Of Life and Lacquer

She’s Having A Baby!

Posted on 25 March, 2013 by Cynthia

No, not the Kevin Bacon movie! Today I have something special for you: I am happy to help in sharing the news that Nicole, from Polish Me, Please!, is having a baby! Let me tell you a little bit about Pregozilla–I mean Nicole. She is one the very first (maybe the first??) blogger friend that I made when I started my blog about a year and a half ago. I am so lucky to have met someone like her who is kind and hilarious while being totally snarky–we egg each other on and have a blast. So today, a few of us future “online aunties” have gotten together to do a post with baby-themed nails. Are you ready for my contribution?

To start, I painted my nails with Sinful Colors Unicorn from the Sugar Rush Collection. Every bad thing that you have heard about this polish is true. The formula is such a pain in the ass because it’s crazy streaky. I applied 4 coats here and I am still not satisfied with how it turned out. The worst part is that I love this shade of yellow but the shit-tastic formula totally ruins it.

Don’t diss my nails; it’s the thought that counts, right? I was thinking of those cute little building blocks when I did these nails. I’m super happy for Nicole, her husband and her two fur babies although I am suspecting that Minnie is going to be crazy jealous of the baby and is always going to be up in Nicole’s face for attention even more. hahaha Good luck with that, Nicole! Both Frosso and I would like to volunteer to take Bubba off her hands, though. hehehehe

Don’t forget to check out all the other baby nails from my favorite nail polish soul sistas!

Nicole http://polishmeplease.wordpress.com

Frosso http://lacquermesilly.com

Jessica http://onceuponapolish.com

Lesley https://twitter.com/misfitlesley

Siobhan http://vmoller.wordpress.com

Jindie Nails Live Out Loud

Posted on 22 March, 2013 by Cynthia

The product featured in this post was purchased by me.

Hey there peeps! It’s Friday!

Sorry I went there…I just couldn’t help myself. It’s so nice out today so it’s kind of a shocker that I’m not complaining about the weather. I would like to complain about work, but today I won’t just because even I’m getting sick of my own complaining. I’ve gotten this really great burst of energy and inspiration where I want to take care of all the messiness in my life so I’m hoping that it continues and that I don’t lose my resolve. I think that the name of this polish is very fitting for my current mental state: Jindie Nails Live Out Loud.

Shouldn’t we all Live Out Loud? The first thing that I noticed about this polish was the circle glitter. I am so completely obsessed with circle glitter so this purchase was a no brainer. I love the milky white base and how awesome do all those colors look together? It’s like I have some funfetti cake on my nails. The formula on this polish was a little sheer so you definitely will need 3 coats (or more if you apply thin coats) for full opacity.

Let me know what you think of this polish. Thanks for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon.

The product featured in this post was purchased by me.

Precision Shine, Wine N Dine

Posted on 21 March, 201316 November, 2013 by Cynthia

All products featured in this post were purchased by me.

Hello there and happy Thursday. Normally I would be all excited that it’s Thursday because one of my favorite shows, Scandal, is on tonight but since I have to go to bed so early, I won’t get to watch it until tomorrow. Double poop. Anyway, at least there will be one good thing to look forward to tomorrow. I’m really excited about the polish I’m featuring today because it’s just so dang pretty. I actually got this polish the day that stupid dog bit me–and from the shop where the dog bit me. I’m not going to let that experience taint my love for this outrageously gorgeous baby. Are you ready to see Précision Shine, Wine N Dine?

I decided to post four pictures of Précision Shine, Wine N Dine: the first two in artificial light and the second set out in direct sunlight. It’s not always possible for me to take picture in direct sunlight so I’ve been relying on my light box ever since I started working. Précision Shine, Wine N Dine is a gorgeous pink based red polish with very fine and delicate holographic particles suspended throughout the squishy jelly base. Being a jelly, it’s rather sheer so you do need 3 or more coats for complete coverage. I think that the fine holo particles really kick this polish up a notch.

Since I just received my Winstonia Store stamping plates, I was dying to try them out. Here I used Pure Ice Silver Mercedes to stamp an image from plate W113. If you’re ever looking for a perfect silver stamping polish, you have to get Silver Mercedes because it’s just perfection. Look how clear it transfers! I was also worried that the full nail images might be too small for my wide and curved nails, but the size was perfect on this image. I can’t wait to try it more of the designs and hope to have a full review of the plates for you in the near future.

