Category: Nail Art

Of Life and Lacquer > Nail Art

Deborah Lippmann Let’s Hear It For The Boy

Posted on by Cynthia

Today I got to try my first Deborah Lippmann polish: Let’s Hear It For The Boy. It’s one of the 4 polishes I got on super-sale-clearance on HSN. Considering how much people rave about this brand, I thought that angels would sing and a ray of divine light would illuminate me when I opened the bottle. (That only happens when it’s Vodka) The first thing I noticed is that I do not like the handle on the brush. It’s too small for me. *That’s what she said*

Despite how awkward the handle felt in my hand, I absolutely loved the brush. It was so easy to apply the polish in a very precise manner so I basically had no clean up. The formula was pretty good but I don’t know about $16-good. Something weird happened with my top coat. I think that it has thickened up so it did not apply evenly. As you can see, the tips of my nails look like the top coat shrunk a bit. Weird…

I’ve really been into using my dotting tools lately so I did this simple pattern as an accent nail. I like how it turned out.

I have an update on my puppy quest! I spoke with my landlady today and she let me know that the pet deposit would be $450 which I can make payments on if I want to. I thought that was really nice of her. I am so happy that I got the ok from everyone involved in this process so that when I am financially ready to get my Alfie, I don’t have to do anymore paperwork. Of course I’d love to go out and get him right this second, but I’m trying to be responsible and make sure that I have enough money saved up to anticipate some extra expenses.

Last week I was going to write a post about people invading your personal space in public but forgot about it until today. I was waiting in line at the supermarket and some guy got behind me and placed his stuff on the conveyor belt even though there was no space left: he just pushed my stuff. Just like that. Not cool. I didn’t want to seem uptight so I didn’t say anything but then I could feel that he was way too close to me. Sorry buddy: if I can feel your breath on the back of my neck and smell your disgusting breath, then yes you are invading my space. So what did I do? I turned around and stood there facing him. Was it awkward? A little bit in the beginning but I love that he took a couple of steps back and looked away. It reminded me of the time that my sociology professor in college asked us to do an experiment as part of our homework. She told us to get on an elevator and stand facing the people who were already there instead of walking in and turning around to face the doors like everyone else. It was kind of comical to see how uncomfortable it made people! They were trying to look away, fiddle with their phones…they looked nervous. Anyway, back to Mr. Stank Ass Breath. When the line moved forward, he once again was up on my back…what the hell was his problem? He was literally standing right over me when I was trying to enter my PIN on the card reader so I asked him: “Do you mind?” He seemed confused which made me think that he just did not understand the concept of having a space bubble. Either that or he was just an asshole who was trying to get my pin.

I am totally sad that House is ending tonight. 🙁 The last episode is going to start in a few minutes so I can’t wait to see how it all ends.  What are some of your favorite shows right now?

 

Essie Who Is The Boss

Posted on by Cynthia

From the 2012 Love & Acceptance Wedding Collection, I decided to wear Who Is The Boss today.  Am I the only one who is only thinking of this?

Anyway, I like this color but it’s not anything new or exciting. Doesn’t this look exactly like Essie Absolutely Shore?

 

I messed around with my dotting tools and this is what I came up with:

Sorry about the lighting…it’s super crappy.

I would write more right now but I’m running late! 🙂

What’s Up With Your Nails?

Posted on by Cynthia

My neighbor asked me this when she saw me taking pictures of my nails this afternoon. She’s about 3 years old and very talkative. I told her that I was taking pictures because I wanted to share how they looked with some friends and she thought that was cool. Invariably, someone always catches me taking pictures of my nails outside, and I always get strange looks. It used to bother me but not anymore…the light is too good.

I was messing around with the OPI drawer in my melmer and I saw Fly. I love Fly because it’s so bright and creamy looking so I decided to use it today. I actually hadn’t used it since I swatched it a while back. I know you like it. Don’t tell me it’s not gorgeous.

 

Since I’ve been trying to lay off the Konad, I played around with another color and my Jessica holo topcoat. OPI Pamplona purple is the other polish I picked for this manicure.

Frankly, this was way too much work for me. I am going to try to leave this on my nails at least 3 days because it’s a waste of time otherwise. How often do you change your nails? What are you wearing right now?

