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Stamping Saturdays #44

Posted on 22 November, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m a little disappointed that I technically missed posting last week’s Stamping Saturdays mani on my blog. I was totally planning on doing it, but my friend came over and I made him wait like an hour while I did my mani. Then he was starving so I just forgot about writing up my post and we went out to eat. As I write this, it is around 2:30 am and I’m watching a JFK documentary on Neflix. Why? I have no idea. I love documentaries and apparently I can’t sleep tonight. Earlier in the evening I was out with two of my best girlfriends and I was almost falling asleep because I was so tired and now all of a sudden I can’t even sleep. It’s like when you were a kid and you’d be falling asleep in the living room and your parents would force you to go to bed. Then as soon as you got into bed, your eyes were wide open. My mom always makes fun of me because she says that my thing when I was a kid was that I would tell her: “Mom, I need to rest my eyes a little bit. I’ll be right back so we can watch TV.” And that little rest would last until the next day. I clearly remember thinking in my head that I would rest while the commercials were on and be back for the show or movie. I was probably 4 when I used to do this and my mom still jokes about it. Ahhh…kids! I don’t now why I went off on this tangent–maybe I really am tired and I’m delirious now. Hey, that could make for a super fun post…maybe. So, for today’s Stamping Saturdays I started out with a gorgeous base. Let me show you!

Kiko 389 Mint Milk is beeeeeuuuutiful. I recently heard that there are a few Kiko stores back east so that was exciting because hopefully we will get some here in California. LA, please. OC would be better. Just saying. Maybe it’s a good thing that I don’t have easy access to this brand because I can already predict some major craziness.

For my stamping design, I used one of my new Born Pretty plates BP-13. It’s a cute design and I think it goes great in black over this gorgeous minty blue. I am super impressed with the quality of these plates! I haven’t reviewed the full set I got yet, but that will be coming up soon.

So what do you think of this mani? I am really pleased with it! If you decided to join us for Stamping Saturdays, don’t forget to link up your blog post below or tag your posts with #stampingsaturdays so I can find you! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Stamping Saturdays #19

Posted on 17 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Yep, I’m totally late for Stamping Saturdays mainly because I decided to try the decal method and it was a total bust. I figured that it would be a great idea because I have one Konad image that is barely wide enough to cover my nails so it is super important to line it up perfectly. Well, it did not work out at all because I applied too much top coat on the image and the decal was way too thick. Once I tried to apply it, it was not pliable at all so it just made a big old mess. Have you tried the decal method before? I know there are a few ways to do it, but Thea from Madness Nails has a great tutorial which is the one I followed. Maybe I will give it a try again some other time, but to be honest, it’s too much of a hassle if you’re going to stamp all 10 nails.

Today I felt like wearing Kiko 337 Periwinkle Violet which is freaking awesome. It’s super pigmented and only needed two coats. Even though the polish is super bright, it did not stain my nails at all.

I then used an image from Konad M63 to stamp over my base color. I like how this turned out, but I think I need to invest in new stamping polish because it’s getting harder and harder to get a clean and crisp image. I know there are a lot of choices out there, so please let me know if you have any recommendations.

I am happy to report that it’s nice and cool again in SoCal. I was dying all week so this is a welcome relief. This morning I woke up early because I want to go watch Godzilla early and avoid the crowds. Well, the movie kind of rocked. It was awesome even though it took forever for us to get to see Godzilla. If you like monster/action movies, you will probably enjoy it. I’ve been listening to Smooth McGroove’s YouTube Channel non-stop because he has the most amazing acapella renditions of classic video game themes. If you are an old-school video game nerd like me, you’ll probably piss your pants after hearing this:

How awesome is that? It brought me back to crying because I couldn’t beat Mike Tyson at the end of the game. He also has 2 videos on Chrono Trigger tunes–hello! Chrono Trigger is just about my favorite game EVER. Anyway, check him out!

