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China Glaze All Aboard Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 1 September, 2014 by Cynthia

Today kind of flew by and that means the end of my long weekend. I wish I had a few more days off to just be lazy, but I guess being able to pay the bills is more important, right? I know tomorrow is going to be cray cray at work, but at least the day will go by quickly. So this weekend I did some insane amount of swatching, and one of the collections that I swatched is the China Glaze All Aboard Collection for Fall 2014. Normally I break up my posts into two since traditionally China Glaze puts out two six piece sets for their seasonal collections, but today I just decided to post everything together. I’m kind of super excited about this collection because it might just be a Renaissance for China Glaze since I’ve been so disappointed in recent times with some of the collections they have put out. Even the fact that this is a train inspired collection appeals to me because I absolutely adore trains. When I was in France, I always took the train everywhere. My favorite thing to do was get on the train at 7 pm and I’d arrive in Florence early the next morning. It was magical! I have quite a few train stories but I won’t get in to that right now because I’ll never get to the polishes. Before I start blabbing away, let me show you what I’m talking about.

China Glaze All Aboard

China Glaze Cho-Cho Choose You

China Glaze Conduct Yourself

China Glaze Don’t Get Derailed

China Glaze Loco-motive (over What Are You A-freight Of?)

China Glaze Lug You Designer Baggage

China Glaze Mind The Gap

China Glaze One Track Mind

China Glaze Nice Caboose

China Glaze Stop That Train!

China Glaze Well Trained

China Glaze What Are You A-freight Of?

Holy polishgasm, Batman! Let me tell you something: this collection blew my socks off. It’s almost as perfect as the On Safari Collection from a couple of years ago–yes, it’s THAT good. I can honestly tell you that the only one I didn’t care for is Stop That Train! cause it’s kind of frosty and orange–ick! However, every other polish is just pure perfection. The cremes are fabulous and the shimmers are killer. I know that for most people, the stand-out shade will be Cho-Cho Choose You, and all I could think about when I wore it was this:

Hahaha! Ralph might just be my favorite Simpsons character–It’s so hard to pick just one! I do love Cho-Cho Choose You and also love Mind The Gap because it’s one of those ugly/pretty colors that always pull me in. The formula on all of these is fantastic–they all needed two coats and some of the cremes could be one coaters if you apply them carefully. I know I tend to be a little harsh with my China Glaze reviews sometimes, but it is only because I expect so much from the brand–they really were the first brand that pulled me in when my polish obsession began. From all the Fall collections I have seen, I think this is THE collection of the season. I’m sorry if this is causing stress to your bank accounts–well, not really cause if it wasn’t me, it would be someone else and I quite enjoy being part of the enabling circle of polish life. What do you think about these beauties? Are there any colors that you are going to pick up? Thanks so much for the visit, and I will talk to you later!

OPI Peanuts Collection Halloween 2014

Posted on 26 August, 2014 by Cynthia

It’s not even September yet and we are already seeing Halloween stuff–and that’s fine by me because I lurve Halloween collections. Since I got out of work a little early today, I went to my nail places and ended up spending my whole polish budget for the next month in 5 minutes. Yeah, polish budget–who am I kidding? I also went to my absolute favorite Vietnamese/French bakery because they have the best baguettes in all of OC, and I wanted to make a killer sandwich for dinner. So when I got there, there was a lady in front of me ordering some stuff. One of the girls behind the counter took my order: 1 baguette and 2 macarons…ok, 3 macarons…I mean 4. Anyway, she placed a baguette on the counter and the lady who was in front of me grabbed it. She was full-on manhandling it with her bare hands on the part that wasn’t covered by the paper sleeve. Since she was speaking Vietnamese, I figured she had ordered one too but then she picks up her bag and leaves the baguette on the counter. Is this real life? Did this lady just touch and squish my baguette with her bare dirty hands????? Even worse, the lady at the register didn’t say squat to her and was acting like nothing happened. I was staring at her and waited for her to give me a new baguette. When she didn’t, I just flat out told her that I needed a new one since that lady had just touched it all over. She looked at me like I was nuts, but she gave me a new one. Am I the only one who thinks that other lady was gross? I mean, if she has no common sense, how do I know what else she has handled with her bare hands? I don’t know why I just told you that long story instead of telling you all about the OPI Peanuts Collection for Halloween 2014. This is such a cute little collection that I bet you will love. Let me show you my swatches first.

