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KBShimmer Spring Collection 2016

Posted on 1 March, 20161 March, 2016 by Cynthia

Oh hai. Is it Spring yet? You mean that 90 degree weather in California during February is not normal? I am dreading Spring AND Summer because these crazy temperatures do not bode well for us. The only thing that makes me happy about Spring is, of course, lovely Spring nail polish collections…but you knew that already. This is a pretty big collection and it is actually a two parter: 7 polishes are part of the traditional Spring collection and the other 7 polishes are part of the Mega Flame Collection. Mega Flame: they are hot like lava and will singe your eyeballs with their holo/glitter/sparkly goodness. Let’s start with the first part of the collection which includes glitters, crellies and holos.

KBShimmer Hello Dahlia

KBShimmer Upside Round

KBShimmer I Wet My Plants

KBShimmer Pools Paradise

KBShimmer Prints Charming

KBShimmer Peony Pincher

Note: These pictures were taken under bright LED light which intensifies the color and also shows off the holo the way you would see it in bright sunlight.

KBShimmer Purr-fectly Paw-some

Note: These pictures were taken under bright LED light which intensifies the color and also shows off the holo the way you would see it in bright sunlight.

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Now, let’s talk Mega Flame. These are some amazing polishes. They are scattered holo glitter suspended in a tinted base with some linear holo to boot. They are not super gritty, but you will feel minor texture if you don’t top coat them. Once you apply a top coat, such as Clearly On Top, you will get a completely smooth finish. I am in love with every single one of these.

KBShimmer Things That Make You Go Bloom

KBShimmer Stalk Market

KBShimmer So Flamous

KBShimmer Smells Like Green Spirit

KBShimmer Set In Ocean

KBShimmer Ripe For The Pink-ing

KBShimmer Night Bright

I don’t know about you, but these two collections pretty much killed me–in a good way. They are everything I love about KBShimmer and more. The formula on all the polishes from the Mega Flame collection is perfection. One thing to note is that when you remove them, you will have glitter. All over. But it’s totally worth it. The crellies from the Spring Collection are so pretty and delicate–my favorite being Pools Paradise. I also love the two holos that are joining my beautiful KBShimmer holo collection. I know that this is a big collection so you will have to pick your favorites–unless you regularly purchase 14 polishes at a time in which case GET THEM ALL. I certainly have been known to buy 14, 16, 20 polishes at a time so I know it’s not as outlandish as it sounds. My top picks from the Spring Collection are: Pools Paradise, Peony Pincher and I Wet My Plants. Boy that was hard! From the Mega Flame Collection, my top picks are: ALL OF THEM. The great news is that you don’t have to wait that long to get your hands on these pretties. The official release date for these babies is 3/15/2016 on kbshimmer.com I have a few more items to share with you that are new so keep an eye out for that later in the week. I hope that you’re as excited about this new collection as I am. I am anxious to hear what you think so let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI New Orleans Collection

Posted on 29 February, 201628 February, 2016 by Cynthia

So how about them Oscars, eh? There were parts that felt super awkward but overall I enjoyed the show. I have always enjoyed watching them so I always look forward to the glitz and glamour. This weekend seemed to just fly by, and I had about a million things to get done: guess how many of those chores I actually got done. Regardless, I at least got some swatching done and have plenty of content for the coming week. Today I have my swatches of the OPI New Orleans Collection to share with you. I know a lot of people have complained that this color palette is not representative of such a vibrant and rich city. Let me show you my swatches and then I will let you know what I think of the collection.

OPI Take A Right On Bourbon

OPI Suzi Nails New Orleans

OPI Spare Me A French Quarter

OPI Show Us Your Tips!

OPI She’s A Bad Muffuletta!

OPI Rich Girls and Po-Boys

OPI Let Me Bayou A Drink

OPI I’m Sooo Swamped!