I hope you’re enjoying your weekend so far. Thanks so much for visiting today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Kiko 295 Cerulean Blue

Posted on 27 April, 2014 by Cynthia

Last night I was in one of my moods so I turned to Netflix to see if I could distract myself for a while. Well, I was looking at my long queue of films to watch, and I remembered that I really, really wanted to to watch Blue Is the Warmest Color (La vie d’Adèle). Dude…watch it. It’s beautifully acted, it’s tender, it’s sweet, it’s intense, it’s heart-wrenching and will just leave you feeling like you’ve been completely emotionally destroyed. It probably wasn’t the best movie to watch when I was already feeling like shit, but it actually changed my mood in the sense that I was happy to watch such an amazing movie. The movie is in French so I know not a lot of people like movies with subtitles (weirdos) and it’s also rated NC-17 so if you’re opposed to graphic and long sex scenes (eh?), then this movie may not be for you. Still, I highly recommend it. One of the characters in the movie, Emma, has this really awesome blue hair so it put me in the mood to wear blue. That is how I ended up with Kiko 295 Cerulean Blue on my nails.

I honestly don’t know why I hadn’t worn this beauty before. Kiko 295 Cerulean Blue is so freaking bright that it almost looks neon. In fact, it’s so bright that it made my camera take 5 dumps on me while I was trying to take these pictures. Not only is the color beautiful and saturated–the formula is to die for as well. With careful application it could be a one-coater, but I applied two coats out of habit. The finish is incredibly shiny and glossy so I didn’t even need to apply a top coat.

And because I can never leave well enough alone, I applied one coat of Nubar Black Polka Dot. I love the final look here!

What do you think about the Kiko? Isn’t it gorgeous? I always lament that we don’t have access to this brand in the US, but we can’t be that greedy since we have pretty much everything else. I hope that you’re having a great weekend. Thanks so much for the visit, and I will talk to you soon.

Kiko 383 Oil Blue

Posted on 28 January, 2014 by Cynthia

My allergies are killing me today. My nose is literally dripping like a leaky faucet and now it’s so raw that it hurts to even touch it. I don’t know why I decided to go to old and dusty places after work because this just aggravated my misery. I did manage to find some cool stuff so I guess not all is lost. I wasn’t going to post today but then I realized that I have posted every day this month and I wanted to keep the momentum going. The polish I have for you today is a bit of a chameleon so let’s take a look at Kiko 383 Oil Blue.

You know I love blues, so I love this. The one frustrating thing is that this polish just refuses to photograph accurately. In real life, this is like a dark smoky teal but here it just looks like a vibrant blue. Either way, it’s beautiful and the formula is everything I have come to except from Kiko: super buttery and very pigmented so this is opaque with two coats.

Since I’ve been trying to use striping tape a lot more lately, I decided to use it here to make a simple design. The possibilities are endless when trying out a design like this and any matte top coat will here. Here I used my Nicole by OPI Matte Top Coat (press sample) which I have been using a lot lately.

Tonight I’ve been working on swatching one half of the new China Glaze Spring 2014 Collection so I hope to have that up for you tomorrow. I was so excited when I saw this at my local nail place so I basically grabbed one of each and took off like a lunatic. I still haven’t been able to get my hands on the Sea Goddess Collection which is starting to irritate me, but I know I will get it eventually. Anyway, I hope you’re all doing well, and I will talk to you soon!

Kiko 816 Taupe Brown

Posted on 19 January, 2014 by Cynthia

How’s your Sunday going? I am still trying to work through all my allergies, but I think I am losing the battle because I’m kind of miserable. When I am feeling completely off, I usually just veg out and watch tons of stuff on Netflix. Since I love watching documentaries, my feed is usually full of documentary recommendations. One of those recommendations caught my attention: Bronies: The Extremely Unexpected Adult Fans of My Little Pony. Basically, the documentary is about adults (they focus on males) who are fans of My Little Pony (Bros + Ponies = Bronies). I would have never known that this even existed if I hadn’t watched this documentary. It was actually pretty interesting! The reason why I even watched this is because I have a soft spot in hear for My Little Pony. When I was a kid, I wanted one so bad but my parents couldn’t get one for me because we were broker than broke at that point. Many years later, like when I was 19/20, my mom bought one of the original ones for me randomly at a garage sale because I guess she remembered how much I wanted one when I was a little kid. I still get choked up a little bit when I think about it because it meant so much to me. Alright, alright…enough of My Little Pony and let’s move on to the polish. If there is one color that I don’t have much of in my stash, it is brown so I am happy for this addition: Kiko 816 Taupe Brown.

While this is not a color that I would normally go gaga over, I ended up really liking it because it applied so smoothly and effortlessly. It only needed two coat for full coverage and it dried pretty quickly since it is a quick dry formula. I can see this polish working really well for some nail art! A big thanks again to Sabrina for sending this to me.

