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31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 19: Floral Print Nails

Posted on 12 November, 201212 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I was at a loss today. I didn’t want to do any dotting tool flowers but knew I couldn’t really freehand any flowers unless I wanted my nails to look messy and silly. Stamping to the rescue! As much as I try to stay away from stamping during these challenges, I know that I am just NOT good enough to whip out my nail art brushes and come up with something amazing. Well, let me tell you that stamping didn’t help me much today anyway. I actually did two looks today and I am not really happy with either. I’ll show you the one I settled on first and then I will show you the one that made me try again.

First, I started with OPI We’ll Always Have Paris.

We’ll Always Have Paris is one of my favorite dark polishes from one of my favorite collections: La Collection De France. This polish is just so pretty, super pigmented and shiny.

I used Bundle Monster stamp BM 323 for this rose design and alternated white roses and metallic roses (using Essie Nothing Else Metals.) Why did I do that? I have no idea. I was just kind of irritated and frustrated with my first design. Are you ready to see it?

Ehhhh….I don’t know what to say about these either. I wish I had just stuck with my simple mani of We’ll Always Have Paris and stopped there. As I’ve said before…not every mani is going to be a winner and clearly these are way at the bottom of the totem pole. The next challenge calls for delicate print…what the heck am I gonna do then?? At least I have a few days to think about it.

China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection – My 3 Picks

Posted on 10 November, 201210 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As a reformed polish hoarder, I no longer rush out to get whole collections just for the thrill of getting a whole collection. I have become a little more discriminating when it comes to my polish purchases so when my local beauty supply got the China Glaze Cirque Du Soleil Collection, I rushed over to see what it looked like in person. I’m not going to lie: the colors are pretty but most of them are not unique or must-haves for me. After my initial impressions, I decided to get three polishes from this collection: Water You Waiting For, It’s A Trap-eze! and Whirled Away.

Water You Waiting For was the first polish that caught my attention. I can never resist a good blue–especially a blue glitter. I know some of you are probably snickering since only a few months ago, I was a sworn glitter hater. Don’t fret–I’ve seen the error of my ways. I was hoping that this glitter would be a little more opaque (like the fine glitters from the On Safari Collection) but the glitter is not as fine and the formula is a little thin. I applied three coats here, and I felt like it definitely needed all three.

It’s A Trap-eze! is one of those milky glitters that have been popping up so much lately and that I always fall for. This reminds me of the Nails Inc. Sprinkles polishes without having the awesome one coat formula. I applied two coats here and as you can see, I have quite a few bald spots. Despite the mediocre formula, I still really like this polish because it’s like a birthday party explosion on my nails.

Whirled Away was the glitter I zeroed in on when I first saw promo pictures because I was so excited to see a mainstream brand take some direction from the indie community. This is not a dupe of Sticks ‘n Stones, Putting On The Ritzzz or Connect The Dots but it is obviously similar. I layered this over China Glaze Aquadelic, and I quite like this combination. You will have to do some dabbing to get the large glitter to go where you want it to, but I think it’s worth the effort.

Overall I am pleased with these three polishes, but I feel slightly underwhelmed. I don’t know what I was expecting, but I’m glad I only picked up these three. I’m not saying that I won’t perhaps get a couple of other colors once I see swatches and convince myself that I MUST have them. That’s just something every polish lover has to contend with.

So, let me know what you think. Have you spotted these polishes yet? Are there any colors that you can’t wait to get your hands on from this collection?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 17: Animal Print Nails

Posted on 9 November, 2012 by Cynthia

As usual, here I am posting super late. I am such a spaz. I was pretty busy today so at least I have an excuse. Since I was short on time and lacking any really creative ideas, I decided to resort to stamping. I know, I know…I kind of cheated. But hey, at least I got the right challange design unlike other people. *cough* Nicole *cough* hehe.

I decided to finally use one of the glitters that so many people raved about when the China Glaze On Safari Collection came out. Now, which one to use? I Herd That or I’m Not Lion? I decided to give I Herd That a Whirl…

This glitter is absolute perfection. I am not kidding. It’s easy to apply, it covers nicely with only 2 coats and it just SPARKLES like a mofo. I love it and can’t believe that I have waited so long to use it.

I used Konad plate M57 for this design along with Konad’s Black special polish. I think it came out pretty well. I am definitely happy with the simplicity of this mani. I Herd that is definitely the star here, and I can’t wait to use I’m Not Lion!!!