OPI Good Grief!

OPI Where’s My Blanket???

OPI WHO ARE YOU CALLING BOSSY?!?

OPI To Be or Not To Beagle

Can I just tell you how much I like this collection and how cute these glitters are??? Good Grief! and WHO ARE YOU CALLING BOSSY?!? are pretty standard cremes that require two coats for full coverage, but it’s the two glitters that really stand out. I love them both and they were very easy to apply as the glitter is plentiful. The lit nerd in me also loves the Hamlet reference in To Be or Not To Beagle. Are you planning to pick any of these up? The OPI Peanuts Collection will be available this September at the usual places. OPI nail polish retails for $9.50/ea for a .5oz bottle, and there will also be a Little Peanuts mini set which you can purchase for $13.95. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Nubar FALLing In Love Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 25 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Well hello there, Monday! So NOT happy to see you, but I hope you understand me when I say that I need my 3 day weekend naow!! I’ve been so lethargic as of late, that I just need more time to veg out and do absolutely nothing. Of course I still have about a million things to swatch, but I’m looking forward to spending some time just painting my nails. Do you find it therapeutic too? I’ve been mostly laying low because I’ve been sad about the loss of my grandmother, but I know she was suffering so part of me is glad that she is no longer in pain. I don’t want to be a drag, so I’ll just leave it at that. I did get quite a bit of swatching done this weekend so I have plenty of things to show you this week. Nubar is a brand that I’ve been using for a few years now because luckily I have easy access to their collections. I think that my favorite collection that they have put out in recent years has been My Sweet Escape just because the cremes were out of this world. It’s no secret that I love Fall collections, so let me show you their Fall offering: the Nubar FALLing In Love Collection.

Nubar Sweet Hue

Nubar Queen

Nubar Passion’s Pain

Nubar Lush

Nubar Affair

Nubar Don’t Russet

Nubar Love American Style

Nubar First Date

Are you thinking what I’m thinking? These don’t scream Fall to me, but they are certainly pretty. They have this really interesting shimmer to them that keeps them from being just standard cremes. The formula on all of these was ok. They were thinner than I’m used to when it comes to Nubar, The two that were problematic for me were Sweet Hue and First Date because they applied so unevenly that I had to apply 3 coats to even out the coverage. The rest of the polishes in this collection needed two coats for full opacity which is pretty normal. Affair is my absolute favorite from this collection with Queen running a close second–they are just stunning and even more gorgeous in person. What do you think of this collection? Any of them stand out to you? Make sure that you follow Nubar on their facebook page for news on new collections. Nubar polishes can be purchased on their website or $8.40 a bottle and this collection should be out soon. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Ignite Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 19 August, 201418 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I am such a turd when it comes to scheduling posts. I actually stayed up late on Sunday writing up my post for Monday and accidentally scheduled it to post on Tuesday. hahaha. I guess I wasn’t paying attention to the date until I got home and realized my post hadn’t been published. I am being extra careful about this post because I don’t want a dum-dum repeat of yesterday. Yesterday I showed you my swatches of the Zoya Entice Collection so today I have the other half: the Zoya Ignite Collection. Ignite..IGNITE. They got that right because this collection is explosive. I am so surprised by how much I love this half of the collection because I usually prefer the cremes, but how can you resist these? You can’t. Don’t believe me? Let me show you what I’m talking about.

