Of Life and Lacquer

Butter London Aston

Posted on 8 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Since I am gearing up for some marathon interview sessions, I dug through my melmers for nail polish colors that are office/interview appropriate. I do have a lot of neutral colors, but my brain has been high on color after all the recent challenge manicures I have done so I just couldn’t settle on a color. Then I saw my bottle of Butter London Aston which was still on my list to try so I decided to give this baby a whirl.

Butter London Aston has a thinner formula than I was expecting, but it was a little strange because the first coat gave me a pretty neutral tint, but I still had VNL. After I applied a second thick coat, I had full coverage. This polish dries a little dull looking and looks gritty because of the shimmer even though it is fairly smooth. Even after I applied a coat of Seche Vite, I don’t think it looks as shiny as it should.In all honesty, I am not that impressed with this color so what do I do to liven up a mani? I stamp it up!

I used this swirly pattern from Mash plate Mash 49. I obviously would not wear stamped up nails to an interview but Aston just looked so plain. I actually had high hopes for this polish and it obviously did not live up to my expectations.

What do you think of this polish? What type of polish would you wear to an interview? Thanks for stopping by and I will tall to you later.

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 31: Recreate Your Favorite Mani

Posted on 7 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Well, here we are completing the very last challenge so I just want to thank Nicole for inviting me to participate in this challenge when it started–30 years ago. I Have to admit that in the beginning, I hated it because I was struggling so much trying to figure out what to do, but now I am soooo happy that I participated because I think I gained some confidence along the way. A big thank you to all of you who stopped and commented on our manicures because it made the whole process even more fun!

The day that we were supposed to create a manicure inspired by a video game, I got so frustrated with my attempts that I ended up not posting anything. I was completely in love with Nicole’s Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle nails so I told myself that I would use that as my inspiration for today’s final nails. Let’s look at my final mani for the challenge:

Read below to see how I created this mani.

I started out with 2 coats of China Glaze White Out because I work better when I have a completely white canvas. Additionally, the white makes other colors seem brighter. I used a mixture of China Glaze Westside Warrior and Sunshine Pop for their green skin.

I then used black polish to do the outline of the characters with a tiny dotting tool and a thin stripping brush. With those same tools, I filled in some of the details like their colored bandanas and eyes.

Here are some final pics of my mani.

To remind you, these are Nicole’s TMNT nails. I am so glad she did this because it served as such great inspiration!

I don’t know about you, but I can still remember watching TMNT every morning before going to school. I would become so entranced in the cartoon that it would take me like 20 minutes just to get dressed. Of course my mom was yelling at me the whole time because I was late for school, but I didn’t care because I loved my morning cartoons.

Thank you so much for seeing us through this challenge. While I’m not itching to do another 31 day challenge, I will definitely continue to experiment with nail art. Now that I know I can do it, I’m going to have to invest in some awesome nail art brushes. Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s final mani over at Polish Me, Please!

Thanks for the visit and talk to you later.

LCN Mystique Burlesque Collection Holiday 2012

Posted on 6 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Guess what? I have another pretty holiday collection to share with you today. The LCN Mystique Burlesque Collection is perfect for the holidays with its richly saturated jewel tones that will definitely demand attention. The formula on all of these polishes was pretty consistent: smooth and opaque. The first coat appears deceivingly thin, but the second coat completely covers the nail. I find jewel toned polishes incredibly difficult to photograph so bear with me. I’ll stop blabbing now and show you the swatches.

Green Emerald

Ruby Red

Violet Amethyst

Blue Sapphire

This is such a beautiful and cohesive festive collection. These colors are not for the faint of heart: they are deep, saturated and outrageously season appropriate. Every time I look at Blue Sapphire, I thinking of doing one of those pretty snowflake manicures. As as I said in my previous review of the LCN Urban Expressions Collection, the price for these polishes is my only reservation because they are $7.50 for an 8ml bottle. You can also purchase these 4 polishes in one of their trend boxes for $29.90 at the LCN Boutique.

What do you think of this collection? Do you have a favorite color? Thanks for stopping by and talk to you later!

