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Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection March 2015

Posted on 25 February, 201524 February, 2015 by Cynthia

Ahhhh….Wednesday! We are halfway through the week and I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. Do you live for weekends like me? Today I was listening to The Woody Show on Alt 98.7 (remember back in the day when it was the Jamie, Frosty and Frank show?!) and they were talking about how Tuesday is the most depressing day of the week, and I so agree with them. Monday is so close to the weekend that you still get some of that residual happiness from whatever you did Saturday/Sunday but then Tuesday punches you in face almost making fun of you now that you have a long week ahead. In any case, I just wish I could sleep in until 10 every day cause that would make me so happy. You know what else makes me happy? Gorgeous creme polishes. Yep, you know it’s true and today I have two beauties from the Cirque Colors Metropolis Collection for March. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

Cirque Colors Hudson

I don’t know why, but this shade made me think of beautiful pair of denim jeans. You already know the drill: beautiful.perfect.buttery.opaque. DONE.

Cirque Colors Lady Liberty

One thing about my camera is that it is a big turd when it comes to capturing certain colors like teal/turquoise so my pictures are not super color accurate for this polish. It is definitely more green in real life, so I’m sorry if you feel tricked. Someone actually wrote me a pissed off email saying I tricked them into buying a polish because the color looked so different in my swatches. Uhm, yeah…Anyway, you know what? This polish is gorgeous too and you won’t have any complaints even if it leans more green than in my pictures.

There is never much to say about the quality of Cirque Colors because they are always spot on. I absolutely adore these two additions to the Metropolis Collection so don’t forget to pick them up if you love them too! They will be available March 1st so mark your calendars. What do you think of these lovely shades? Thanks for the visit and talk to you soon.

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The Beauty Buffs – Holiday Inspired

Posted on 3 December, 20142 December, 2014 by Cynthia

How many of you have put up your holiday decorations at home? To be honest, I don’t think I’m even going to get a Christmas tree this year because I am just not in the mood to go through the process of unpacking everything. Am I a killjoy? Meh. Instead, I will wear extra festive nails which is why I was happy with our prompt for today. The Beauty Buffs are bringing you holiday inspired posts today so let me show you what I decided to do.

For my mani base, I needed a clean white color so I went with OPI Angel With A Leadfoot (press sample.) This crisp and clean white comes from the OPI Mustang Collection from earlier this year. It’s a nice white but the formula is pretty typical: super streaky on the first coat but buildable. I applied 3 coats for my mani to get full opacity.

I am super new to use decals, but I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try them. I decided to use the lights strand decals for my mani. I love that they are red because they look awesome against the white background. You can use these vinyls as decals or as stencils–let your creative juices flow. These particular nail vinyls are from KBShimmer (press sample) and can be purchased here for $5. What a steal for all the awesome designs you get!

The vinyls were super easy to use and I just cut them and applied them where I wanted the design to be. Because I wanted a little more bling, I decided to place some glitter on the bulbs.

I used Shimmer Alice (press sample) for the sparkle in the bulbs and I think it was a perfect choice. I really like how this turned out!

So are you into the holiday season yet or are you grouchy like me and don’t want to make the effort? Well, I hope you liked my holiday mani, and don’t forget to check out the other festive posts from my fellow Beauty Buffs. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talking to you soon.

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China Glaze Twinkle Collection Holiday 2014

Posted on 1 December, 2014 by Cynthia

It’s raining here on an off and I love it. We definitely need the rain because of the severe drought here in California, but sadly the showers don’t last very long. This seems to be ideal cozy weather, but I just want to get outside and jump in puddles. Remember how much fun that was when you were a kid? This morning I was rushing because I woke up late, and I had a doctor’s appointment at 9 am. My appointment went well, but as I had mentioned, I still have a long way to go but I am hopeful since I am moving in the right direction. So for today’s post, I have the China Glaze Twinkle Collection for Holiday 2014. Let me show you the 12 shades that make up the collection, and I’ll let you know what I think at the end.

