Category: Swatches

Of Life and Lacquer > Swatches

“Hello Oscar Mayer Weiner…Lover.”

Posted on by Cynthia

My hot dog looks a little anorexic and frankly kinda burnt. So what?! It was still good. Oh, 4th of July was a day of ridiculous feasting for my family. We had a bbq and endless snacks. My mom made a beautiful fruit platter so that she could fool herself into thinking that at least we were eating one healthy thing. Yeah, right! The city where I live allows fireworks so we went outside to watch everyone set off their fireworks. My youngest brother bought a bunch and was creating his own by ripping up picolo petes and the like. Boys! Overall, I had a really nice time playing Scrabble and watching movies. I finally watched Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid and I really liked it. I mean, what is there not to like? Robert Redford. Like! Robert Redford. Double Like!! And Robert Redford…

 

I’ve been super excited about playing with my new Bundle Monster plates so I tried stamping without using my special polishes. I really like the look of the special polishes because they are so pigmented and always produce really crisp designs.  I started with a base of OPI French Quarter For Your Thoughts.

I seriously love this color. It’s so different from all the bright and crazy colors that I have been wearing lately.

 

I used OPI Ski Teal We Drop as the stamping color and plate BM 319 for the jigsaw puzzle design. This color stamped better than I thought it would. I usually don’t have much luck with stamping using regular nail polish so I’m glad this wasn’t a total disaster. If you like stamping or are interested in getting started, you MUST get these new Bundle Monster plates. They are so much fun and will change the way you do your nails.

How was your 4th of July?

P.S. Do you know where the title of my post came from?

 

Color Club Wham! Pow!

Posted on by Cynthia

Ahhhhhh summer! The heat is starting and it’s not just my prozac. I am dreading the weather so much this year, but it’s been really cool lately so I’m not ready to full on complain just yet. The warmer it gets, the crazier I want my nails to look. Is that normal?

 

I know I’ve talked about radioactive polishes, but this one takes it to another level. I had to take about a million pictures in order to get something that didn’t make my camera lens explode. This orange is so aptly named: Wham! Pow! It really is like a punch to your eyeballs, right? The formula was pretty good and applied very smoothly. I LOVE THIS ORANGE!

 

Dreamsicle is another China Glaze specialty glitter. I thought about layering this on top of white because it made me think of those 50/50 bars that I loved so much when I was a kid, but when I saw how crazy Wham! Pow! looked on its own, I decided to tame it down a bit with glitter. Since when does glitter tame any polish?

 

Since I got my new BM plates yesterday, of course I wanted to try them out. I couldn’t make up my mind what design to use until I saw this citrus-y design. I just wanted to see how the quality of the plates stood up to Konad. I am pleasantly surprised to report that the Bundle Monster plates are freaking awesome.

I am going to start on my 4th of July nails right now, and I am afraid that it’s going to be a huge mess. Wish me luck.

Color Club Twiggie

Posted on by Cynthia

I asked my brother what he thought of when he hears the word Twiggie and he said: model, skinny. I know this color does refer to Twiggy, but I don’t see the connection. I started rambling that maybe it’s green like a twig from a tree or whatever. Yeah, I’m just going to enjoy the polish and not overthink it.

This seems like a really weird green to me but weird in a good way. I don’t think I have another green quite like this one. It’s almost milky. Now that I think of it, maybe it’s similar to Essie Mojito Madness? I did have some problems with the formula because it was super streaky. It took three coats to finally level out this polish and cover up a few bald spots.

Your eyes are not deceiving you: yes, this is glitter.

This is one of the specialty glitters that China Glaze put out a few years ago. This one is called Sour Apple and I love how well the name fits the look of this polish. This is all I could think of while I while I applied this glitter:

And as a sweet, sweet ending, here is a song that everyone should love:

Layla Retro Pink & How I Almost Got Into A Fight

Posted on by Cynthia

I headed over to Ulta today (I was writing this on Sunday night but fell asleep) because I wanted to see if they had the Essence polish that I saw swatched here. Yeah, I know it’s glitter, but I just wanted to see it in person and get it out of my system. Of course my Ulta didn’t have it so I ended up drooling over the Layla holos again. I already have three of them, and I had been saying that I really wanted Flash Black but decided to get a pink one instead. Shocker, right?

