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OPI Hawaii Collection + Giveaway!

Posted on 8 April, 20154 April, 2015 by Cynthia

I don’t think I have ever had so many questions about when I would have swatches of a collection up before this one, so I am glad to finally have this review up. I got the collection a little late so that’s why I ended up swatching it and posting it later than I would have wanted to. I’m sure that you’ve already seen a million and a half swatches of these so mine won’t be a revelation, but I’m glad to bring them to you nonetheless. Coming off of last year’s HOT HOT HOT Brazil Collection, this year OPI is taking us to a tropical paradise. Yep, I am imagining drinking my mai tai by the beach and relaxing under the sun. Wouldn’t it be nice if that could have been my true Hawaii experience? Instead I got drunk at a luau and took a bumpy day-long tour of Oahu while thoroughly hung over the next day. I also could have done without a ginormous wave sneaking up on me on Sunset Beach and drenching me while on said tour. Ahhh…it was still a nice trip though. So anyway, before I tell you about other silly things that happened on my trip, let me show you my swatches of the OPI Hawaii Collection.

OPI Hello Hawaii Ya?

OPI Lost My Bikini In Molokini

OPI Just Lanai-ing Around

OPI Suzi Shops & Island Hops

OPI That’s Hula-rious

OPI Do You Take Lei Away?

OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked?

OPI Aloha From OPI

OPI Go With The Lava Flow

OPI This Color’s Making Waves

OPI My Gecko Does Tricks

OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too!

I have to be honest in that when I first saw the press release for this collection, I wasn’t that excited about it. I was hoping for super bright and saturated colors–like almost neons in brightness–and these colors are more muted. After actually swatching the colors, I am definitely changing my tune. You know how I feel about creme polishes so I was super glad to see a nice selection of cremes here as well as some pretty shimmers. I really did not have any problems with the formula which I’m getting used to–we are talking about OPI, you know! I think that the red headed stepchild of this collection is going to be Pineapples Have Peelings Too! Where do I start with this one? I feel like it could have been an awesome yellow crelly polish but that ugly yellow frosty base is just…ick.

Anyway, now I have the part you’re waiting for: Giveaway time! One lucky reader will be winning the entire OPI Hawaii Collection (12 full size bottles) courtesy of OPI. This giveaway is open internationally, but please don’t enter if you’re from a country that has strict restrictions on shipping.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So what do you think about this collection? Is it your cup of tea or have you passed on a lot of these? Personally I am a huge fan of the cremes/shimmers but would pass on Pineapples Have Peelings Too! and maybe on My Gecko Does Tricks. Good luck if you decide to enter the giveaway and thanks for stopping by today!

Nicole by OPI Coca-Cola Collection

Posted on 2 April, 20151 April, 2015 by Cynthia

I haven’t been sleeping well lately. The reason is that I keep having jacked up dreams that I am in The Walking Dead, and I’m being chased by zombies. And you know what? There’s a reason why there aren’t any fat people on the show. If I had to run away from zombies, they would catch up with me in about 30 seconds. Even Hershel with one leg would be able to run faster than me. I always end up waking up completely freaked out, and then I don’t want to fall asleep again for fear of dreaming about zombies again. You’re probably thinking: “So stop watching the show, you dumbass!” I haven’t been watching this second part of this season cause I want to watch them all at once so I guess I can’t escape the terror! So besides zombie nightmares, things are going pretty good over here. I am enjoying blogging again so that is always good. Today I am sharing a collection that is flying under the radar: the Nicole by OPI Coca-Cola Collecion. Yep, you read that right. After OPI put out a Coca-Cola Collection last year, NOPI also put one out. While the collections are not identical, they have some similarities. Let me show you the 6 polishes that make up this collection.

Nicole by OPI The Look Is Orange

Nicole by OPI Seriously Citrus

Nicole by OPI Always A Classic Coca-Cola

Nicole by OPI DC Lover

Nicole by OPI In Grape Demand

Nicole by OPI Zero Is My Hero

Overall I think this is a very neat and cohesive collection. I really like Seriously Citrus and Zero Is My Hero so those two are my main recommendations. The formula on all of these is nice–I don’t really have anything negative to say about this collection, but it definitely did not wow me. These are nice staple colors so don’t hesitate to pick them up if you like the colors or don’t have anything similar. This collection is out now so go get ’em! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will catch up with you later.