Zoya Remy

Zoya India

Zoya Yuna

Zoya Teigen

Zoya Sansa

Zoya Autumn

Seriously gorgeous on every level. Not only is this the most amazing collection of Fall shimmers that I have ever swatches, but the formula is out of this world. It is so easy to control and applies perfectly. You will need two coats for most of these if you want a completely opaque look. I had a hard time deciding which one was my favorite but I think I finally made my decision: Yuna, come to mama. I don’t think that I have anything quite like this and I just adore the unusual quality of it. Sansa is my second favorite because I just love that dark purple base and of course I’m pretending that it’s a whole Game Of Thrones reference. Don’t burst my bubble, ok?

You know you want these. You know you want them all. I’m just raving about these like a crazy polish hoarder, but I swear you will not be disappointed. I liked the creme half of the Fall collection, but I don’t need all those cremes. I do want, need and love these shimmers. You can purchase the Zoya Ignite Collection on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Entice Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 18 August, 201418 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Well, well…the Fall collections are out in full force and it’s still sweltering outside. To be honest, this Summer hasn’t been horrible for me which is surprising since I’m the queen of the summer haters. Even though I’ve been feeling kind of physically craptastic lately, a lot of good things have happened to me in the last month or so–namely good work stuff. I made a conscious decision not to talk/complain about work anymore on my blog because I felt that I was carrying around stress from my job all the time so writing about it made it feel even worse. I am not even sure if I mentioned that I left my old job and started a new one a few months ago. Well, it has been a huge change for me and I’m a million times happier because now I feel like I have a more balanced life where I don’t have to constantly stress about work and have a normal work schedule. Now that I’m getting used to my new routine, I think it’s about time that I start incorporating the gym into my life because I think that is going to make me feel better both mentally and physically. Now I just have to actually get started–isn’t the first step always the hardest? Yesterday I mentioned that a major swatchfest occurred this weekend and part of it included the Zoya Entice Collection (the Ignite Collection is coming tomorrow!). This half of the Zoya Fall 2014 Collection is full of yummy and traditional cremes which never disappoint. Let’s take a look at my swatches before I share my thoughts with you.

Zoya Genevieve

Zoya Ryan

Zoya Claire

Zoya Margo

Zoya Veronica

Zoya Nyssa

I had zero application issues with this collection. They are all very creamy and opaque 2 coat polishes. You may think that there isn’t anything super interesting about these polishes and part of me agrees with that, but you know that in my polish heart, I can’t resist a good creme. I love that these have a muted almost smokey feeling to them–especially Genevieve. Since that’s my grandmother’s name, it’s my favorite. My grandmother turned 100 this year and she’s currently not doing very well health-wise, but he is surrounded by family and they are taking good care of her. At first I thought that Ryan looked a lot like Cynthia (yay for my namesake!), but Cynthia is much darker. Out of the whole collection, I think Nyssa is the only one I didn’t like.

Are you ready for all the Fall colors? I quite enjoy the darker/richer colors that have been released lately. While I liked this half of the collection, I think that the second part really blew me away. I’ll have that review up tomorrow if you want to check in. You can purchase the Zoya Entice Collection on zoya.com where they retail for $9 a bottle. Let me know if you have a favorite. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Zoya Naturel Deux Collection

Posted on 17 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m really annoyed right now because I had all these plans to write up all my posts for the upcoming week today. Want to guess if that happened? Well, I made a mess today in the kitchen so I was in there all day cleaning stuff out and then I finished the last 6 episodes of Orange Is The New Black (OMG OMG OMG the van!!!!) Since I managed to swatch about 30 polishes Friday and Saturday, I am not behind on swatching but I am behind on editing photos and writing up my posts. Once I get home from work, I get so lazy about that stuff. One thing I’m going to try really hard to do, is plan my posts in advance so that I actually have time to not only respond to comments (I am being such a turd about this lately–I’m sorry!), but to also visit and comment on all my favorite blogs. One of the collections that I finally swatched is the Zoya Naturel Deux Collection which I will be showing you today. I realize you’ve probably already seen a billion swatches of this collection, but maybe not so much on girls with my darker skin tone. Let’s take a look at my swatches…