Holy shiznit, that was a fun mani! I haven’t been doing much stamping lately just because I haven’t had much time, but there is also a more tragic reason: I think I may have thrown away all my stamping plates by mistake. I am hoping that maybe I put them in a box in my closet the last time I was trying to get everything organized, but I also remember that I threw out tons of stuff so I really hope I didn’t through out my stamping plates. I think I had about 100 plates altogether so that makes me want to cry. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

I bought an extra bottle of this gorgeous polish for a future giveaway. In fact, I’m hoping to reach 1,500 likes on Facebook so I can have a super fun giveaway so spread the word! I’m way behind on responding to comments lately, but I promise to get to them soon. Thanks so much for the visit today and talk to you soon!

Illamasqua Speckled

Posted on 20 March, 201320 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Well, today I have a polish to share with you that I had been seriously lusting over since I first saw the promo images. I know it’s been out for a bit now so I’m sure that you have seen plenty of swatches already, but I was still super excited to try it out. Since I’ve been a little slow lately with my polish swatching and such. So without further ado, here is Illamasqua Speckled!

There is no denying that Illamasqua Speckled is gorgeous and the formula is perfection which I have come to expect from the brand. The finish is extremely smooth and you only need two coats for full opacity. As soon as I photographed this, I had a strange feeling of déjà vu so I looked through my stash, which is no easy feat, and I realized that I already did a similar mani a few months ago. Want to see what I used?

I started with 2 coats of Cacee BFF Kim. Sorry about the greasy looking fingers–I went a little heavy with the Solar Oil.

I then applied one coat of Nubar Black Polka Dot and then topped it with one thin coat of Kim. Since I wanted the black to show up a little more, I went back and applied the thinnest coat possible of Black Polka Dot.

I think it’s pretty obvious that I am very loyal to Illamasqua, but it can be a little painful to purchase all of their newest colors when they are $14-$16 a pop. I also know that not everyone can afford those prices, so I wanted to give you a cheaper alternative. Even better, you can make every polish speckled with one bottle of Nubar Black Polka Dots. I’ve seen this polish being sold online for anywhere between $4 and $8 so that’s a pretty good deal if you ask me. And here they are side by side:

The choice is yours. Let me know what you think!

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

Dare To Wear Sweetheart

Posted on 19 March, 201320 March, 2013 by Cynthia

If you follow me on twitter, you may have heard about me getting bitten by a dog…on my swatching hand to boot! Now, before you imagine some gross puncture wound, blood and tears, it was actually just a minor bite and it was more annoying than actually painful. Since I’ve been really stressed lately, I decided to go to scope out some nail polishes after work. Well, normally I get off work at 1:30 but at about 1:25, I got a crazy complicated client so I ended up staying an extra half hour to deal with his issues–great, thirty extra minutes at a place I abhor. I should have just gone home, but noooooooooo…Cynthia needed some new polishes. I went to two of my usual nail places but I didn’t get much (most of the newest Orly collection and a new bottle of Seche). I then decided to stop by another place that I rarely go to because they don’t have the best selection, but I just felt like checking them out. When I walked in, the place was empty but then I saw this cute little dog walking towards me. Since I am absolutely nuts about dogs, I got all excited and bent down to pet him. Well, at first he seemed fine with it and then he snapped and bit my hand. The owner yelled at him and he walked away. She was apologetic, but I just brushed it off and got a few more polishes. So my lesson here is: I am not the Dog Whisperer so I need to not be so grabby with strange dogs.

One of the polishes that I got this past weekend, is Dare To Wear Sweetheart. I can’t explain why I’ve been gravitating towards pink polishes lately–maybe I’m just in a girlie mood.

Are four pictures of the same polish overkill? I’ve been wondering if one or two pictures are enough, but since I’m not really changing the lighting, I’m thinking that maybe 4 are too much since I’m only changing the angle. Let me know if you have an opinion or preference. Anyway, Dare To Wear Sweetheart is a super hot pink with holographic and silver glitter throughout. This polish dries a little matte and super gritty. I applied two thick coats of Seche to try to get a smooth surface, but this polish pretty much sucked it right up. The formula was pretty good, though. It was super opaque and it was kind of goopy in a good way where I was able to control it really well and didn’t have to do any clean up at the end. That’s my favorite.

