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The Lacquer Ring – Baby Blue

Posted on 14 May, 2015 by Cynthia

Oh boy…how do I explain a month-long absence? Well, I am not going to try to–at least not in this post. I can tell you that I have tons of swatches that I will be getting up in the next couple of weeks. I know that I still haven’t picked a winner for my last giveaway so thank you all for your patience–I will pick one this weekend, I promise! Anyway, I am posting today with my gals from The Lacquer Ring and today is Lesley’s choice: Baby Blue. I really wasn’t expecting Lesley to choose such a delicate color but I’m glad that she did because it gave me a chance to pull out one of my favorite light blues in the whole wide world.

This is Jessica Barely Blueberry from the amazing Gelato Mio! Collection. I applied 3 thin coats for full opacity–isn’t it pretty?!

I didn’t want to just show you a blue swatch so I added a thick coat of OPI Muppets World Tour (press sample) and ended up matttifying it all with a coat of OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample). It kind of looks icy…it reminds me of a snow cone for some reason. Is that weird?

It feels good to be posting today. I would have gotten my post up sooner but I had no electricity for over a day. Some asshole who was high on something crashed his car into a utility pole. It took SoCal Edison forever to fix it and they shut down my whole street. Fun times. It was weird not having any power but I ended up not caring THAT much and just read with my flashlight until I fell asleep. I’m really looking forward to my weekend so I’m happy it’s almost Friday!!! Yay! Do you have anything fun planned for the weekend? Anyway, thanks so much for the visit, and I will talk to you soon.

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The Lacquer Ring – Splatter

Posted on 22 January, 201521 January, 2015 by Cynthia

I need to tone it down a little today because I’m almost roid raging over a freaking nail. So here I am all happy with being able to use my swatching hand again, and I was all showing off my new nail shape and all…and BAM! My pink nail split lengthwise. How does that even happen? I’ve never had that happen before so I was like…WTF nail? I managed to file it down enough to where the split ended, but now I’m just waiting for the next nail catastrophe. Oh, and I also have a nail starting to peel/break on my non-swatching hand. Of course this happens when I have about 30 polishes to swatch because the universe hates me. Let me get off this rant for now so I can actually show you what I’m supposed to be talking about today: The Lacquer Ring! Yep, we are at it again with a new prompt which was chosen by Amanda. She chose splatter nails, and of course I had to take the easiest way out because, at Sweet Brown says, Ain’t nobody got time fo dat!

I started off with a simple black base using Jessica Velvets & Pearls (press sample) which is a pretty standard black creme. It has a great formula so no complaints here.

I then used Jessica Standing Ovation (press sample) to stamp this splatter image from Konad Plate M70. I thought the contrast would be better, but I kind of like how this looks. I should have left well enough alone but nooooooooooooo…

I then used my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) to mattify the whole mani and basically ruined it. I do not like how this looks matte. I should have used a different stamping color to make it stand out more when I mattified it.

Welp, I’m sorry I brought you this craptacular mani today. I just gave up. I had a long day and just didn’t have it in me to do anything different after this fail. Hopefully I’ll do better next month. Womp womp. Check out the links below to see what the other ladies from The Lacquer Ring came up with–it sure can’t get worse than this. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Inspired By: Rainbow Doodles

Posted on 20 January, 201519 January, 2015 by Cynthia

I’m currently enjoying the last day of my 4 day weekend so I hear the impending womp womp music in my head for tomorrow morning. I’m really enjoying the idea of keeping up these “Inspired By” posts because I hope it will push me to do more creative things. Last time I did the rose and chevrons mani that I really liked, so I hope that you like what I have for you today. For today’s post, I picked this fun rainbow doodle from Amy’s pinterest post and we set out to create our own interpretation of it.

Does this look like snakes to you? Like rainbow snakes….or maybe rainbow spaghetti?

To start with, I used this arch design from MoYou London Pro Collection – 02 (press sample) and stamped with Mentality Opaque Black stamping polish. I think that this has replaced my love for my Konad Black stamping polish for a few reasons: 1) It’s cheap 2) It stamps very well and very opaque 3) It does not stain like the Konad!!!!! For my white base, I used my favorite white polish in the whole wide world: Jessica Sharktooth (press sample).

Ok, so I’m super irritated with all the bubbling going on in this mani. I used all 4 OPI Sheer Tints (press sample) to fill in the design, but because they are so thick and gummy, it’s really hard to manipulate them. Since I applied them a little thick, bubbling was inevitable. Despite the bubbling, I still find the overall effect really fun.

