The prize for this giveaway is a selection from the China Glaze Off Shore Collection for Summer 2014. You can see my swatches for this collection here.

You can enter to win this 6 piece collection by using the rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please do not enter the giveaway if your country has strict shipping and customs restriction as I will not be responsible for confiscated or destroyed packages. This giveaway is open internationally.

And just because I haven’t shared any recent pictures, here is Peanut excited about someone winning some nail polish.

Peanut says good luck!

Stamping Saturdays #25

Posted on 28 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey! I’m back! This morning I woke up early to go watch the new Transformers movie; it was alright. It was so damn long, but the action was good so I’ll be a little forgiving. You may notice that I have squared my nails again which I feel is my preferred nail shape. They’re super nubs at the moment, but I didn’t want to miss out on another Stamping Saturdays. Since I love pink so much, I decided to start with a super gorgeous pink polish.

Sephora by OPI What Aura Gonna Wear? is a beautiful bubble gum pink crelly. The formula is pretty nice and was opaque at two coats. I am still sad that this whole line is gone, but you can still find some of these polishes online. I actually found this one at Ross for $4 which is awesome.

I am not too satisfied with my stamping here because it isn’t super crisp. This design from from Winstonia plate W112. Is this supposed to be a maze? I have no idea.

Anywho, I’m looking forward to a short week next week and will be thoroughly enjoying myself this weekend with pure laziness. How about you? Do you have anything fun planned this weekend? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Stamping Saturdays #24

Posted on 21 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m feeling a little sad that I ended up not participating in Stamping Saturdays with a new manicure, but I just haven’t been feeling up to blogging for the last few weeks which explains my rather sporadic posting especially this week. I got a burst of energy and started to work on a stamped look today, but I ended up not taking pictures of the end result because I smeared the stamp pretty badly when I used a matte top coat before using Seche Vite. Anyway, this is what my base looked like before I ruined it with my crappy stamping which I will not be showing you:

I’ve previously using this watercolor technique with another manicure and I loved the end result, but unfortunately I rushed the process and ended up ruining the whole thing. Oh well!

Sooooooo…I hope that I can get back into blogging soon because I miss chatting with you guys. I have some gorgeous KBShimmer polishes to share with you guys and some fun Salon Perfect polishes and nail art items for the 4th of July as well. As you can tell, I have changed my nail shape again so I hope to get a little more length soon. I’m sure that this is just a temporary hiatus because I will miss it too much if I stay away. Thank you so much for continuing to stop by. Talk to you soon!

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Dollish Polish 1-UP

Posted on 16 June, 201415 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I know it’s just the middle of June, but is anyone else already excited about having a long weekend for the 4th of July? I find that I basically live for long weekends, and I am already planning to do absolutely nothing but lounge around in my apartment. I will not let anyone rope me into doing holiday stuff and will just be lazy for 3 days straight. I’m so looking forward to it! So today being a Monday and my least favorite day of the week, I decided to wear a polish that just makes me insanely happy when I wear it: Dollish Polish 1-UP. Why would a polish make me insanely happy? Well, dear reader, because it brings me back to the late 80’s when my parents bought us a Nintendo console. This was huge for us because we were fairly broke and we had to pick between getting a VCR or a Nintendo. Well, of course there was no contest. I played Super Mario Bros for hours and hours and hours until I managed to pass the whole game which was the crown achievement of my childhood. Anyway…now you know why this polish makes me happy!

To start with, I applied two coats of Jessica Velvets & Pearls as my base color. I love this greyed black polish!

And this is two coats of Dollish Polish 1-UP. Oh my gah, I love this polish so much. It’s so unique and of course I love it even harder because it’s Super Mario Bros themed. This was a super fantastic present from Amanda so a million thanks for the awesome polish. I was playing the new SMB on my Wii this weekend, but I’m pretty rusty and part of me misses the original in all its 8-Bit glory. I remember the first time I figured out that you could get unlimited 1-UP’s when you jumped on the duck shell as it was coming down the stairs. Remember that trick?