OPI I Manicure For Beads

OPI Humidi-tea

OPI Got Myself Into A Jam-balaya

OPI Crawfishin’ For A Compliment

Let me just get one thing out of the way: WHY? WHY??? Why do we continue to get shades like Take A Right On Bourbon in every single collection? I can’t stand shimmery silver metallics and there seems to be at least one of them in every single OPI collection for the last…5 million years. Yes, I feel strongly about this. Anyway, moving on… I have to say that I love, love, love the shades in this collection. While they may not be faithfully representative of such a rich city, they are gorgeous colors on their own. The formula on all of these was rather spot on, and I can’t think of any shades that I found particularly hard to work with. Overall, this is a beautiful collection that any creme lover will approve of. There are some stand-outs like Show Us Your Tips!, but they are all great. Now I want to hear what you think! Have you picked up any of these shades? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays – Metallic Flowers

Posted on 27 February, 2016 by Cynthia

Hey, happy Saturday and welcome to another installment of Stamping Saturdays! This morning I woke up a little early, but I spent my time catching up on TV shows on Hulu. I am really obsessed with the new show 11.22.1963 which is an original show on Hulu with James Franco. If you haven’t checked it out yet, you have to…NAOW! Last night when I got home, I decided that I’d come up with something for Stamping Saturdays, and I was inspired by Frosso’s rose mani. I started off with this gorgeous base color.

I cannot get enough of shades like OPI Infinite Shine You Sustain Me (press sample). Not only do I love this type of color on my nails, but it’s my favorite lip color too. I live for chocolately pink mauve shades which is why I was dying to get my hands on Jeffree Star Adrogyny. Unfortunately, I missed out on it and I’m over it now. Ain’t nobody got time for restock drama.

I then used a flowery design from a Cheeky Plate with Essie Nothing Else Metals. I think this turned out really cute!

Well, I hope you are all doing well. Don’t forget to join the link up below to share your stamped manis. You can also join our facebook group here. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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OPI Hello Kitty Collection

Posted on 1 February, 201631 January, 2016 by Cynthia

Hey there! Can you believe it’s February already? What the heck is going on because it feels like time is flying. Well, the one thing I like about February in California is that it actually sorta feels like Winter. I said sorta. Yesterday it was raining and it was windy as hell. While I was out running errands, I accidentally grabbed my car door all weird while I was trying to close it and I broke a nail…the same son of a dick nail that breaks all the time. I had some decent length in my new oval shape as you can see in the pictures below, but since I can’t stand having nails all different shapes and lengths, I just cut them all off down to nubs. I did quite a bit of swatching this weekend so you’ll be seeing this shape for the next couple of weeks until I am able to do some more swatching. One of the collections that I swatched this past weekend is the OPI Hello Kitty Collection. Now, I must admit that I don’t really care about Hello Kitty. I mean, it’s cute and all but it’s not like I am all into it. Because of the cuteness factor and because it’s nail polish, I was pretty excited to get my hands on this collection. Let me show you some swatches first, and then I’ll let you know what I think about this collection.

OPI Let’s Be Friends!

OPI Kitty White

OPI Small+Cute = <3

OPI Charmy & Sugar

OPI Look At My Bow!

OPI Super Cute In Pink

OPI Starry-eyed For Dear Daniel

OPI Spoken From The Heart

OPI 5 Apples Tall

OPI My Pal Joey

OPI My Twin Mimmy

OPI Never Have Too Mani Friends!

Was that pink enough for ya? Well, I can’t say that I was surprised at the amount of pink in this collection and I am definitely not complaining because I LOVE pink nail polish. If you like pink, then you will probably like this collection. If you like Hello Kitty, you will love this collection. If you don’t like either, then don’t even bother…unless you want a super gorgeous blue like My Pal Joey. I do want to tell you that My Pal Joey suffers from the blue pigment curse: it smells like skunk mixed with pot. The yellow and black polishes seem kind of out of place in this collection, don’t you think? My 3 absolute favorites in this collection are: My Pal Joey, Spoken From The Heart and Super Cute In Pink. Spoken From The Heart is like the most gorgeous coral pink ever and Super Cute In Pink was so incredibly flattering on me that I just loved it immediately. Since I’ve seen a few people complain about this, I did want to mention that the handles with the cute Hello Kitty images are just shrink wrap plastic so they tend to come off if you are too rough with the bottles…or if you accidentally get acetone on the plastic…yeah. So overall, I like this cute collection. It’s a must for Hello Kitty lovers, of course, but I can see a lot of these colors being favorites whether you’re into HK or not. This collection is out now and hopefully still on shelves near you. Have you picked up any of these polishes or will you be getting any? Let me know what you think. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

KBShimmer Birthstone Collection (Partial)

Posted on 26 January, 201625 January, 2016 by Cynthia

Were you as excited as I was when you first heard about the KBShimmer Birthstone Collection? I’m sure that by now you have seen plenty of swatches and have already purchased the polish that corresponds to your birthstone…amirite? Well, I decided to do something a little special with these beauties. When things aren’t going your way, it’s very easy to forget the myriad of ways that you really are blessed in so many ways. I think that in the last few years I have learned how bad things can get, but I also realized how important it is to have people around you that love and support you. Through this blog, I have made an amazing group of friends. We are a crazy bunch and we basically talk all freaking day long about everything and anything. This post is obviously to show you how gorgeous the KBShimmer Birthstone Collection, but it is also a thank you to a group of girls that have become an important part of my life.