Lastly, I mattified the whole thing with my favorite Matte Top Coat from OPI (press sample). I think that the matte top coat hides the bubbles a bit so I’m all for that. I’ve had this matte top coat for a while, and it has not gotten gunky or weird at all.

So what do you think about this mani? Minus the bubbles, I really like how this turned out. Make sure that you check out the other manis below to see how the other ladies interpreted the design inspiration. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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The Beauty Buffs – Black and White

Posted on 13 August, 201412 August, 2014 by Cynthia

It’s Wednesday which means that we are halfway through the workweek! I don’t know about you, but I practically live for my weekends, and I start getting excited as soon as Thursday rolls around. Is that pathetic? Why can’t I just be independently wealthy and not have to work at all? At the same time, would I enjoy my weekends as much if I didn’t have to trudge through a workweek? Hmmm…Anyway, today I am back with The Beauty Buffs for a black and white mani. I love using black and white on my nails, so it took me for-eva to decide what I wanted to do. Well, let me show you what I ended up doing.

I started out with a gradient using Jessica Sharktooth (press sample), Jessica Velvet & Pearls (press sample) and Cuccio Colour Soaked In Seattle. I fidgeted with this forever because I could not get a smooth enough gradient for the life of me.

I was going to try a reverse gradient stamp over this gradient, but I had already spent so much time on the base that I was just DONE! So I took out my bottle of Nubar Black Polka Dot and applied one coat. I was actually super happy about the way this turned out.

What do you think about this mani? Is it too loud and flashy or is this something that you would wear? Well, I hope that you are having a nice week, and don’t forget to check out the other black and white manis from my fellow Beauty Buffs. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Stamping Saturdays #24

Posted on 21 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m feeling a little sad that I ended up not participating in Stamping Saturdays with a new manicure, but I just haven’t been feeling up to blogging for the last few weeks which explains my rather sporadic posting especially this week. I got a burst of energy and started to work on a stamped look today, but I ended up not taking pictures of the end result because I smeared the stamp pretty badly when I used a matte top coat before using Seche Vite. Anyway, this is what my base looked like before I ruined it with my crappy stamping which I will not be showing you:

I’ve previously using this watercolor technique with another manicure and I loved the end result, but unfortunately I rushed the process and ended up ruining the whole thing. Oh well!

Sooooooo…I hope that I can get back into blogging soon because I miss chatting with you guys. I have some gorgeous KBShimmer polishes to share with you guys and some fun Salon Perfect polishes and nail art items for the 4th of July as well. As you can tell, I have changed my nail shape again so I hope to get a little more length soon. I’m sure that this is just a temporary hiatus because I will miss it too much if I stay away. Thank you so much for continuing to stop by. Talk to you soon!

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Dollish Polish 1-UP

Posted on 16 June, 201415 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I know it’s just the middle of June, but is anyone else already excited about having a long weekend for the 4th of July? I find that I basically live for long weekends, and I am already planning to do absolutely nothing but lounge around in my apartment. I will not let anyone rope me into doing holiday stuff and will just be lazy for 3 days straight. I’m so looking forward to it! So today being a Monday and my least favorite day of the week, I decided to wear a polish that just makes me insanely happy when I wear it: Dollish Polish 1-UP. Why would a polish make me insanely happy? Well, dear reader, because it brings me back to the late 80’s when my parents bought us a Nintendo console. This was huge for us because we were fairly broke and we had to pick between getting a VCR or a Nintendo. Well, of course there was no contest. I played Super Mario Bros for hours and hours and hours until I managed to pass the whole game which was the crown achievement of my childhood. Anyway…now you know why this polish makes me happy!

To start with, I applied two coats of Jessica Velvets & Pearls as my base color. I love this greyed black polish!

And this is two coats of Dollish Polish 1-UP. Oh my gah, I love this polish so much. It’s so unique and of course I love it even harder because it’s Super Mario Bros themed. This was a super fantastic present from Amanda so a million thanks for the awesome polish. I was playing the new SMB on my Wii this weekend, but I’m pretty rusty and part of me misses the original in all its 8-Bit glory. I remember the first time I figured out that you could get unlimited 1-UP’s when you jumped on the duck shell as it was coming down the stairs. Remember that trick?

What a fun game! None of the crazy shooting, Grand Theft Auto, Halo bullshit of nowadays. I sound like some old lady right now, don’t I? haha You’ll still like me, right? Well, thank you so much for stopping by today and for joining me in my hatred for Mondays. Talk to you soon!

