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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.

Stamping Saturdays #57

Posted on 21 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Stamping Saturdays is here again but for me it’s almost Stamping Sundays since I’m posting this so late. Yes, I know it’s Sunday already in some parts, but it’s still 11 pm here in California so suck it. I’ve been doing a bunch of crap today that I shouldn’t have taken on because I had kind of an exhausting day so now I’m just annoyed. Tomorrow I won’t get much done either because duh, it’s the Oscars. Before I start getting sleepy, let me move on to my actual mani.

The gorgeous polish that I used for my base is NYC Queen’s Jewels (press sample). This is a full coverage squishy glitter that only requires 2 coats for full opacity. This is like a Christmas tree in a bottle!

I then used an image from BP-04 (press sample) to stamp with my white Konad polish. The image is a large peacock (OMG A BIRD!), and I used the part that had the feather/lace design. I do think that the white covers up way too much of the polish, but it’s ok…I still like it.

So what do you think about this polish and the stamped design? Will you be watching the Oscars? Anyway, I hope you’re doing well and that you’re enjoying your weekend. Thanks for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon.

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Dermelect Above It

Posted on 18 February, 201517 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Have you heard of Dermelect? I’ve seen their polishes around on the internet but I never paid much attention because they are $12-$14 for a .4oz bottle which is kinda pricey, and I’m a big cheapskate for the most part. However, a couple of weeks ago I was loading up on essentials at Ulta, and I happened to see a bunch of these polishes in their clearance section for under $0.50!!! Whuuuuut???? At first, I grabbed everything in site because how could I not, but once the euphoria wore off a bit I put things back and only purchased three because I had to leave some for the rest of you, right? See how considerate I am? Besides, I didn’t know what to expect from the brand and maybe I would hate the polish or the brush. When you hate the polish, it doesn’t matter how cheap it is–it’s still a waste. Let me show you the first color I picked up.

Dermelect Above It is a beautiful sky blue. The formula seemed a little watery, but magically it was perfectly opaque with two coats. I also really liked the brush even though it’s thinner that what I usually like. Overall, I think the quality of the polish is very good. Would I pay full price for it? Nope.

And just for shits and giggles, I decided to mattify the polish with my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) and dangnabit it looks amazing.

So what do you think of this polish? Have you tried anything from this brand? I’m pleasantly surprised and hope that I can purchase more on clearance in the future. Moving on to more serious things: today is Ash Wednesday which signifies the beginning of Lent. I have decided to go on a polish no-buy during this time which I know will be very difficult for me considering the sheer amount of Spring collections that are coming out now, but I think it will be good for me. There are a lot of things that I could give up, but nothing will be as hard as giving up purchasing new polishes. Wish me luck!

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Stamping Saturdays #56

Posted on 14 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Heeeeeeeeey! Can you tell how excited I am? The reason why I’m so happy is because I have a 4 day weekend and I’m going to be the laziest person in the history of the world. In fact, I’m still in my pj’s right now and I don’t care what anyone thinks. Last night my friend and I decided to go watch 50 Shades of Grey. I know, I know. The theater was packed which didn’t really surprise me, but I was surprised at how bad the movie was. The books were so poorly written that they made me want to barf, but they were somewhat entertaining so I thought maybe the movie wouldn’t be too horrible but it was. I think Jamie Dornan is hot lava, but I don’t think he was what I was expecting for the Christian Grey character. On the other hand, Dakota Johnson was good in he role. Overall, the movie was choppy and just strange. When I got home, I saw that I had gotten some free passes in the mail (thanks, OPI!!), so I’m going to give them away so they don’t have to be mad like me about paying full price to see this film. Anyway, let’s move on from putrid films to awesome nail polish! For today’s Stamping Saturdays I have another holo beauty to show you.

I had such a hard time finding Orly Mirrorball, so when I finally found a bottle, I freaked out. It’s a really gorgeous and delicate linear holo with small holographic glitter. The formula felt a little thin, so be prepared to apply 3 coats

I used a delicate stamp from Konad plate M73 and Mentality Black Opaque stamping polish. I really like how this turned out.

What do you think about this mani? I hope your weekend is going well and that you enjoy your long weekend if you get Monday off. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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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!