**These products were provided for review purposes. All opinions are my own.**

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 30: Tutorial Inspired Nails

Posted on 5 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I know I always start out these challenge posts by exclaiming that we are almost done. YES!!!!!!!!!!! We are almost done!!!!! Friday is the last day of the challenge and Nicole and I will be recreating one of each other’s challenge manis. I am going to have to figure out which one to do since she did so many awesome ones. I had a hell of a time deciding what to do for today’s challenge. There are so many great tutorials out there but one thing about me is that a tutorial inevitably dooms me to failure. I don’t know why, but even when I see step by step instructions, I find a way to mess everything up. Because of this, I always try out a tutorial on a nail wheel. Well, the first one I chose to recreate was disastrous. I am not kidding. So I went back and prayed to the Google Gods to help me find something cute but simple. Well, thank you GG because you did help me. I decided to recreate the Santa Nails tutorial that I found over at Mini Nail Blog. After I used her tutorial, I went and looked through her other posts and oh my gah, she has some exquisite free hand designs. You should definitely check out her blog.

Want to see my finished mani?

Read below to see how I created these nails!

These are all the items I used to create my Santa nails: Wet N Wild polishes in Red Red, Tickled Pink, French White Creme and Black Creme. I also used a dotting tool, a nail art brush, a sponge and some Seche Vite to finish it all off. One thing about me is that I love a bargain. I am not a polish snob and Wet N Wild polishes are some of my favorite bargain buys. You do not need expensive stuff to create fun manis!

I used Wet N Wild Tickled Pink as my base color. As you can see, it is very thin and streaky since I only applied one coat but it didn’t matter because I was going to cover most of it up anyway. Then I applied Wet N Wild Red Red to a third of my nail for the hat.

I then used Wet N Wild French White Creme and sponged it at the bottom for Santa’s beard. I then used a dotting tool to apply the white trim on Santa’s hat and also made a little mustache using a small brush with the white polish. Using the same dotting tool, I then dotted on Santa’s nose with the red polish.

And lastly, I used Wet N Wild Black Creme and a dotting tool to apply Santa’s eyes. Tadaaaaaaa!

What do you think of my finished Santa mani? Since I am really feeling excited about Christmas (how unlike me!), I love having little Santas on my nails. Unfortunately, he told me I have been a very naughty girl (I think someone showed him my late night tweets) so I’m expecting a lump of coal.

Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s challenge nails over at Polish Me, Please! Also, stay tuned for our last challenge on Friday where we will recreate one of each other’s manicures. Thanks for the visit and talk to you soon.

P.S. Did you enter my most awesome and spectacular giveaway? No? WHAT?! GO NOW! 🙂

Giveaway Time! – CLOSED

Posted on 4 December, 201222 December, 2012 by Cynthia

One year ago, I started this blog. My first blog post was on December 16, 2011; how many of you have read it? (Pssst…go read it here if you’re interested.) I can’t even begin to explain what this blog means to me and how grateful I am to all of you, my readers, who have stuck with me through this venture. Whether you regularly comment, send me encouraging messages or just read when you can–thank you! I’ve been debating about what I would like this blog to be in the future, and I still don’t really know. What I do know is that I am one fortunate gal to have met so many wonderful people thanks to this blog.

So in order to thank all of you for your continued support, I am holding my last giveaway of 2012!

Prize #1 A Set Of Mini OPI Skyfall Polishes

Prize #2: Seche Vite, China Glaze Channelesque and China Glaze Who’s Wearing What

(Quick note about these CG polishes. They are not 3-free in case that is a concern for you. These are old HTF and discontinued colors.)

Prize #3: Sation Seriously Slate, Hot 4 Teacher and Miss Emo Shun All

Prize #4: Nail Art Package

Prize #5: Jessica Cosmetics Spicy Dream Collection

(The amazing people over at Jessica Cosmetics just sent me a brand new set of their Spicy Dream Collection polishes to share with all of you. This is such an amazing collection that I previously reviewed here.)

Prize #6: Essence Break Through, Chic Reloaded, Fame Fatal and Grey To Be Here

(These polishes were kindly provided by the awesome people at Essence.)

To enter, just use the handy dandy Rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open worldwide, but please make sure that you know the customs regulations of your country before entering. The only mandatory entry is to be an e-mail blog subscriber and to leave a comment. Everything else is optional.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you all continue to enjoy my blog as much as I enjoy writing it and here is to a wonderful 2013 for us all!

Cynthia

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 29: Art Inspired Nails

Posted on 3 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Today was kind of a fun day for me when it came to deciding what to do for this challenge. I am a huge lover of art in general–painting, sculpture, architecture. I have a soft spot for the Renaissance which explains why Florence is probably my favorite city in the world–it’s like a love song to the Renaissance. One of my favorite paintings resides at the Uffizi Galleries: La Nascita di Venere by Botticelli.

