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Essie Dress To Kilt Collection Fall 2014

Posted on 4 August, 201427 September, 2014 by Cynthia

How was your weekend? Mine was really busy, and the weather has been unusually humid here in SoCal which is pretty darn disgusting. It’s not even that hot, but the humidity makes it feel 100 times more horrible. We are at like 90% humidity and it’s 9 pm as I write this! It’s supposed to be in the 70’s later in the week but if the humidity persists, I’m going to be miserable. Doesn’t it seem like I’m always complaining about the weather? Maybe I should move to Siberia or something so I can stop complaining about the heat. Ha! Anyway, this weekend I went to my nail places and they only had one collection that I wanted which I guess is good for my wallet. I feel like Essie’s Fall collection has bee flying under the radar because I hadn’t seen or heard much about it. Essie Dress To Kilt is not really a collection that wowed me when I first saw the colors, but you just never know until you get the colors on your nails. Are you ready to see the swatches?

Essie Fall In Line

Essie The Perfect Cover Up

Essie Style Cartel

Essie Dress To Kilt

Essie Partner In Crime

Essie Take It Outside

Sooo…boring colors? That’s what I thought at first but holy frijoles these polishes are spectacular. The formula was really nice–a little thicker than I’m used to with Essie because I always have to be careful not to flood my cuticles, but these were a little on the goopy side but not unmanageable. These all looked nice with one coat, but I recommend two for that perfectly smooth and glossy look. Did I mention how incredibly shiny and glossy the finish is on all of these?? Personally, I am in love with Style Cartel because it’s so inky and intense with a jelly-type look. My other favorite is Take It Outside. I just love the beautiful taupe-y color and how it looks against my skin tone. It’s so hard to wow polish freaks like myself, but this collection managed to really please me. Even though the colors aren’t revolutionary and I probably have a few dupes, the formula on these is really great and the shine is out of this world. If you don’t have similar colors, I definitely recommend these. What do you think about this collection? Do you see any shades that you must have? Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #29

Posted on 26 July, 2014 by Cynthia

So this morning I went to see Lucy. I was super excited about watching it because I love Scarlett Johansson and I love Luc Besson (hello The Professional!), but it was kind of a let down. It seemed like it was trying to be a little serious but only came off as being silly. I figured a movie with both Scarlett and Morgan Freeman couldn’t be too bad, but I was wrong. I should have seen Hercules instead because then I could at least stare at The Rock for an hour and a half. Anyway, after the movie I went to my nail places and they literally had NOTHING new which was a big disappointment. I headed to Sephora to buy my favorite concealer (Kat Von D), and then went to Sally’s to buy some acetone. They had a buy 2 get 1 free sale on Finger Paints, and I almost bought some but I refrained. I’m so responsible now! I was working on my Stamping Saturdays mani last night and I had 2 total disasticures. It was so frustrating because everything I did came out looking horrible so I just ended up going with this last mani.

I really loved the color of Salon Perfect Plum Sorbet (press sample), but it dried so much darker than the bottle color. Even though this is a neon from the Neon Pop! Collection, I did not need to use a white base for this polish. Two coats were enough for full opacity, and it dries to a satiny finish so you need a good top coat if you need a shiny finish. Of course I Seche’d it up.

I then used an image from Mash plate Mash 40 and Essie Good As Gold for this swirly design. I ended up applying a matte top coat to finish off the mani. This is totally…MEH. I neither like it nor hate it. I feel like I’ve been off my stamping game lately. I hope that I start feeling inspired again because I feel like a total stamping bore right now.