Since I have you here, don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am doing a huge purge of polish. Most of my polishes have only been swatched once, and I really want to find a new home for them since I know I won’t use them much. You can see all the polishes I have for sale here.

Don’t forget to check out the other animal print manis for today’s challenge…or a floral mani if you’re Nicole. Let me know what you think and talk to you later!

Birthday Polish: BB Couture

Posted on 8 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Today I have a super fun post for you! Well, I call it super fun because it was really fun for me to write and even more fun for me to receive these lovely polishes. My birthday was back in September so I’m a little behind on doing this post that I had planned as soon as I received these. Some lovely ladies and I started a little birthday polish exchange group a few months ago. The first polishes I received were these two gorgeous BB Couture babies from Lesley:

Junk In The Trunk is a polish after my heart. It’s blue, it’s shimmery and it’s super opaque–what’s not to love? Since this was my first experience with BB Couture, I was so pleased with how easy the formula is to work with. I did not have to do any clean up with this mani–zero. The formula is medium thick and extremely opaque so I only needed two thin coats.

Michael is another amazing color. It’s a dark greyed purple with some muy caliente shimmer. I love how subtle the shimmer is in this polish. This polish comes from their men’s line which I didn’t even know existed. Upon doing a little research, this polish comes from their Infamous Lovers collection which pairs a female polish with its “infamous” male lover. The couples represented are: Adam/Eve, Anthony/Cleopatra, Clyde/Bonnie, John/Pocahontas, Romeo/Juliet and….Michael/Carla? I wracked my brain to think of famous Michael/Carla couples but could not think of any. It turns out that this duo is named after some friends of the owner–how cool is that? This polish was also perfection to apply and only 2 coats were needed.

Since we are such The Office nerds, both Lesley and I immediately thought of Michael Scott. I took it one step further and I swear I kept singing the Michael Scarn song and even tried to do the dance.

So thank you Lesley! These polishes are so freaking cool.

What do you think? Have you tried BB Couture yet?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 17: Striped Nails

Posted on 6 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ahhh…election day is here! I’m not one to lecture people so I won’t get all soapbox-y on everyone. For me, voting is a privilege, a right and a responsibility. There are so many people in other areas of the world who are not allowed to vote so I’m not about to piss on election day. I don’t care about your politics–just make your voice count. To think that less than 100 years ago, women were not allowed to vote makes me wonder why so many women don’t vote.

Anyway, enough politics talk. Today is day 17 of our 31 day challenge so we are a little over half-way through. I think that the fact that we have spaced it out has made it seem like it is just draaaaaaaaaaaaaging, but at the same time I like the fact that I have a few days in between to do other things. The challenge calls for striped nails today and as usual, I had no idea what to do. I took out my Nubar Jeans trio and told myself I had to use these three for whatever look I settled on. In case you’re not familiar with Nubar, this is the trio I am talking about:

Faded Jeans – Boyfriend Jeans – Dark Wash Jeans

This trio is supposed to be a dupe for the Les Jeans de Chanel Collection, but I don’t know how similar they are since I don’t own any Chanel. I’ve seen a few swatches and they do seem to be pretty similar, but I can’t assert that they are 100% dupes. I started out with a full manicure of Faded Jeans.

This polish is pretty, but I found the application kind of weird. It was opaque at two coats but when I looked closely, it had some streaky bald patches so I had to apply a third coat. Luckily, the other two polishes did not have this problem.

I then left a little area at the bottom and polished the rest of my nail with Boyfriend Jeans and let that dry a bit. I then left another small strip of the Boyfriend Jeans color and polished the rest of my nail with Dark Wash Jeans. Don’t worry if the lines look a little crooked because the stripping tape will make it all look neat. (Can you tell I’m not good at tutorials? hahaha)

So there is the finished look. What do you think? I had a hard time photographing these colors because my skin would turn so red in the pics. I tried to color correct as much as I could without affecting the polish colors, but since I am a big edit fail, it didn’t turn out so well. My hands are in a terrible state right now because I decided that I didn’t need no stinkin’ gloves to clean with bleach. Yeah…moron.

Don’t forget to check out the other striped manis for today’s challenge. Talk to you soon.

Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer In Reflecting Pond

Posted on 5 November, 20125 November, 2012 by Cynthia

Ok, so my pictures turned out like crap today. Well, crappier than usual, that is. I was rushing and I didn’t review my pictures of the base polish before stamping over it so I got stuck with ugly pics. Then I did the same after I stamped and didn’t check out my pictures. So there you have it: lack of planning = craptastic pictures. Boo. I don’t know what possessed me to pull out this polish today since it is 90 degrees outside, and I’ve been letting the temperature guide my polish choices. I got this polish along with Parachute purple a couple of months ago but hadn’t gotten a chance to try it. Sephora + Pantone Universe Jewel Lacquer In Reflecting Pond is a very pretty jewel toned green. This reminds me of Pixi Evening Emerald, Essie Dive Bar, etc… Just like Essie Dive Bar, Reflecting Pond has a very promising pink/purple flash in the bottle that completely disappears on the nail. So disappointing!

I am only posting one picture because all the other ones were beyond bad. This one is pretty bad too but it’s the best of the ugly bunch.

Same goes for this picture. I used Bundle Monster plate 322 and Essie Good As Gold for this houndstooth design. Normally I loooove anything houndstooth but I am just not feeling this manicure today. Ugh…maybe it’s just my crappy mood today.

Last night I went to dinner with one of my best friends and we seriously piled out. We went to a seafood restaurant where you basically order shrimp, crab, clams and various other delectable crustaceans by the pound. You choose a seasoning (lemon pepper, Cajun, etc) and a level of spiciness and they then bring out a plastic bag full of your seafood selections boiled in your seasoning of choice. Your only utensils are your fingers, paper towels and your plastic bib. hahaha Behold the shrimp massacre!

Did you get a load of my fingers after our meal? Whoa. Let me tell you, I am still feeling the aftermath of this feast. I feel like garlic is seeping through my pores. Ugh…I don’t know if I’ll be back soon despite how yummy the meal was.

So how was your weekend? Did you do anything fun? I can’t wait for election day! I take voting very seriously so I’ll be up super early to cast my ballot!

Nails Inc. Baker Street

Posted on 4 November, 20123 November, 2012 by Cynthia

How do you feel about blue nail polish? As a nail polish enthusiast, I think that most nail polish colors seem normal, but I’ve noticed that other people think it’s an off color for nails. I think that nail art has become so mainstream, that nothing is really that shocking anymore. Nails Inc. Baker Street is a polish that I had salivated over for a while but somehow hadn’t gotten around to purchasing. If you read my blog, you probably know that Nails Inc. cremes are just about my favorite polishes in the nail world. Before I got my hands on this polish, I received a lovely dupe by Kiko which I reviewed here. Kiko #336 really is a perfect exact dupe, but I could not resist getting both of them. Is it a sickness? You be the judge.

Nails Inc. Baker Street is a such a lovely and saturated cobalt blue. This polish definitely needs two coats because the first coat was a little thin. I actually found that the Kiko applied slightly better. I still love both of them!

I haven’t used my beloved Sticks ‘n Stones in a while so I dusted it off for this manicure.

This was my first purchase from Ninja Polish and I couldn’t have been happier. Since I would never get the Dramarella version of this polish, I’m so happy that this came out. You can purchase it here if you’re interested. Also, in case you are wondering how Sticks ‘n Stones compares to Lynderella Connect The Dots and even Dollish Polish Putting On The Ritzzz, check out this post over at My Lucid Bubble.

So there you have it, my polish peeps. How do you feel about bold colors such as Baker Street?

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 16: Polka Dot Nails

Posted on 3 November, 2012 by Cynthia

After the short break, we are back to the 31 Day Challenge! Are you excited too? No? Well, alright…

I finally got to use one of my new Illamasqua babies! Yayyyyy! Charisma is one of the two polishes from their Generation Q Fall 2012 collection, and as usual I would like to report that I love this polish for so many reasons. Look at it.

Illamasqua calls this a “deep raspberry pink” but this is actually darker than I imagined when I first saw some swatches. Nonetheless, this is a perfect call color. It’s dark but vibrant and glowy. As usual, the formula was perfect and opaque at two coats.

Since the challenge calls for polka dots, I was just going to use my dotting tool to apply dots on my nails but I decided to use some loose gold hex glitter.

I am feeling a lot more comfortable with using loose glitter now so I’m proud of myself for actually getting this mani done. While this may not be difficult for some people, I usually fail big time at anything that isn’t a simple manicure with some stamping. Doesn’t this just look like Christmas exploded on my nails?