How gorgeous are these? If they weren’t so pricey, I’d get them all instantly. I think I already mentioned this before, but here I go again: you can use a coupon for these at Ulta. I printed their $3.50 off any $10+ purchase coupon so I ended up paying just under $13 tax included. Paying $15.50 + tax for a tiny polish kind of makes me mad, but these are so pretty that I just try to ignore the price. Yay for coupons!

I took some pictures at the beach today. It was so pretty outside so L. and I just went to hang out, get some coffee and get some sun. It was more crowded than we expected which was kind of a bummer. After the pictures, I’ll tell you about how I almost got into a fight.

We decided to stop an watch an acrobatic-type show that looked pretty interesting. It was just a bunch of young guys doing stunts and cartwheels so we took a seat on a bench on the front row. We got there about 15 minutes before the show was supposed to start precisely because we wanted good seats and a good view of the show. Once everything started, a man with his wife and 3 children came up and were standing next to us. Because we were on edge, there was an opening so they were standing there and were being very loud. Slowly, they kept moving over and ended up standing right in front of us. What the hell? Why would they think that’s ok? At first we thought it was just a momentary lapse in judgement on their part, but they wouldn’t move and we could no longer see. L. seemed annoyed but she didn’t do anything. I got up, tapped the guy on the shoulder and said: “I don’t mean to be rude, but you’re standing right in front of us and we can’t see the show.” He turned and gave me a dirty look and muttered under his breath that we could move. WTF? Why would we have to move if we got there early and his retarded ass just decided to stand in front of us??? Well, I wasn’t just about to take that: “Well, we got here early precisely because we wanted good seats. Why should we have to move just because you decided to be rude and block our view?” I don’t really know what he was saying because he was mumbling. So not only is he a rude asshole, but he’s too afraid to say everything to my face? Oh, Ghetto Cynthia is out in full force. He backed off and we went back to watching the show. Later on, L. told me that it looked like I was getting ready to punch that guy in the face. I found it amusing because I am so NOT confrontational, but nothing gets me revved up like rudeness. It really makes me wonder what kind of crap people teach their children nowadays. This guy was a complete asshole and was basically teaching his kids that it’s ok to be an asshole. I feel sorry for people like that. When I was a kid, I was a little demon child, but my mom always taught us good manners: to greet everyone, to be polite and always say “please” and “thank you.” If I acted like a turd in public, I knew I was going to get a spanking when I got home.  Anyway, that’s the end of my rant about this. I took some video of the show and I might have caught some of the “fight,” but it’s not on the SD card!!!!!! Where is it???  I am sad about that…I wonder if it got saved on my camera but that doesn’t make sense. Oh well.

How do you like my new holo? Have you purchased any Layla holos? Do you usually speak up when someone is rude to you or do you just ignore it? I hope you all had a nice weekend and happy Monday!

Sephora by OPI My Personal Serpent

Posted on by Cynthia

I was debating what to wear on my nails today, and bright cheery colors just weren’t appealing. I’ve been in a crappy mood today so I wanted something dark and smoky. I looked at my untried stash and pulled out SOPI My Personal Serpent which I recently got on sale at Sephora. This color is part of their Fall 2011 collection called The Garden Of Good And Evil which included seven other polishes. Before I get into swatches and the stamping I did, I wanted to do a quick polish comparison. My Personal Serpent reminded me of Essie Bobbing For Baubles and Zoya Cynthia so I did a side-by-side comparison

Pretty similar, right?  I purchased Bobbing For Baubles first and really liked it. Out of the three, Essie has the best formula. They actually all are pretty great when it comes to the formula and you reach opacity with 2 thin coats.  I purchased Cynthia because…well…it’s my namesake so how could resist? I just imagined that my namesake polish is a crazy glitter in an alternate universe. NOOOOOOOOOOOO! So why did I purchase My Personal Serpent even though I have 2 other nearly identical colors? Because it was on sale, and who can resist any nail polish sales? I am such a psycho nail polish hoarder….