So what are you up to this weekend? I don’t have much planed yet so I’m sure I’m just going to bum around which is fine by me. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #27

Posted on 12 July, 2014 by Cynthia

One of the things that I like to do on Saturday mornings is to wake up a little early and go watch a movie by myself. Is that weird? There is a theater by my house where tickets are $5 for a matinee show and they have new movies! The cheapskate in me can’t resist this so I usually go once a week depending on what movies they have. Well, this morning I watched Dawn Of The Planet Of The Apes and it was freaking awesome! I highly recommend it if you’re going to catch a movie this weekend. After the movie, I went to Sephora because I wanted to look at all the pretty nail polish and because I needed to buy some moisturizer. I’ve been using the same Clinique moisturizer since I was 14 years old if you can believe it. I have tried tons of different moisturizers over the years and I keep coming back to the original yellow lotion even after trying some that are much more luxurious and expensive. I really had to fight with myself because I wanted to buy one polish: Dolce &Gabbana Stromboli. At $25 for a .37oz bottle, I had to put it back because the price was too much for me to spend on one bottle of polish. I hate how reasonable I have become! I did use 500 of my VIB points to get 5 deluxe samples of Philosophy’s Hope In A Jar–the overnight version. I have super dry skin so I hope this is a good moisturizer to use at night. I rarely find any interesting samples at Sephora so I’m glad I got these. I almost got the Marc Jacobs 1,000 point perk, but I decided to pass because I don’t need ANOTHER lipstick or lipgloss even if they are MJ. Anyway, I’ve written a novel here and haven’t even mentioned my Stamping Saturdays mani so let’s take a look at the polish that I used as my base.I don’ know if you’re very familiar with Mentality nail polish, but you should be because they are some amazing products. Not only are the products top notch, but they are super reasonably priced and they offer free shipping! One of the things I hate about online shopping is having to pay for shipping, so I really appreciate their free and fast shipping. The other day, I saw that they were having a sale on their matte polishes (which are 4-free) because they will be switching to a 5-free base. Despite the fact that I’m drowning in polish, I couldn’t resist picking up a couple of bottles. Mentality Protect is a luxurious green matte polish that applied like a dream. I only needed two coats for full opacity and it dries incredibly fast. Gorgeous!

For my stamping, I used Essie Good As Gold and and image from Bundle Monster BM 313. I’ve been having Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles on my mind recently because I can’t wait for the new movie to come out. The very first movie I ever saw at the movie theater was TMNT and of course I became obsessed with everything Ninja Turtles and spent countless hours playing the video games and watching the cartoons. Ahh, those were the good old days.

I know this clip is from the second movie, but who can resist Vanilla Ice? haha! Well, I hope you’re enjoying your Saturday so far and thank you for stopping by today. I’ll talk to you soon.

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Stamping Saturdays #22

Posted on 7 June, 20147 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I feel like such a slacker. I’ve been pretty much neglecting my blog and responding to comments which is so unlike me. Sadly I feel like it’s a trend lately only because I have other stuff going on that is sapping the creativity and motivation out of me. I think I just need a swift kick in the ass to get back on track–or a really awesome Stamping Saturdays mani! I hope you’re not tired of me using my MoYou London plates so much because I’m not going to stop any time soon–they’re awesome.

Today’s plate du jour (see what I did there? I’m sho shmart) is MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample.) You can click on the image to be taken to this plate on MoYou London’s website. Buy it. You know you want it.

So I started with 2 delicious coats of OPI Incognito In Sausalito (press sample.) This polish is so amazing and buttery that it can be a one coater, but I’m a creature of habit so two coats is my preference. The polish may look a little off here because my bottle of Seche Vite was acting up. I don’t know what the dealio was, but it made my polish wrinkle a little bit. I added a shit ton of Restore to it and then it was acting normal again so maybe it was just too thick…that’s what she said.

I don’t know why I forget that Essie Shine Of The Times is so freaking awesome. Seriously. Look at it.

And here is the final mani. I am a little on the fence about it because part of me loves it but then it looks a little off. I’m just going to go with it. I’m a little annoyed that I stamped the image all crooked on my ring finger but at least I got it straight on my other fingers.

Do you have a Stamping Saturdays mani to share with us? You can link up your mani below or you can grab the code for your blog. I get super excited when I see more people joining in so I hope you will too. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon. Enjoy your Saturday!

