Of Life and Lacquer

Giveaways

Posted on 14 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Hi Everyone!

A few of you mentioned to me that the post that I wrote launching my second giveaway did not go to your email. Hmmm…that’s really strange. So, I decided to try it again just to make sure there isn’t anything wrong with my wordpress account. I have two giveaways running right now:

Giveaway #1 – Sation Prize Pack and A Mini Bottle of Seche Vite.

Go enter here. This giveaway ends in a few days.

Giveaway #2 OPI Liquid Sand Minis

Go enter here.

I also have a super duper cool giveaway to share with you which is being run by one of my best blogger friends, Jessica from Once Upon A Polish.

You can go enter her giveaway here.

Good luck to everyone!

OPI Liquid Sand Get Your Number & Can’t Let Go

Posted on 14 January, 201314 January, 2013 by Cynthia

I was very weak today, my friends…very weak indeed. Since I’ve been so good about not spending money on non-necessities (namely NOT spending any money), I reverted back to my old polish hauling days. Granted, I didn’t buy 20+ polishes, but I did buy around 8 bottles which is pretty bad. You will be proud of me when I tell you that despite seeing a fully stocked display of the OPI Mariah Carey line, I only picked up two polishes. TWO! That is some serious self-restraint, and I am kind of proud of myself. Now, if only I hadn’t grabbed 6 other bottles from some nearby displays…but that’s another story.

The two OPI Liquid Sand polishes that I picked up are Get Your Number and Can’t Let Go. These were the two shades that immediately grabbed my attention so I settled on them instead of grabbing all four. I have to be honest–I wasn’t super excited when the pics of these textured polishes first started circulating. As much as I like glitter, I think that I prefer the smooth finish and look that only a creme polish can give me. Additionally, I don’t like the idea of rough nails that can get scratchy or can get caught on tights or delicate winter cashmere. Just thinking about that gives me the heebie jeebies. Let me show you some swatches before I go more into my thoughts on these Liquid Sand polishes.

OPI Get Your Number is a blue glitter lover’s wet dream. I’m serious. This polish is so incredibly bright and gorgeous that I could barely stand to take it off. The holographic particles really give it an extra kick–I just wish I could capture how lovely this polish twinkles!

OPI Can’t Let Go is a purple shade that looks a little murky as far as I’m concerned. While I am a huge purple lover, I wish this polish was a little brighter. I feel like the base color covers up the holo a bit which is a huge shame. Before this dried all the way, I kept thinking that this polish looked like leather–weird.

So what do I think about OPI Liquid Sand polishes? Uhm, I freaking love them! I thought about applying top coat to them, but I think that would detract from the unique beauty of these polishes. Both of these shades looked fine at two coats, but I decided to add a third thin coat for the swatches above. If you are thinking: “Three coats? Ain’t nobody got time for that!” hold up.

The Liquid Sand formula dries at lightning speed so you don’t have to worry about waiting for layers to dry. Do you want to know what’s the absolute best part? You won’t get carpal tunnel trying to remove these. When I saw the formula, I was getting ready to whip out my industrial sander to remove them, but they actually came off without much effort when I used pure acetone.

And now for you, my lovely readers, I picked up a set of Liquid Sand minis for a flash giveaway so go ahead and enter below using the rafflecopter widget. The only requirement is for you to be an email blog subscriber and all the other entries are completely optional. As usual, this giveaway is open internationally. Please know the customs regulations of your country before entering.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

And while you are at it, go ahead and enter my other giveaway that is ending in a few days if you haven’t done so already. You can win a lovely 4 piece collection of Sation polishes along with a mini bottle of Seche Vite. You can enter here. So there you have it. I am eating my words about not being that excited about the Liquid Sand polishes. I don’t know if I’ll be picking up the other two since the colors didn’t appeal to me as much–uuhhh…who am I kidding? I’m sure they will be mine in the near future. Have you tried any other polishes from the Mariah Carey by OPI line yet? Thanks for visiting today, and I will talk to you soon.