Zoya Madeline

Zoya Aubrey

Zoya Marnie

Zoya Spencer

Zoya Chanelle

Zoya Emilia

I don’t know if I really love these. I mean, on me. The colors are really nice and of course the formula on all of them is spectacular which is something I can count on when it comes to Zoya’s opaque cremes. Out of all of these, Spencer and Madeline are my two favorites and will totally be using them to death. I don’t know if it’s the two browns that are throwing me off, but I just don’t feel like I enjoyed this collection as much. I think that maybe I’m just still in a very summery bright polish mindset so this was kind of a shock to my system even though this was meant to be a transitional collection. I’m just all over the place today, huh? Still, if you’re looking for creamy, glossy and opaque cremes, you can’t go wrong with this collection. All of my swatches show 2 coats of polish and 1 coat of Seche.

So what do you think about this collection? Did you get any of these polishes? They are available now at zoya.com and retail for $9 each. Thanks for stopping by, and I hope you had a nice weekend.

The Lacquer Ring – Green

Posted on 14 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I totally flaked out on getting this post up on time. Womp womp. Even worse, this was my month to choose the color and theme…triple womp. I really have to learn to schedule things better because I keep falling behind on so much stuff. I’ve been trying to swatch the last Zoya collection for like 2 weeks now and something always comes up that derails my plans. I finally got a chance to swatch the whole collection last night while I was watching So You Think You Can Dance. I was really impressed with the whole Michael Jackson theme—did you happen to watch it? Anyway, this month I chose green as my color. I love green nail polish so much! I know I say that about pretty much every color when it comes to nail polish (except maybe orange and gold), but I just love how green nails look…unless they’re green because of fungal growth, but I digress… It was difficult to pick one green polish, so I ended up using two of them, but I did go with my #1 favorite green: Color Club Holiday Splendor.

Holy crap, this is a gorgeous polish. It has such an amazing holo sparkle that gives it incredible depth. I’m completely in love with it! If you want a sheer jelly finish, you can get away with one coat. I prefer to apply two coats so that it’s fully opaque. You should see this baby out in the sun! It sparkles like a mofo. It is a little bit of a pain to remove but totally worth it. I’d also like to mention that it dries to a minor rough finish so load up on your top coat if you want a super smooth finish.

I received some of these decals/nail vinyls from KBShimmer (press sample), and I finally got around to using them. They’re pretty much idiot-proof which is why I was able to use them without much trouble.

This is the first time that I do chevrons like this and I quite enjoy the loo. The pretty creamy green that you see here is nails inc. Queen Victoria Street. I love this green as well!

So what do you think of these dreamy greens? I am super happy with these two gorgeous colors and how they turned out. Don’t forget to check out the other manis presented to you by the other ladies of The Lacquer Ring!

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Leesha’s Lacquer Re-pin Rewind

Posted on 11 August, 201410 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey you! How’s your Monday going so far? I had a busy weekend so I kind of feel like I didn’t get to relax too much. Unfortunately, swatching fell by the wayside so now I’m super behind on everything. I hope to get a lot done little by little this week, but it’s so hard to do nail stuff when I get home from work because I feel mentally exhausted. I’m having a hard time finding the motivation to start going to the gym after work as well so I feel stuck at the moment. You know what helps when I feel stuck? Pretty, shiny polish. Yep, glitter is the magical panacea to my ennui.

This is Leesha’s Lacquer Re-pin Rewind from The Pinterest Collection. This is an explosion of pink and purple glitter in a clear base.

