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ily Cosmetics – Swatches & Review

Posted on 27 July, 201526 July, 2015 by Cynthia

The fact that this is the last week of July is completely freaking me out. How are we 3/4 of the way through 2015 already? Time has flown by this year! I’m planning to make tons of changes in my personal life, so wish me luck on getting my shit together. ha! Monday tends to be the most annoying day of the week just because it’s the first day coming off a lazy weekend, but that’s life, right? We have to work to actually enjoy our down time. Today I have some polishes from a new-to-me brand: ily Cosmetics. Most of these polishes are glitter toppers so I have paired them with solid base colors. Let me show you the swatches below.

illy Cosmetics Tribal over OPI My Dogsled is a Hybrid

ily Cosmetics Starmalade over OPI Red Hot Rio

ily Cosmetics Flying Colors over OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian

ily Cosmetics Daydreamer over OPI Incognito In Sausalito

ily Cosmetics Candy Fairy

All of these polishes, with the exception of Candy Fairy, are traditional glitter toppers which means that they are very versatile and will look different depending on what base colors you use. The glitter toppers are hard to use because the base is thick, and it’s hard to get the glitter on the nail. The best way to use them is to use the dabbing method or to try sponging some of the glitter on. This is fairly typical when it comes to glitters in a clear base so I can’t say that I was surprised. My favorite polish here is Candy Fairy because it reminds me of Funfetti cake that I loved so much as a kid. If you’re interested in purchasing these polishes or seeing the other polishes in the line, you can check them out on their website here where they retail for $9.00. Let me know what you think of these! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

ily Cosmetics

website – etsy – Facebook – Instagram

OPI Infinite Shine Swatches

Posted on 16 July, 2015 by Cynthia

Since I should be getting samples of the OPI Infinite Shine Spring shades any year now, I figured I should show you some of the shades that came out during the initial release. I know I’m way behind on posting these, but long wearing polish is not my thing. As a sort-of nail blogger, I tend to change my polish so often that these types of polishes are wasted on me. However, I do tend to go through phases where I step away from too much swatching and just enjoy wearing a mani for a good week. Those are the times when these polishes come in handy because they really offer long lasting results with minimal wear. You can read my initial review of this 3 step system here if you are interested. Now, let the swatches begin!

OPI Infinite Shine Steel Waters Run Deep

OPI Infinite Shine Never Give Up!

OPI Infinite Shine Set In Stone

OPI Infinite Shine Endurance Race To The Finish

OPI Infinite Shine Unequivocally Crimson

OPI Infinite Shine Grapely Admired

So what do you think of these shades? Are you lured in by the idea of long-wearing polish? Let me know below if you have tried out this system and what you think. Do you see any colors here that you might want to pick up? Well, I hope you have a great Thursday, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Coca-Cola Collection 2015

Posted on 14 July, 2015 by Cynthia

I feel like I’m finally getting back into the groove of posting. I haven’t been very good about preparing my blog posts in advance, but I am making an effort to post even if it’s late in the evening. Lately I’ve been suffering with some ridiculous headaches. They are so strong that they wake me up, but I think that maybe it’s something related to my meds that I sometimes forget to take. Of course I immediately thought of that Kindergarten Cop scene about the tumor, but I’d rather stop the psycho self-diagnosis for now. I guess that if they continue I’ll have to go see my doctor, but damn I hate going to Kaiser. Anywho, today I have two polishes to share with you which were added to the Coca-Cola Collection. Last year, OPI put out the Coca-Cola Collection which I reviewed here, and this year 2 additional shades have been added in honor of the Coca-Cola bottle’s century anniversary. Whatever you may think of soda, we’re talking about polish here. Polish! Let me show you the two new shades.

OPI Centennial Celebration is described as a “shimmering pewter” and that’s pretty accurate…but another silver/metallic? I think that out of all the super similar polishes that OPI has put out lately, this one is one of my favorites. I don’t normally like metallics and definitely don’t like a billion of these silver/pewter colors, but this one is just nice. It is fairly thin, but it builds up nicely. I’m wearing 3 thin coats in my swatches above.

When I first saw OPI Visions of Georgia Green I pretty much assumed I would hate it. I wrote it off completely until I actually wore it. And you know what? I actually adore it. It’s such a weird ugly/pretty shade that I couldn’t help loving how unique it is. I’m sure that it’s going to be one of those controversial shades that some people like and some people hate so I’ll just let you make up your own mind.