KBShimmer Diamond (April)

Diamond is the birthstone of our resident snark queen Nicole. Nicole is the blogger behind Polish Me, Please! and probably the first fellow blogger I became friends with when my blog was a itty bitty. When she’s not crotcheing awesome pieces for her shop, FauxFarmhouse, she is running behind her adorable daughter (whom I share a birthday with!) or delighting us with pictures of her precious dogs Minnie and Bubba. Nicole is the kind of friend who is always there to listen and offer no-nonsense advice. Even though she is not blogging much these days, I feel like we both grew our blogs together and I’ll always remember our back and forth blog commenting when it felt like we were the only ones reading each other’s blogs!

KBShimmer Emerald (May)

Emerald belongs to our gorgeous red-head with the killer bangs and cheekbones: Jessica. Jessica is the lovely (former?) blogger behind Once Upon A Polish. There are days when I still hope that she will blog, but I know that her life has gone a different way. Fortunately, the power of nail polish and make up is strong and we still talk about these things regularly. When I first met Jessica, way back in the day, she was going through a lot of personal things that at times got her down. I am so happy to see how the many twists and turns of life have brought her to a wonderful place now. Jessica is funny, so smart and incredibly warm. She is one of the three other ladies that live out west so it’s just a matter of time before I get to meet her. In fact, I might be going to her baby shower. Yep, a little baby unicorn is on its way! We’re all so happy for Jessica and can’t wait to see her become a mom.

KBShimmer Black Pearl (June)

Black Pearl is the birthstone of my favorite NYC’er: Amy. Amy is the super deluxe dedicated blogger behind The Fancy Side. If you don’t follow her yet, you are crazy–so do it now. Here, here and here. I always love hearing about Amy’s adventures in the city and she seriously cracks me up. Amy is like our own personal cheerleader: we can always count on her for encouragement and positivity. I admire Amy’s dedication to her blog and wish I could have the same energy she has for swatching and blogging. And did I mention that we share a boyfriend? Yep. The Rock. He’s mine. Errr…ours.

KBShimmer Peridot (August)

Peridot is the birthstone of our resident Hello Kitty fanatic: Lesley! While Lesley never went as far as starting a blog, she does post adorable pictures of her smoosh-face Leelo and of her manis on her Instagram so you can always find her there. Lesley is the only one of the girls that I have actually met in person since we both live in California. She is also the only one that has seen me in one of my “buy all the things” trances and survived. I could say a million things about Lesley, but what I see in her is strength, kindness and loyalty. She is my life-twin in just about every imaginable way, and I am so glad to count her as a friend.

KBShimmer Sapphire (September)

Shapphire is MY birthstone, but it is also the birthstone of the one non-American of the group: Siobhan, aka V aka The Gold Masta who hails from South Africa. Sib is the awesome blogger over at For The Love of Nail Art where you can get your fill or swatches, nail art and videos! Thanks so Sib, the words “lekker” and “kak” have become part of my every day vocabulary. Most people don’t know what I’m talking about when I use those words, but that just makes me extra cool, right?!? When I think of Sib, I think of her love for her zoo of pets and what a caring and lovely person she is. She always finds a way to make us laugh even when she is going through rough times. I’m so fortunate to have found such a lovely friend in her.

KBShimmer Blue Topaz (December)

Last, but certainly not least, we have the beautiful Blue Topaz which is the birthstone of both Fross and Amanda.

Frosso is the blogger behind Lacquer Me Silly. Nowadays she calls herself a “former blogger,” but you can still find her posting nail stuff on instagram. To tell you the truth, my theory is that she is going to eventually start blogging again…at least that is what I hope. I thoroughly blame Frosso for my now out of control obsession with Jeffree Star liquid lipsticks. Today I threatened Fross with ending our friendship over some disagreements about Mexican food, but it’s all in jest. I do think that Frosso is probably the pickiest eater that I have ever known, but I’ll forgive her cause her nails are so fabulous. Fabulous nails fix everything. I can always count on Frosso for advice and a healthy dose of sarcasm. When she’s not working, you can find Frosso enabling others with her make up or nail polish purchases or spending time with her adorable dog, Margo.