China Glaze Electric Nights Collection Summer 2015

Posted on 1 April, 201531 March, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey guys! Happy April and happy April Fool’s Day! I don’t have any pranks for you today so don’t worry. I did think about doing one prank, but I thought it might be offensive so I decided not to do it. Are we getting too PC nowadays? It seems like it because I constantly find myself questioning if things I’m about to write could potentially offend someone. It’s not like I’m Ann Coulter or anything, but some people are really serious about this nail business! Well, today I have a new collection to share with you that we will all probably agree is fan-freaking-tastic. As you know, I get really excited when Summer collections start coming out so I was pretty much spazing out when I saw pictures of the China Glaze Electric Nights Collection for Summer 2015. As excited as I was, I was also really apprehensive because I know that neon collections an be really hard to pull off, and I always end up disappointed with the formula of the polishes. Well, let me show you the polishes before I let you know what I thought of them.

China Glaze Treble Maker

China Glaze DJ Blue My Mind

China Glaze UV Meant to Be

China Glaze Glow with the Flow

China Glaze Violet-Vibes

China Glaze Plur-ple

China Glaze Red-y to Rave

China Glaze Home Sweet House Music

China Glaze Daisy Know My Name?

Let me talk about the neon cremes before we get into the glitters…they are gorgeous. If you were expecting horrible formulas, then you will be pleasantly surprised because these are not problematic. They do not dry too quickly and do not dry satin/matte. They’re not perfect like some cremes because they do require a little more care when it comes to application, but since they are so gorgeous–do you really care? The key for me was to let the polish dry a little longer in between coats. If you do that, you can get away with two coats for most of these polishes. Daisy Know My Name? is the only one that gave me some trouble but that’s to be expected with yellows in general and this one is extra bright and somewhat sheer so I applied 4 thin coats. I would also like to mention that I did NOT wear a white base under these because I don’t think that they really need them. Yes, they are technically neons–some more than others–but they can also be called very bright cremes. In any case, I love them…I love them so hard.

China Glaze Point Me to the Party

China Glaze Let the Beat Drop

China Glaze Can I Get An Untz Untz

I know everyone has been going crazy over these glitters, and I can totally see why. They have an indie vibe to them and they are super pretty. I decided to swatch them over white because I wanted to show you all the different colors within each bottle. While it’s not difficult to get a decent amount of glitter on your brush, it is easy to flood your nails with the clear base. I recommend doing the dabbing method to avoid pooling of clear base at your cuticles. I think this glitters will look fabulous over black and over the saturated solid color polishes in this collection so I can’t wait to experiment.

Overall, China Glaze hit it out of the park with this collection. I love the colors, I liked the formula and I just think the feeling and vibe of this collection is fun and full of energy. I did not have any significant staining to report except for some minor staining from the two blues, but I was only swatching them and did not wear any base coat. The China Glaze Electric Night Collection officially comes out today but they’ve been available online at various etailers for a while now so you should be able to pick them up easily. Now I leave it to you: what do you think about this collection? I am really looking forward to hearing what you think so leave a comment below letting me know if you’re planning to pick any of these up and which are your favorites. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection April 2015

Posted on 31 March, 2015 by Cynthia

Can you believe this is the last day of March? Where does time go? I’ve been away for most of March but even though I haven’t been posting, it doesn’t mean that I haven’t been painting my nails like a crazy person. It felt pretty good to just paint my nails and not have to worry about writing up posts and such. Now that we are entering a new month, that means there are two new beauties to add to the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection! Aren’t you excited? I really look forward to these monthly releases because Cirque Colors does cremes like nobody’s business. Let me show you the two beauties for April.

Cirque Colors Sunset Park

Cirque Colors Vigo

Yes, they are gorgeous. Yes, the formula is perfection. Yes, you need these. Any questions? I am already excited about seeing next month’s colors–am I weird? These beauties will be available April 1st so make sure to check them out. What do you think of these lovely shades? Thanks for the visit and talk to you soon.

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Colores de Carol for Live Love Polish

Posted on 30 March, 201529 March, 2015 by Cynthia

I am really happy about finally being back on track with my blogging. I spent a good chunk of time on Sunday swatching, editing pictures and putting posts together. I made a pretty big dent in my swatching pile (I only have 6 polishes pending right now!), but about 20 more are arriving this week so I’m back where I started. haha I guess that’s not a horrible problem to have, but it can get a bit overwhelming to someone like me since I’m so anal about staying organized. In any case, I hope that I can stay on track with my blogging and swatching because I really miss doing it. I am definitely glad that I took a month to recharge my batteries because we are getting super close to the release of summer collections which always blow me away. Today I have some glittery beauties to share with you. These 4 glitter-dense polishes are my very first from the Colores de Carol brand and they also happen to be limited editions and exclusive to Live Love Polish. Let me show you how blingtastic they are!