You already know I like blues so this dark smoky blue fit the bill today. This color is just so dark and saturated that it makes me dream of fall/winter colors. Ahhhh!

I am anxiously waiting the arrival of my Bundle Monster plates so I took out my konad and used my favorite mummy bandage plate design.

Do you have multiple dupe polishes from different brands? Do you feel dumb once you realize you purchased a dupe? I need a polish intervention.

NARS Blushes

Posted on by Cynthia

If you think that my only obsession is nail polish, you’ve got another thing coming. When I first started getting interested in high end make up a couple of years ago, I was hesitant to pay luxury prices for brands like Chanel, Clé de Peau, Guerlain, Dior…etc.  I found my happy medium at Sephora with NARS, MUFE, Benefit, Too Faced and Urban Decay.  NARS quickly became my favorite brand for two products: lip gloss and blush. I have about 16 of their blushes so it was hard to really cut it down to my absolute favorites so I could share them with you. There are two images of each blush: the first one in direct sunlight and the second in the shade.

Taos – Warm desert rose

Desire – Delicate bright pink

Deep Throat – Flirty, sheer peach

Exhibit A – Matte vivid red

Taj Mahal – Blazing burnt orange with golden shimmer

Dolce Vita – Matte dusty rose

Albatross – Luminous glow for highlighting

Taos, Desire and Deep Throat

Exhibit A, Taj Mahal, Dolce Vita and Albatross

If you’re familiar with NARS, you may notice that I left out their most iconic product: Orgasm. Orgasm was the first blush I purchased and I do like it, but I wouldn’t call it one of my favorites.  These blushes are incredibly pigmented and finely milled so you have to use a light hand unless you’re purposely trying to look like a clown. I still use these blushes regularly, but I prefer some of my Benefit blushes–especially Bella Bamba.

NARS products can be purchased at many places like Sephora and narscosmetics.com,  so you shouldn’t have any problems finding them if you want to try them out. They retail for $28.

Do you own any NARS blushes? Do you have a favorite? What are some of your favorite make-up brands?

China Glaze Classic Chromes

Posted on by Cynthia

Wearing this nail polish is making me rethink If I really want the Essie Mirror Metallics collection. I think I have the same love/hate relationship with chromes as I do with glitter. Firstly, I’d like to ask if you like seeing these super old polishes. I realize that because of their age, most people won’t be able to find them so it’s not like I’m helping if you really like an old polish that I showcase on my blog. I’ve decided to include these on my blog because, as a nail polish collector and fanatic, I think it’s always fun to see really old stuff. Anyway, your input would be greatly appreciated!

This polish is from China Glaze’s Classic Chromes collection and, because it wasn’t labeled and there aren’t any swatches online, I don’t now what it’s called. There were about a dozen polishes in this collection from what I have been able to find online.  I had to apply this polish twice because the first time it was a complete disaster. I did not use a base coat and every single imperfection on my nails was magnified x1000. Then I put a top coat and the polish started to wrinkle…wrinkle bad. Then it started to look runny and I took it off in disgust. The second time around, I used Seche Base, which is a ridge filling base coat, and did not apply a top coat. I am satisfied with how this turned out but I am not a fan of brushstrokes.

 

 

So what do you think of this polish? Do you like chrome polishes in general? Are you going to be getting the Essie Mirror Metallics Collection?

American Classic Dramatic Blue

Posted on by Cynthia

Today I have another installment of Polishes From The Mesozoic Era. This is another one of those polishes that I picked up a few weeks ago at my favorite dusty. As you may be able to tell in the pictures below, some of the lettering on the bottle has rubbed off, and I didn’t really recognize the brand. I was drawn in by the steel blue color and the pink shimmer. The label at the bottom told me that this color is called Dramatic Blue by American Classic. It also mentioned that it came from the Vogue Collection. Eh? I’ve never heard of American Classic so when I got home I looked it up. It appears that American Classic is the company that makes Gelous. I could not find any information about actual nail polish colors because it seems that they only have a range of base/top coats and treatments. How old is this polish?!?! I’m super curious and will continue to search until I find my answer.