Julep Madison

Posted on 13 January, 201313 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Since it has been unusually cold here in So Cal, I decided to pull out a very un-winter-like polish to brighten my day and get me in the mood for spring. I much prefer winter to summer, but it has been crazy cold by California standards lately so I’m kind of wishing for milder temperatures. What better way to get into a summer mindset than to wear a nice bright neon polish? Well, today I am wearing Julep Madison. I am a big fan of the Julep subscription service especially because of all the goodies that are included in the monthly boxes. You should try it out. If you use my referral link here and enter code JULEPVIP at checkout, you can get your own box for 1 penny! That is a great deal and a very easy and painless way to try out the Julep service.

Julep Madison is a pinky coral that dries to a satiny finish. After the first coat, I was a little worried that the formula was too thin and that I would need multiple coats, but it was actually fine once I applied the second coat. You can still see some VNL but that tends to happen with jelly-neon polishes. I really love the way it looks shiny so I ended up applying a coat of Seche Vite–it just looks so squishy!

I then used an image from Konad plate M63 for this ribbon-like twirly design. This makes me think of the ribbons that rhythm gymnasts use and of orange creamsicles which are my favorite summer treats. Ghhaaaa…now I want one so bad right now.

Let me know what you think of Julep Madison and if you like my stamping design. If you’re interested in becoming a Julep Maven for just a penny, don’t forget to use my referral link here and enter the code JULEPVIP. You really can’t beat this offer–nail polish for one cent? Yes, please! I hope you enjoy the rest of your Sunday, and I will talk to you soon.

Sation Dance With The Drummer

Posted on 12 January, 201312 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Happy Saturday everyone! It’s super chilly today so I slept in a bit this morning even though I have a lot of things to do and errands to run. While I worked on today’s mani, I was watching Resident Evil: Retribution which I got from Redbox last night. Ok, I have to admit that I am a huge HUGE fan of horror, sci-fi and zombie/monster movies so I always watch the Resident Evil movies when they come out. I don’t think the story quality of the movies is as good as the first two, but I watch them anyway. Speaking of zombies, do you watch The Walking Dead? Ever since I cut my cable, I have had to watch The Walking Dead online and I haven’t watched it for a couple of months so I can’t wait to find out what has been going on. I love me some bloody zombie stories! Moving on from the undead, today I decided to wear another blue: Sation Dance With The Drummer.

I decided to share two sets of pictures of Sation Dance With The Drummer because I was having some serious issues with photographing this polish. It seems that green and blue polishes are my mortal camera enemies because the color never comes out true to life and to top it all off, I get major lobster hands! Despite my lobster hands issue, I really really love this polish. It is super pigmented and smooth so it only needs two coats for full coverage. When I first saw this polish, I thought that it looked exactly like Sation Rock-A-Guy-Blue which I reviewed here. However, once I took both bottles out, they are definitely NOT dupes, but they are kissing cousins. Rock-A-Guy-Blue is darker and more vibrant while Dance With The Drummer is more dusty. Do you need both, probably not. Would you want both? Uhm, yes please!

The other day, Siobhan posted her swatches of Essence Blue Addicted and I instantly remembered that I hadn’t used my bottle in a while. (You can see her post here.) The first time I used it, I had just cut my nails down to nubs so I don’t think the mani looked as nice. Now that I have some length to my nails, I decided to give it another shot.

Essence Blue Addicted is a pretty dead-on dupe for Deborah Lippmann’s Across The Universe, but I don’t know how readily available Blue Addicted is. I had never seen it at my Ulta so I got mine as a gift from one of my sweet enablers: Sabrina from Polish In Paris. In fact, I think this polish might be discontinued since it is in the old style bottle, but I know Siobhan got hers on super sale recently so they still may be floating around. If you like beautiful glitter and love the combo of blue and green, this is the perfect polish for you! I layered two thin coats over Dance With The Drummer because the base of Blue Addicted is a sheer blue jelly that doesn’t really look good on its own.

