Category: Swatches

Of Life and Lacquer > Swatches

What’s Up With Your Nails?

Posted on by Cynthia

My neighbor asked me this when she saw me taking pictures of my nails this afternoon. She’s about 3 years old and very talkative. I told her that I was taking pictures because I wanted to share how they looked with some friends and she thought that was cool. Invariably, someone always catches me taking pictures of my nails outside, and I always get strange looks. It used to bother me but not anymore…the light is too good.

I was messing around with the OPI drawer in my melmer and I saw Fly. I love Fly because it’s so bright and creamy looking so I decided to use it today. I actually hadn’t used it since I swatched it a while back. I know you like it. Don’t tell me it’s not gorgeous.

 

Since I’ve been trying to lay off the Konad, I played around with another color and my Jessica holo topcoat. OPI Pamplona purple is the other polish I picked for this manicure.

Frankly, this was way too much work for me. I am going to try to leave this on my nails at least 3 days because it’s a waste of time otherwise. How often do you change your nails? What are you wearing right now?

Jessica Born 2 Pansy

Posted on by Cynthia

Can someone please explain to me the name of this nail polish? Born 2 Pansy? What am I missing here? Anyway, this polish is from Jessica’s Spring 2012 Collection and it’s a baby soft pink with a hint of lavender and some fine iridescent blue micro glitter. I liked this a lot more in the bottle than I did on my nails. I don’t really see the shimmer too much on my nails in regular light, but it could be that the sun has been MIA for the last week or so. I love how it looks pink, purple and kinda blue sometimes. The formula was ok. It is very sheer but buildable without any major issues. I had to apply 3 thick coats which I don’t like to do so a quick dry top coat like Seche Vite is a must. Ultimately, I do like this color but can’t see myself wearing too often.

 

Because I hadn’t done any konading in a few days, I decided to put a stamp on it. Single ladies, put a stamp on it! Cause if you liked it then you shoulda put a stamp on it. Ok, yeah…I think I’m delirious right now.

 

I liked it better without the konad on it, but it’s too late now.  Oh well, better luck next time.

PS. My nails are growing. Any bets on how much longer I can go without cutting them down to the nub?

Why I Love MUFE Aqua Creams

Posted on by Cynthia

Make Up For Ever is a brand that I think is very consistent when it comes to quality. I have yet to use one of their products that I don’t like which is pretty rare. Aqua creams are very pigmented waterproof creams for the eyes, lips and cheeks. I don’t have any of the formulas that are specifically formulate for the lips and cheeks–I stuck with those that can be used as eye shadows. In my experience, the best way to work with them is to apply them with your fingers. I find that the warmth of your fingers will soften up the consistency and will allow you to blend them beautifully. I have also used a synthetic brush to apply them, but I still much prefer my fingers.

As someone with allergies, eye make up seems to disappear once the watery eyes begin. I always forget that I’m wearing eye make up and rub my eyes. Not good. Much to my surprise, Aqua Creams do not budge. I wore some of these on a trip to Cancun where you could almost cut through the humidity and they wore immaculately…no smudging or wear the whole day.

I mostly tend to use these on their own as a wash of color on my lids, but they also work perfectly as a base for other eye shadows. The trick is that you have to apply the eye shadow while the Aqua Cream is still wet in order for it to lock in the color. Once they are dry, they don’t budge yet they come off easily with any kind of make up remover.

Now, onto the swatches!

 

1 Anthracite – silvery charcoal shimmer

2 Steel – silver gray shimmer

3 Silver – true silver shimmer

4 Snow – white pearl shimmer

 

11 Gold – yellow gold shimmer

12 Golden Copper – soft copper shimmer

13 Warm Beige – champagne shimmer

14 Satin Brown – warm brown shimmer

 

15 Taupe – taupe brown shimmer

16 Pink Beige – pinky beige shimmer

17 Plum – burgundy plum shimmer

18 Purple – light lilac shimmer

 

20 Intense Blue – bright blue sheen

21 Turquoise – vibrant turquoise shimmer

22 Emerald Green – golden green sheen

 

Make Up Forever Aqua Creams can be purchased at many retailers  for $23.00 each. I have had some of these over a year and they have not dried out which is always a big concern with cream products.