Stamping Saturdays #55

Posted on 7 February, 20157 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m sorry that I’m showing you L’Oreal Masked Affair today because I know how hard it has been for some of you to get your hands on it. Ok, I’m not that sorry because it is a gorgeous polish, and I was excited to find it after all the swatches I had seen. I normally have a hard time finding drugstore stuff like this because the stupid displays have like 2 of each polish, so this was a major win. I don’t think that we will ever get tired of holographic polishes–this is definitely a good one. Let me show you this baby on its own before I show you how I jazzed it up for today’s Stamping Saturdays.

Ghhhaaaaa! Gorgeous. There are plenty of silver holos out there, but this isn’t really silver–it leans lavender and has a unique finish. The formula is a little thin which is normal for drugstore polishes, but it does build up nicely. I applied 3 coats for my swatches above.

Since I didn’t want to cover up a lot of this beautiful polish, I used a delicate stamp. As usual, I used my Mentality Black Opaque polish for the stamping. The image I used comes from plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample) which is one of my favorite plates!

So what are you up to today? I’m watching Peanut today so it’s been a busy morning. I just managed to put him down for his nap so that’s why I’m posting this kinda late. Anyway, I hope you’re having a nice weekend, and I will talk to you soon.

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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.

KBShimmer Spring Collection 2015

Posted on 1 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Well, I wanted to get this post up early–even last night, but as usual, I got sidetracked. I had the funkiest dreams last night and I ended up oversleeping big time. I was planning to be up by 7 and I got up at 10:30. Womp womp. Now I have to rush through all my errands, laundry and cleaning. I hate Sundays. Let me tell you how excited I am to share these beauties with you!!! KBShimmer always puts out the most amazing polishes and I can already tell you that this new collection is no exception–I love the musicality of that phrase. Anyway, let me show you the pretties before I jump out of my skin. Behold the beauty of the KBShimmer Spring Collection!

KBShimmer Funky Cold Patina

KBShimmer Wind Swarm

KBShimmer Eyes White Open

KBShimmer Blush Money

KBShimmer Blue-d Lines

KBShimmer Ins And Sprouts

KBShimmer Thistle Be The Day

Ghaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa! These are gorgeous. There is not a single problematic polish in this lot–they were all opaque at two coats an applied smoothly. I changes my lighting up a bit for the holographic polishes so I apologize for the shine on my skin in these pictures. The holos are just so mesmerizing–can we ever get enough of holos? I don’ know what else to tell you about this collection besides I’m sorry….I’m sorry that your wallet/bank account is about to get lighter because you will want every single one of these. The collection consists of 12 polishes total and they are all just as amazeballs. The polishes will retail for $8.75 each and will be available on Friday, February 6th, 2015 at www.kbshimmer.com. Will you be getting any of these? Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Stamping Saturdays #54

Posted on 31 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Hey girls! Saturday is here again which means it’s time for another Stamping Saturdays. Last week I ended up doing my mani early because I knew I would be ridiculously lazy this weekend. In fact, I have gotten a lot of swatching done so I am almost caught up….until more collections start to drop. Ever since Friends was added on Netflix, I’ve been watching episodes non-stop. I actually have the whole collection on DVD, but it’s so convenient to have the entire series on Netflix. I had forgotten how much I loved the series! Anyway, let me show you what I came up with today.

This beauty is China Glaze Dashboard Dreamer from their Spring Road Trip Collection. It’s the most gorgeous bay blue with a delicate microshimmer throughout. The formula isn’t great, but I think that I can be forgiving for a color this gorgeous.

I then used and image from plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample) and Mentality Black Opaque stamping polish. The more I used this Mentality stamping polish, the more I love it. It’s very opaque and it doesn’t stain at all the way the Konad one does.

After I finished my stamping, I decided to apply a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust just for some added sparkle. I think that it ended up muddling the manicure overall, but it looked really pretty out in the sun.

So what do you think about this mani? I liked it but it definitely is not one of my favorites. Don’t forget to check out the other Stamping Saturdays manis below. Don’t forget to join us by adding your link below and by using the hashtag #StampingSaturdays on IG so I can find you. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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