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Essie Haute In The Heat Collection Summer 2014

Posted on 19 May, 201418 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Sometimes I feel like I get this weird high when I review Essie collections–and no, I’m not sniffing the polish or acetone. I know I’ve said it before, but I am always excited when I see new Essies. Am I weird for loving the bottle shape? I just find their bottles so incredibly classy and identifiable that I want to have hundreds of them lined up in my melmers just so I can admire the white caps. I know that I have issues but that just works to your advantage if you’re looking for Essie news and swatches, right?! I am normally in the know when it comes to upcoming collections, but I seriously had not heard a peep about the collection I have for you today until last week when I was reading a magazine. Sometimes I just assume that their neon collection is their summer collection but nope—we get a separate summer collection. Hey, in my book that’s great news because I wasn’t too in love with the Too Taboo Collection. So anyway, once I saw the ad in my magazine, I went to harass and chastise my nail guy for not telling me about this new collection. Whenever I go to his store, the first words out of my mouth (after saying hello, of course) are: “What new stuff do you have?” Sometimes I don’t even have to ask him because he will steer me to any new displays. I love my nail guy, but I’m pretty sure he’s a little scared of me. So now that I’ve rambled, are you ready to see the Essie Haute In The Heat Collection for Summer 2014?

OH MY FLIPPING POLISH GOD. Essie Strut Your Stuff is such a freaking gorgeous color. It’s like the darker cousin of In The Cab-ana. The formula on this was pretty nice because it was very opaque and smooth. I applied two coats here and it dries pretty shiny. One thing to note is that it stains a bit–but not enough to ever deter me from wearing it.

What are you doing to me, Essie? Are you trying to make up for past duds with this gorgeous polish? Cause I have to be honest: It’s kind of working. Essie Ruffles & Feathers is another gorgeous polish with an awesome formula. In real life, this color is slightly more green but my camera makes it lean a little bit more blue. Still…hubba, hubba!

I love white creamy polishes so much but we all know that the formula usually sucks balls, so I wasn’t expecting for Essie Urban Jungle to be decent. In fact, the formula is quite nice even though the first coat applied a little streaky and had a kind of chalky look. After the second coat, it was all gravy.Essie Haute In The Heat is really pretty but i found it a little boring especially since it’s the collection’s namesake. Still, if you don’t have something super similar, it’s worth getting because the formula is superb. If you have a steady hand, this is a one-coater.

Despite the silly name, Essie Roarrrrange is a nice and juicy summer color. Unfortunately, I am still on the “I hate orange” train from last week so I can’t say I am really loving the color. Additionally, this is the only polish that gave me a little trouble because I needed three thin coats to even it out.

I really wanted to love Essie Fierce, No Fear but I think this color just doesn’t do me any favors. I think it look absolutely icky on me, but I’m sure it will work on different skin tones. The formula was nice and SUPER shiny so expect two coats.

Overall, I am very happy with this collection. Coming off my disappointment with their Summer Neons, this is just what I needed to reel me back in. I know that this doesn’t necessarily scream SUMMER, but I think I quite like that. I also always appreciate their 6-piece collections because this allows me to really focus on each polish. I can totally see this collection being very polarizing, so I’m very curious to hear what you think. I think most of the major brands have put out their summer offerings, so now I’m excited to start hearing about Fall collections. Maybe I’m just trying to ignore the fact that we have 100+ degree weather all last week and it’s not even summer yet. Kill me now. On that note, I hope that you had a nice weekend and that you’re nice and rested for this new week. Is it Friday yet? No? Ok. Thanks so much for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon.

GIVEAWAY REMINDER

Have you entered my giveaway to win a full size 4 piece set of the OPI Sheer Tints? Click on the image below to go to the giveaway post. Good luck!