China Glaze Tip Your Hat

China Glaze Out Like A Light

China Glaze No Peeking!

China Glaze Define Good…

China Glaze December to Remember

China Glaze I’d Melt For You

China Glaze De-light

China Glaze Dancing And Prancing

China Glaze Chillin’ With My Snow-mies

China Glaze Meet Me Under The Stars

China Glaze Feeling Twinkly

China Glaze Pine-ing for Glitter

This collection is the epitome of holiday in my eyes. All of these colors are perfect for the holiday season, but they aren’t terribly unique. I really like the glitters in this collection because they are just so sparkly. Shades like December to Remember are very interesting especially because it changes so much depending on the lighting and angle. These are all very pretty, but you probably already have something similar in your stash. I don’t really have anything negative to say about this collection overall, but it also didn’t wow me. What about you? What do you think about this collection? I’d love to hear what you think, so let me know in the comment below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

OPI Designer Series Polished Quartz Fall 2014

Posted on 31 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I was expecting it to be much hotter than it is today, so I’m kind of happy about that. Since I don’t have AC, whenever it gets crazy hot it gets hard to swatch. You may have seen the crazy pile of polishes that I had to swatch, but I’m glad to share that I have swatched about 35 of them so far. All of them have been so ridiculously gorgeous that I barely even noticed the crazy amount of polishes I went through. I think I may be the only one who is super happy about summer being almost over. I am pretty happy that this summer hasn’t been completely unbearable, but I know that suddenly the weather will take a huge dump on my head and get insanely hot. For today’s post, I have two insanely sparkly polishes that don’t exactly scream fall, but they are ridiculously flashy and bright. I always look forward to the DS releases, so let’s take a look at the OPI Designer Series Polished Quartz duo for fall 2014.

OPI DS Titanium

OPI DS Tourmaline

Was I lying about how gorgeous these two are? Since the polishes are in a jelly-type base, they are pretty sheer so I applied 3 coats for my swatches. I played around with them a bit since swatching them and they look amazing layered over other colors so the possibilities are endless. I have an extra set of these babies so make sure to check back for my next awesome giveaway. I hope you’re enjoying your weekend and if you’re in the US, I hope you are enjoying your long weekend. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

P.S. I have added a lot of items to my blog sale so make sure you check it out.

Stamping Saturdays #34

Posted on 30 August, 201430 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey, how is your Saturday going? I’m enjoying my day so far even though I woke up early and did some cleaning around the house. I ended up going out to dinner with my bro, sil and baby peanut. He is such a cutie pie and is growing so fast! He was a very good boy as usual and played with his crayon the entire time.

Isn’t he just a delicious little cutie pie? So besides cute babies, I do have a mani to show you today for Stamping Saturdays. Are you ready?

I started off with two deliciously creamy coats of Kiara Sky Ms Behaved which is a smoky greyed out purple. The formula was fantastic which has been my experience with Kiara Sky as a whole.

In order to make this polish really shine, I applied one coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire. Gorgeous, right?

I then stamped this image from Konad M79 which reminds me of wrapping paper, but I just really like how it looks. I went pretty simple this week, and I really ended up liking this. What do you think?

So, I have tons of swatching to do this weekend and I hope I get through it all before my nails fall off or something. I’ve already swatched the China Glaze Fall Collection so now I am trying to decide between The Giver Collection or the Holiday Collection. It’s so hard to decide because they are all so pretty!! Anyway, thanks for stopping by today–I’ll be picking a winner soon so expect that announcement in the next hour or so. So excited! Talk to you soon.

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Happy 4th of July!

Posted on 4 July, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi everyone! If you’re in the US, I just wanted to wish you a safe and fun 4th of July! I hope that you’re enjoying your day and the long weekend.

Peanut says: Happy 4th of July Murica!

Talk to you soon!