Well my dears, what do you think about these polishes? I still have another movie to watch that I got from Redbox last night: Ruby Sparks. I really hope it’s good because I thought the whole premise is so cute when I saw the previews for it. Today is also my crazy cleaning day so I have tons of stuff to clean–mainly the bathroom. I know everyone thinks I’m weird for it, but I do like cleaning the bathroom…especially the tub! I stocked up on Mr. Clean Magic Erasers today so my tub has no idea what’s coming. Muawhahaha! I think my place would be super clean if I lived alone, but since the mooch (aka as my youngest brother) lives with me, he gets everything so dirty. Why do boys have to be so dirty? I don’t get it. I am afraid to step into the bathroom after he has been in there. Don’t even get me started on the scents that emanate from his bedroom…

Well, I hope your day is more interesting than mine which is full of cleaning, laundry and movies. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Disclosure: Sation Dance With The Drummer was provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR firm. Essence Blue Addicted was a gift. For more information, please see my disclosure tab.

Vapour Vernissage Ether

Posted on 11 January, 201311 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Today I have a new-to-me brand to share with you: Vapour Organic Beauty. I first came across Vapour when I was looking for some new foundation solutions since my skin is incredibly difficult to work with when the winter months arrive. Perusing through their site, I immediately noticed that the also had a line of nail polish so I’m glad to be able to share my experience with the following three products.

Because of my constant swatching and the fact that I am a bit of a clean freak, my hands are constantly beat up. One of the most important and crucial things that you can do for your hands and nails is to keep your cuticles well-moisturized. I always make sure to have a good moisturizing lotion on hand as well as some cuticle oil. Since it has been rather chilly and dry here in Southern California, my cuticles have been in a deplorable state. After using my usual cuticle remover, I proceeded to use Vapour’s Replenish Organic Nail & Cuticle oil. The first thing that I noticed about it is that it has a very pleasing and citrus-y scent. Like all cuticle oils, it is best to really work the product into your nails and cuticles if you don’t want it to just sit there and give your greasy fingers. Replenish is made with a unique collection of high-grade organic oils and botanicals traditionally used for facial treatments including Evening Primrose, Pomegranate Seed Oil and Reishi Mushroom. I felt that Replenish sank in to my skin fairly quickly and my cuticles are still soft and moisturized despite numerous hand-washings throughout the day. Of course you have to keep using the a product like this to see long-term results so I will let you all know what I think down the line.

Vapour Vernissage Ether — Direct Sunlight

Ether is an inky midnight blue with some purple tones to it. It also has a shimmery quality that is only visible in direct and bright light. The formula was very nice and easy to control–I didn’t have to do any clean up! While it was a little on the thin side, I only needed two coats for full coverage. The thing that most surprised me about this polish is how incredibly shiny and glossy it dried before I even applied a top coat. Vapour’s Velocity Top Coat is a quick drying top coat, but I did not feel that it gave me the results that I was expecting. While it does dry the polish fairly quickly on the surface and leaves a very glossy finish, I don’t think that it dried the polish completely because 2 hours later, I accidentally bumped my nail and it made an indentation.

Overall, I am very much liking the Replenish nail and cuticle oil and will continue to use it especially during these cold and dry months. Ether is a lovely color that I would wear regularly even if it is not entirely unique. I very much like the formula and finish of the polish even though I didn’t quite get the results I was hoping for with the Velocity quick drying top coat. You can find more information on their diverse product lines by visiting www.vapourbeauty.com The Replenish cuticle oil, Velocity top coat and Vernissage polishes retail for $12 which is definitely on the pricey side for such tiny bottles. An important note: Vapour Organic Beauty does not test on animals nor are any of the raw ingredients in Vapour tested on animals. Have you ever tried products from Vapour Organic Beauty? Are you familiar with their line of products?

Thanks for checking in with me today and I will talk to you soon. I hope you enjoy your weekend and stay warm!

Disclosure: The products featured in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR firm. For more information, please see my disclosure tab.

China Glaze Draped In Velvet

Posted on 10 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Hello there! The weather is pretty kick ass in So Cal today: it’s sunny but chilly and really windy. It’s the perfect weather for staying in bed all day but that’s not happening today. I actually overslept today even though I am always up fairly early so of course today was the day that I was going to get an early call from my new employer to interview me in French. Nice. I probably made a horrible impression since I sounded like I was groggy and tired. Maybe I’m coming down with something. If I am going to get the flu, I hope I get it now so that I can be ok by the time I start my new job in another week. Remember how I was saying that I’ve been super lucky lately? Well, last night I was in a conference call with my fellow Latina Lifestyle Bloggers, and I won a raffle for a ticket to attend the Third Annual National Lifestyle Blogger Conference & Junket!!! I was super excited about this because I really wanted to go but the ticket is a few hundred dollars and I just couldn’t swing that with the whole not working part. Well, I am super duper excited to attend this conference and hope that I learn tons of new stuff. Blogging has become a passion for me, and I really hope that I can continue to grow my blog and that you all enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it.

