Of Life and Lacquer

Yves Saint Laurent Violine Surrealiste

Posted on 10 June, 201310 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Well, let me tell you that I was planning to take a little hiatus from blogging for at least a week. I was feeling so incredibly run down, sad, stressed and just like a general loser overall that I just didn’t think I would have it in me to actually talk to you about nail polish. I’ve said it before and I will repeat it here: I credit nail polish for helping me get through the roughest period of my life to date, so I will always have a special place in my heart for all things nail polish. I think I have mentioned it before, but when I went through my hospitalizations a couple of years ago (June 2011 was the last month of my hospitalization), one of the things that I loved doing was painting my nails or other patient’s nails. They had the saddest bucket of nail polishes that I have ever seen, but it was a fun distraction that required some concentration. What else was I supposed to do? Listen to my schizophrenic roommate talk in her sleep or the guy in the room down the hall who screamed out “It’s too much!” at random times during the day and night? I asked him what he meant by “It’s too much!” and he responded: “Life.” Life was too much. Sadly, I understood him at that time. I think that the anniversary of some really bad events in my life has really been wearing on me to the point that I feel so down about all of that and my current situation of just having a job I hate that is sucking the life out of me. Well, today I got got a few calls regarding some promising job opportunities so that really gave me a little boost. I mean, I know I am a talented and intelligent individual, yet I have such a low opinion of myself and my abilities. I drone away at jobs I know I am sorely overqualified for because I am so afraid to challenge myself. I am not persistent when it comes to going after things I want and deserve–maybe because I am afraid of failure. But is failure something I should fear so much? Won’t it be worse to look back at my life, and realize I’ve pissed it all away because of fear? Anyway, this quote came up today and I do feel that it gave me another little nudge in the right direction: “Persistence –Press on – nothing in the world can take the place of persistence. Talent will not – nothing is more common than unsuccessful people with talent. Genius will not – unrewarded genius is almost a proverb. Education will not – the world is full of educated derelicts. Persistence and determination are omnipotent.” (There is some conflicting information as to whom this quote can be attributed to, but it appears to be from Calvin Coolidge, the 30th president of the US) So here I am ready to have a good week–I will make this a good week. I have a couple of interviews so I’m hoping that this is the beginning of a turn around for me. I do deserve better and I do deserve a job that doesn’t make me sick to my stomach! Don’t we all? In order to pump myself up for good things, I’m going to share a classy beauty: Yves Saint Laurent Violine Surrealiste.

Maybe it’s just the YSL name that conjures up the ethereal beauty of Audrey Hepburn, but this color just screams classy sophistication to me. Some of you may balk at the $25 price tag, but if there’s one thing I tend to splurge on, it’s nail polish. I would say that the formula on this is not perfect. I found it to be a bit on the thin side so I applied 3 thin coats but I think 2 thickish coats could have done the trick. One thing that I would like to mention is that this polish went absolutely nuts when I used Seche Vite as my top coat. It got these weird streaks on it and then I saw some strange wrinkling. It was so strange that I just decided to remove everything and start again. I ended up not applying any top coat the second time around so this polish does dry amazingly glossy and shiny. Was it worth $25–uhm, probably not but I like it nonetheless.

And just to end a really great note, here is David Tennant (my one and only super celebrity crush bordering on creepy obsession AND the most amazing Doctor Who ever) singing with The Proclaimers. Enjoy Doctor Who fans! And if you’re not a Doctor Who fan or a David Tennant fan, I hope we never meet in a dark alley because I will MAKE you see the light. hehe

Thanks for stopping by today, and I’ll talk to you soon!

Current Giveaways Reminder

Posted on 9 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Ahhh….lazy Sundays are the best, but it’s a shame that they go by so quickly. I swatched a crapton of polishes recently so I have a lot of new stuff to share with you this coming week. I also wanted to remind you of the two giveaways I am currently running:

Essie Summer Collection Minis – Ending 6/15/2013

Click on the image to go to the giveaway page

OPI Couture de Minnie Minis – Ending 6/21/2013

Click on the image to go to the giveaway page

Thanks for always stopping by and reading up on all my craziness. Have a great week, and hopefully I’ll see you around here soon.