If you want to use Re-pin Rewind as a glitter topper, you will only need one coat because you get a lot of glitter on the brush. However, if you want to use it on its own, you will need 2-3 coats depending on your application technique. I dabbed the glitter on for my second coat so I was able to get away with 2 coats. You are going to to want to use a good top coat to smooth out the finish–I’ve used Seche Vite for my swatches. For my first experience with Leesha’s Lacquer, I think this is a lovely glitter that is sure to satisfy your need for shiny, sparkly nails. Removal can be a beast as with any glitters of this type so I recommend using a peelable glue base if you have it or just be ready to use acetone and a bit of elbow grease.

If you’re interested in purchasing this baby, you can find it here for $3.50/mini or $7.00/full size–pretty good prices if you ask me. Makes sure to follow Leesha’s Lacquer on her social media sites for news on new collections, sales and giveaways (she has one now on Facebook!) :

Etsy – Facebook – Blog – Twitter

So what do you think? I think this hit the spot for me this weekend. I’ll have another polish from this maker later in the week so don’t forget to check back with me. Thanks for stopping by today, and have a nice Monday.

Essie Dress To Kilt Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 4 August, 201427 September, 2014 by Cynthia

How was your weekend? Mine was really busy, and the weather has been unusually humid here in SoCal which is pretty darn disgusting. It’s not even that hot, but the humidity makes it feel 100 times more horrible. We are at like 90% humidity and it’s 9 pm as I write this! It’s supposed to be in the 70’s later in the week but if the humidity persists, I’m going to be miserable. Doesn’t it seem like I’m always complaining about the weather? Maybe I should move to Siberia or something so I can stop complaining about the heat. Ha! Anyway, this weekend I went to my nail places and they only had one collection that I wanted which I guess is good for my wallet. I feel like Essie’s Fall collection has bee flying under the radar because I hadn’t seen or heard much about it. Essie Dress To Kilt is not really a collection that wowed me when I first saw the colors, but you just never know until you get the colors on your nails. Are you ready to see the swatches?

Essie Fall In Line

Essie The Perfect Cover Up

Essie Style Cartel

Essie Dress To Kilt

Essie Partner In Crime

Essie Take It Outside

Sooo…boring colors? That’s what I thought at first but holy frijoles these polishes are spectacular. The formula was really nice–a little thicker than I’m used to with Essie because I always have to be careful not to flood my cuticles, but these were a little on the goopy side but not unmanageable. These all looked nice with one coat, but I recommend two for that perfectly smooth and glossy look. Did I mention how incredibly shiny and glossy the finish is on all of these?? Personally, I am in love with Style Cartel because it’s so inky and intense with a jelly-type look. My other favorite is Take It Outside. I just love the beautiful taupe-y color and how it looks against my skin tone. It’s so hard to wow polish freaks like myself, but this collection managed to really please me. Even though the colors aren’t revolutionary and I probably have a few dupes, the formula on these is really great and the shine is out of this world. If you don’t have similar colors, I definitely recommend these. What do you think about this collection? Do you see any shades that you must have? Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Incoco Tribal Beats Collection

Posted on 27 July, 2014 by Cynthia

I could not fall asleep for the life of me last night so of course I slept in today which I hate doing on a Sunday because it throws me off because I need to run a bunch of errands. Now I am still sitting in bed looking at nail stuff instead of doing my laundry. I totally don’t feel like doing anything. Does anyone want to come prepare me some lunch? For today’s post, I have 3 of the 6 designs from the Incoco Tribal Beats Collection. If you haven’t used Incoco nail appliqués, you are really missing out. Let’s take a look at the three fun designs.

Incoco Desert Jewel

Incoco Tribal Beats

Incoco Desert Sunset

These are the three other designs that make up this collection:

I love having a few sets of Incoco appliqués in case I need something fun and fast that will last. I have worn a design for up to two weeks with very minor tip wear. These babies wear like iron so these work really well if you’re going on vacation or don’t have enough time to do your nails often. You can purchase these appliqués here for $8.99 each.

Have you tried Incoco yet?