These holographic glitter polishes are very pretty and in my opinion work better layered over a solid color base. Since the glitter is so dense, you can wear them alone but be warned that you will need multiple coats to get fully opaque coverage. It is recommended to use the sponge method if you will be using these on their own otherwise you may end up with very thick coats on your nails. For my swatches below, I applied 1 coat of each glitter over a similar color base–no top coat needed.

Colores de Carol Gatsby

Colores de Carol Don Draper

Colores de Carol Harvey Specter

Colores de Carol Dexter

So what do you think? While these glitters first struck me as being super basic, I ended up really liking them especially over the colored bases. I bet that there are a bunch of different colors that these will look good over. You can purchase these polishes over at Live Love Polish for $12 each or you can purchase the 4 piece set for $39, and you get free shipping on orders of $20 or more. These are LE so make sure to grab them before they’re gone if you want them. If I could only have one of them, I would go with Gatsby just because I love green glitter and because The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite novels of all time. I’ll leave you with the final lines of the novel:

And as I sat there brooding on the old, unknown world, I thought of Gatsby’s wonder when he first picked out the green light at the end of Daisy’s dock.He had come a long way to this blue lawn, and his dream must have seemed so close that he could hardly fail to grasp it.He did not know that it was already behind him, somewhere back in that vast obscurity beyond the city, where the dark fields of the republic rolled on under the night.

Gatsby believed in the green light, the orgiastic future that year by year recedes before us. It eluded us then, but that’s no matter — tomorrow we will run faster, stretch out our arms farther…. And one fine morning ——

So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past.

Is there a The Great Gatsby nail polish collection out there? Cause I’d buy it! I’d also like to see someone do a Cien años de soledad collection, but I think that would be as impossible as Essie doing that The Office collection but we can all dream, right? Anyway, I’d better stop here before I start raving about Invisible Man and Catcher In The Rye. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Soft Shades Collection 2015

Posted on 24 February, 201524 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I love obnoxious colors. Sometimes I think that the louder and more obnoxious my nails are, the better I feel. Is that weird? Whenever I do my nails, even if it is a simple manicure, people always seem to think it’s ok to grab my hands and inspect my nails. What if I am gross and don’t wash my hands after going to the restroom? I DO wash my hands every time, I was just using that as an example–I swear! I just think it’s kind of random that people do that (I even had a guy do that once), but I think I’ve gotten used to it over the years.So when soft and delicate colors come around, you would think that I I’d run the opposite direction, right? WRONG! I love soft colors as well because someone you want classy nails and don’t want some craziness on your fingertips. OPI puts out some of the best delicate colors, in my opinion, so I was definitely looking forward to this year’s OPI Soft Shades Collection. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

OPI Put It In Neutral

Doesn’t this kind of remind you of a lighter OPI Dulce de Leche? I seriously love this polish, but it is super sheer. I have to admit that I am not a sheer fan, so I applied 4 coats to get this opaque look. It’s one of those polishes that is supposed to be a wash of color on your nails but I couldn’t resist layering it up. I really love how it looks on my skintone

OPI Petal Soft

This one may not seem like much in the bottle, but hot diggity it’s beautiful. I adore how it looks over Put It In Neutral and I bet it will look awesome over a lot of different colors. Doesn’t this look like Spring in a bottle? The only thing is that fishing for the big flowers is kind of a pain but worth it at the end of the day. Soooo purty!

OPI Act Your Beige!

This is pretty much Put It In Neutral in a beige color. This also required 4 coats to be opaque but it’s not really meant to be opaque…but you know me and my OCD about sheer polishes. Still, it’s a beautiful and creamy polish.

OPI Make Light of the Situation

This is like snow in a bottle. Do you even understand how much my pictures don’t capture the beauty of this polish? It sparkles so much in the light that it’s mesmerizing. I layered this over Act Your Beige!, but I bet it will look like hot lava over a dark color. Make note, Cynthia…don’t forget to try that soon.

OPI Chiffon My Mind

And then we have this amazing white. It’s so icy yet so delicate! It has this amazing shimmer that isn’t captured very well in my pictures, but it is there and boy does it make this polish come alive. I applied 3 coats for my swatches above.

OPI This Silver’s Mine

Dear OPI, can we please stop with the silver chromes? I hate them. No mas, por favor. That is all I have to say about this.