Have you tried any MUFE Aqua Creams? Do you have a favorite?

Essie Angora Cardi

Posted on by Cynthia

I knew that Angora Cardi was a color that some might call matronly and for a momicure mauve when I first picked it up. But that didn’t make a difference to me: I love mauves dangit. I think I just like how it looks on my darker skin tone. Now that I’ve worn it, I really love it. The color is pretty and the formula is fantastic. I decided not to do any stamping today because my konad stuff needs a little break. However, I did do an accent nail using Wet N Wild It’s All In The Cut. The collection that it comes from is probably my favorite glitter ever…and that’s saying a lot because I don’t usually use the words favorite and glitter in the same sentence. Were you able to pick up any of the limited edition Ice Baby ColorIcon Collection from Winter 2011? That whole collection was just beautiful but I hate how thirsty the glitter is; it sucks up topcoat like there’s no tomorrow.

So here is what my nails ended up looking like. Once again I was forced to take picture inside with artificial light because there was zero sun today. 🙁

 

Today wasn’t a really interesting polish day. This manicure feels safe to me but sometimes safe is good. I purchased 4 Sinful Colors polishes because they were on sale for $1.00 at Walgreens. Now I’m waiting for my 14 other Zoyas to show up….

Layla Mercury Twilight

Posted on by Cynthia

I had such a huge plate of pad thai for dinner that I’m afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t really eat lunch which I know is bad so I was pretty freaking ravenous come dinner time. I went to this hidden Thai place that my friend introduced me to eons ago and ordered my usual shrimp pad thai and thai iced tea. My brother had the same and he said he really liked it. I think he is the most adventurous one in the family when it comes to trying new foods. I try to be good but sometimes it’s just so hard to eat something that looks strange to me. I was ok with eating escargot when I was in France so I guess I’m not as bad as I think I am.

In other news, I today I picked up two melmers at Michaels. I seriously need a better storage solution for my nail polishes. Since I am close to the 400 mark, I think two melmers will suit me just fine. If I outgrow both of them in less than 6 months, I’m going to have to go to some sort of nail polish addiction therapy. Right now, they are 50% off so I paid around $18 for each 3 drawer melmer. Score! Once I get them all set up and decorated, I will post some pictures.

I also chopped all my hair off today. I love how light my head feels. Is that weird? My hair is so short that I don’t really have to fuss with it at all because it just does its own thing. My hairdresser was talking to me about getting some kind of mohawk, but I don’t think that it would be the best look for job interviews. When my hair grows out a little, I can totally do the flock of seagulls hairdo. Does anyone remember the look? I know it’s pretty atrocious, but it’s so like me to do something crazy with my hair.

Soooo…after all my babbling, here I am with my second bottle of Layla. Once again, I love it. Love.It.

Sorry I’m all over the place tonight. I’m finding it really hard to focus, but I still wanted to share this beauty with you. Thanks to all of you who continue to visit my blog and read my posts even when I’m not making much sense! I really appreciate all of you who leave comments to let me know someone is actually reading! 🙂

Layla Ultra Violet

Posted on by Cynthia

It’s official. I am in love.

 

Can you blame me? This is just amazing. This is my first linear holo polish, and I’m blown away. I did not use a topcoat because I was told that it could dull the holo effect. I didn’t know if I should use a basecoat so I ended up using Seche Base which is a ridge filling base coat. I don’t even know what else to say about this because I’m too busy staring at my nails.

Cult Nails First Impression

Posted on by Cynthia

I received my first ever Cult Nails order this past Saturday so I was itching to try my new lovelies. I have so many brand new nail polishes that I can’t justify buying more. I went to my nail places today and I resisted the urge to pick up some polishes but I did purchase a bottle of Posché. I’ve always been faithful to Seche Vite, but I wanted to try something new to see how it compares to my trusty top coat.

This morning I was looking at Scrangie’s swatches of the OPI Spider Man collection and I find them so meh. Yawn, yawn, triple yawn. I am really not interested in getting any of the colors anymore.  I was talking to my nail polish guy today about the new Essies and he had the Poppy-Razzi collection in the back so he showed me the colors. I don’t think I’ll be getting any of these either. They are colors I already have and they’re not that interesting once the excitement of something new wore off. He also told me they were ugly and that they are too similar to other colors I already have. What does it mean when the owner of the store talks you out of spending money at his store? He also had the New Love & Acceptance collection, but they’re just a pastel yawnfest.