Amanda, or as her friends call her, Mae, is the sweet blogger behind Mae’s Beauty. Mae has one of the kindest hearts of anyone I have ever met. She is always there to listen, give advice or just offer moral support when you need it. Mae is also one of the OG nail bloggers I met when I started my blog, so we went through all of our growing pains together. Through all of the ups and downs, Mae remains positive. Even though she is going through some rough times, I know that good things are coming right around the corner because she deserves the best.

These ladies mean the world to me and I can’t say enough how grateful I am for every single one of them. If I stopped blogging tomorrow, I would leave this hobby with a group of life-long friends and nothing is worth more than that. So, while I spent most of this blog post talking about a group of lovely ladies, I want to leave you with my thought on these polishes: PERFECTION. The formulation on each is rather spectacular and they all apply like a dream with no clean-up needed. These babies really come alive in the sun. If you want to get an idea of how they sparkle, take a look at this short Instagram video I shot a while back:

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Cynthia (@oflifeandlacquer)

So what are you waiting for? Get them all! You won’t regret it. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Whispers Collection – Transitional 2016

Posted on 12 January, 201612 January, 2016 by Cynthia

Hi there! Oh my! I have really slacked on my first post for 2016, and it kind of makes me sad. I keep telling myself that I’m going to try to be better about planning out my posts, but it just never seems to happen. In my defense, 2015 did not end on a high note only because I got sick. I ended up at urgent care right after Christmas with a vicious UTI but that ended up being the least of my worries. Due to a combination of being dumb, skipping my meds and eating/drinking like a fool, my sugar was at such an unacceptable level that the urgent care doctor threatened to admit me to the hospital. After additional blood work, I was allowed to go home but not before being “educated” about how to take care of myself. It’s not like it was news to me, but I think that it was a big wake up call. I have diabetes. Diabetes is no joke. Diabetes will kill me if I continue to ignore it. Soooo…I’ve been back on my meds AND I am making slow and manageable changes to my diet. I’m not going to go crazy all of a sudden and not eat any carbs because I know I’m just going to set myself up for failure. I’m making smarter choices about what I eat and when I eat; if I mess up, I’m not going to beat myself up about it and will just resolve to try harder next time. So you see, I have not started 2016 with a resolution to lose weight but to try harder and make better choices when it comes to food and my life all around. Despite not being in good health, I feel in good mental health which is half the battle. I am almost afraid to say that I am content because I don’t want life to jumpkick me in the face, but I feel good! It might just be the whole cheesecake I just ate (kidding!), but I’m really excited and looking forward to this year. Yeah, I know you’re thinking, “I’m here for the polish, not for your medical TMI!” Ok, ok…let’s move on to the polish. For my first swatch session of 2016, I sat down and swatched a dozen polishes and it took me forever because I was binging on Netflix at the same time. Today I have the Zoya Whispers Collection which are the transition shades for 2016. I know so many people were not excited about these because they’re not exactly vibrant, but what you call boring I will call…boring? Let me show you my swatches below and then I’ll give you the deets.

Zoya Eastyn

Zoya Lake

Zoya Ireland

Zoya April

Zoya Cala

Zoya Misty

Let’s talk about formula right off the bat. I almost felt like a polish newb because I had a hard time applying these in the beginning. Come to think of it, I think it was due to the fact that my apartment is colder than Siberia. I did notice that when the polish warmed up a bit, the application went a lot better. Still, these light shades can always tend to be streak-arrific. For all of my swatches I applied one thin coat and a second thicker coat to even out the color and finish. I followed up with a generous coat of my bff Seche Vite. I’m not gonna lie: these polishes are really pretty but kinda ho-hum. If you like soft and clean colors, you will really like these. Since I rarely meet a nail polish I don’t like, I do like these and do recommend at least 2 of these: Eastyn and Lake. Those are my top two favorite shades from this collection and now I’m wondering if you have any favorites. Let me know! Well, I really hope that your 2016 is starting off right and I want to thank you for stopping by today. I know I haven’t been very consistent with my blogging so I hope that I haven’t lost you! Talk to you soon.