If you’re interested in picking these up, you should be able to find them already at the usual places that sell OPI. So what do you think? Will you be picking these up? I am not sure if you can get these individually, but if you can, I’d probably pick up Visions of Georgia Green if you can only get one. Well, thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Infinite Shine First Impression

Posted on 18 June, 2015 by Cynthia

I’ve had a really sucky June so far so excuse me for not being around much. Instead of posting sad and depressing stuff, I just decided to lay low and come back when things were looking better. I’m glad that things are getting back to normal so I figured that I should get back to a more regular posting schedule. I really do miss posting all my nail shenanigans and interacting with all of you, so I hope that I can commit to a consistent schedule. For today’s post, I have my initial review of the OPI Infinite Shine system. I can tell you that I am not the target demographic when it comes to long-lasting nail polish because I change my polish 3-4 times a week sometimes. I am extremely hard on my nails so every time I try “long-lasting” polish, I’m like..

Well, how do you think this lived up to the claim of 10-day wear? Let’s find out!

To start with, the OPI Infinite Shine system includes a primer/base coat, the polish and the gloss top coat. So basically this is just like regular polish except that this system is supposed to give you gel-like results and wear without having to cure the polish in a lamp. To be honest, I did not have any issues with these products but I have heard of people reporting bubbling. I applied one coat of the primer, 2 thin coats of the polish and 1 coat of the gloss. I remember reading Karen’s review about this line and how she suggested that you get some sun/uv rays on your fresh mani to make it harden quicker so I ended up following her tip. The polish felt sticky even 5 hours application which seemed weird, but it was dry because I did not get any smudges. Let me show you what my fresh mani looked like.The shade I decided to try out first is called Grapely Admired; and you know I love it. It’s such a gorgeous purple/pink–totally up my alley. Are you noticing the weird crinkled/wrinkled look of my manicure? Yeah–I’m not happy about that. I don’t know why it looked like that. Maybe I should have loaded up my brush a little more with the gloss so I could glide it over the polish. Maybe my application sucked…I can’t be sure what’s going on here. Next I’m going to show you what my manicure looked like 6 days later.

Ugh, that growth drives me insane! My nails tend to grow really quickly so I don’t normally wear nail polish this long to avoid that huge gap. After 6 days, I think my manicure is a little less glossy and is showing some tip wear but no major chips. I am actually really surprised by how well this wore because, as I mentioned earlier, I am very hard on my nails. When I took this off, I used my regular acetone and it came off just like regular polish–sweet!

So what do I think overall? This is a pretty nice system, and I was definitely pleased with the performance. By day 6, normal polish is barely hanging onto my nails so I think that this would work out great for me in situations where I would need a week out of my manicure. OPI Infinite Shine Gel Effects Lacquer System is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, beautybrands.com, Chatters, Dillard’s, Regis, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 suggested retail for each nail lacquer. Now it’s up to you to decide if you want to give this a shot. Let me know if you’ve used this system before and how it worked out for you–I’m very curious to hear what others thought of this line. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection June 2015

Posted on 1 June, 201531 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Can you believe that today is the first day of June? Where does time fly? I’m kind of freaking out thinking that we are almost halfway through 2015 and we are entering my most hated season of the year: Summer. Don’t get me wrong, I like Summer colors, I just don’t like the heat and we sure get plenty of that here in Southern California. Lately it has been uncharacteristically cool so of course I’m getting ready for the heat to punch us in the face any day now. Terrible heat + massive drought + wildfires = rough times ahead for California. All I can hope is that we get some rain before Summer really starts. So besides impending Summer doom, I’ve been pretty busy and bogged down with stuff so once again my blogging is suffering. I’m really going to try to set up a schedule that makes sense for me because I hate feeling so flaky. For today’s post, I have the 2 new shades for June’s Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection. Every month I anxiously await the release of these babies, so I can’t wait to show them to you!

Was there any doubt that I would go gaga for Cirque Colors Nolita Lolita? This is a truly gorgeous pink, right? The formula was ok. I felt that it applied somewhat unevenly so I recommend two thin coats and one thicker third coat.

Cirque Colors Golightly is a beautiful dusty blue with a fantastic formula. This one was almost a one-coater so you know it made me happy. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is one of my favorite movies so I really enjoyed the character reference.

Well, lucky for you, these polishes are available now! You can head over to Cirque’s website to order these beauties if you’re interested in picking them up. I also wanted to let you guys know that there will be no more releases for The Metropolis Collection until September (sadness for July and August!). So what do you think about these shades? Will you be getting any of them? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Zoya Paradise Sun Collection Summer 2015

Posted on 25 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Hi everybody. I hope that you’re taking some time to think about all of the men and women who have bravely served this country. It doesn’t matter what your politics are, our men and women in the military deserve our respect and gratitude and today is a day to remember their sacrifices. I’m spending my day at home babysitting the Peanut Brat and we’ve just had a grand old time. Currently he’s taking a nap so I’m taking advantage of the free time to write up this post. Today I’m posting the second half of Zoya’s Summer Collection. I’ve already posted the Island Fun Collection which is the creme half of the Summer collection. The Zoya Paradise Sun Collection is about metallic shimmer which isn’t really my favorite finish, but Zoya always manages to really pull off this finish. On to the swatches!