Butter London 50% Off Sale

Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Hi everyone! Just a quick post to share this deal that was on GMA…if you love Butter London (cause you know I do!!!), they are having a sale on certain sets–50% off!!

Go to: gma.butterlondon.com and use promo code GMA

Unfortunately, this is a US only deal and it appears to be valid only today. Go check it out to see if you like anything–it’s a great deal. I’m trying to resist getting some of these but I really want the Knotting Hill Happy Hour set.

You’re welcome! 🙂

OPI Neon Revolution Minis

Posted on 6 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Although it’s not officially Summer yet, there have been quite a few hot days here in Southern California which put me in a horrible state of mind since I hate the heat so much and I hate June with all my heart. While the weather may still be acting wonky, one thing that I definitely like about this time of year is all the awesome collections that come out. I love bright and juicy colors so I was all excited about this OPI Neon Revolution Minis set. This time around, I ended up following the recommendation to use a white base to really make the colors pop and to have an opaque finish with 2-3 coats rather than with 5-6…or 10,000.

This set contains a white base, 4 neon polishes and a bottle of top coat. Let’s take a look at the colors…

Don’t Say It–Yellow It!—be still my yellow beating loving heart! This is a great yellow polish that would probably never look like this if you wore it on it’s own. I applied 3 coats here, and I like the coverage.

The Time Is Pow! is a great neon orange–formula-wise, it needed 3 coats for the coverage you see here.

I wasn’t expecting to like Pink Outside The Box as much as I do. In fact, this one ended up being my favorite polish in the set and it’s the most pigmented of them all. I only had to apply two coats here.

I am pretty sure everyone knows how much I like blues, so I was excited about Blue It Out Of Proportion. However, it was so streaky that I was super disappointed. I applied 4 coats here and it still looks streaky. Womp womp…they can’t all be winners.

Sorry about my clean up on these swatches. I ended up going a little acetone crazy with my clean up brush and ended up screwing up the edges by my cuticles. I didn’t even notice this until I uploaded all my pictures–ugh! Anyway, I liked this little set because it lets you try a bunch of colors without committing to a bunch of full sized polishes. While I’m not exactly a neon polish lover, these are nice and bright colors. This limited edition Neon Revolution mini set will be available beginning July 2013 at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $19.95 ($24.95 CAN) suggested retail for each mini pack (includes all six products).

Let me know what you think of these colors. Are you a neon lover? Thanks for stopping by today!

Dollish Polish Spank You Very Much

Posted on 5 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Happy Wednesday everybody–or as I like to call it, ONE OF THE BEST DAYS OF THE WEEK BECAUSE I DON’T HAVE TO WORK!!!!!!!! Woooot! I was lamenting yesterday on twitter that I have been finding an alarming amount of gray hair lately which seems to have creeped up on me in the last 4-5 months which coincidentally coincides with me starting the most horrible job I’ve ever had in my life. I guess a job could give you gray hair, right? In any case, I’m 33 so I guess some gray hair is ok so I’m not going to worry too much about it. I am way too lazy to dye my hair so I’ll let nature take its course. Today I have a super fun polish to share with you: Dollish Polish Spank You Very Much. This beautiful polish was a gift from the amazing Amy from The Fancy Side–she is just one of those people whom I have just clicked with because of our shared love of polish and the fact that we are both kind of weirdos and have the same morbid and disgusting sense of humor. I say that with love, Amy.

I love this so much…the combination of green, teal and purple glitters of many sizes is just gorgeous. I decided to apply one coat over NARS Ethno Run Right–an amazing navy blue that I previously reviewed here. This polish can look very different depending on the base color that you use or if you decide to wear it on it’s own. I love how it looks against such a deep base and I can’t wait to try other combinations. It was incredibly easy to apply this glitter so I have no complaints regarding application.

Look at this amazing macro shot! I just couldn’t help showing you how gorgeous this polish is!!!

