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Essie Bridal Collection For 2013

Posted on by Cynthia

self purchased

 

 

Wedding? Barf. I’ve got to admit that I am a sort of wedding hater. I mean, if a friend or loved one is getting married, of course I’m happy for them and I will happily go to their wedding celebration, but personally, I just think they are a big waste of time and money. Now, don’t get your bridal panties in a bunch if you disagree with me; this is just my personal opinion and I am not telling you that YOUR wedding is a waste of time/money. Just wanted to clear that up. If it were me, I would rather go on a crazy and amazing vacation or put that money towards buying a home or something more practical, but that’s just the part of me that hates planning parties and such. Anyway, this past weekend I went to a wedding and the bride looked gorgeous and I’m sure it was worth all the stress and money that they spent to get that day to be as perfect as possible. Since I was thinking about weddings, I decided to pick up the new Essie Bridal Collection for 2013 even though the colors aren’t exactly the kind that make my heart skip a beat. Before I show you some swatches, I couldn’t get this song out of my head while I swatched them:

 

I don’t know about you, but I think Muriel’s Wedding is one of the funniest and saddest movies I’ve ever seen. I’ve been a Toni Colette fan ever since this movie came out. I also couldn’t believe that Rachel Griffiths played Rhonda in this movie! Not only is the acting superb, but the ABBA music is killer. Yes, I am an ABBA-maniac.

 

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No Baggage Please is the color that screams “bridal” to me the most. It’s such a light and delicate color with a beautiful faint shimmer that unfortunately was captured in my pictures. Being that it is such a light color, I did have to apply 4 coats for full coverage so be forewarned. The formula is definitely a little streaky, but it does build up nicely. I do like delicate colors such as this, but they definitely have a time and a place. This is not a color that I would ever swoon.

 

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Next up is Meet Me At The Altar which is No Baggage Please’s flirtier cousin. This polish also has a faint shimmer that isn’t showing up in my pictures. The formula was also a bit streaky, but I got away with 3 coats on this one. For lilac lovers, I think this is a very conservative choice.

 

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My Better Half screams bridesmaid to me. I’ve been seeing so many of these bright pink polishes lately, but I don’t really get tired of them. It has a glowing quality to it, and I’m glad to report that the formula as nice and pigmented so I only needed two coats.

 

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Last but not least, here is Using My Maiden Name. I think that this one is my favorite of the bunch and not just because I am a purple fanatic. I just love the beautiful shimmer in this polish and the formula was really great.

What do you think about the Essie Bridal Collection For 2013? I like these colors and they certainly are wedding appropriate, but they aren’t all colors that I would say I’m excited about. Since I’m not anticipating getting much use out of these colors, I will be putting them up in my blog sale so check that out if you’re interested. Do you have a favorite from this collection? Thanks so much for visiting today and catching up with me. Talk to you soon!

 

Blogger Spotlight: Tina From Light Of The Moon Nails

Posted on by Cynthia

Hello friends! Today I have another lovely lady participating in my Blogger Spotlight series: Tina from Light Of The Moon Nails. I hope you enjoy reading about the fun mani she planned for us.

 

The moment I saw Nails Inc. Noho, their leather finish, I knew it would be mine….MINE.  I am bonkers for textured polish…matte…liquid sand…concrete.  You name it, I love it.  So when Cynthia asked me to guest post, I knew that I would do something with this edgy, cool and awesome polish.  But what to do with it?  Why not include one of the (many) polishes that I purchased from Cynthia’s blog sale?   And pay homage to Cynthia’s mani that she did with the same polish. So here goes.

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I started with Orly Surreal Satin.  I absolutely LOVE this polish.  Love the coral color….love the finish….love the way it seems to glow from within.  Good luck finding this polish.  It was originally released in 1997.  I think that makes it an antique in the polish world, don’t you?