Zoya Selene

Zoya Isa

Zoya Genesis

Zoya Oceane

Zoya Mae

Zoya Aphrodite

These polishes are SUPER shimmery which made them a nightmare to swatch. I had shimmer all over my fingers and had to use a scrub in between each polish. These are all really nice polishes if you like metallic shimmer, but Genesis was a horrible pain in the ass. It took like 4-5 coats to even it out and I would curse it to hell if it wasn’t so pretty. I love white polish so much and this one is so gorgeous and shimmery. My least favorite polish here is Aphrodite because it’s a jelly that still shows VNL despite 4 coats. I am satisfied with these, but I’m not as enthusiastic because this is not my favorite finish. So what do you think about this half of the collection? Do you prefer the cremes or the metallics? Let me know! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Island Fun Collection Summer 2015

Posted on 24 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey you. Are you enjoying your weekend so far? I basically have not left the house since Friday, and I’m enjoying it more than I should. There are tons of things that I could be doing, but here I am in my sweats watching movies and swatching tons of polishes. Have you been doing anything fun this weekend? I’m currently watching the movie Chef (for the 3rd time), and now I want a crazy delicious grilled cheese. Anyway, today I’m going to show you my swatches of the Zoya Island Fun Collection which is the creme half of their Summer Collection. If you read my blog regularly, you know creme polish is life to me so I’m always excited to try these out first. Let me show you my swatches, and then I’ll let you know what I think.

Zoya Jace

Zoya Nana

Zoya Serenity

Zoya Cecilia

Zoya Talia

Zoya Demetria

Well, you know I’m gonna say it: these are all gorgeous cremes. Lately I have been super obsessed with green nail polish so I was super excited about Jace, but it was super thin. I like the color, but it took 3 coats to get the color opaque. All of the other colors were opaque with 2 coats, which is typical with the Zoya creme formula. I had minor staining with Cecilia and Talia, but I’m sure that with a good base coat, you shouldn’t have too many problems. Overall, the colors are really nice and very Summer appropriate but they’re staples that you probably have dupes for already. If you don’t have something similar, then I can definitely recommend these. What do you think of these shades? Are there any that you are planning to pick up or have purchased already? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection May 2015

Posted on 20 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Well, hello there and happy Wednesday. I had planned on getting this post up early this morning but that didn’t quite work out. I had a pretty crappy restless night so I should have made the most of it and just sat up in the middle of the night to write up this post. I actually woke up around 3:30 am and basically just tossed and turned until I had to get up at 7 am. Fun times. Anyway, despite this, I still had a good day–I just need to learn how to work through the crippling middle of the night anxiety. The polish I have today is the May offering from the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection and it is a unique shade called Hustle.Ahhh…Cirque Colors Hustle. Where to I start? When I first saw this color, you know what I was thinking: puke pea soup. The color did start to grow on me because it’s this pretty/ugly color at the same time, but sadly the formula was very difficult. This is the first time I have any formulation issues with Cirque so I was quite shocked that it was so streaky and patchy. I applied 2 thin coats and one third thick coat to smooth it all out. If you don’t have anything similar and you like unique colors, then definitely get this. I tend to like yellow polishes on myself, but I think the green tone to it doesn’t quite look good on me. Oh well, you can’t win them all! But…BUT!!! You will die when you see next month’s colors…absolutely die. I can’t wait to get my hands on them.

Cirque Colors Hustle is available now so check it out if you’re interested. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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China Glaze Desert Escape Collection Summer 2015

Posted on 19 May, 201518 May, 2015 by Cynthia

So how was your Monday? My day was so busy that it just zipped by and poof it’s Tuesday. I guess that’s good, but it’s scary how fast time flies. I’m looking forward to a 3 day weekend so I’m excited about that so I hope this week goes by quickly and I can get to my 3 days of utter laziness. Yasss! I got a bunch of swatching done this past weekend so I do have a lot of new stuff to share with you. On Friday I got a nifty package from my friends at China Glaze…nifty? Am I back in the 50’s or what? Anyway, you know that I am always excited when new China Glaze collections come out and this is no exception. At first glance I thought the color palette looked a little disjointed, but once I got to see them in person they just worked. How did it work? I don’t know…it’s a mystery!

Ha! I remember how much I loved that movie when it first came out. Yeah, it’s a little pseudo-intellectual but it was really good! Plus, it came out during a time when my life goal was to become a Shakespearean scholar. Who would have thought that instead I’d decide to wax poetic about nail polish? Oh how low I have fallen! Still, nail polish has its merits, am I right or am I right? Back to the polish. The collection I have for you today is the China Glaze Desert Escape Collection for Summer 2015 so I hope you like my swatches (and commentary) below.