I am about to start making something for lunch, but I have to go to the post office first and then I can sit back down and continue to feast on episode upon episode of Doctor Who. I am a few episodes into season 4 and I just saw Rose ad the end of episode 2…sweet baby Jesus on rollerskates, I am freaking out. I’m trying to get used to the idea of Donna as his companion, but to tell you the truth, I find Catherine Tate a little difficult to like…maybe because I didn’t like her in The Office either? I don’t know, but I’ll try to be “open-minded.” Anyway, thanks so much for stopping by today and as Ace Ventura would say:

I’ll catch up with you later!

Minnie’s Closet!

Posted on 4 June, 20139 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Hello everyone! I have some super fun news today that I am beyond excited about: I just got the news that my Minnie nail design was chosen to be featured on Minnie’s Closet on the OPI page sometime this month.

Holy mouse ears, Batman! I am so honored to have been chosen especially since I know I will be in the company of some awesome ladies with great designs. Make sure that you check out OPI’s facebook page as they will be unveiling new designs throughout the month. I previously reviewed the whole Couture de Minnie Collection and here are my swatches for the collection:

Aren’t these adorable? I decided to create something girly and sparkly with a hint of sophistication for my submission to be considered for the Minnie’s Closet gallery, and this is what I came up with:

Let me tell you that picking out each individual glitter from my bottle of Minnie Style was…hard. lol It was time consuming but I couldn’t do a Minnie design without polka dots! I also decided to incorporate a ruffian nail because Minnie is definitely a hip mouse in this collection!

And because I usually do a giveaway of minis for each OPI collection that is released, I picked up a set of Minnie Minis for one lucky reader! (I purchased this myself–it is not sponsored.) As always, this giveaway is open internationally–just enter using the Rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for stopping by and supporting my little crazy blog. I hope you’re having a great day, and I will talk to you soon!

Jindie Nails Princess Consuela Banana Hammock

Posted on 3 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Happy Monday–not! So I hope your Monday was better than my craptacular day back to work after a day off. Last week I was moaning on twitter how I thought my package with my two new Jindie Nails polishes had gone missing–oh the horror!!! The USPS website was showing my package as delivered, but I hadn’t received anything. I have had quite a few mishaps when it comes to misdelivered and stolen packages so I was sad! The worst instance of this was back in 2000. I had gotten kinda drunk (You know those sad drunk times when you drink alone and cry? No? Just me? Alright!), and I was feeling nostalgic since I had just come home from a year in France. I got online and somehow managed to purchase a round trip ticket from LA to Rome for $375 on priceline.com I didn’t even notice that purchase until I noticed the missing money in my bank account a few days later. Well, I called priceline and explained what had happened (I was depressed and drunk and accidentally bought a plane ticket), but they told me there was nothing they could do since the tickets were non-refundable. Well…it was either throw $375 in the garbage or go on this trip…so what did I do? I went on the damn trip! But before that, my tickets were delivered to someone else. Since those were the good old days of paper tickets only, I was SOL. FedEx was no help and priceline told me there was nothing they could do–again! After tons of calls, FedEx told me that they “might have” delivered it to another Cynthia who lived a few streets over whose street was very similar to mine. WTF? Anyway, I headed over there and sure enough–my tickets were there. Why did those dumbasses take the package and not say anything? Anyway, that trip was kind of a comedy of errors from day one so I should have known better than to actually go on the trip. I got to Rome and stayed for a few days. I then headed to Florence via train and I ended up staying at the dumpiest hostel you could ever imagine where I proceeded to get the flu. It was the middle of Winter so it was colder than a penguin’s butthole. I dragged myself around the city trying to get medicine before taking a train to Paris for another few days. Ughhh…it was a horrible trip because I was so sick but I was still happy to be over there even if I was alone and sick. Ok, back to the polish: it actually hadn’t been delivered even though the website claimed it was and it arrived the next day. YAAAAAAAYYYYYY! One of the pretties I was anxiously awaiting is the featured polish for today: Jindie Nails Princess Consuela Banana Hammock.