So, I hope that you’ve enjoyed your weekend. I’ll try to super medicate myself so that I can actually be functional for work tomorrow. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Kiko 389 Mint Milk

Posted on 16 January, 201415 January, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m not going to go on another long rant about the weather today (even though I want to), so I will just mention that there was an earthquake the other night. I didn’t feel it since it was pretty minor, but this hellish heat and now the earthquake makes me feel like something bad is coming; maybe it’s a second collection of Crinkled Chromes. Ehhh… To make up for the crappy weather, I decided to wear a lovely, bright and creamy polish: Kiko 389 Mint Milk. I defy you not to love this!

My camera always tends to photograph things a little more blue than they really are. This color leans more minty green but my camera was just going nuts and would not capture it accurately. I was anticipating a difficult application, but the formula is so creamy and delicious that it only took two coat for full opacity. This polish makes me angry…angry because we don’t get Kiko in the States. Sadness. A big thank you to the lovely Sabrina for sending me this lovely gift–I love it!

Well, that’s all I have for you today. I am anticipating the weekend with so much glee. Through some fluke where all the planets aligned, I have this weekend off. Yes, two whole days off in a row…on a weekend. The idea that I am so excited about something that most people at most jobs get makes me kind of sad. Anyway, I hope you’re doing well and thanks so much for stopping by today.

Kiko 402 Jewel Pink

Posted on 1 January, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey, it’s 2014! If you’re reading this, you surely survived any kind of NYE debauchery so I’m glad for that. If you read last night’s post, then you know I had a calm and uneventful NYE and I am thankful for that because it was just what I needed to really start 2014 off on the right foot. This morning I woke up strangely excited about my blog like I couldn’t wait to swatch some polishes and start working on posts. This is something that I’m really happy about because to be honest, for the last month or so, I was feeling like I was losing interest in maintaining this blog. I still had a major boner for polish, but I wasn’t sure that I wanted to keep committing so much time and effort to blogging. Well, I’m glad those feelings went away and that I am once again feeling excited about writing up posts. I don’t know if this is normal for all bloggers, but I tend to go through this maybe 3 times a year and I think that the best thing to do at that time is maybe take a little break to just rest and not worry about your blogging schedule or anything else that you feel pressured about. I’m glad that I wasn’t that active in December because now I feel better about everything.

Today I was looking through my melmers (again) and I decided to try out a gorgeous holo. I remember that when I first started getting hardcore interested in nail polish (sometime around 2010), I knew nothing about different finishes and basically only used creme polishes. When I started my blog at the end of 2011, I had already been educated by various nail blogs so I knew about the existence of holographic polishes and I lamented the fact that there weren’t many viable options for affordable holos. Fast forward a year and EVERYBODY and their grandma was making holographic polishes…linear holographic polishes. The holo polish that I have for you today is Kiko 402 Jewel Pink so let’s take a closer look at it.

As far as holos go, this one is pretty darn great. The formula is really nice in that it applies smoothly and is very easy to control. I did notice that you can create bald spots if you don’t allow for enough dry time between coats, but otherwise it’s a great polish. Since the formula is so opaque, you could almost get away with one coat if you are careful with your application. The one thing that I didn’t like is that it dries very dull…even more dull than other holo polishes. I have learned that some holo polishes lose some of the strong holo effect if you top coat them, but thankfully that is not the case here.

Sometimes I hate posting polishes that I know will be difficult to get for most of you, but this is just so pretty that I couldn’t stop myself. Kiko is an Italian brand that can be found in a few countries in Europe, but unfortunately we don’t have easy access to them here in the states. Woe is me. I’m not sure how readily available this polish is since it does come from the Limited Edition Lavish Oriental Collection from 2012 so don’t hate me if you really want this. Anywho, I hope you’re having a nice day and aren’t suffering the horrible effects of too much alcohol from the night before. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Blues Smackdown

Posted on 27 March, 2013 by Cynthia

With all the gorgeous blues that have come out lately, the questions about possible dupes is inevitable. As a blue polish lover–and hoarder–I knew that I would cringe when I finally sat down to evaluate all the possible bright blue polish dupes. Today I chose two older and two newer blue polishes to compare. For my blues smackdown, I have the following four polishes:

Color Club Bright Night – Essie Butler Please – Kiko Electric Blue – Nails Inc. Baker Street

While all of these colors are fairly similar, I think that Color Club Bright Night and Kiko Electric Blue are dupes while Essie Butler Please and Nails Inc. Baker Street are dupes. All of these polishes have a glossy creme finish except for Color Club Bright Night which dries to a satin finish.