I wish I had more time today because I might have attempted to recreate parts of this painting…that would have been awesome. Anyway, I was searching some of my favorite painters such as Picasso, Magritte, Dali, Renoir and Da Vinci for some inspiration. I don’t know how I ended up settling on Jackson Pollock, but I’m glad I did because I do like how my nails turned out.

Read below to see how I created this manicure.

I started with a base of OPI My Boyfriend Scales Walls. Let me tell you that I love this polish because it’s just such an interesting color. It’s obviously not a pure white which I really like. I had heard so many positive things about this polish so I am glad that it did not disappoint. I had to apply 3 thin coats, but I think it would be ok with 2 thickish coats.

I really wanted to try the traditional splatter technique with a straw or brush, but I just didn’t have enough time this morning so I went ahead and used the splatter design from Konad plate M70.

I used all the different colors and stamped them all over each other on my nails. Doesn’t this remind you of a Jackson Pollock painting?

Well, there are only 2 more challenges left so thanks for sticking with us through this loooooonnnnngggg process. 🙂 Don’t forget to check out Nicole’s nails over at Polish Me, Please!

Aaaaaaannnnndddd…don’t forget to check out my blog sale. I am going to add more polishes tonight so take advantage of the 20% off sale. 🙂 Talk to you later!

Winterlicious Tag

Posted on 2 December, 20122 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I was almost forgetting to post this. I got tagged by Amanda and Siobhan and since they are like two of my favorite blogger friends, I decided to go ahead and do it. (Remember when I said I got tag teamed on one of these tag posts and I got all sorts of unsavory visitors? tee hee)

Anyway, here are my answers to the Winterlicious Tag

1) Favourite winter nail polish? I honestly don’t have one. I wear all colors pretty much year-round.

2) Favourite winter lip product? This is an easy one. I am a Jack Black lip balm whore. I have about 10 of them all over my apartment. I also like Fresh Sugar Lip Treatment.

3) Most worn winter clothing piece? I guess a light jacket? lol

4) Most worn winter accessory? I like scarves…so I will say scarves even though we don’t really need them in Southern California.

5) Favourite winter scent/candle? I love candles but most scents make me sick. The only candle I am loving right now is White Barn Mahogany Teakwood that I got from Bath and Body Works. I love spicy musky scents and can’t stand any candles that are food scented or super sweet.

6) Favourite winter beverage? I love a good Caramel Macchiato from Starbucks but they taste extra good when it’s cold.

7) All time favourite Christmas/holiday movie? That’s an easy one: It’s A Wonderful Life

8) Favourite Christmas/holiday song? I love Jingle Bells because it’s the first Christmas song I can remember singing, but I also like Jingle Bell Rock and All I Want For Christmas Is You.

9) Favourite holiday food/treat? I like making buñuelos and churros at home…and I don’t feel guilty for eating them because it’s the holidays!

10) What is your favourite Christmas decoration this year? I’m liking my tree even though it’s small and Charlie Brown-ish.

11) What’s at the top of your wish list? I really hope that 2013 treats me better than 2011 and 2012. 🙂

12) What are your plans for the holidays this year? I am not sure yet. Probably just spending it with the fam.

Now, it’s your turn! I tag the entire world. 😛

1) Favourite winter nail polish?

2) Favourite winter lip product?

3) Most worn winter clothing piece?

4) Most worn winter accessory?

5) Favourite winter scent/candle?

6) Favourite winter beverage?

7) All time favourite Christmas/holiday movie?

8) Favourite Christmas/holiday song?

9) Favourite holiday food/treat?

10) What is your favourite Christmas decoration this year?

11) What’s at the top of your wish list?

12) What are your plans for the holidays this year?

New Year’s Resolutions – Blog Sale

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I have never been one to really make New Year’s Resolutions because I feel that it just sets me up for failure. I get all excited as if starting something on January 1st is really going to help me keep my resolutions any better than if I had started in December. Well, I’ve been wanting to make a lot of changes in my life because, frankly, my life is stagnant. I feel like I am stuck right now and I need to move forward. I want to make a commitment to myself to lead a healthier life which means exercise and healthy eating (sorry, no more THE SANDWICH meals except on very rare occasions). More importantly, I want to take care of my mental well-being. Since I have been off my antidepressants for a good 6 months, I know that I am in a place where I no longer fear that any little thing will shoot me down the spiral of anxiety and depression. I am actually feeling good! Wow, I never thought I would say that. It’s not to say that I don’t have my moments, but I feel that everyone has those moments…right?