As you probably already know, I have been having a love affair with yellow polish this Spring so I couldn’t wait to get my hands on this. Additionally, it pays homage to one of my favorite shows ever: Friends! Didn’t we all love Friends? I think Phoebe was probably my favorite character on the show and the episode where she changes her name to Princess Consuela Banana Hammock and Mike decides to call himself Crap bag in retaliation is classic. This polish was a little sheer but it builds up nicely. I ended up applying three thin coats for the swatches above. I do have to mention that getting the glitter out of the bottle is a real biatch. I added a few drops of thinner and let the bottle sit upside down for a few minutes before I used it which seemed to help a little but the glitter still likes to settle. Also, the larger pieces of glitter can lift a bit from your nails so make sure you apply a generous coat(s) of top coat so everything is nice and smooth.

Here is the classic moment between Phoebe and Mike:

Do you have a favorite Friends moment? Who was you favorite Friend? What do you think of Jindie Nails Princess Consuela Banana Hammock? Let me know what you think! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

P.S. Have you ever bought something ridiculous while drunk?

Essie Summer Collection 2013

Posted on 31 May, 20131 June, 2013 by Cynthia

Remember when I started crying because I didn’t find the new Essie Summer Collection? Well, today I am crying because I did find it. Ok, I won’t be so dramatic, and I will leave the polish commentary for below. I can’t tell you how excited I was when I first saw the promo pictures for the Essie Summer Collection. I was picturing brightly painted nails and flashy pedicures for a hot beach day–ok, not really, but I was still really really looking forward to it. I called my nail guy this morning, and he informed me that they had the new collection so I rushed over there after work to pick up a set. As soon as I got home, I immediately proceeded to swatch them since I just couldn’t help myself…womp womp. Let’s dive right into the swatches, and I will tell you what I thought of each polish.

The color of Rock The Boat is really pretty. I don’t think I have too many similar blues and the shimmer really makes it somewhat unique in my collection. Too bad the formula spread like diarrhea. Seriously. The formula on this is atrocious. Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but I found the formula so incredibly hard to work with. It was super streaky and I did my best to apply super thin coats and left plenty of time in between to make sure that I didn’t create any bald spots. Well, what you see in my swatches is 4 coats and it still looks uneven. Major sadness.

Why does Essie always have to throw in some lilac/purple color like Full Steam Ahead in every single collection? While the shimmer in this is nice and the polish color is pretty, it’s so yawn-worthy. Additionally, the formula on this polish was just as bad as on Rock The Boat. This is also 4 thin coats and I am not too happy with the end result.

Sunday Funday is a color that I imagined as a perfect pedicure color. The formula on this one was also streaky, but I felt that it covered a little better than the previous two polishes. I still wasn’t very happy with it even though I really like the color!

All I could think of when I saw The More The Merrier was pea soup. The fancy people call this chartreuse, but I just call it radioactive pea soup color because that’s how I roll. This polish was a little easier to work with, and I felt it leveled out a lot better than the previous three. I applied 2 thickish coats here.

The Girls Are Out (OMG how does Essie know about my UPS man mishap??) is a pretty color that I don’t find too unique but the formula was everything that I had hoped the other polishes had been like. It was smooth, very pigmented and leveled out perfectly after two coats. As soon as I applied the first coat, I knew this was going to be a winner.

And here is the very Naughty Nautical. This is the clear winner out of this 6 polish collection. The color is to die for. The shimmer adds that extra something to it AND the formula was immaculate. This is by far my favorite polish from this collection because of the color and formula. I just wish all the other polishes had been as easy to apply. I applied 2 coats for the swatches above.

Well, overall I am kind of disappointed with this collection. I’ve read a few reviews already which make me feel like I’m maybe doing something wrong with these polishes since they didn’t seem to have too many application issues. Is it me again? Are you there, God? It’s me, Cynthia. WHAT AM I DOING WRONG? Another thing that I noticed is that the brushes on a few of these bottles seemed “fluffier” than usual so I think that also threw me off a bit. To sum up my feelings on this collection in a few words: blog sale. Yep, these are all going on my blog sale so check it out before they are all snatched up. I’m really curious to see more reviews for this collection because I keep wondering if I’m the problem (kind of like with the China Glaze Summer Neons!). It’s really too bad because I really do like Naughty Nautical, The Girls Are Out and The More The Merrier–those are my recommendations if you’re going to be getting any colors from this collection. And lastly, I did pick up a mini set to give away to one lucky reader. Make sure that you enter for your chance to win this mini set by using the rafflecopter widget below. As usual, this is open internationally.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Please let me know what you think of this collection! Good luck and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Precision Twilight Zone

