Orange You Glad It’s Almost Friday?

Posted on by Cynthia

After the big fail at my doctor’s office, I decided to change my nail polish to get the stench of disappointment off my fingers. Incidentally, last night one of my lovely readers told me that red is a color that schizophrenics gravitate towards after I posted about red being my color of confidence. It made me laugh because it reminded me of one of my roommates at the psych ward. She was an older lady who snored so loud that it took me a week to finally be able to sleep with her snoring in the bed across the room. I remember that the first night I was admitted, it was past midnight so I had to go to sleep right after they checked me in and strip searched me…yeah….strip search. I guess I can imagine people try to sneak dangerous things in. So anyway, once I got into bed, this lady was snoring so loud and made so many choking sounds that I actually got up to talk to a nurse because I thought she was dying or something. Sorry for the tangent. The reason why I laughed was because my roommate was schizophrenic and she was obsessed with wearing red lipstick. She had no teeth, but she couldn’t live without her red lipstick. Go figure.

The color I chose today is Calligraphic Calico by Finger Paints. Finger Paints can be found exclusively at Sally Beauty Supply. I’ve had this color for a while and I really like it. I think Finger Paints puts out pretty decent polishes, and I do grab some when they have a sale going on.

 

Then I used Essie’s As Gold As It Gets to paint my tips. It’s not that noticeable in these pictures but it looks pretty cool in the sun.

 

Calligraphic Calico is a color that I really like. It’s orangey with a little pink and very subtle gold shimmer. I’m really happy that we’ve been seeing so much orange lately because I love the way it looks. So what do you think?

Heli-Yum + Konad = Love

Posted on by Cynthia

So here is another polish from China Glaze’s Up & Away Collection. I can get over how gorgeous this shade is: bright, creamy, smooth, raspberry pink. The formula is opaque and smooth enough that you only really need one thick coat. I prefer always applying two thin coats, though. I never looked this up, but was the Up & Away Collection associated with the movie Up?

                           

 

I guess it’s just me. Anyway, I am going to look for more colors from this collection because I don’t have them all. Here are a couple swatches of Heli-Yum.

I almost didn’t stamp over this color. I mean, look how beautiful it is. I ended up using a design from plate S6.

Do you have any favorites from the Up & Away Collection?

 

Glitter Overload Konadicure

Posted on by Cynthia

I think I have said that I don’t particularly like glitter polishes. I don’t enjoy the removal process and I hate having gritty nails. Despite this, I am a big fan of Color Club’s Beyond The Mistletoe Collection. All of the glitters in that collection are seriously breathtaking. Today I decided to wear Beyond The Mistletoe:

Then I decided to stamp over it. Well, I don’t exactly like the way this turned out. This stamp would look a lot better with a solid color underneath.

So what do you think? Do you like glitter polishes?

Purple, Purple, Purple!!!!!

Posted on by Cynthia

I know I’ve said it a million times, but I’ll say it again: I love purple. China Glaze’s Grape Pop is really one of my favorite classic purples. It’s such a rich and saturated color that applies like a dream. I really love wearing this color. After I painted my nails, I wanted to use one of Essie’s flaky Luxeffects topcoats but I didn’t want to completely cover up the purple goodness so I decided to paint a triangle of flaky delight.

Beejus! Didn’t I tell you this color was amazing?! And that’s just two thin coats.

You can’t really see the triangle with the flash but wait for the low light….

Purty, right? Anyway, it’s been super windy and dry here in So Cal so my skin has been acting crazy: it’s so dry in certain areas that it hurts. I’ve been having to use extra hand cream on my hands as well. Thank you L’Occitane for your amazing hand creams.

Well, I’ve been watching The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo trilogy on Netflix for the last 5 hours!!! I watched the movies when they first came out in the theaters and re-watched them on Netflix a few times. Now they have come out with a Special Extended Edition that has 2 extra hours that were cut out of the movies that were shown in US theaters. The trilogy was originally shown on TV in Sweden so they did end up cutting stuff for the theater edition. If you’ve never seen these movies, I highly recommend them. Noomi Rapace is amazing as Lisbeth Salander. I haven’t watched the American adaptation yet, but I hear it’s pretty good as well.

I hope you all had a nice weekend and thanks for stopping by.

Wen Week 1

Posted on by Cynthia

After one week of using Wen, I don’t think I’ve ever been more comfortable with the condition of my hair and scalp. First of all, I would like to say that I have hair that is thin, fine, wavy, curly and prone to frizz. Despite all this, I still like my hair because it can be styled so many different ways. For the last 8 months, I have been cutting my hair very short because long hair just annoys me. Is it weird that it creeps me out to feel hair touch my neck and shoulders? Anyway, one of the things that I do hate is how oily my scalp gets. I cannot go a day without washing my hair, and I had gotten into the habit of washing my hair twice a day. When I read how the Wen cleansing conditioner works, I was skeptical about how it could possibly clean my hair AND my scalp if it didn’t lather and was basically a conditioner. I imagined my scalp being a disgusting oil slick.