Overall, this collection is a winner in my book. The lone bad apple here is This Silver’s Mine, but I can put it aside and focus on how pretty the other ones are. Some of you may not like the sheer shades and I get it because I want opaque polishes too, but you cannot deny that the glitters are soooo pretty. This collections isn’t due to be out until May so don’t forget about them! I can already see myself using a few of these soon in some Stamping Saturdays looks. Which one is your favorite? I seriously can’t choose but if I had to, I’d probably go with Put It In Neutral and Petal Soft…it’s a tie, I tell ya. Or Chiffon My Mind…or Make Light Of The Situation. See? I told you I can’t pick–it’s an evil process anyway. Let me know what you think of this collection overall. Are you sick of silvers like I am? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

HEY! There is 1 week left for my massive giveaway. Have you entered? Click the image below to enter.

OPI Brights Collection 2015

Posted on 23 February, 201522 February, 2015 by Cynthia

So what did you think of the Oscars…or are you one of those people who refuses to watch? I like the pretty dresses and like it when the host kills it (good and bad) so I usually tune in. This year, I feel like I wasn’t super invested in the actual awards because I did not watch a single movie from the Best Picture pool. I did recently watch Ida which won Best Foreign Film and it was pretty fucking amazing and devastating so make sure that you watch it. I am a huge movie buff so I’m way behind on watching movies lately yet I managed to watch 50 Shades of Grey–oh the shame! The most moving part of the whole show was Graham Moore’s speech after winning for Best Adapted Screenplay–watch it if you don’t know what I’m talking about. Besides the awards show, I did manage to get some swatching time in so I have 5 posts lined up already. I didn’t get a chance to swatch the OPI Hawaii collection yet (sorry to those who have asked!!!), but I did get some awesome stuff done. Today I have the OPI Brights Collection for 2015 to share with you! The Winter/Spring colors are gone, yo! Let me show you these pretties.

OPI My Car Has Navy-gation

When I saw this polish in the bottle, I wanted it on my nails STAT. Look how saturated the color is!!! Unfortunately, I found the formula not very pleasant to work with. It seemed water and thin and the formula resembled that of a neon where it dries quickly and kind of to a satin finish. Oh, and it also stinks like some blue polishes tend to so be prepared. I applied 3 coats for my swatches and then topcoated it for a shiny finish. Despite the sorta crappy formula, I still love it.

OPI Pinks & Needles

As soon as I saw this pink glitter, I knew it was meant to go over My Car Has Navy-gation. This is a very traditional glitter topper so there is not much to say about it. Application is very easy and there is no need to fish for glitter. Now I want to wear it over black!

OPI The Berry Thought of You

Oh man…this is gorgeous. This delicious berry creme is what my polish dreams are made of. I don’t know about you, but I can never have enough creamy pink polishes in any hue. The formula on this is perfect so you’ll love it–trust me.

OPI I STOP For Red

Oh look, a red from OPI because we all don’t have enough of those. This red is an orange leaning jelly that is opaque at two coats. It’s not exciting to me so that’s all I have to say about it.

OPI I Can’t Hear Myself Pink!

To be honest, I am not a huge fan of this shimmery/metallic finish, but the color is nice…you know how much I love pink polish. The formula was super easy to work with and was opaque at 2 coats.

OPI I Sea You Wear OPI

One thing that you can’t really see in my picture is that the polish has a slight pink sheen in the bottle that almost but disappears on the nail. Sadness. However, the vibrant blue polish is pretty awesome even if I’m not a huge fan of the finish.

So what do you think of this collection? Are these Brights bright enough for you? Is it too early for this considering it’s still bitterly cold in some areas? This collection will not be out until May so you’ll have plenty of time to think if you want any of these. Well, I hope you had a nice weekend and that your Monday isn’t too horrible. I look forward to hearing what you think of this collection, so let me know in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

HEY! There is 1 week left for my massive giveaway. Have you entered? Click the image below to enter.

The Lacquer Ring – Purple

Posted on 12 February, 201511 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m kind of grouchy right now. Not just kind of….but rather super pissed. I had typed up this post and was getting ready to schedule it. When I hit schedule, I got an error message from wordpress that said something like “Are you sure you want to do this?” Then when I tried to go back to my post, it was gone…all of it. I wanted to throw my computer across the room because somehow that would make it all better, right? Anyway, let me get over my bitter party of one right now and get back to the main point of this post–it’s all about ME! Yep, me. I got to pick the color for today’s The Lacquer Ring post so of course I had to go with purple because….well, is there any other choice? Let me show you the purple beauty I decided to use today.