Polka Polka Polka

Posted on by Cynthia

I love John Candy and when I started taking pictures of this mani, I instantly thought about this scene in Home Alone. I remember that my dad took my brother and I to watch Home Alone when I was 11 years old, and I thought it was one of the greatest movies ever made. It has become a Thanksgiving and Christmas tradition to watch this along with It’s A Wonderful Life. I think it’s so amazing how things will stick in your mind from your childhood, and they will always bring warm memories. Sorry for the crappy video quality but it’s the only one I could find on youtube that wasn’t super long.

As soon as I wrote in my previous post that I was going to take advantage of the lovely sunglight, it immediately became overcast. Normally I would have had at least 2 hours of useable sunlight, but it didn’t quite work out. I was forced to take pictures inside with artificial light. Poo.

I ended up using one of the new polishes I purchased today: Essie Mint Candy Apple. How gorgeous is this color? Besides falling in love with the color, I couldn’t be happier with the formula. It flowed like butta. I used China Glaze White Out as well. It’s a color that I don’t use often, but I like the formula and opacity.

 

I really like how this manicure turned out. It’s so fresh and spring inspired.

What do you have going on this weekend? Anything fun?

Saint Patrick’s Day Nail Looks

Posted on by Cynthia

I wasn’t really planning to do any Saint Patrick’s Day nails on myself, but after I did my sister-in-law’s nails I felt inspired. She went to a SPD party so she wanted something fun. This is how her nails turned out:

Cute, right?

I obviously also went the green route. I started off with China Glaze Gaga For Green as my base color.

Then I used Color Club Holiday Splendor for the chevron design on my tips.

I should have left it at that, but then I decided to add a shamrock sticker and rhinestones.

Then I thought to myself that the rhinestones looked pretty tacky so I pried them off. Unfortunately, this left a ding on my nails.

And because it bothered me that I could still see where the rhinestones used to be, I then tried to cover it up with glitter.

So by this point, I thought that my nails looked pretty gross and just took everything off and started all over.

This was my final look. I used OPI Mermaid Tears as the base color and Color Club Holiday Splendor for the chevron tips. I used only one design on my accent nail and I was pleased with the way they turned out.

I had a nice SPD after all! I went to dinner with two friends whom I have known since we were kids. After we stuffed ourselves as Lucille’s BBQ, we went to a karaoke lounge and sang all the embarrassing songs that we could think of. Ahhh…it was a lot of fun.

How did you spend SPD? Did you sport any fun and festive nail designs?

 

Quelle Monstruosité!

Posted on by Cynthia

What do you do when you’re bored? Do you read? Watch TV? Read nail polish blogs (maybe that’s just me)? Well, I do all three of those AND I start doing crazy things with my nails. I was watching American Idol (yawnfest) and I started playing with my nail polishes. I am going to do my sister-in-law’s nails for a St. Patrick’s Day party that she is going to so I took out all of my green polishes to get ready. I am going to use one of my image plates that has a shamrock on it and stamp it white on top of a green base and maybe add some glitter. Who knows?

After I got all my stuff together I thought that I would play around with some of my rhinestones so I took out a few colors. I wanted to use CG Gothic Lolita from their recent Electropop Collection. Now, if you know anything at all about me, it’s that I love purple. PURPLE EVERYTHING. At one point I had purple curtains. (I only kept them for a week because I realized how ridiculous my room looked…especially since I’m 32!!!! And it wasn’t a mature purple…it was crazy Barney purple.) So it started out with such a beautiful purple. Oh, Gothic Lolita:  Gothic Lolita, light of my life, fire of my loins. My sin, my soul. Gothic Lo-lee-ta: the tip of the tongue taking a trip of three steps down the palate to tap, at three, on the teeth.  Gothic Lo. Lee. Ta.

I’m pretty sure that Nabokov is turning over in his grave right now. How dare I blaspheme his work by using it to wax poetic about nail polish? Well, nail polish can be art too so back off lit snobs. But just look at this purple:

 

So how did that beautiful purple become this:

 

 

Yes, my dear readers, this is the kind of stuff that nightmares are made of.  I can’t even call this ghetto fabulous…it’s just so foul. I have removed this monstrosity and promise to never do this again.