Stamping Saturdays #17

Posted on 3 May, 20143 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Holy shitballs you guys…I had a bad day yesterday. My day was a perfect comedy of errors so it’s not like something horrendous happened to me, it was just that EVERYTHING was going wrong. I ended up going to dinner with a friend and then we ended up drinking (a lot of beer–ha!) and watching the show My Strange Addiction. Do you know how much stranger that show is when you’re wasted? I am miraculously not hung over this morning which is great considering that I needed to put this post together. Thankfully I had completed my manicure yesterday when it was 5,000 degrees–even my fingers were sweating! Anyway, let’s get the polish show on the road!

For my base color, I used OPI In The Cable Car-pool Lane (press sample) which is simply goygeous. It is so shiny and squishy. I’m still loving the whole San Francisco Collection despite popular opinion.

For my stamped design, I use my MoYou London Pro Collection 18 plate (press sample) and Essie Good As Gold.

I really like how this turned out! I know this isn’t a very Spring/Summer manicure, but I don’t care. I will always wear whatever I’m in the mood for and this is what I wanted to wear yesterday.

It’s supposed to be a lot cooler this weekend (not in the 90’s) so I’m looking forward to not sweating while I sit on the couch and just watch TV. I’m also hoping to get some swatching done but there was a Zoya tragedy at the hands of Peanut yesterday. I’ll leave the story for the actual post. Thanks so much for stopping by today and I hope that you’ll link up your posts if you are participating in Stamping Saturdays. Have a great day, and I will talk to you soon!

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Essie Too Taboo Summer Neons Collection 2014

Posted on 14 April, 201413 April, 2014 by Cynthia

Can I complain about something today? I am so sick of people and their cell phones. If I have to be in an elevator with one more person yapping loudly about something stupid, I’m going to get stabby. Even worse, I can’t stand it when people are talking on their phones while they drive because it’s freaking dangerous. I had a close call with a lady who was driving like a maniac because she was on her phone, and she had the nerve to flip me off as if I had done something wrong! Well, to all you out there who continue to yap on your phones (hands free or not) while you drive, I salute you:

Anyway, that’s enough of my complaining. To counteract my sour mood about cell phones in general, I have some hot, hot, hot polishes to show you. So I’ve been going bananas for the last couple of months about the Essie Too Taboo Summer Neons Collection. I have this unhealthy obsession with getting every single Essie collection no matter what they look like or how many lilacs they have. Before I get into the swatches, I just wanted to say that I’m not happy with these pictures at all. My camera was acting super wonky, and it was really hard to get good pictures. I also used wayyyy too much cuticle oil and moisturizer so my fingers ended up looking greasy. Eeekk! I decided to post the picture anyway because I just did not want to sit through re-swatching the whole collection. I feel like I am all swatched out, and I am going to give myself a break for the next 5 days. In fact, I just filed my nails waaaay down, but they grow so fast that in another week they’ll be long again. Let’s get this show on the road already!

Essie I’m Addicted

Essie Chills & Thrills

Essie Vices Versa

Essie Too Taboo

Essie Sittin’ Pretty

Essie Serial Shopper

This is what the colors looked like on a swatching wheel in direct sunlight.

I’m torn. I’m torn because I pined for this collection for so long that I feel silly saying that I’m not in love with it. We all know that neons can be really finicky so I was trying to mentally prepare myself before I even started. Yep, some of these polishes were difficult…

I think Brit feels my pain. Neon formulas are usually a big ick in my book so I can’t really fault these polishes for acting like the neons they are. Before anyone starts telling me that they would be so much better if I would use a white base, save your breath–I know about wearing a white base. What do you think this is? Just a little hobby? (Yes, I’m being sarcastic so don’t get offended!) I almost always refuse to wear white underneath because one of my major nail pet peeves is the white base peeking out from the edges. It makes me want to barf! I can tell you that most of these polishes need 3 coats with the exception of Too Taboo and Chills & Thrills. While these two were ok with 2 coats, they also dried the quickest out of the collection which means that you have less time to work with them. Your best bet with neon polishes is to work fast and not overwork the polish or else you risk getting a lumpy uneven finish. I let each coat dry thoroughly before applying another, and this seemed to help a lot. All of these polishes dry to a satiny finish so you will need some top coat if you want a glossy finish. I applied one coat of Seche Vite on all of these because shiny nails is my thang. The color I was most excited about was Vices Versa because this year I seem to be all about lime green. Can it be the 2015 Pantone Color Of The Year, please? So anyway, if you are thinking about getting these polishes, go into it knowing that the formula is not a walk in the park. They are definitely NOT the worst neons I have ever used so don’t feel too discouraged just yet. While I like these colors, I don’t think they are super unique–especially for people who have massive collections. If you’re interested in these polishes, I have put them up in my blog sale. (Please note that I will give preference to those who want to buy the whole collection.)

