Category: Swatches

Of Life and Lacquer > Swatches

Sation Board Girl Blue

Posted on by Cynthia

Since Alfie has pretty much taken over my life in the last week, I haven’t had a chance to even do anything with my nails. Picking up dog poop doesn’t really lend itself to me wanting to do something pretty with my nails.  So in order to get back to some sense of normalcy, I decided to try out a new color that I received from Miss Professional Nail. When I first saw this color, I immediately thought of the Kate Bosworth movie Blue Crush. It’s funny how colors will sometimes elicit such vivid memories and images.

If you’ve read some of my other posts, you probably already know how much I love blue. And purple. And red. And…well, I might as well admit that there are very few nail polish colors that I don’t enjoy. However, I’ve really been on a blue/green/teal/turquoise kick so Board Girl Blue was definitely up my alley. I thought that maybe I had other similar colors but so far it seems to be a lot brighter and less smoky than other polishes I thought could be dupes.

I wanted to konad the life out of this nail polish, but sometimes you just have to stay simple and clean. I really loved this color and the formula was great. I probably could have gotten away with one coat if I had been really careful, but I applied two to even out the color. One of the things I like the most about this nail polish is the really wide brush. I have wide nail beds so the brush applies the polish perfectly. When I saw how bright and saturated this color is, I was afraid that it would stain my nails. Thankfully, that did not happen.  This creme polish is part of the new California Gleamin’ Collection. For more information, you can visit the Miss Professional Nail website at http://www.misspn.com and you can also shop their colors here.

What do you think of this color? Is it something you would wear? Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

****These items were sent for review. This in no way influences my review and opinion of the product.****

Sation Periwinkle Princess

Posted on by Cynthia

My fellow nail polish addict Nicole has really been diggin’ glitter lately judging by her recent posts. Of course I had to give her a hard time because I am so not a glitter person. Despite how many times I have written those words here, I continue to buy glitter nail polish sporadically. Why? That is the nature of a true nail polish addict. I had previously posted about the re-vamped Sation polishes and had also teased Nicole about the awesome glitter I had purchased. I couldn’t decide what base color to use so I just went with a safe color by Essie: Nice Is Nice.

I then applied a couple of coats of Periwinkle Princess.

The main thing that attracted me to this polish was the bar glitter because I don’t have many bar glitter polishes. I found that the bar glitter was a little difficult to manipulate and there doesn’t seem to be that much of it in the polish. However, I did like the effect once I got it on my nails. It’s hard to capture how this looks in person but it really is pretty. Here is my one glitter comment: it was not a pain to remove! I was in shock. Never thought you’d hear that from me, right? Well, now you heard it.

So what do you think of this glitter? Does it look like something you’d wear? How would you wear it differently?

Sation Miss McTeal

Posted on by Cynthia

The other day I was checking out my usual nail places for new stuff and I came across a huge display of Sation. If you’re familiar with this line from Miss Professional Nail, they have completely revamped their line: new formula, new bottle and most importantly…NEW BRUSH! Their older polishes really needed some help when it came to the brush. To tell you the truth, I was pleasantly surprised.

This color is a lot more green than the way it photographed. It has a really pretty blue shimmer in the teal/green base that flashes only at certain angles. I am liking this polish so far so I’m going to keep up with their releases.  Have you tried any Sation polishes?

Deborah Lippmann Let’s Hear It For The Boy

Posted on by Cynthia

Today I got to try my first Deborah Lippmann polish: Let’s Hear It For The Boy. It’s one of the 4 polishes I got on super-sale-clearance on HSN. Considering how much people rave about this brand, I thought that angels would sing and a ray of divine light would illuminate me when I opened the bottle. (That only happens when it’s Vodka) The first thing I noticed is that I do not like the handle on the brush. It’s too small for me. *That’s what she said*

Despite how awkward the handle felt in my hand, I absolutely loved the brush. It was so easy to apply the polish in a very precise manner so I basically had no clean up. The formula was pretty good but I don’t know about $16-good. Something weird happened with my top coat. I think that it has thickened up so it did not apply evenly. As you can see, the tips of my nails look like the top coat shrunk a bit. Weird…

I’ve really been into using my dotting tools lately so I did this simple pattern as an accent nail. I like how it turned out.

I have an update on my puppy quest! I spoke with my landlady today and she let me know that the pet deposit would be $450 which I can make payments on if I want to. I thought that was really nice of her. I am so happy that I got the ok from everyone involved in this process so that when I am financially ready to get my Alfie, I don’t have to do anymore paperwork. Of course I’d love to go out and get him right this second, but I’m trying to be responsible and make sure that I have enough money saved up to anticipate some extra expenses.

Last week I was going to write a post about people invading your personal space in public but forgot about it until today. I was waiting in line at the supermarket and some guy got behind me and placed his stuff on the conveyor belt even though there was no space left: he just pushed my stuff. Just like that. Not cool. I didn’t want to seem uptight so I didn’t say anything but then I could feel that he was way too close to me. Sorry buddy: if I can feel your breath on the back of my neck and smell your disgusting breath, then yes you are invading my space. So what did I do? I turned around and stood there facing him. Was it awkward? A little bit in the beginning but I love that he took a couple of steps back and looked away. It reminded me of the time that my sociology professor in college asked us to do an experiment as part of our homework. She told us to get on an elevator and stand facing the people who were already there instead of walking in and turning around to face the doors like everyone else. It was kind of comical to see how uncomfortable it made people! They were trying to look away, fiddle with their phones…they looked nervous. Anyway, back to Mr. Stank Ass Breath. When the line moved forward, he once again was up on my back…what the hell was his problem? He was literally standing right over me when I was trying to enter my PIN on the card reader so I asked him: “Do you mind?” He seemed confused which made me think that he just did not understand the concept of having a space bubble. Either that or he was just an asshole who was trying to get my pin.