I was shocked how soft and manageable my hair felt after just one use. My hair felt clean and my scalp was not oily at all. I washed my hair twice a day the first 2 days until I decided to cut back to once a day not knowing what I would find the next morning. Well, my scalp and hair still felt clean! I had a normal amount of natural oils…nothing like before. The best part is that I don’t even have to use any styling products. Whaaaaaaaaaaaaaat?! Yes, my hair is just soft and manageable without having to use balms, gels or hairspray.

Yes, it just the first week but boy am I impressed! More to come…

 

NARS Lipstick Review

Posted on by Cynthia

NARS was the first higher-end make-up brand that I fell in love with. Once I tried their Orgasm blush, I was hooked. Their lipsticks do not disappoint. They have a wide range of colors and come in three finishes: sheer, satin and semi-matte. I personally don’t notice much of a taste or scent to these lipsticks but I have heard some people say that they have a waxy scent and taste. The only finish that has a decent wear time is semi-matte. The sheer and satin finishes wear off almost immediately.

Many will find the NARS packaging very classy and expensive looking. Indeed it is both those things but it also collects dust, make-up or anything else like crazy so it is very hard to keep them looking clean. I love the rubberized finish of their packaging but after a while, as all longtime NARS owners will attest to, the packaging seems to start breaking down. The finish starts to peel off at the edges and then it just looks gross. I am NOT happy with that considering their prices.

Belle de Jour

Dolce Vita

Fast Ride

Fire Down Below

Funny Face

Hot Voodoo

Little Darling

Petit Monstre

Pigalle

Señorita

Tanganyka

I don’t like all of these colors. Some of them look kinda hideous on me. Yes, I’m looking at you Belle de Jour. No matter how much I wear this one, I am never going to be Catherine Deneuve. That is a good example of a lipstick that I would mix with another lipstick, lip gloss or lip pencil. Funny Face is my favorite bold color of the bunch. Unfortunately, I recently read that Funny Face landed on a list of lipsticks with high levels of lead! Dolce Vita was the first NARS lipstick I ever bought and I still say it is the most versatile lipstick that I own. It’s just gorgeous and looks so natural on anyone. There is also a Dolce Vita lip gloss and blush…but more on those another time. These lipsticks retails for $24 each and can be purchased at many places so you won’t have any problem finding them if you’re interested. I purchase mine at Sephora and Narscosmetics.com

So which color do you like best? Do you own any NARS lipsticks?

Sally Hansen HD Hi-Definition Nail Color Review

Posted on by Cynthia

As I previously posted, I bought a few Sally Hansen polishes that I found on sale at Rite-Aid. I was really excited by the beautiful duochrome effect that I saw in the bottles but I know better by now: sometimes you see duochrome in the bottle and none of it shows up on your nails. The duochrome was very hard to photograph but I managed to get some shot of it. I had to use 4 coats of polish in order to get the results below. I’ve mentioned before that anything over 2 coats starts to annoy me so 4 coats is way too much. The only redeeming quality is the quick dry time. I’d also like to mention that I found the brush very awkward to use. It was really long and the handle was not that comfortable.

 

Byte is a hot pink that seems to have some lilac sparkle in it but it is almost completely lost on the nail. It’s a pretty color but not terribly exciting. It seems more juvenile

 

DVD is maybe my favorite from the polishes I purchased. The duochrome effect is so pretty on this one and it actually came out in my pictures.

 

Spectrum is pretty is you like turquoise. As you can see, it’s pretty bright and sparkly.

 

Laser is the darkest of the polishes and the most opaque. I like the brightness of this color even if the duochrome isn’t the strongest in these pictures. In real life, you can definitely see it much better.

 

Overall I liked these polishes. I do not regret purchasing them since I got them dirt cheap, but I would not purchase them at full price. These were really made to layer over colors so I’ll be trying that out later. If you like these colors, I would recommend that you head over to Rite-Aid while they are still 75% off.

China Glaze & Hunger Games: Colours From The Capitol Swatches

Posted on by Cynthia

I think it is abundantly clear how much I was anticipating this collection: I was drooling like Pavlov’s dogs whenever I heard China Glaze and Hunger Games used in the same sentence. When I finally got the whole collection, I was so excited to start playing with all the colors. Without further ado…here are the swatches. Enjoy!

Agro is a dark olive green. It’s shimmery and absolutely gorgeous.  This is the kind of color that I need in my collection because how many purples can a person possibly need? A MILLION!!!!! I can’t wait to do some crazy stuff with this color.

 

 

Dress Me Up is a very soft and demure color. It makes me think of how Cinna dressed up Katniss to be super girlie and pretty. This is a pretty, creamy color that I am sure I will use often. It’s work appropriate for sure.

 

 

Electrify is just a gold and red glitter. There’s not much to say about this. Personally I am not a big fan of glitter. It has to be really unique in order for me to like it so I don’t find this exciting at all. I only applied 2 coats and I’m sure it would take another 2 coats to completely coat my nails. I can see myself layering this on top of another color instead of wearing it on its own. This is kinda like Twinkle Lights minus the green.