Back to Cult Nails: First off I would like to say I was super impressed how quickly I got my order despite ordering during a huge sale. I swatched the three polishes I purchased and have no complaints. The formula was creamy, smooth and applied like a dream. Sorry about my greasy looking fingers! My hands have been crazy dry so I’m always moisturizing lately.

 

Manipulative

 

My Kind of Cool Aid

 

Vicious

 

I will be buying more Cult Nails polishes in the future for sure. I know that they will be having another $5 sale in the coming weeks so I will be sure to check them out.  What do you think about Cult Nails? Are you a fan?

Finger Paints Limited Edition Magnetic Effects Collection

Posted on by Cynthia

Yesterday when I was at Sally’s I saw this apparently new collection of magnetic polishes by Finger Paints. Normally I am not going gaga over magnetic polishes since I have some by Nails Inc. and China Glaze. However, there was a sale going on and these are very reasonably priced. They come in the following 4 colors:

If these look familiar, it is because they are the exact same bottle and magnet as Nails Inc.

So what is the big difference? Nothing but the price. Nails Inc. sells for $16 a bottle while Finger Paints sells for $6.99. With the buy two get one free sale on all polishes at Sally, I ended up paying under $16 for THREE polishes of the same quality and size. If you are new to magnetic polish, this is a very economical way to try them out without spending too much.

Here are some swatches of the three colors I picked up:

Cop An Attitude

Hipnotic

Electro-Midnight

So what do you think? Do these interest you?

Jessica Polishes

Posted on by Cynthia

My introduction to Jessica polishes came by way of the Peacock Queen Collection that was a dupe of Chanel’s Illusions d’Ombres. I really hadn’t heard much about this brand, but I’ve been pretty satisfied with the polishes I tried so far. My main gripe is that I don’t like the brush at all. I find it hard to work with. I am usually really good about following the curve of my cuticles on my nails with the polish, but the brush on Jessica polishes makes me do some jagged and awkward lines. This color is called Midnight Moonlight and it reminds me of OPI Yoga-ta Get This Blue.  I don’t think they are dupes but are quite similar.  Midnight Moonlight is a lot brighter, I think.

 

I really feel like I ruined this polish with the stamp. I don’t know what is up with my new Konad white polish because it feels thinner than my other special polish bottles and not as opaque. I really like this design. I got tons of compliments today when I went to the store with these nails. People were asking me where I got them done and they seemed shocked when I told them I did them myself. They thought they were stickers or something. I have a whole little speech about Konad because people are always confused when I say it’s a stamp. It would be funny if I could talk to those people again because I know some of them totally went looking for Konad stuff. I should start giving away little cards with my blog info so they can come and visit later on. lol

So I had started this post earlier in the day before a bomb got dropped in my lap. I am upset, stressed out and really pissed. I’m going to chill for a few minutes with my iced caramel coffee before I even attempt to explain what happened today. Please heed my warning if you decided to read my next personal post because it’s going to be a fucking doozy. If you’re offended by profanity, I apologize in advance.

 

Aquadelic Stars

Posted on by Cynthia

My nail polish guy picked up Aquadelic and asked me: “Why do you want this one? It’s like For Audrey and I know you have that one already.” Pffft! Ok, Mr. Nguyen, you do not know your nail polish as well as I thought you did. Aquadelic is NOT a For Audrey dupe. Aquadelic is definitely greener than For Audrey. Yeah, they’re “close” but are different enough that I gladly purchased it.

Aquadelic is one of the few colors from the Electropop Collection that I didn’t purchase right when the collection came out. At first, I had a hard time finding it in stock and then I just forgot about it. When I saw it today, I knew it had to me mine. Muawhahahahaha! I have to say that I found the formula to be a big pain in my big rear end. It dragged, created bald spots, felt goopy…everything I dread. I’m going to add a couple of drops of thinner and hopefully that will help for the next time I use this polish. I hate having to add thinner to a brand new bottle of polish but whatever; it is what it is.

 

I’ve been into stars a lot lately. Can ya tell?