Moving on to the nail polish, I have China Glaze Draped In Velvet to share with you today:

China Glaze Draped in Velvet is from the 2006 We Adorn You Collection which obviously pre-dates my polish obsession. This color is like a magenta, blue leaning, shimmery purple. The formula was pretty decent like most China Glaze polishes. I can’t say that I’m blown away by this color but it’s nice.

I then took out my Layla holo in Flash Black and used Konad Plate M63 to stamp this design. I really like how this turned out because it looks all swirly and almost whimsical.

Sorry to keep it short today but my friend is patiently waiting for me to finish up this post so we can go grab some lunch! 🙂 Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Illamasqua Load

Posted on 9 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Load. Yes, you read that correctly: LOAD. I think my blog has always been PG-13 or maybe R at times so I apologize if Illamasqua is offending your sensibilities. Nothing really shocks me nowadays (Sinful Colors Beau Khaki anyone?) and I just kinda giggled every time I saw this polish. I finally decided to get it because I have been pretty obsessed with white/off white polishes lately Illamasqua Load was released in the 2011 Throb collection for Valentine’s Day of all things. haha!

Illamasqua Load is a milky and creamy off white polish with some yellow undertones. Not only have I been super obsessed with white polishes, but I am also a huge fan of yellow polishes as well because my mom always dressed me in yellow. I guess it brings back fond memories of being a kid. The formula on this was definitely not what I expected considering Illamasqua is usually perfection in a bottle. This color was beyond streaky and I never thought I would be able to get it to look right after the second coat. I decided to apply a thickish third coat and that seemed to do the trick.

Ok, I don’t know what I was thinking when I did this. I am not feeling the gold hex glitter at all. I think it looks kind of strange and it was a pain in the butt to apply since it is loose glitter. I got the idea of doing this after I saw Nicole’s poopy brown nails yesterday. Considering that we both agreed that we didn’t like them, I guess I had a brain fart when I went a head and took inspiration from them. I feel like I have ghetto gold on my nails!

It’s Wednesday so happy hump day! Are you looking forward to the weekend? I am because I may have more celebrations in store. That’s just how I roll. 🙂 Do you have any fun weekend plans? Oh, and I almost forgot to ask you: what do you think of Load? Is it something you would wear? Are you totally turned off by the name?

Thanks so much for stopping by today and catching up with me! Talk to you soon.

Dior Lucky

Posted on 8 January, 2013 by Cynthia

Ever since yesterday morning when I was offered a job, I’ve been walking on sunshine. I know I mentioned it already, but not only did I get a job but I also won a giveaway–my head was about to explode like Austin Powers’ Femmebots.

I even went and bought some lotto tickets because you just never know! I am on a roll here and wouldn’t that be kick-me-in-the-crotch fantastic? Before I get into the fun that has been going on since yesterday morning, I wanted to share the one polish I bought to celebrate. While this might surprise certain people *cough* Frosso *cough*, I only bought one celebratory polish, and I decided to go all out: Dior Lucky.

Normally, I would never consider purchasing a polish for $23, especially when it’s only .33oz! Besides loving the color, of course I loved the name because I am definitely a lucky girl to have so many things start to fall into place after such a putrid year and a half. Dior Lucky is a “hot pink coral” as described by Dior, but I find that it leans red in certain lights. I am a huge fan of these neon-leaning shades even if we are in the middle of winter.

Since this is my first “luxury” brand polish, I was very curious about the brush. Well, let me tell you that I am in absolute love with this brush. It’s wide and has a rounded tip and it fans out PERFECTLY to apply an even coat of polish. I think this brush might just replace my favorite OPI pro-wide brush!