What a fun game! None of the crazy shooting, Grand Theft Auto, Halo bullshit of nowadays. I sound like some old lady right now, don’t I? haha You’ll still like me, right? Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and for joining me in my hatred for Mondays. Talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #23

Posted on 14 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I stayed up super late last night trying to come up with a mani for today’s Stamping Saturdays so of course I woke up late. As soon as I woke up, I had to go to the store to buy a birthday gift for my little cousin because I’m going to his birthday party so excuse me if this post seems a little rushed. Today I decided to try a polish that I found at one of my nail places last week. I have no idea what this polish is because I haven’t found any information about it online. Let me show you what it looks like before I explain…

This polish is so interesting and I can guarantee that it’s a lot more gorgeous in person. It has this beautiful pink microglitter that makes it look like it’s glowing. The formula is a little thin but it builds up very nicely. The name of this polish is December To Remember but it’s labeled like a sample. It totally threw me off, but I had to have it regardless. I wonder if this polish is from an upcoming collection and maybe my nail place put it out by accident? If anyone knows anything about this polish, please let me know!!!

For my stamping image, I used MoYou London plate Back To The 70’s.

Voila! This is my end result. It’s not the most creative, but I think it looks pretty neat.

Well, I hope you’re all doing well. Don’t forget to link up your stamped manis today because I’d love to see them. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Sinful Colors Peppered Amazon

Posted on 13 June, 201412 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Aren’t you glad it’s Friday? This week has really dragged for me so I’m relieved that I now get to enjoy a couple of lazy days. I don’t know what’s up with me lately. I think it’s a combination of feeling physically crappy and mentally exhausted. Yesterday when I was going in to work, I saw my old psychiatrist. He didn’t see me because I was walking way behind him, but it brought back a bunch of old crap and I’ve been feeling pretty sad since then. To be honest, I think 90% of my issues right now have to deal with my medical issues and how shitty I’ve been feeling because of them. I need to be more vigilant about taking my meds because I’ve made a lot of improvements in my diet but still feel shitty. Anyway, enough about me feeling craptastic and let’s take a look at this GORGEOUS polish, ok?

When I first saw Sinful Colors Peppered Amazon on Yadi’s blog, I knew it had to be mine. IMMEDIATELY. Since Walgreens had Sinful Colors on sale the weekend I went looking for it, they were all out so I ended up finding it at Rite-Aid. It’s insanely gorgeous, isn’t it? The formula is great so I promise you will not regret this purchase one bit.

Tonight I’m going to go watch a movie and get dinner with a friend so at least I’ll be able to relax a bit and have some fun. On Saturday I’ll be going to a birthday party for my little cousin so I’ll get to see a bunch of kids including my little peanut. I can’t wait! Well, I’m going to cut this short but I hope to have a more “substantial” post for Stamping Saturdays….you all know how I love stamping!!! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

The Lacquer Ring – Pink Holo

Posted on 12 June, 201411 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey, look! The Lacquer Ring is back! It feels like it’s been forever since we posted, and I’m still confused about the success of my Cherry Blossom nails. I ended up liking them but I wasn’t thinking they were anything special…and then they ended up on StumbleUpon and they got over 25,000 views on imgur. What the heck?! For real, yo. Anyway, today Amanda has chosen her color: Pink (holo or neon). Uhm, thanks Amanda for choosing my color of the moment! Of course I had to go holo so I ended up using Jade Déjà Vu.

Gorgeous, right? I’ve used this polish a couple of time already in recent times so you know it’s a favorite considering the amount of polish I have. Then I decided to stamp over it for shits and giggles.

This is plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample). I think I’ve used half of the images on this plate so far. Love them all!

I went with this image because it doesn’t completely hide the beautiful polish. I’m not going to lie: I like this a lot. What do you think?

Forgive my sporadic posting lately. I’ve still been trying to get use to my new job so sometimes I am just mentally exhausted by the time I get home. Even though I haven’t been posting every day, I have been doing my nails and wearing my favorite polishes. I wore OPI DS Pewter for 2 days!!! Omg…one polish for 2 days. That’s unheard of for me and my swatching ways. It’s nice to take a break once in a while. I hope you liked my pink holo creation and don’t forget to check out the other posts below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Jessica In Bloom Collection Summer 2014

Posted on 9 June, 201410 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Yay it’s Monday! Said no one. Ever. I’m going to drag my feet all day because I’m feeling cruddy so I’m just looking forward to the evening so I can pass out again. Wow, that sounds really pathetic but whatever. So this weekend I went looking for the Morgan Taylor Neon Collection but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Luckily I didn’t leave empty-handed because I found the Jessica In Bloom Collection which is their Summer 2014 offering. I feel like I can always count on Jessica for top-notch cremes because most of their polishes seem to be cremes. I’m not complaining because there’s nothing more delicious than a perfect creme. Let’s take a look at my swatches, and I’ll let you know what I think below.