I don’t know if it’s just me, but I find this polish very unique! I have no idea how old it is, but I wasn’t surprised that the consistency seemed a little thick. I didn’t shake it enough and maybe a couple of drops of thinner would help it. I am going to look through the rest of the colors the next time I go to my dusty. Can you think of any other similar colors? Do you know anything about this line of nail polishes? If you have any information, please leave me a note.

 

And lastly, after my Aroma Café post from last night, I had been craving Starbucks. How can coffee make me so happy?

 

Stay classy and when all else fails, paint your nails. (This could be my new tagline! lol)

Nails Inc. Tate

Posted on by Cynthia

Tate is the color that I imagine Roxanne wearing: a beautiful, glossy harlot red that she would wear before going back to her “home on whore island.” Sorry ladies, I just couldn’t help myself. I am a creme finish lover (wow, that sounds inappropriate), so of course I adore Tate. It’s bold, glossy, creamy and absolutely gorgeous. I love to wear red nail polish because it’s so LOUD and immediately commands attention. I am very animated when I speak, moving my arms and hands all over the place, so I love to have strong colors on my nails for dramatic effect. Ready for some swatches after I have babbled on and on about prostitutes, whores, and creme finishes? Ok!

No, I wasn’t lying. This is gorgeous and it’s a one coater!!!! I used two coats because that’s what I’m used to, but you can definitely get away with one coat.

GASP! Glitter!!!! I know, I know. I keep saying that I hate glitter, but I’m starting to think that maybe I’m just lying to myself. I can almost guarantee that I will *never* pay over $5 for any glitter but I am open to anything under that price point. I just hate how hard glitter is to remove most of the time and the thing that bothers me most is that rough feeling that it usually leaves on my nails. I really do like sponging–even though I still can’t get the gradient sponging right–so I mixed two glitters to sponge on my tips: OPI Servin’ Up Sparkle and Wet N Wild Rockin’ Rubies.

How do you like Tate? Do you love wearing red on your nails or is it just too loud for your taste? How do you feel about the glitter mix on my tips? Let me know! I love to hear your opinions.

China Glaze Aroma Café

Posted on by Cynthia

I found a bunch of really old China Glaze polishes at a little hole in the wall beauty supply store that I go to often. I don’t like to spend too much time in there at a time because it’s so dusty that I feel like I need a shower afterwards. Eeeek! I like to peruse the section that I like to call “From the Mesozoic Era” because they have all kinds of crazy bottles that look like they are full of primordial ooze. They are all separated and most of them have long lost the original bottle lettering. This probably sounds like garbage to most people, but to me it is a chance to possibly find a treasure. Since I am a huge China Glaze fan, I was intrigued by these little bottles. Upon further research, it looks like this collection came out in the fall of 2002 and I was so excited to get something so old. This collection precedes my nail polish obsession like so many other awesome collections. It always makes me sad to know I missed out on the OMG collection.

These polishes came in a set of 6 colors and were supposed to have a coffee scent to them. I wasn’t expecting the scent to be there 10 years later–and it wasn’t! They did, however, smell “like a turd covered in burnt hair.” The smell was pretty disgusting and I don’t know if that’s just what happens sometimes when nail polish is super old…or maybe the coffee scent fermented to the smell of death. I also noticed that the formula was kind of spotty and then it went postal when I put a top coat on it as you will see below.

With Milk, Please! was streaky on me and when I applied a top coat, it became a beast. Look at those ripples!! What the heck is that? It’s like ridges. The color is a perfect café au lait.

 

Xpress-Ahh! is a super saturated dark coffee bean color. This one smells bad too, but I like the color better. It also reacted poorly to the top coat but it’s less evident because the color is so dark.

Will I wear these colors again? No. Do I regret purchasing them? NO WAY! I love having these old polishes. I guess you can say the collector in me has taken over. You can still find these on ebay and other independent nail places that never get rid of inventory.

Now I want some Starbucks…Caramel Macchiatos dance around in my head (nonfat and triple shot, of course!) Are you a coffee drinker? What is your coffee drink of choice?