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Next I sponged Ninja Polish The Midas Touch.  This clear polish is filled with actual gold leaf flakes, but unlike a lot of the other gold flake polish out there, is half the price.  You can purchase this polish HERE They also have a silver leaf polish too, if you’re more attracted to silver.

 

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Next I did a half moon with Nails Inc. Noho.  I used hole reinforcers for the half moons, but I think next time I will try to freehand them.  I have such a hard time eyeing where the moons should start, especially on my pinky.

 

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I decided it needed a bit more, so I added some gold heart crystals to a couple of tips.  Look at that awesome finish on Noho.  It has just enough texture, not to much, not too little, and really does remind me of a black leather couch (tee hee).

 

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Finally, because of the crystals, I decided to find out what would happen if I added a top coat.  I used one THIN coat of  OPI Top Coat.  The texture was still there!  Don’t use Seche Vite though.  No texture if you use one of the thicker top coats.  I do, however, like this polish better without a top coat.  One more pic and then I‘m done.  Thanks again Cynthia!

 

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I’ve been keeping an eye on Nails Inc. Noho so maybe now I will take the plunge and get it! Make sure that you head over there to Tina’s blog to show her some nail lovers support. Click here for her blog.  She is a challenge champ!

Thanks so much for stopping by today. If you are interested in being featured in a blogger spotlight, don’t hesitate to contact me. Talk to you later!

Sorry

Posted on by Cynthia

I feel like such a turd for the lack of posts that will probably extend through the end of this week. The truth of the matter is that besides getting used to my new work schedule, I am also battling a horrible cold–or maybe even the flu. At this point, I don’t care. All I know is that I’m miserable. I seem to go through spans of hours where it’s not so bad and then it hits me like a ton of bricks. I had so much stuff that I wanted to share this week and now it looks like all of that is going to have to wait until I start to feel better.  I am on twitter and facebook sporadically but just don’t have it in me to do new manis. In fact, I tried to do one today and it looked so bad that I just took it off.

When I got to work today in the morning, my co-worker looks at me and he asks, “You didn’t even do your hair this morning. You must feel real bad.” Gee, thanks. hahahaha We are pretty friendly so I didn’t take it amiss. In fact, I told him that I would go to bed extra early tonight so I could wake up early and do my hair so he wouldn’t tell me it looks like crap again. Everyone thought that was pretty funny and I love making people laugh–even if it’s at my expense–so all was good. I pretty much have a hazmat bubble around my desk so everyone has been staying away–NICE!

So that’s where I’m at at this point. I am looking forward to getting back on a more regular schedule because I miss doing my nails so much! Thanks for stopping by despite the lack of new posts. <3

Edit: After I posted this, I remembered another funny thing that happened: I was taking some meds which I hate cause they taste horrible. So I said: “Ugh, this stuff tastes like ass!” So the same guy who teased me about my hair says: “Uhm, I am NOT going to ask you how you know what ass tastes like.” So then I responded: “You know what I mean!” And he says, “Oh, yes…” At that point a few other people got involved and the conversation went to a place that it should never go at the workplace. Great…now I’m going to be known as THAT person in the office. Oh well…it could be worse, right?

 

~C

Come See Who Won My Birthday Giveaway #2

Posted on by Cynthia

Thank you to everyone who participated in my second Birthday Giveaway. The winners are:

Sarah has won the Red Alert Set and Lisa has won the Passion For Fashion Set. I have contacted both winners and will wait to hear back from them.

Thanks again to everyone who participated, and I hope to hold more giveaways for all of you in the future.

 

Cynthia

Zoya Zuza

Posted on by Cynthia

I wasn’t expecting my Zoya goodies until Friday so I was very surprised when they arrived today. Happy Thursday to me! They arrived when I was in the middle of re-arranging my melmers and trying to figure out what color I wanted to use today. Welllllllllllllllllll, I decided to use one of the new polishes I received today. But which one? Hmmmmmmm. Decisions, Decisions.