Jessica In Bloom Collection Summer 2014

Posted on 9 June, 201410 June, 2014 by Cynthia

Yay it’s Monday! Said no one. Ever. I’m going to drag my feet all day because I’m feeling cruddy so I’m just looking forward to the evening so I can pass out again. Wow, that sounds really pathetic but whatever. So this weekend I went looking for the Morgan Taylor Neon Collection but I couldn’t find it anywhere. Luckily I didn’t leave empty-handed because I found the Jessica In Bloom Collection which is their Summer 2014 offering. I feel like I can always count on Jessica for top-notch cremes because most of their polishes seem to be cremes. I’m not complaining because there’s nothing more delicious than a perfect creme. Let’s take a look at my swatches, and I’ll let you know what I think below.

Jessica Whispering

Jessica Enchanting

Jessica Longing

Jessica Awakening

Jessica Loving

Jessica Blazing

So these colors aren’t really what I was expecting for a Summer collection. It feels like this year, a lot of the Summer collections are very muted and could work as Spring colors. I kind of miss super juicy bright collections this year. With that being said, this is a nice collection. The colors are pretty and they look nice together. However, the formula was not as great as I am used to when it comes to Jessica. Don’t get me wrong: the formula isn’t horrible, but it’s not the usual creme perfection I’m used to. All of them were a tad bit streaky so they needed a little patience with application. I applied a thicker second coat for these polishes and then smoothed everything out with Seche. I’m a little on the fence with this collection because I like it but the colors aren’t that unique, and I feel like I probably have many dupes. Then I look at that mint color and those blues and I kind of want to love them hard. I have no hope.

If you want to try these polishes out, I’m selling my set for $26 shipped in a box with tracking. (SOLD) These retail for $8 each so that’s a good deal for the set of 6 polishes. I’m just trying to be good and not get overrun with polish again. Anyway, let me know what you think of this collection. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

The Lacquer Ring – Unicorns Unite!

Posted on 24 April, 201424 April, 2014 by Cynthia

I almost didn’t get this post done, which would have been unfortunate because this is the inaugural post of…

What is this Lacquer Ring I speak of? Well, it’s a group of crazy polish chicks who spend way too much time emailing each other all day long about polish, life, woes and more polish. While we haven’t all technically met in person (except for me and Lesley and Amy and Frosso), we are pretty good friends and hope that we can all meet one day. Unfortunately, the universe will end that day because that much awesomeness is not allowed all in one place. While you may already know the ladies who make up The Lacquer Ring, let me introduce them all:

Amanda from Mae’s Beauty

Amy from The Fancy Side

Frosso from Lacquer Me Silly

Jessica from Once Upon A Polish

Lesley from IG @MisfitLesley

Nicole from Polish Me, Please!

Siobhan from For The Love Of Nail Art

Now that you know who will be participating in The Lacquer Ring, let me tell you that we will be posting twice a month and each month, one of us will be determining the two challenges for the rest of the group. For our very first post, we will all be using a special polish that Nicole got as a gift for all of us: Candy Lacquer Unicorn Bubbles. Let me show you what I did with this awesome glitter topper!

I started with two creamy and delicious coats of Jessica Sharktooth (press sample). I’ve mentioned how much I love this polish many times because it is an amazing white polish.

I then used my OPI Sheer Tints (press sample) to create this watercolor design. Ever since I saw The Polish-Aholic’s post about this, I knew I had to do it. You can read more about it here. I should have used thinner coats of the Sheer Tints because I got some bubbling, but I decided to let it go since I was planning to put on a glitter topper anyway.

This is my very first Candy Lacquer, and I was quite happy with it. I love circle glitter so this is right up my alley. Like most glitter toppers, using the dabbing method will give you the best results. I ended up fishing the glitter out with a dotting tool because I was getting a lot of bubbling from the thick base. Although the base is clear, it does have some holographic micro glitter that kicks it up a notch.

Lately I have been obsessed with making everything matte, so I pulled out my OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) and mattified my whole mani. I don’t know how you feel about the end result, but I absolutely love it. OPI’s Matte Top Coat has become my favorite amongst many others so I highly recommend it.

Currently I’m working through a lot of unpleasant stuff so excuse me if I’m not around as much. I had mentioned that I may not post as regularly for the time being, but I couldn’t miss out on the first post of The Lacquer Ring. Thank you so much for continuing to stop by despite my irregular posting. We were not very organized for our first post, so they will be trickling in as everyone gets a chance to publish. Some are already up, so make sure that you check them out below. Thank you so much for stopping by today, and I hope that you will join us for the next The Lacquer Ring post.