These are 3 other polishes that I thought might be close to these as well:

Nubar Dusk Till Dawn (I suspect it’s pretty close to Nubar Blueberry too!)

Cacee BFF Sky

And lastly, this is Essie Avenue Maintain which is NOT a dupe for any of those blues. People had asked me how close this is to Essie Butler Please, and it’s obviously not close at all.

I hope this helps some of you decide if you REALLY need certain blue polishes, but I have a sneaking suspicions that the true polish addicts won’t care. And just for the heck of it, here is my polish haul for this week. I had commented that I basically blew through my polish budget for the next few months…if I had a polish budget.

I picked up 3 of the 4 new Essie Resort Collection polishes and also got an extra set for a giveaway so be on the lookout for that. Thanks for stopping by today!

Kiko #397 Aureus Pomegranate

Posted on 28 October, 2012 by Cynthia

Today I have another “foreign” polish to share with you. Kiko is a brand that I have really come to adore because it’s affordable and the polishes are top notch. They have such an amazing array of colors and finishes that I can’t even begin to pick my favorite. The only downside for us US ladies is that we can’t really get this brand locally as it is an Italian brand that is sold in Europe for the most part. Wah wah! This makes me sad, but since I have such lovely polish friends all over the place, I have been able to get some amazing polishes. This was actually one of the very first Kikos I ever received from Sabrina. I got it at the same time as Kiko #336 Blue Elettrico and Kiko #401 Peacock Green and I used it, but I banished the pictures to my hidden folders because once again I applied some questionable glitter on the polish. Anyway, enough of my ramblings and on to to the beauty that is Kiko #397 Aureus Pomegranate!

My experience with Kiko polishes has been perfection in a bottle and this was no different. All I needed were two easy coats! I don’t think this is truly very duo-chromey…I mean, I can see the rose to gold flashes but it’s very subtle. Still, a very lovely addition to my growing Kiko collection.

And because maybe you were wondering about what I did to this beautiful mani afterwards…

Not my favorite look at all, but I have to own it, right?! This is not pretty but at least is not as ugly as my huge hex glitter look. *shudders* Oh, and I made chocolate walnut brownies:

I already ate two. It’s not my fault. They are so chewy and delicious.

Thanks for stopping by and catching up with me. Later, gator.

Kiko #401 Peacock Green

Posted on 7 September, 20127 September, 2012 by Cynthia

It’s no secret that I love holo polishes. When I saw the gorgeous Layla Hologram Effect polishes, I thought: “Prozac be damned! This is a nailgasm!” (Yeah, if you’ve been on Prozac, you know what I’m talking about.) So imagine how incredibly disappointed I was when I realized that for whatever reason their formula just did not like my nails at all. I seriously get chips after like an hour!!!! It was such a major bummer yet I managed to buy 5 of them. Oh, the lack of logic when you’re a nail polish addict…

Fast forward to now and I finally got around to trying the amazing Kiko holo that Sabrina sent to me. OH. MY. GAHHHHH! I am in freaking love with this color. This is 2/2 on the Kiko front. I have a third Kiko polish yet to try out and I’m pretty sure I’m going to love it too. I had a hard time getting an accurate picture of this polish, so bear with me. Without further ado, I present to you Kiko Peacock Green from their LE Lavish Oriental Collection:

The application on this is flawless. I could say that even one thickish coat is enough. It applied smoothly and evenly. Even better, I had ZERO clean up because the formula was so easy to manipulate. I did not apply a base or top coat and so far it’s wearing well. I’ve done dishes, cleaned up the porch (ew, ew ew!!! you know why if you follow me on twitter) and have washed my hands about a million times. I am impressed!

So what do you think? I think it’s absolutely amazing. Sabrina has unfortunately created a Kiko monster out of me: MUST. HAVE. MORE. KIKO! RAAAAAAAAAAAWWWWWWWWWWWRRRRRRRR!

I’m headed to Sephora in a few minutes with a friend and since I’ve been so incredibly bummed out and stressed out about all the issues with my blog, you know what’s about to happen….