OPI Starlight Collection Holiday 2015

Posted on 11 December, 201510 December, 2015 by Cynthia

Happy Friday everyone! I am so looking forward to the weekend because I am going to try to get all my Christmas shopping done (hopefully online), and I want to do a major cleaning session. It’s probably not the best time of the year to do this, but I’ve been wanting to paint my bedroom forever. I want to do a light blue or light green with white accents–it’s going to look awesome. Anyway, today I have the OPI Starlight Collection for Holiday 2015 to share with you. This is a pretty typical holiday collection so let me show you my swatches before I give you the rundown.

OPI Guys & Galaxies

OPI Two Wrongs Don’t Make a Meteorite

OPI Love Is In My Cards

OPI Infrared-y To Glow

OPI I’m In The Moon For Love

OPI Let Your Love Shine

OPI Give Me Space

OPI Cosmo With A Twist

OPI Center of the You-niverse

OPI No More Mr. Night Sky

OPI Press * For Silver

OPI I Drive A Supernova

OPI Is This Star Taken?

OPI Comet Closer

OPI By The Light Of The Moon

OPI Ce-less-tial Is More

OPI Super Star Status

Well, this is a huge collection! There are some really great shades here, but I can honestly tell you that I can live without all the metallic shades. Some of them are downright ugly, but then you see others like Give Me Space and Cosmo With A Twist and you just fall in love. Despite all the misses with the metallic shades, the cremes, shimmers and jelly glitters are just gorgeous and definitely worth picking up. What are some of your favorites? Let me know what you think. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and have a fantastic weekend!

China Glaze Cheers! Collection Holiday 2015

Posted on 16 November, 201515 November, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey there! Nice to see you here on this lovely Monday morning! I had a pretty busy weekend so I feel like I barely even got some time to rest. My nephew had his birthday party which was a lot of fun. He turned 2 last week, and it’s like he’s a mini-adult now. I love hearing him talk–even if he still can’t pronounce a lot of sounds. He’s such a cutie pie! On Sunday, I spent most of the day doing laundry, running errands and just cleaning my place. I hate it when things are all messy and out of place so I got lot of stuff done. I guess I should feel rested since it’s barely the start of the work week, but I feel exhausted! You know what I am excited about? The Thanksgiving holiday!!! After Thanksgiving, it’s a hop, skip and a jump over to Christmas and then the new year. Can you believe 2015 is almost over? And with all the holidays, we can expect all the holiday collections to land in stores near you. Today I have for you the China Glaze Cheers! Collection which is the holiday offering for 2015. I was really looking forward to trying out all the glitters because they all looked so pretty. Check out my swatches below before I tell you what I thought about the collection overall.

China Glaze Mix and Mingle

China Glaze Wine Down for What?

China Glaze Son of a Nutcracker

China Glaze Peppermint To Be

China Glaze Better Not Pout

China Glaze Don’t Get Elfed Up

China Glaze I Soiree I Didn’t Do It

China Glaze Ugly Sweater Party

China Glaze Brand Sparkin’ New Year

China Glaze Coal Hands, Warm Heart

China Glaze Bring on the Bubbly

China Glaze Break The Ice

I want to mention a few things. To start with, I’m sorry about my wonky nail in my swatches for Mix and Mingle. I had a nail file mishap and didn’t notice how jagged and frayed my nail edge looked until I uploaded the pictures. I also wanted to mention that I used all of the glitters on their own. For all my swatches I used 2 coats of polish–some thicker than others. While the glitters would be infinitely more manageable if you used them over a similarly colored base, I just felt like swatching them on their own. As you know, glitters can be difficult to work with and it’s usually best to use the dabbing method when using glitterbombs. I did use more of a dabbing method when I worked with the glitters and that seemed to work fine and they glitters weren’t too much of a pain. While most of the polishes here are lovely, I am not SUPER excited about them with the exception of Mix and Mingle, Don’t Get Elfed Up and I Soiree I Didn’t Do It. These three are definitely my absolute favorites. Don’t get me wrong–some of these are nice staples, but I probably have something similar in my stash. Don’t I always have something similar in my stash? So what do you think about this collection? I know it has been out for a couple of weeks already, so maybe you’ve already picked up some of these shades. Let me know what you think and if you have any favorites. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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.