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Jessica Coral Symphony Collection Spring 2014

Posted on 9 February, 2014 by Cynthia

This weekend has just flown by. I guess it doesn’t help that I only have one weekend day off, but I feel like it has just gone by in a blur. I’ve been super lazy all day today and only cleaned my room and organized some of my melmers. I’ve also been watching all the Twilight movies at the same time–don’t judge. I’m not a fan, per se, but I just felt like watching them. Last night I watched that new Kate Winslet/Josh Brolin movie, Labor Day, and it was pretty bad. I love the actors, but the movie was just so damn lame that I had a hard time enjoying it. I have been meaning to post my swatches for this collection, but I just had a bunch of stuff queued up already and decided to just jump ahead and post it tonight. Starting tomorrow, I will be doing Valentine’s Day Challenge so I have those manis to post for the next 5 days. Yes, you read that right: Valentine’s Day. If you know me well, you’re probably laughing because I am not a hearts and flowers type of girl, but I figured that I should to a challenge where I am not really a fan of the holiday inspiration just so that I can push myself. Also, it was organized by Jessica and she’s pretty awesome so I jumped right on it. So, the collection I have for you today is the Jessica Coral Symphony Collection for Spring 2014. Are you tired of all the Spring Collections yet? Well, bear with me because this is a really nice one!

Jessica Starfish Glow

Jessica Conch Shell

Jessica Ocean Bloom

Jessica Tropical Sunset

Jessica Monsoon Melon

Jessica Sharktooth

Jessica is one of my favorite brands because they always do the most amazing cremes out there so I get giddy any time they put out all-creme polish collections. All of the polishes in the Coral Symphony collections are dreamy: smooth, pigemented, self-leveling and opaque. All of them required two coats for full opacity–even Sharktooth. You know I love me some white polishes, and this one is great. I can see myself using it often as a nail art base color. Overall, I am really happy with this collection because of the beautiful colors and the glorious formula. I would say that the colors aren’t super exciting as there are a lot of similar colors being released for Spring so I am sure that you may have dupes. However, if you want a perfect creme, you may want to check these out.

This collection should be available now in cause you’re interested. You can follow Jessica Cosmetics on their website and facebook page for all their latest news. Let me know what you think of this collection. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon.

Jessica Glitzy Effects Collection

Posted on 14 August, 201314 August, 2013 by Cynthia

When I first started this blog in December of 2011, I really didn’t know THAT much about nail polish since my hardcore obsession had just started in early 2011. I was–and still am–completely in love with creme polishes. However, my love for creme polishes did not extend to the magical world of glitter. In fact, I had just as much hate for glitter as I had love for cremes. Looking back at that now, I laugh at myself because now I am a hardcore glitter lover and can’t even forgive myself for not taking advantage of all the amazing polishes that were available when I first started blogging. Oh well! While I have seen the error of my ways when it comes to glitter polish, I will never change my thoughts on chrome-y/frosty polish. Ick times a million, no can do…

Oh yeah, in case you didn’t already know, I am a total Hall & Oates freak.

Now let me show you a new collection of glitter toppers: the Jessica Glitzy Effect Collection. These glitter toppers where a breeze to use, and I had no issues with getting good even coverage. It is important to give them a good shake/roll to make sure the glitters haven’t settled. I used them all on top of Jessica’s newest collection–A Night At The Opera. (If you haven’t checked out my swatches of that amazing collection, you can click here.)

Jessica Star Spangles over Velvet & Pearls

Jessica Sparkles over Blue Aria

Jessica Sizzle over Overture

Jessica Razzle Dazzle over Standing Ovation

Jessica Glam It Up over Prima Donna

Jessica Bling In Black over Opening Night

These glitter toppers are pretty fun and you can use them in endless combinations. I think that some of these are going to look amazing over brighter colors. I don’t have too many glitter toppers so these are a welcome addition to my stash. For those of you who have tons of glitter toppers, these may not be that unique, but I definitely think a few of these are too gorgeous to pass up…namely Sparkles. This collection should be available now on the Jessica Cosmetics website so make sure you check them out here. Let me know what you think of this collection–are there any you want to get from this collection? Thank so much for catching up with me today, and I will talk to you soon!

About Jessica:

A global powerhouse, the Jessica brand of nail care from Jessica Cosmetics International is available in more than 35 countries at the finest salons, spas and retailers and at www.jessicacosmetics.com. Jessica Vartoughian–founder and creator of Jessica Cosmetics–”The First Lady of Nails” by the New York Times and “Manicurist to the Stars” by Vogue. Her complete colour and treatment line has been designed to promote healthy, beautiful nails. Make sure that you follow Jessica on Facebook and Twitter for all their latest news.