Sation Shock Me Twice Pink

Posted on 15 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi. I’m still here even though I’m ready to murder someone because of the heat. In fact, it feels like even my hair is sweating. However, I should not be complaining because there are a bunch of demonic wildfires here in Southern California so I just want to say I hope that the people affected are able to recover. I also want to thank all the brave firefighters who are working to contain the fires. This is something that we see every summer but it never gets less tragic and scary.

I wasn’t planning on painting my nails today, but I just randomly picked up Sation Shock Me Twice Pink because it’s one of the most electric pinks that I own. My camera pretty much took a million dumps when I tried to get a color accurate picture. Just imagine the polish being darker and more neon…then multiply it by 5 million. I love this polish!

Because it’s a neon and a jelly, it took 4 coats to get full opacity. Unfortunately, 100 degree weather doesn’t cooperate with any nail polish so I got tons of bubbles even though I waited 10 minutes between coats. Poo! Incidentally, I haven’t heard a peep from Sation since they put out their fall collection so I hope they’re still in business because I love their polishes!

I am super glad that tomorrow is Friday! I just started a new job so of course my first weekend is going to be lovely. I know that in the past I talked a lot about my other job, but I won’t continue that trend. Ultimately, I think I was way too stressed out and rehashing my job woes only made the situation worse. I hope you’re all doing well and that you’re staying cool if you’re in one of the hot zones. Thanks for the visit and stay cool!

KBShimmer Summer 2014 Collection

Posted on 12 May, 201412 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Guess what? The heat is on again!

Not in a good way either because it’s supposed to be back in the upper 90’s here this week. I live in a city that is about 10 minutes away from the beach so I’m not happy about this. I’m just going to focus on the fact that Summer brings juicy collections and today I have one of them for you: the KBShimmer Summer 2014 Collection!! Holy frijoles, I can’t tell you how excited I am about this WHOLE COLLECTION which is a rare. This collection contains 12 polishes: 3 cremes, 3 textures and 6 holos.

The Creams:
Let’s Not Coral– A pink leaning coral cream.
Low and Be Bold – A bright near ultramarine blue polish.
Right As Reign – A deep indigo purple polish.

The Textures:
Partners In Lime – A textured polish with lime, aqua, and gold holographic glitters.
She Twerks Out – A bold aqua polish, featuring teal, lime, and violet holographic glitters.
Too Pop To Handle – A purple toned fuchsia color, with violet, magenta and aqua holographic glitters.

The Holos:
Pt Young Thing – A platinum silver linear holographic polish.
In Bare Form – A near nude holographic polish.
Big Tan On Campus – A light tan-ish brown holographic polish.
Run! It’s The Coppers! – A metallic copper linear holographic polish.
Goldie Rocks – A shimmery gold holographic polish.
Stark Raven Mad – A deep charcoal linear holographic polish.

Here is a picture of all of them together:

Gorgeous, right? Well, now I have 6 of these shades to share with you. I apologize in advance for making you want to spend money, ok?

KBShimmer Low And Be Bold

KBShimmer Let’s Not Coral

These two creme shades were perfection. I am so happy that KBShimmer is continuing to put out luscious cremes because they really are amazing. These don’t even need a top coat because they are crazy shiny on their own. I applied two coats of each polish and the formula was smooth, self-leveling and just juicy. LOVE!

KBShimmer She Twerks Out

KBShimmer Partners In Lime

Polishgasm achieved. You don’t understand how much I love these two textures. The jelly base on these two polishes is electric and the coverage is amazing. You can get away with one coat if you want a sheer-like glitter application or you can use two coats if you want a full coverage look like my swatches show above. Partners In Lime is probably my favorite polish this year and that’s saying a lot considering the amount of polishes that pass through my hands. And because someone always asks about textured polish and top coating it, I decided to top coat Partners In Lime.

Gorgeous! If you want to top coat these texture polishes, just be aware that they suck up top coat. I applied 1 coat of Seche, 1 coat of Gelous and finally 1 coat of Seche to get this glassy look. To be honest, I prefer to wear textures without top coat. I didn’t find these too crazy gritty but you can definitely feel the texture.