Well, I hope that you had a lovely weekend! I had a busy weekend, and now I have too much to do during the week. I’m still upset that it’s Monday again so let me wallow in my pit of sadness. Let me know what you think about this collection. Are you still excited about picking these up? It looks like the polishes are already popping up here and there but aren’t officially out until next month. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Essie She Said Yes Wedding Collection 2014

Posted on 1 April, 201430 March, 2014 by Cynthia

It’s that time of the year when nail polish wedding themed collections start to rear their ugly heads. I know, I know…I’m not being a killjoy or anything, but I usually find wedding collections too blah to really interest me. Despite this, I always look forward to the Essie Wedding collections because no matter how many times I get polishes with sub-par formulas, I still want to love Essie. I don’t know if that makes me loyal or kind of dumb. Either way, I never miss out on an Essie collection so it’s no surprise that I have the Essie She Said Yes Wedding Collection for 2014 to share with you today. This collection is the epitome of wedding collections: white, sheer and nudes. Before I rip this collection to shreds, let’s take a look at my swatches below.

Essie She Said Yes

Essie Meet The Parents

Essie Love Every Minute

Essie Got Engaged!

You may be surprised, but I actually do like this collection. WHAAAAAAAAAAT? Yep, you read correctly. Maybe it’s because the colors are so pretty and delicate or because I just finished watching My Best Friend’s Wedding for the millionth time, but I really like the end result. Sadly, I do have gripes with the formula on all of these polishes. I think that if you go into this knowing that they are supposed to be super sheer polishes, you won’t really be disappointed. However, I just don’t like sheers, and I do not like having to apply 4 coats of polish in between my base coat and top coat. Two of the polishes: She Said Yes and Got Engaged! had very subtle sparkles that completely disappeared once on the nail. You can catch some sparkle depending on your lighting and angle, but otherwise you won’t really see it. If you purchase these knowing that they are super sheer and that you’ll need multiple coats to reach opacity, I think that you will quite like these. I didn’t like these enough to want to hold on to them so they went up on my blog sale.

What do you think of this collection? Do you like sheer shades or do they drive you nuts? But more importantly, do you like My Best Friend’s Wedding? hehe Tomorrow I have another wedding inspired duo so make sure that you check in with me. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #8

Posted on 1 March, 20143 May, 2014 by Cynthia

I was feeling so shitastic last night that I passed out fairly early. Then this morning I woke up feeling as if I had consumed a bottle of Tequila the night before, but I had to soldier on and get ready for work. By the time I got to work at 6 am, I was feeling a little better but then my foot started to bother me. It’s been throbbing a lot and it feels swollen so now I’m thinking I should definitely go to the doctor just so they can check it out. My co-worker felt it would be funny to show this to me:

You know what? It is pretty fucking hilarious and so accurate so props to him. The one saving grace of my crappy morning is that work was fairly slow as we were actually adequately staffed…yay! I am glad that I got my mani for Stamping Saturdays done a week in advance because I am feeling super lazy today and probably would have missed posting this week….I am super late as it is but I guess it’s better late than never!

I started out with two creamy coats of OPI Dutch Ya Just Love OPI? I love this color and love the collection it came from!

I then stamped this designs from Bundle Monster plate BM 314 with Essie Good As Gold. I know that I use the Essie Mirror Metallics quite often for my stamping, but they are just fantastic stamping polishes.