One simple thing that I want to do is get rid of clutter. I am not really a person who holds on to tons of stuff at home so the clutter that my polish stash has become is really bothering me. I am an organized person and I like to keep things clean and simple, so the overflowing melmers in my closet are bugging me. Really bugging me. The truth of the matter is that I acquired my close to 1,000 bottles of polish in the last year and a half because I was going through a severe depression. Nail polish became my escape. Does that sound silly? Well, let me tell you that when I was hospitalized, one of our activities was to paint each other’s nails. Imagine that…a bunch of loonies painting each other’s nails. 😉 I always wondered what therapeutic effect this could possibly have, but in all honesty, it just gave us something to do and to focus on instead of flipping out or acting out like some of the other patients. Now, don’t get images of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest in your head. In reality, we were all pretty “sane” in the psychiatric ward—some of us just had a few “problems” to work through. So when I was released, I continued painting my nails and that is when all hell broke loose. Some of you who have been with me from the beginning will recall those 20 polish binges that I would post so often…remember that? Don’t get me wrong: I am not saying that I don’t love nail polish anymore. I still love it and probably always will, but I want to start fresh again. I have so much that I don’t even know what to do with them anymore so that is why I am having this blog sale.

You all know I am a master enabler, so starting today you are welcome to a 20% discount off your polish order if you are a blog email subscriber (discount does not apply to shipping). You can check out the items I have for sale by clicking here. I will be putting up more items as I sell more of them so check back occasionally. So there you have it. 🙂

Nubar Absolute

Posted on 2 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I was looking through my melmers today trying to decide what other polishes to put up on my blog sale (yes, go check out my blog sale now!), and I ran across Nubar Absolute. Believe it or not, I didn’t even realize I had this lovely polish and was shocked that I hadn’t worn it before. I had to remedy that immediately. This is the manicure I did today:

Read below to see what I used for this look.

Nubar Absolute comes from the fantastic Prisms Collection from 2010 which predates my polish obsession. Thankfully, I was able to find some of these locally so I snatched them up. I absolutely love this polish, but I do have some beef with it: it is super SUPER sheer. I had to apply 4 coats because I still had VNL at 3 coats. I found that because the polish is so sheer and the holo pigment particles are so fine, this polish dries very quickly. Absolute looks pretty but not that spectacular in regular light, but boy did it blow me away once I went out and it caught the sunlight…it really shines. Despite having to apply 4 coats, I still love how beautiful and delicate this polish is.

I’ve been all about stamping lately so I pulled out Konad plate M3 and used two designs for the stars. I don’t know about you, but stamping is not as easy as some people make it out to be. It takes time to get the hang of it so I don’t now why I’ve been seeing people say that stamping is “cheating.” I’m a stamper at heart because it was the first “nail art” I ever did when I first became obsessed with nail polish. I really like how this turned out–especially because the stamp didn’t cover up much of the lovely base polish.

What do you think about Nubar Absolute? Are you a Nubar fan? Let me know what you think!

31 Inspired Days of Nail Art – Day 28: Pattern Inspired Nails

Posted on 1 December, 2012 by Cynthia

I can see the finish line…I can see it! After today’s challenge, there are only 3 more challenges left, and then we are done! I am pretty sure this is my first AND last challenge…not that I didn’t enjoy it for the most part but it was just to much and way too long. While I wondered that the heck to do for the pattern inspiration, I saw this really cute paisley pattern dress in my closet so I decided to just use my paisley stamp and not worry too much about it.

Want to know how I created this mani? Read below….

I freaking love Jungle Queen. It’s one of my favorite–if not my favorite–polish from the On Safari collection. This is two smooth coats.

And this is Jungle Queen with one coat of Max Factor Fantasy Fire which I am now calling Jungle Queen On Crack.

I used Essie Nothing Else Metals to stamp the paisley design from Bundle Monster plate BM 315.

I’m not feeling too talky today…I am not feeling well at all. I had some pizza and it somehow started a lot of bad stuff in my stomach. lol Let’s leave it at that. hahaha Let me know what you think of this mani and don’t forget to check out Nicole’s IKAT nails over at Polish Me, Please!