I’ve mentioned my health a little bit from time to time, and I’ve been stressing about not having health insurance a lot lately. For the last week, I’ve been stressing out about everything…my health, my craptastic job, my even more crappy car that’s one step away from the junkyard and just EVERYTHING in general. This is one skip and a hop away from major anxiety attacks so I’m just trying to keep it together. One way that this stress has been physically manifesting itself is that I wake up almost every night throwing up. It’s really bad because it basically happens a couple of hours before I have to get up for work so I feel like I’m not even sleeping. I really don’t want to go back on meds and I really can’t afford to be paying for therapy and doctor’s appointments out of pocket so I feel like I’m just between a rock and a hard place. Maybe for now, polish has to be my therapy. Sounds like a plan to me!

So I hope that you don’t think I’m just sharing this for attention or because I want sympathy…I just feel like it helps to get this stuff out, and I know that some of you soooooooo understand what this feels like. I just hope this passes and I start feeling better about everything. Thanks for listening. <3

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

Nailtiques Moscow Review & Giveaway

Posted on 18 March, 201317 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

This weekend, a friend and I decided to go polish shopping. As if she really needed to force my hand! Unfortunately, all of the places we were trying to go to closed early so we ended up finding only one place that was still open. I don’t go to this particular beauty supply very often, but they always remember me because of the sheer quantity I usually purchase. Nothing was really catching my eye, so the owner asked me if I had ever tried Nailtiques. To be honest, I have heard of the brand but never really tried any of the products. She brought out this red and told me I would love it so that is how I ended up with Nailtiques Moscow.

The formula on Nailtiques Moscow is pretty darn flawless. After the first coat, I could have left it alone, but this polish has a crelly-like formula so I had some VNL. I applied a second coat and that pretty much took care of the VNL problem. I also felt that this polish dried lightning fast so you don’t want to overwork it or else it can get goopy on your nails. My one complaint right now is not so much about the polish but the brush. I like how the brush fans out, but I feel like it’s too squared so I had to work really hard to apply the polish on the curve meeting my cuticles. I did get a bit of polish on my skin and holy moly it’s crazy pigmented. I had to go over those areas a few times with my brush and acetone to get it all off.

I also bought this really cute mini set to give away which includes a base coat, top coat and a mini manicure kit. The color included is Moscow which I just reviewed above.

In order to enter this giveaway, use the rafflecopter widget below. The only requirement is to be a blog email subscriber but you can earn additional entries as outlined below if you wish.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’m really interested to hear if you have tried Nailtiques because I have heard some really good things about their products–especially their nail care line. After this positive experience, it is very likely that I will scoping out some additional items to add to my collection. Let me know what you think of this color–are you a red polish whore like me?

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

Discolsure: All products featured in this post were purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, St. Paddy’s Day and Guinness

Posted on 17 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Discolsure: Jindie Nails Underwater Disco was provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR firm. China Glaze Four Leaf Clover was purchased by me. For more information, please see my disclosure policy tab here.

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day to all my readers–Irish or not! I’ve always found Saint Patrick’s Day a really fun excuse to get just a little rowdy and maybe a little wasted. This year, I’m not going out whatsoever since it landed on a Sunday and I have to be up at the buttcrack of dawn for work tomorrow. Oh well–at least I can have cute nails, right? I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do, so I just started looking through all of my green polishes to see if any of them caught my eye. That is how I ended up choosing China Glaze Four Leaf Clover.

It’s been a long time since I’ve worn China Glaze Four Leaf Clover, and I’m asking myself what took me so long?!?!?! It’s such a gorgeous green with a teal hue to it. The teal in this color is not as obvious, but it’s definitely not a true green. Since this color had been sitting in my melmers undisturbed for the last year, it had separated so I had to shake it up quite a bit to get the color and consistency back to normal. The first coat of this polish is really streaky, but the second coat fixed it right up.

And here is the star of the show: Jindie Nails Underwater Disco. This was my very first Jindie Nails polish that I got in August of last year. This polish has really big blue hexes that I purposely did not apply here because I wanted my mani to be mostly green. After not using this polish for the last 7 months, it was super thick so I added some thinner and it came right back to life. Jen was the first ever indie nail polish creator to send me some samples to review, and I kind of blame her for starting me on this dark path of indie glitter obsession.

I hope that you have a great Sunday whether you are out getting your drunk on, or if you’re just staying home dreading the start of a new workweek like me. Take a moment to enjoy the warm weather (if you’re in So Cal, enjoy the 70 degree weather!) and maybe have a Guinness–or six–like me. That’s Alfie on my computer wallpaper. Being an Irish Wheaten Terrier and all, I figured he should be in on the shot as well. I miss my little bubs.