Now, for the 2 holo polishes, I have two sets of pictures because my usual lighting just doesn’t show off linear holo polishes very well. I was also struggling with an overcast day today so I had to improvise.

KBShimmer Run! It’s The Coppers!

KBShimmer Stark Raven Mad

The formula on these two holos was great. Stark Raven Mad could almost be a 1 coater! Run! It’s The Coopers needs a little more work because I had to apply 3 thin coats, but I don’t mind since it’s so beautiful. I am not tired of holos yet (can one get tired of holos, really??) so I was super excited to try these out.

You may think I’m a little over the top in my love for these polishes and the brand in general, but you know that when I find something that I love, I want to share it with all of you. In the same vein, I will always tell you when I think something sucks–oh, yes I will! So, now that you’ve seen part of this collection, will you be picking any of these up? The official release date of this collection is 5/23 so you have time to see swatches and reviews before you make up your mind. Don’t forget to follow KBShimmer on their various social media pages to stay up to date.

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Pinterest – Instagram

Hey, I hope that you had a great weekend and that you’re tolerating Monday…cause we all know how I feel about Mondays. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

P.S. Go enter my giveaway! 😉

Zoya Magical Pixie Collection

Posted on 18 March, 201418 March, 2014 by Cynthia

One of the sucky parts about having to be at work at 5 am is that I never want to stay up past 8 or 9 pm which means that I miss all of my favorite shows. A few minutes ago, I finished watching last night’s episodes of The Following and The Blacklist. HOLY CRAPOLA!!! Tom’s true identity coming out shocked the hell out of me and then Claire is alive?! I nearly shit myself and now I have to wait a whole week to see what other information we get. Ughhh!!!! I’m so impatient. I’m currently watching Resurrection which is a new show that I’m liking–as if I needed more shows to add to my list. Anyway…today I have the Zoya Magical Pixie Collection to share with you so I hope you won’t groan because I’m sure you’ve seen a billion swatches of these already. I wasn’t planning on purchasing these because they looked like CHUNK city.

No, not that Chunk. Still, they appeared to be so chunky and thick that I figured I would hate them. Ultimately, I decided to give them a try and figured that they would be perfect for today’s Textured Tuesday which is organized by the lovely Amy from The Fancy Side. Let me share my swatches with you and then I’ll let you know what I really thought…

Zoya Cosmo

Zoya LuxZoya Vega

Soooo…I didn’t hate these. In fact, I think they are quite lovely. If you’re looking for the pretty and fine Pixie Dust finish, move along because they are really chunky and do feel considerably rougher than the Pixie Dusts. While the glitter is chunkier, I found the formula rather easy to control and the glitter does lay flat. Overall, I like these, but I must prefer the finer Pixie Dust formula. I used OPI’s Glitter Off Base Coat (review coming soon) so removal was a breeze, but I can imagine that these are a nightmare to remove on their own. You may also notice the new nail shape here! I’m still getting used to it and I think I filed them down a little too short, but I think that once I get a little more length going, I will really like the new shape.

I did put these up on my blog sale along with a crapton of other stuff so make sure that you stop by to check everything out…especially because I reduced the prices on so many things. Click here for my blog sale page. While you’re here, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a mini set of the OPI Sheer Tints! The giveaway is open for a few more days so go enter now! Thanks a bunch for continuing to visit despite the sporadic posting. I hope you’re all doing well, and I will talk to you soon!

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OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection 2013 – Minis Giveaway

Posted on 14 October, 201313 October, 2013 by Cynthia

Hi there! On this sucky Monday, I thought I’d share something fun…a new giveaway! Before I get into the prizes, I decided to share swatches of all 18 polishes from the OPI Mariah Carey Holiday Collection in one place since I had broken them up into two separate posts.

OPI All I Want For Christmas (Is OPI)