Jessica Whispering

Jessica Enchanting

Jessica Longing

Jessica Awakening

Jessica Loving

Jessica Blazing

So these colors aren’t really what I was expecting for a Summer collection. It feels like this year, a lot of the Summer collections are very muted and could work as Spring colors. I kind of miss super juicy bright collections this year. With that being said, this is a nice collection. The colors are pretty and they look nice together. However, the formula was not as great as I am used to when it comes to Jessica. Don’t get me wrong: the formula isn’t horrible, but it’s not the usual creme perfection I’m used to. All of them were a tad bit streaky so they needed a little patience with application. I applied a thicker second coat for these polishes and then smoothed everything out with Seche. I’m a little on the fence with this collection because I like it but the colors aren’t that unique, and I feel like I probably have many dupes. Then I look at that mint color and those blues and I kind of want to love them hard. I have no hope.

If you want to try these polishes out, I’m selling my set for $26 shipped in a box with tracking. (SOLD) These retail for $8 each so that’s a good deal for the set of 6 polishes. I’m just trying to be good and not get overrun with polish again. Anyway, let me know what you think of this collection. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #22

Posted on 7 June, 20147 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I feel like such a slacker. I’ve been pretty much neglecting my blog and responding to comments which is so unlike me. Sadly I feel like it’s a trend lately only because I have other stuff going on that is sapping the creativity and motivation out of me. I think I just need a swift kick in the ass to get back on track–or a really awesome Stamping Saturdays mani! I hope you’re not tired of me using my MoYou London plates so much because I’m not going to stop any time soon–they’re awesome.

Today’s plate du jour (see what I did there? I’m sho shmart) is MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample.) You can click on the image to be taken to this plate on MoYou London’s website. Buy it. You know you want it.

So I started with 2 delicious coats of OPI Incognito In Sausalito (press sample.) This polish is so amazing and buttery that it can be a one coater, but I’m a creature of habit so two coats is my preference. The polish may look a little off here because my bottle of Seche Vite was acting up. I don’t know what the dealio was, but it made my polish wrinkle a little bit. I added a shit ton of Restore to it and then it was acting normal again so maybe it was just too thick…that’s what she said.

I don’t know why I forget that Essie Shine Of The Times is so freaking awesome. Seriously. Look at it.

And here is the final mani. I am a little on the fence about it because part of me loves it but then it looks a little off. I’m just going to go with it. I’m a little annoyed that I stamped the image all crooked on my ring finger but at least I got it straight on my other fingers.

Do you have a Stamping Saturdays mani to share with us? You can link up your mani below or you can grab the code for your blog. I get super excited when I see more people joining in so I hope you will too. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon. Enjoy your Saturday!

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The Beauty Buffs – Neon Everything

Posted on 4 June, 20145 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Hello everyone! We’re *almost* halfway through the week, and I’m already dreaming about the weekend. Today I am posting with my fellow bloggers who make up The Beauty Buffs and we are excited to bring you NEON EVERYTHING! I don’t know if you like neons as much as I do, but I just find that neons really scream summer and just make everything more fun. That’s not to say that I’ll go neon overboard, but neon nails are always a nice pop. I do have tons of neon polishes, but when I saw these pretty polishes the last time I was doing a quick polish run, I couldn’t resist picking them up.

Jade Hot Pink - Jade Mysterious Pleasure - Jade No Non-sense

To be honest, I had seen Jade Nail Lacquer many times, but I never paid much attention to them because they are super cheap–like $1 each. I should know better than to judge polish solely on price since I have some amazeballs Sinful Colors that perform better than $30 polishes. Anyway, these colors are, from left to right: Jade Hot Pink – Jade Mysterious Pleasure – Jade No Non-sense.

I wish my pictures showed how electric these colors are in real life. Most of the time my camera does a decent job with neons, but it just would not cooperate with these colors. This mani is just a little funky and I liked wearing it. The formula on these polishes was pretty nice. They did need 3 coats to be completely opaque but that’s not a big shocker considering they are full on neons. For $1 each, they are a steal.

Then I decided to pull out my two super favorite bright pink cosmetics…

Nars Desire is like bright cotton candy. You can’t imagine how easy it is to end up looking clownish if you go a little too heavy with this blush–but it’s gorgeous!!

And my favorite lipstick of the moment: Illamasqua Eurydice. It’s electric so I always wear very neutral make up except for the lips because otherwise I’ll look like a drag queen–not that there’s anything wrong with that, but that’s not the best work look. Actually, this is NOT a work lipstick. hahaha

And here are some swatches of those two products. I told you they were super bright!

Well, I hope that you take a moment to check out the other neon offerings below. Have a great day today, and I will talk to you later.

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