This gorgeous polish is Illamasqua Prosperity and has a unique rubber finish. It’s not quite satin not matte…it really is rubber-like! I absolutely adore Illamasqua, but ever since Sephora stopped carrying the brand, there really is nowhere to get it locally and I refuse to pay for shipping. I’m cheap like that. When Amy told me that Illamasqua was back on Hautelook, I freaked the efff out and headed over there to see what they had. Six polishes later and 10 minutes of cursing Amy for tempting me this way, I got my hands on a few polishes that I had been kicking myself for missing. Ok, I didn’t really curse Amy but dangit she is such an enabler! The only thing I hate about Hautelook is that the shipping takes freaking eons so I should expect to get my polishes by…2017?

Since I’m all about the bling, bout the bling, no treble…oh wait, no. I had to make everything sparkly so I applied a coat of Delush Polish Nue Girl (press sample) just cause I love it and cause I love sparkles. You guys…I am dying about the upcoming spring collection that Delush has for us. Like seriously dying over how gorgeous it is. Ok, I’ll stop gushing.

Well, I hope that you like this gorgeous purple as much as me. Do you have any purple polish recommendations for me? I’m always excited to find new purples so let me know below! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Zoya Delight Collection Spring 2015

Posted on 10 February, 20159 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I meant to have this post up on Monday, but it just didn’t happen. My parents are visiting so everything went to hell. On Friday I had the worst stomach bug ever, and I’m still wondering if it was stress or something else. Fortunately it was gone by Sunday because I would have missed out on my mom’s cooking the first day–oh man my mom is the best cook in the world. So besides my parents being in town and my getting some extra time with the Peanut Brat, everything has been going ok. My nails are still in recovery mode. The damage is growing out rather quickly, but I’m nearing the point where the most severe damage is near the tips of my nails now so I’m expecting a lot of breaks and issues in the next couple of weeks. My nail bed is horribly uneven still so I’m experiencing issues with applying polish evenly since it always looks off because my nails are jacked up. Oh well…I’ll just have to deal with it and take my punishment for being dumbass. This weekend I managed to squeeze in some time to swatch the Zoya Delight Collection and boy was it a…delight? Read on to find out what I thought!

Zoya Eden

Zoya Lillian

Zoya Tiana

Zoya Leslie

Zoya Rayne

Zoya Daisy

Saying that I really enjoyed the Zoya Delight Collection isn’t enough–I really loved it. The combination of 3 creamy and delicious cremes with 3 metallic shimmers is genius because it gives us almost two collections without being overwhelming. I loved the delicate colors and really enjoyed the welcome pop of shimmer in one half of the collection. I didn’t have problems with the formula despite the light color which is really exciting to me. I’ve also been caught up in my own watermarble world that I used the three cremes for an accent watermarble nail:

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I think that it turned out really nice. What do you think?

Overall, this collection gets a big thumps up from me. What do you think if these polishes? Will you be picking up any of these colors? If I had to pick a favorite, it would have to be Leslie for sure! The Zoya Delight Collection can be purchased on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Zoya Naturel Satins Collection

Posted on 3 February, 20152 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I can’t believe how much swatching I got done this weekend and now I have tons of stuff saved up to show you. I was in a swatching mindset and things were just going my way so that’s how I managed to get so much done. One of the collections that I swatched this weekend is the Zoya Naturel Satins Collection. To be perfectly honest, I was totally expecting to hate this one so hard because I just kind of hate dealing with most matte/satin collections because the formula on them ends up being a huge pain in the ass. Well, I know you are dying to hear what I thought (not), so let me show you my swatches before I get into it.

Zoya Tove

Zoya Sage

Zoya Rowan

Zoya Leah

Zoya Brittany

Zoya Ana

Ok, let m just say that I really like how these look. They are the perfect in between finish–everything that was promised. Surprisingly, the formula is not horrible but it’s not perfect either. For all of these I applied 1 regular coat and 1 thick coat to smooth everything out. The polish doesn’t set up lighting fast, so you have a little time to play with the polish, but it is also very easy to overwork it and get a super lumpfest. I findt he shades here very lovely and perfectly transitional as they were meant to be. I’m a little torn on these. I guess I can say that I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them either. If these had been regular cremes, I would have lost my marbles over them. I guess I can just top coat them, but I just don’t want to have to fiddle with the finicky formula. If I had to pick a favorite, I would go with Sage or Tove. Overall, I am pleasantly surprised with these and can recommend them if you don’t mind the formula and the finish. You can find these on Zoya.com where each polish retails for $9. What do you think about these? Let me know in the comments below. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.