China Glaze Don’t Mesa With My Heart

I love pink and that is no secret. I do think that it my signature color despite of years of black rebellion where I refused to wear pink because it was too girly. I love this pink because it’s bright but no too bubblegum. The formula was nice–not streaky and very easy to control. I applied two coats here and a coat of Seche for added shine.

China Glaze What’s She Dune?

Lately I have totally been into putty colors so I can tell you that this is one of my favorite nudes of recent times. It’s not overly brown and it’s not yellow-based–it’s kind of perfect for my skin tone. I feared that this would be a nightmare shade but it was actually pretty nice. I applied three thin coats but I think two regular coats would have been enough to get a smooth finish.

China Glaze Rain Dance the Night Away

I absolutely love this color! My camera totally makes it look more blue than it is–it has more green in it in real life and it is goygeous. The formula was perfection so no complaints here. I just wish my camera would capture this type of colors accurately.

China Glaze Don’t Desert Me

Even though this is technically pink, or raspberry pink, I am not a big fan of this one because it’s kind of frosty-looking. I guess it’s a shimmer but I dunno–it’s just not my cup of tea. The formula seemed a little thin, but it actually built up nicely with two coats.

China Glaze Meet Me at the Mirage

This one right here was the big surprise for me. When I firs saw it I told myself I’d hate it…and then I put it on. It’s like this fantastically smooth metallic marvel! It’s practically a one-coater. I actually ended up really liking this one on me. I so love when I get proved wrong when it comes to nail polish.

China Glaze The Heat is On

This one is probably my least favorite polish in the collection. There’s nothing wrong with it–I just don’t like orange-red polishes too much. It’s a jelly finish polish so it has that really great squishy look to it, but you will need 3 coats to make it fully opaque–and even then you might get a little VNL. It’s nice, but not super exciting.

Overall, I am really pleased by the variety in this collection. The formula was good on all of them which you know will always be my #1 gripe regardless of brand because who has time to deal with bad formulation? While the colors aren’t revolutionary, they are pretty and good staple colors. If you are polish ~~hoarder~~ collector, you also won’t be disappointed. Now for the important deets: the Desert Escape Collection is set for a June 1st release and can be found at a new online retailer for China Glaze: lockandmane.com Sally Beauty Supply will carry limited kits but will not be carrying the individual shades. I was also informed that Ulta will not be carrying this collection so the main place to pick up individual shades will be lockandmane.com I’m not sure if this is they case because this is a specialty collection or whatnot, but I’ll let you know if I hear more. So what do you think about this collection? Do you see any shades that you’re going to pick up? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

KBShimmer Summer Collection 2015

Posted on 18 May, 201518 May, 2015 by Cynthia

I keep hearing that it’s super hot in other parts of the country, but here in Southern California we are getting some much needed rain. Today has been a clear day, but I hope that we get some more rain. I had planned to put up my swatches of this collection like a month ago but my hiatus kind of derailed my plans. Since this collection is brand new and just became available on 5/15, what better time to start wearing bright Summer colors and show you my favorites? The KBShimmer Summer Collection for 2015 is absolutely massive with neon cremes, glitters, foil flakes and duochrome flakes–there truly is something for everyone in this collection. Let me show you the 9 polishes I picked out to for you today:

KBShimmer For Sail By Owner

KBShimmer In Yacht Water

KBShimmer Sarong Place, Sarong Time

KBShimmer We Be Jammin’

KBShimmer What Are You Wading For?

KBShimmer Vitamin Sea

KBShimmer She’s Beyond Kelp!

KBShimmer Green Weaver

KBShimmer Look On The Nightside

The neon cremes are so gorgeous, but they aren’t super easy to work with. Since they dry satin, they have a tendency to dry quickly so it is very easy to overwork them. As long as you’re aware of this, you shouldn’t have too much trouble with them–they’re very pigmented and gorgeous. I really was not expecting to love the duochrome flakies but holy crap they are really beautiful. I don’t have any of the flakies from other brands so I can’t do a comparison for you, but these offer really great coverage and are opaque at two coats. I had a hard time capturing the color shift so I took a few extra pictures in a different setting. Who knew my bathroom would have good lighting to show off the duochrome effect?! Overall, this collection does not disappoint! I love the variety of colors and finishes, and I know that you are bound to find something to love in this collection. In case you weren’t already aware, this collection is available now at kbshimmer.com so get them while they’re hot! Do you have any favorites? I hope that you’re having a good weekend and thanks so much for stopping by today. I will talk to you soon!