So, what do you think of my polka dot manicure? Let me know what you think of this polish. Are you a fan of Illamasqua? Don’t forget to check out the other challenge polka dot manis below. Talk to you later.

Sation Seriously Slate

Posted on 2 November, 2012 by Cynthia

I did something today that strikes fear in the hearts of the most hardened individuals: I went to the DMV…without an appointment. Like an idiot, I lost my registration card so I headed over there to get a duplicate. Yes, I could have mailed it in, but I just wanted to get all straightened out as quickly as possible. When I got there, there wasn’t a huge line–maybe 10 people in line to get a number. It took over an hour just to get through the first line to get a number which entitles you to wait again while your number is called. Look, I know the DMV is a nightmare. I think everyone knows the nightmare is exponentially more painful if you go there without an appointment so I was ready for the long annoying wait. However, there seemed to be a lot of people there who apparently had never been to the DMV judging by their behavior. A few people were screaming at the DMV employee who was processing documents and giving our numbers. One guy was yelling at people to hurry up and go to the desk even if you weren’t being called yet. I ignored that guy and then he started telling people behind me to tell me to go up to the counter. WTF? I swear that if I hadn’t been in a mellow mood, I might have punched this guy in the vas deference. So after 2.5 hours, I finally got to talk to a DMV employee for 2 minutes and she printed out my new registration card. I guess all I want to say about this experience is: make a freaking appointment. If you don’t, then don’t act like a douche when you have to wait.

So once I got home, I was trying to figure out what to do with my nails. Since our 31 Day Challenge resumes tomorrow (polka dots!), I didn’t want to do anything too complicated since I’m going to have to remove it tomorrow and do the challenge manicare. So, I pulled out one of my untrieds: Sation Seriously Slate.

This colors is seriously gorgeous. It’s like the dark and twisty older sister of China Glaze Immortal. Don’t you just love that shimmer?? The only thing that I don’t like about this polish is that it is super sheer so I needed to apply 3 coats. The first coat is crazy sheer and patchy, but I am glad to say that it does build up nicely.

I have had this bottle of Miss & Makeup for a while now but hadn’t used it so I decided to layer it over Seriously Slate.

Look at this pretty macro shot of Miss & Makeup! This sweet and pretty glitter comes from the “I Love Miss-self” specialty glitter collection that was released recently.

So what do you think of Seriously Slate? Do you like Miss & Makeup? Are there any other base colors that you think would go well with this glitter? I was thinking of using a hot pink underneath. Don’t forget to check in tomorrow since we will be resuming the 31 Day Challange–fun times! Talk to you later.

P.S. Did you enter my giveaway? It ends in a couple of days. Don’t miss out.
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China Glaze Little Drummer Boy

Posted on 1 November, 20121 November, 2012 by Cynthia

November is here which means that the only holiday I like is around the corner: Christmas! I am not a person who usually enjoys holidays, but I love decorating a Christmas tree. There is something so lovely about the process of unwrapping and unpacking Christmas ornaments that just makes me happy. I was looking through my polishes today since I had a bunch of them out after my blog sale post, and I reached for China Glaze Little Drummer Boy. This polish comes from the 2010 Holiday collection which predates my nail polish obsession. The reason why I even got this polish is because I can never think of the song The Little Drummer Boy without thinking of Angela on the office singing this song during office karaoke or when she asked Andy if she could walk down the aisle to this song when they were planning their wedding. hahaha…I am cracking myself up over here. I tried to find a clip of these exchanges on youtube but could not come up with anything. 🙁 However, I did find one clip that I had forgotten about:

That’s classic Dwight right there.

Back to the polish: Little drummer boy is a darkened blue with some gorgeous shimmer. This polish is super opaque so I could have gotten away with one coat but I used two.

Since I haven’t been doing much stamping lately, I decided to stamp an argyle design from Konad plate M60.

I am not that happy with this stamping job. I have noticed that all of the white konad polish that I have purchased the last year or so have been really watery. The first couple of white konad polishes I bought where so thick and opaque and always stamped perfectly. These new ones, not so much.

And just as a treat (I’m looking at you, Lesley!), here is a compilation video of awesome Dwight moments:

I think that I have just found the perfect opening sentence for my next job interview: “How would I describe myself? Three words: hard-working, alpha-male, jackhammer, merciless, insatiable.” How could they NOT hire me, right?