So what do you think of today’s stamping mani? I’m liking it but it’s definitely not one of my favorites. I hope to come up with something really cool for next week because I just received my MoYou plates. You have no idea how excited I am to have gotten them!!! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection Spring 2014

Posted on 17 February, 201416 February, 2014 by Cynthia

I’ve got to warn you before I get started: I’m feeling off. Basically, I am feeling a little stressed out about a variety of things and that stress is carrying over to every area of my life. Last night I went on a binge trying to get rid of tons of polishes I never use so I added A LOT of stuff to my blog sale. Thank you to all the ladies who have purchased from me already–I was surprised by how much I sold in the first few hours. I’m going to try to not be such a weirdo at least while I write up this post. Deep breath…you can do it! On Saturday, I told myself that I needed to get up really early on Sunday in order to do some swatching so of course I went to bed at like 2 am which made it really hard to be up by 7:00 but I did it. Yay me! The first collection I wanted to tackle is the one I am sharing with you today. The Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection for Spring 2014 looked really promising in the promo shots so I was super excited to get my hands on it so early. Is it worth all my initial excitement? Let’s take a look.

I really, really love colors like Essie Spin The Bottle. Unfortunately, they don’t really love me. I think this looks a little gross on me and makes my skin look uber-yellow. I do have a lot of yellow undertones, but this is just too much for me. It is a rather sheer nude color, so expect multiple coats if you want a more opaque look like my swatches above. This was 4 thin coats. Nope. Not liking it.

I don’t find Essie Romper Room too original as it is just a very pale pink, but I do like how it turned out on me. Again, the formula is pretty thin and streaky which I was expecting considering the shade, but it’s always a bit disappointing, you know?

When I first saw the promo pics, I was so excited about Essie Fashion Playground because it appeared to be super fun an shimmery. Hello shimmer? Where are you? Oh, you’re one of those disappearing on the nail shimmers that we all love–said no one, ever. Despite the fact that the shimmer doesn’t show up at all, who doesn’t love this type of greens? Besides, it’s perfect for Spring. Again, I found the formula very streaky and disappointing.

The curse of my blue hating camera strikes again. I think I have mentioned that my camera has serious issues photographing blues accurately, so Essie Truth Or Flare is a little more dusty than what it looks like here. I thought this was going to be very opaque but it ended up being not very pigmented. It felt like a jelly polish in that it applied smoothly but looked kind of glossy and squishy. Personally, I like it even though it wasn’t as pigmented as I had hoped.

And here we have the collection’s namesake: Essie Hide & Go Chic.What a pretty blue. Out of all the shades in this collection, this one had the best formula. I was afraid that it would stain, but luckily I had no staining issues with it. Again, the color is a little off in my pictures because it has the slightest bit of green in it that makes it look somewhat teal. I applied 2 coats for my swatches above.

And lastly we have Essie Style Hunter which also had a pretty nice formula. This polish made me think of a juicy ripe watermelon and reminded me of traditional Summer colors. I think that Style Hunter and Hide & Go Chic seemed a little too pigmented for a traditional Spring collection, but I rather enjoyed seeing them here. Maybe the contrast of these bolder colors against the other pastels in the collection made them stand out even more because they ended up being my two favorite shades.

Well, once again I’m going to be a party pooper and say that I am not that impressed by this collection. The colors are ok…some traditional and some not so traditional Spring colors. The lighter shades had streaky formulas which I was already expecting while the 2 dark shades were super pigmented and easy to work with. Overall, I can’t say that this is a “must-have” for me so I’ll be placing these in my blog sale in case you’re interested in them. For me, the Resort Fling Collection was a dud and now this one didn’t even manage to get me mildly excited. Oh well. Summer is just around the corner, right? That’s when all the super juicy colors come out and I get all obsessed with them all. So tell me what you think: Am I being too hard? Am I too hard to please? Please chime in as I would love to hear what you think of this collection. Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.