Look at Dior Lucky in all it’s glory. The formula was perfection. It’s buttery, thin but not runny, highly pigmented and opaque at two coats. The formula seems to dry rather quickly which I appreciate. I did not notice this, but I saw the faintest hint of shimmer once it was under direct light. This color is so bright that it photographs like a neon. I am definitely happy with my first Dior polish purchase, but I do find them waaaaaaaaaaay too pricey and I don’t see myself spending this much on polish unless it’s because of a special occasion…like any day ending in “day.” Just kidding…sort of.

Yesterday I ended up going out with one of my best friends to celebrate: we went out for a yummy dinner and cocktails and then ended up karaoke-ing our silly hearts out. Can you imagine how silly we looked doing a duet to ABBA’s Dancing Queen? Not only did we look like a couple of weirdos, but we also tried to do a little dance a la Muriel’s Wedding.

It was freaking awesome! We would have stayed out all night but she had to work the next morning so we wrapped it up at a decent hour.

Today, I spent the day with one of my other best friends. We decided to have a sushicoma day which looks exactly like this:

Yes, we are complete sushi pigs. I am in total love with this sushi place so it’s one of the only places I will go to when I’m craving sushi. Every time we walk in, the sushi chefs behind the bar yell out something in Japanese which I have now determined means “Prepare the sushi boats!” when they seem us walk in. Our waitress is consistently amazed at how much sushi we eat but she stays polite. I am sure she’s thinking we’re disgusting. Anyway, during our sushicoma lunch, I was telling my friend about my future plans for my blog and then I began to chastise him for not reading my blog. Our conversation went something like this:

Cynthia: “I can’t believe you don’t even read my blog! You’re one of my best friends and you don’t even follow my blog!”

Daniel: “Yes I do! I do read it…”

Cynthia: “Ok, well what was the last post that you read?”

Daniel: “Uhm, you mean like the title of the post??? I don’t know!!!”

Cynthia: “Ok, then…what was the post about?”

Daniel: “Uhm…..nails?”

Enough said! After sushi, we went to the mall where I purchased some goodies including my bottle of Dior Lucky and other fun stuff. I really really wanted to ride the carrousel and get a balloon but people are so judgy!

After that, we ended up going to the beach to catch the sunset. There really were a lot of people out there despite the cool weather. There were a lot of surfers out in the water so I guess the waves were good!

So that’s what I’ve been doing since I found out I got a job! There are so many awesome comments that I’ve started to read and I promise to start responding soon. Also, don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the awesome Sation polishes here. I love you all and I can’t tell you enough how much all your encouragement has helped me stay positive through this craptacular period of my life. Thanks for checking in with me today, and I will talk to you soon!

Just Because Giveaway

Posted on 7 January, 2013 by Cynthia

I wasn’t planning on doing another giveaway for a while even though I had mentioned doing a giveaway for surpassing 500 followers on my blog/facebook /twitter. I was just feeling kinda blah since the job thing was weighing down on me, but since I got a job today AND I won a giveaway from Glam 2 Go, I seriously can’t help myself and want to share the polish love. This is just going to be a small giveaway, and I promise I will be doing a bigger one once I get through the first couple of months at my new job–those are always the hardest because you’re learning the ins and outs.

As most of you who follow my blog know, I am a totally nuts for Miss Professional Nail’s Sation polishes. They consistently put out creative and funny collections and I seriously can’t get enough of the cute names for their polishes. The super amazing people at Sation sent me some polishes last Christmas (how cool are they??) and I have decided to use a portion of them for future giveaways—starting with this one!

BYOBottle, Stirring Silver, Tardy Tart 3-Free Dom and a mini bottle of Seche Vite.

This giveaway is open worldwide–just make sure that you know if there are any customs restrictions in your country because I will not be responsible if your prize is confiscated. To enter, just use the trusty rafflecopter widget below.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I want to thank all of you who sent positive thoughts and vibes my way. It meant the world to me!

Guess What?

Posted on 7 January, 2013 by Cynthia

I GOT HIRED ON THE SPOT. I start in 2 weeks. WOOOOOOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (Well, pending my drug test results and my background check but it’s not like I have anything bad to hide except maybe my polish obsession.)

I guess my special skills resume and Cynthia Trivia really impressed them. 😉

Thank you everyone for all the encouragement and kind words–they really helped me feel more confident in my skills and what I have to offer.