I am totally sad that House is ending tonight. 🙁 The last episode is going to start in a few minutes so I can’t wait to see how it all ends.  What are some of your favorite shows right now?

 

Nubar Prize

Posted on by Cynthia

Last night I went to  L’s house and we watched The Vow. I don’t usually watch sappy movies by choice, but I wanted to see this one cause I like Rachel McAdams. It was alright…not super impressed by it. I was petting L’s cat a lot yesterday and all of a sudden my eye got so red and irritated. It felt like I had something stuck in it so we tried flushing it out but nothing seemed to help. By the time I left, my eye was swollen shut. That was fun on the drive back home. I do not recommend driving with only one eye at night. I figured that it was probably some kind of allergic reaction to Tigger. Here is the little fur ball:

He is a super shy cat and always runs away to hide when someone comes to the door. He’s no longer scared of me so after a minute, he comes back out and lets me pet him. He’s cute, right?

 

A while ago I had purchased two polishes from the Prisms Collection that Nubar released in 2010.  I just love holos even if they are not linear. I can’t believe I hadn’t tried this yet considering how pretty it is. The only thing I didn’t like about it is that it dries so incredibly gritty and rough so you have to use a thick top coat if it bothers you.

 

Since I haven’t been using my Konad as much lately, I used stamp M73 for this design.

So what do you have going on this weekend? Anything fun? I am feeling super crappy right now because I have monstrous cramps so I’m just laying low. I hope I feel better tomorrow so I can actually do something fun.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend! 🙂

Essie Who Is The Boss

Posted on by Cynthia

From the 2012 Love & Acceptance Wedding Collection, I decided to wear Who Is The Boss today.  Am I the only one who is only thinking of this?

Anyway, I like this color but it’s not anything new or exciting. Doesn’t this look exactly like Essie Absolutely Shore?

 

I messed around with my dotting tools and this is what I came up with:

Sorry about the lighting…it’s super crappy.

I would write more right now but I’m running late! 🙂

Layla Ocean Rush

Posted on by Cynthia

I just need to resign myself to the idea that I will buy every polish in this collection…eventually. At $15.50 a pop for .33 oz, this is way too expensive for me but these are linear holos. Before these, I did not have ANY linear holos, and I think they are worth every penny. Now that they are at my Ulta, I can buy these and use their coupons. I ended up paying around $13.50 for Ocean Rush–tax included. Score!

I should have waited a little longer to take a picture of my nails because the holo hadn’t developed all the way, but I wanted to catch the last bit of sunlight. I am in love with this one. Next on my list?

Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. I am a H&O nerd. How sexy is that mustache? lol

So have you gotten your hands on any of these? What is your favorite holo of any brand?

 

Zoya Stella

Posted on by Cynthia

Stella is another polish that I purchased during the Zoya Earth Day Extravaganza. As you may recall, I ended up purchasing 14 bottles. Yeah, that’s right so don’t judge me you hypocrite. I really like that all these polishes have first names because it’s fun to pick out the polish with your name. Cynthia is a super dark and smoky color so I think it fits me perfectly.

I used this polish in honor of my friend Mavel who encouraged me to start this blog. We were always sharing nail polish stuff and she always told me I should blog. Additionally, she is the one who told me about all the nail places that I now basically live at. I can say that I have Mavel to thank for my rampant polish purchases. Mavel has the most adorable daughter named Stella–hence the choice of polish.

I couldn’t see the shimmer that much in the bottle so I really loved it when I went out in the sun. I only used two coats which seemed like full coverage but now I’m seeing some vnl.  🙁 I still like this polish despite the vnl.

What are you wearing today?

OPI Chop-Sticking To My Story

Posted on by Cynthia

I have a confession to make: I love Anderson Cooper. He is just so cute in a weird quirky way. I always watch his talk show and it’s funny to see how weird he really is. He reminds me of another news anchor on Spanish TV that is also a well respected journalist.

Anderson Cooper                          Jorge Ramos

Uhm, hello silver foxes! Meow.

So we spent mother’s day at my bro and sil’s house and we had a fun time. Of course we ate way too much which was the best part. I got my mom a perfume set of Kate Spade’s Twirl which I really like. Now I want one for myself. We were running late yesterday and I still hadn’t done my nails so I just rushed and picked a color in a hurry. I settled on OPI Chop-Sticking To My Story because it’s one of my untrieds. It’s really pretty–reminds me of a pumpkin.

 

I am a huge fan of the Hong Kong Collection and this is one of my favorites. I could have gotten away with one thick-ish coat but I did two thin coats out of habit.  What do you think of this color?

I hope you all had a nice weekend.

Sinful Colors Cinderella

Posted on by Cynthia

I was really excited to try this color because I had heard so much about it. I like my baby blues for sure and when I saw the pretty shimmer, I thought that it would be a winner for sure. The polish is extremely sheer; I applied four coats for the pictures below, and I could still see vnl faintly. I added a few drops of Seche Restore to make it easier to work with and that seemed to help out tremendously.

I don’t have much to say about this polish. It’s nice and a great bargain but I hate vnl with a passion. I guess I could wear some granny panties to eliminate the vnl, but that just seems like too much work. Have you tried this polish before? What do you think of this color?