Posted on 30 May, 201316 November, 2013 by Cynthia

Do you remember watching The Twilight Zone when you were a kid? Omg…I used to live for The Twilight Zone and I Love Lucy marathons that would run during Thanksgiving weekend. I haven’t caught them on TV in ages, so it makes me sad to think that maybe no one watches these shows anymore. Ugh…sometimes I sound so old, don’t I? You can usually catch me talking about the “good old days” before we had the internet and we used to actually go outside to PLAY. PLAY!!! Do kids even know what that is anymore? It seems that all they want to do is play with their iPhones and other devices–major sadness. The reason I started thinking about all that is because I have a very lovely polish to share with you: Précision Twilight Zone.

I don’t care what you say: Précision Twilight Zone is drop dead gorgeous. Well, if you’re on this blog then you probably really like nail polish and you will immediately fall in love with this polish so I don’t have to threaten you with bodily harm or anything. This is such a beautiful deep raisin/aubergine color with some gorgeous scattered holo. The formula on this polish was really good as it covered at two coats. I found this at some random beauty supply along with Wine, Dine and Shine (which you can see here), and I wish I knew if these came from a scattered holo collection or what because I want them all!!! I always hesitate to feature polishes that are probably hard to find, but I just couldn’t keep this beauty all to myself.

Work wasn’t as crazy today so at least I had an ok day on that end, and I hope that I get more of the same tomorrow. It’s 6:30 now so that means that I should be taking a shower and then getting ready for bed…how pathetic. Anyway, I know I won’t actually got to bed so early since I still have to apply to at least 5 jobs. I know that if I keep focusing on being consistent with sending out resumes, I will find something soon so I can escape the 7th circle of hell which is my current job. Thanks for stopping by today! Catch you later.

Ruby Wing Summer Festival Paint Collection 2013

Posted on 29 May, 201329 May, 2013 by Cynthia

So, I had planned on waking up early so I could get some laundry done but I ended up NOT doing that and just being a lazy bum all morning while I watched a bunch of episodes of Doctor Who. I may be super new to the Doctor Who fan club but man this show is addictive. I’ve been humming that doooo weeeeeeeeee oooooooooo sound from the intro all morning.

I am totally feeling some Doctor Who nails coming on. Now that you think I’m a total weirdo, let’s talk polish again. Today I have two polishes from the Ruby Wing Summer Festival Paint Collection from 2013. This is not my first experience with solar color changing polish as some of you may remember my BBM (Blue Balls Manicure) which you can see here. I am glad to report that the formula for these Ruby Wing polishes is pretty great. I applied 1 thin coat and a second thicker coat for full coverage for both of these polishes. I am sorry for the really horrid pictures of the polishes out in the sun: I don’t know why my camera decided to take 5 dumps on me any time I tried to take pictures in direct sunlight. The polish top coat looks kind of streaky even though it wasn’t at all. Ugh…so frustrating! Believe it or not, those were the best pictures I ended up with so I just had to suck it up and use them.

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf Indoors

Ruby Wing Crowd Surf Outdoors

Ruby Wing Groupie Indoors

Ruby Wing Groupie Outdoors

Overall, I think these are super fun colors and I think they are worth picking up if you like the whole idea of color changing polishes. As I mentioned before, the formula on these polishes is pretty great as well. There are a total of 6 polishes in the Summer Festival Collection, and I think I am going to have to pick up Eternal because it is the most amazing turquoise changing to grey polish!!! I’m in love with it! My greasy looking hands are really bugging me in these pictures today!! I need to find a better way to moisturize before taking swatch pictures that don’t make me look like I dipped my hands in a tub of lard. I guess I’d rather have over-moisturized hands than crusty, ragged or flaking cuticles. Amirite? No one needs to see that!

For news on Ruby Wing and to keep up with all their new releases, you can follow them here:

Website: http://rubywing.com/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/RubyWingNailPolish

Twitter: https://twitter.com/rubywingpolish

Pinterest: https://pinterest.com/rubywingpolish/

Thank so much for stopping by today, and I hope you’ve been having a great day!