 

 

Fast Track is pretty…kind of like Classic Camel. This looks great in direct sunlight. Wearing it would make me feel like I’m age appropriate unlike other glitter explosions. Again, the formula was great.

 

 

I hate Foie Gras…not the polish, but the food. I really find it gross. There really isn’t anything that excites me about this color. It’s slightly purple and brown in the vein of Metro Chic. I like those dusty brown/purple polishes but haven’t we had enough of them already?

 

 

Harvest Moon  is one of the polishes I was excited about when I first saw the promo pictures. It’s a coppery shimmer dream that glides onto the nail. I like it. I like it a lot. I know you were thinking of this when you read that:

Oh, you weren’t? Well, whatever. The color is awesome and I don’t care what you think!

 

 

Hook And Line is what Color Club Boho Mojo could have been. This was definitely not as difficult to apply as Boho Mojo but it’s still frosty…Frosty…FROSTY! I kind of hate frosty colors but sometimes wear them anyway because I’m psycho that way. I can deal with this color and it might even grow on me after a while. It was freaky streaky when I first applied it but it looked better once it started to dry.

 

 

Luxe And Lush is made to be a topcoat. I don’t have anything that looks like this so I’ll definitely be experimenting with it. I kind of like the way it looks on it’s own. It remind me of broken glass…feels just like I’m walking on broken glass. Ah, Annie Lennox you evil bitch. Every time I think of her album Diva I just want to jump off a bridge. That song and Why? just wreck me. Anyway, yeah…me likey the polish.

 

 

I don’t really know how I feel about Mahogany Magic. It’s another one of those colors that I call inspired by baby poop. It’s just kinda gross but it could grow on me. I meant the polish, not the baby turds. The formula was divine on this one as well.

 

 

Riveting! Hello, goygeous! I freaking love this one so hard. First of all, I’m all into oranges this season and this one does not disappoint. I don’t know why I keep thinking of Orange Jell-o when I look at this. It had a perfect formula as well.

 

 

Smoke And Ashes is such a dark color that looks green, blue and black all at once. I had one heck of a time taking a decent picture of this color so it was super annoying. I like how cold this color seems…if that makes sense.

 

 

Stone Cold is a matter dream. I have a few matte polishes and they are always so incredibly hard to work with. You have to work super fast or else it gets goopy and then your nails look like a hot mess. This looked perfect with one coat. I will not defile this polish by adding a coat of Seche Vite.

 

So what do I think about this collection? I like it. I’m not gonna lie and say that my love of  The Hunger Games didn’t make me obsess about getting my hands on this collection. Overall, there are some colors that I would pass on such as: Mahogany Magic, Hook and Line, Foie Gras and Electrify. If you have similar colors, I would also pass on Dress Me up and Luxe and Lush. The other six polishes are right up my alley, and I love them. Why do so many collections have to keep popping ? Damn you, China Glaze! So what do you think? What colors are you going to get, if any? Let me know! It makes my day to hear about what other nail polish freaks want to get. Sad, right?

Laura Geller Creme Couture Lipsticks Review

Posted on by Cynthia

Today I bring you another installment of the lipstick chronicles. Laura Geller is not a brand that I would say is one of my favorites, but I do think that they put out some quality products. I first came across this brand at Sephora but they unfortunately no longer carry the line. I was able to purchase a few items before the line was discontinued which included a handful of lipsticks, eye shadows and eyeliners. I find Laura Geller lipsticks incredibly creamy. It’s like they melt on your lips…even the matte shades which is surprising. Sometimes matte shades are very drying but these are so soft. They have a minty taste to them which not everyone will like, but it doesn’t bother me much. I am very satisfied with the pigmentation and the wear. They usually last about 4-6 hours on my lips without having to touch up.

 

Creme Nude

Mocha Rose

 

Mocha Mauve

 

On Stage

 

Bordeaux

 

I haven’t purchased any other Laura Geller products but I would still recommend them. I think the prices vary depending on where you purchase these lipsticks but the retail price is around $18 each. You can find Laura Geller Cosmetics on QVC and Ulta.

I’ve Hit The Motherload!

Posted on by Cynthia

Not satisfied with my Sally Hansen loot, I decided to call up my go-to beauty supply store to hound them again about when they are going to get the China Glaze Hunger Games Collection. They know my voice by now…oh yes, they do. They hear it in their nightmares ever since I bugged them about the Nicki Minaj and Holland collections. Well, guess what?

I wanted to steal the display. I was so excited that I was sweating like a whore in church…or maybe that was just my blood sugar? Anyway, I was super happy when they told me they had just received the collection. I jumped in my car and confronted rush hour traffic.

How awesome is the model on the display? She’s wearing some of those paper eyelashes that I was tempted to try but I couldn’t swallow the price…for paper eyelashes! Maybe I can start dressing like Effie Trinket in every day life. How about that?

Now I am itching to wear all these colors and I want to re-read the three books even though I just finished them. Are you looking forward to The Hunger Games movie? I am!!!!!

Which color grabs your attention the most? Oh, and please rest assured, my beauty supply store friends. You won’t hear from me for a while or until the next “can’t wait to get my hands on collection.”  So I’ll call you next week.