I picked Zuza. I have never met anyone named Zuza but that doesn’t make me love the nail polish any less. It is a welcome change from Essie Haute As Hello for sure. The formula on this was fantastico magico. It was opaque in 2 coats and was so easy to spread on my my nails. I had pretty much no clean up at the end which I love. It’s not a shiny nail polish; it just has that grainy shimmer that I really like.

Oh so pretty! And I finally had some sunlight for these pictures!

I wanted to share this with you because I was laughing so much when I read it. I am a dog person for sure. I usually tell people that I hate cats but I really do like them. I guess that cats act so aloof sometimes that they don’t immediately endear themselves to me the way dogs do.

Are you a dog or a cat person?

Did you order any Zoyas through their Earth Day Promo?

Milestone!

Posted on by Cynthia

According to WordPress, I just published my 200th post. Wow, really?! I started this blog in late 2011 so that seems like an awful lot. Well, what should I do? I’ve never done a giveaway and that seems kinda fun. I have no idea how people run giveaways so I guess I’m going to have to do some research.

I want to thank everyone who visits my blog. I love the feedback and interacting with all of you so much! No one understands the mind of a psychotic nail polish hoarder like other psychotic nail polish hoarders.

The other day I ran across an article talking about how facebook cracks down on how giveaways are being handled and that some people have had their accounts deactivated. Apparently these rules have been around for a while but no one was paying much attention to them. It seems that you can’t ask people to “Like” your facebook page for an entry in a giveaway and you can’t advertise a giveaway on facebook either. Eh? I am not sure I understood correctly. Every giveaway I have entered recently asked me to “like” their facebook page so that seems weird.

In any case, if you have any suggestions on how to do a giveaway with the least amount of headaches, please share!! I don’t really know what I would like to give away either. Hmmmm….I guess I could contemplate it this month and then do it in June since I’m not buying any nail stuff in May.

Oh, and in case you haven’t done so, go like my facebook page! 😛 I’m trying to be more active on it. You can click the link on the right or you can click here.

Essie Haute As Hello

Posted on by Cynthia

Oh dear Lord where do I begin with this nail polish? Is it a neon? Not quite. Is it matte? Not quite. Does it look nice on me? Uh, NO! I think someone with a different skin tone might be able to pull this off. I’m just too dark for this to look ok. Taking pictures of it was like climbing Mt. Everest. It also had a sort of weird formula that dried kind of fast like a neon but it was pretty pigmented. It did pull and create bald spots when I didn’t let it dry enough before applying another coat. In order to even it out, I applied 3 coats.

These first three pictures were taken with flash. It washed out the color somewhat.

Please excuse the cuticle oil. I neglected to massage it in well enough which makes my fingers look like greasy sausages. I took the following pictures with natural light and they just look icky. My skin looks so grey.

I am so not happy with this color. I am going to leave it on my nails because I’d rather have this color on than nothing at all. I was wearing Mysterious Curse on my nail,s but I ruined them when I gave myself a pedicure. Not smart.

The gym was alright last night. I did 30 minutes on the elliptical and then walked 2 miles on the treadmill. It was ok as my first workout. When I got home, I had a massive headache. I thought I would sleep like a baby, but I didn’t really. I actually had a very difficult time tossing and turning all night. The other night I had a dream that I was in a psych ward and that Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) was my doctor. He was tearing us down patient by patient and when he got to me, I got so mad that I grabbed his cane and started beating him with it. Then someone picked up this big sink looking thing and threw it out the window like The Chief in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. We all stood there staring–I even stopped beating Dr. House.  That’s the last thing I remember.

I doubt I’ll wear this color again; maybe I will just use it for designs and stuff. Essie deception. You looked so pretty in the bottle.

Swatch Solutions

Posted on by Cynthia

Guess what I got in the mail today?

Taddaaaaaaaaaaa!

I purchased a few of these swatch stick stands on eBay to organize my nail polish collection. I started out with nail wheels but I ended up not liking them. This is going to be a big project considering I have over 200 nail polishes. I know…I have issues.