Thanks for stopping by today and don’t forget to check in tomorrow because I am launching a new little giveaway. 😉

Winner Announced: OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Minis

Posted on 16 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Hi everyone! Another giveaway has come to an end, but don’t worry…I already have another cute little set for a giveaway that will launch next week. You can thank one of my polish crack dealers who foisted this set on me along with a bunch of other products because she thought I NEEDED to try this brand. Well, I’ll give you more details later on, but I think it’s an adorable little set and I hope you all like it. About today’s giveaway, I won’t keep you waiting. The winner is….

Wooo hoo! A big congratulations to Rosie for being the winner of the OPI Oz The Great And Powerful Minis. I have contacted her, and she will have 24 hours to get back to me or else I will be choosing a new winner.

Once again, thanks for participating and helping my blog grow. I’ve been seeing a lot of new people visiting and commenting so that always makes me really happy because I get to know so many of you. I hope you’re all having a great Saturday–and stay safe since some of you are probably partying it up for St. Patrick’s Day tomorrow.

Nails Inc. Leather Effect Shoreditch Lane

Posted on 15 March, 2013 by Cynthia

Hey kids, it’s Friday! Unfortunately, it’s not my Friday since I will have to go to work tomorrow. Wah, wah!!!! Today I was just feeling so lethargic and tired despite the fact that I went to bed really early last night. I think I was just so miserable thinking about having to go to work in the morning that I couldn’t even get some proper rest. Today, as I was nearing the end of my workday, I was sitting at my desk softly repeating over and over: “I hate my job. I hate my life. I hate my job. I hate my life.” That is both sad and funny to me. I hope that no one heard me because I am sure that they would think I’m completely insane. Anyway, things could always be worse, right? Now that I’ve had my work complaint for the day, now I’m going to show you a polish from the Nails Inc. Leather Effect line: Shoreditch Lane.

I don’t know about you, but I think this finish is pretty damn interesting. I think it’s pretty similar to the Liquid Sand finish but less gritty and more matte. It definitely has a bumpy texture, but it did not bother me at all. I really appreciated the formula because it was very easy to control and it was very opaque, but it is necessary to apply at least two coats to really let the texture develop as it dries completely. While a lot of special effect polishes come and go as annoying trends, I can actually see myself wearing this a lot. I love the deep color, and maybe next time I will top coat it with some seche and see how it looks glossy. Shoreditch Lane definitely gets two thumbs up from me. I was super close to getting one of their new “Feather Effect” nail polishes but as some of you may know, I have major issues with birds–basically I hate them all and they gross me out. The bottle even had a picture of a bird…uhm….no thanks! Just thinking about it now gives me the willies.

Let me know what you think of this polish…do you like it or do you think it’s just a fad that will probably go the way of crackle? Oh, God…please let crackle/blasted/shatter polishes disappear from the face of the earth. Banish them to Atlantis, if you must. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you later.

Color Club Halo Hues Collection 2013

Posted on 14 March, 2013 by Cynthia

The other day when I went to my nail polish Mecca, the owner shopped with me. Yes, he actually put stuff in my basket. He pulled out all the stuff that wasn’t on display yet to try to tempt me. He actually did not have the Halo Hues out on display but he took them out from behind the counter like an evil polish Jezebel. I instantly wanted them all, but I showed a little self-restraint and only brought home two of the 6 colors because I already have a big collection of holos. The two that I ended up purchasing are two unique colors in my collection, so I was really excited about trying them out. Here are my two picks from the Color Club Halo Hues Collection for 2013.

I really loved the idea of a nude-type of holo. Is that an oxymoron? Well, this is a nude if it was on crack and meth. Cosmic Fate definitely did not disappoint. It’s a peachy-gold color that looks rather tame in low light but absolute goes nuts in direct light. The first two pictures were taken indoors in my light box and the last one was taken in direct sunlight.

Kismet is what I wished butter london Trustafarian had been. This is like the perfect pale seafoam green holo! I am glad that this has a definite green hue to it because I was afraid it would look like all the other silvery holos that are pretty much everywhere nowadays. So pretty!

Have you picked up any of the new Halo Hues for 2013? If you’re new to holos, I think these are definitely worth it. The formula is really great and you don’t need any of that aqua base nonsense. Let me know what you think of these shades and if you have spotted these in your area. Thanks for the visit, and I’ll talk to you soon!