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The Lacquer Ring – Holographic Blue

Posted on 13 August, 201512 August, 2015 by Cynthia

Sometimes I get nostalgic about brands or polishes that are no longer around, so when I was riffling through my melmers, I started going through my Sephora by OPI Collection. I remember when everyone was going bananas for Metro Chic way back in 2008/2009. At that time, I wasn’t really into nail polish but I remember trying to pick it up at Sephora, but it was constantly out of stock. I became so annoyed with this that I ended up not getting it until a few years later. Once I really got into nail polish around 2010, I started collecting polishes from this line. I always felt that the quality of this line was really good (duh! OPI), so I was sad to see it discontinued. I don’t know about you, but I haven’t been that obsessed with the Formula X polishes that Sephora put out. I mean, they are good quality but they haven’t caught my attention much, but I’ll still purchase a bottle here and there. I decided to use one of my favorite shades from the discontinued line for today’s The Lacquer Ring post which centers around holographic blue.

Sephora by OPI Slushied is a gorgeous shade that was part of the Glee Collection. The formula on it is a little thin so I had to appy 3 coats for full opacity. If you want this same color with a more opaque formula, you can try OPI Roadhouse Blues.

For the holographic part of the prompt, I used some large chevron vinyls to outline the design with Layla Ocean Rush. I don’t know about you, but Layla holo polishes don’t last on me at all unless I put them over a base color like this.

So what do you think about this mani? I think it’s pretty simple, but I really like the way it turned out. I hope your week is going well and yay for it almost being the weekend again!! Thanks so much for the visit, and I will catch up with you soon.

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The Lacquer Ring – Supernatural

Posted on 25 September, 201424 September, 2014 by Cynthia

I’m going to say this up front: I do not like how my mani turned out today. You know when you imagine a mani and it looks so awesome in your mind but then when you actually execute it, it falls short…way short? That was me last night. I really thought that this was going to look awesome but somehow it just didn’t quite work out. Today’s The Lacquer Ring prompt was Siobhan’s choice and she chose “Supernatural” which includes mythical creatures and of course I gravitated towards mermaids. Let me show you how this manicure started out…

For my mani base, I used two polishes from the Disney Ariel Collection Whatcha-Nail-Callit Mini Set which was a gift from Amy. The first one is Devotin’ To Floatin’ and the second one is called Ariel.

Sephora X Devotin’ To Floatin’ is prettier than I thought from the bottle shot. It’s a little too frosty for my linking, but the formula is nice. I used two coats for my swatches above.

Sephora X Ariel is a green tinged clear polish base with tons of glitter. This made the polish look a lot more green in real life, but the curse of my camera continued to make this look more blue.

I then used Layla Flash Black and plate MASH 39 to simulate scales.

Do you see what I mean? This just does not look good. It looks very muddled. I’m sad about this mani fail but hey–you can’t win them all. Hopefully you’ll forget about this mani once I show you the beautiful polish I have lined up for tomorrow. hehe

Anyway, don’t forget to check out all the awesome submission from the other ladies who make up The Lacquer Ring. Thanks for stopping by today and I will talk to you soon!

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Sation RV There Yet?

Posted on 18 December, 201218 December, 2012 by Cynthia

Dum dee dum…oh, hello. How are you today? I’m having a kind of craptacular day today not because of anything specific–it’s just one of those days. I woke up today feeling kind of down on myself so what did I do? Stayed in my pj’s all morning and continued my job search. I always get excited right before I open my email in the morning hoping that some amazing job opportunity might pop up. The most promising email I got today went something like this:

Hi,

We are contacting you regarding your resume post on Monsater.com.

We would like to invite you either on Tuesday Dec 18th at 7:00 pm or Thursday Dec 20th 1pm.

Please find more information in the attachment.

Looking forward to hear from you.

Thank you

Best Regards

Oh yes, I’m jumping right on that one! I am so going to download that .ex file and email you my social security number too. Actually, I’m lying: I did get a pretty decent call today so who knows where it will go. I’m sure that I’ll feel better tomorrow–as long as I don’t bake a cake to console myself tonight. haha

Don’t pretty nail polishes just make you feel a little more peppy? Well, today I have have a bright and lively color for you: Sation RV There Yet?

Sation RV There Yet? is another beauty from the Nailstock Collection. I think that this color leans a lot more green in real life than it does in my pictures, but it’s gorgeous either way. I was super excited about this color because who doesn’t love a good teal? I love the final result, but I found the formula a little hard to work with because it was so darn sheer. This is a crelly polish–a jelly and creme hybrid–which is quickly becoming my FAVORITE type of polish. I love how squishy this looks.

I used an image from MASH plate MASH 39 for this design. I had heard that the Layla holos were pretty good for stamping, and I’m happy to report that they do work. I used Layla Ocean Rush for this fish scale looking design. It’s fairly delicate so the holo isn’t as in your face, but I like how it turned out nonetheless. I am going to try a bigger and more intricate design next time.

I have a very special request today. One of my very best friends in the whole wide world is having a biopsy today, and I know she has been really nervous and scared. Please keep her in your thoughts and prayers (if you pray) so that everything turns out ok. I know that her doctor is probably just being super cautious, and I know that she will be ok. It’s just a scary thing to go through. I’ve known Veronica since we were about 10 years old, but we didn’t become friends until we were 13. We actually hated each other’s guts before we became friends, but we don’t exactly know why. We were stuck working on a school project together with two other girls who were morons and didn’t want to do any work. Since we wanted to get a good grade, Veronica and I just took the whole project on. I guess we have Mrs. Wright, our 8th grade English teacher, to thank for cementing our friendship through group work. Am I the only who hated doing group work in school? (One of my favorite teachers in High School used to tell us that group work is just “pooled ignorance. lol) Anyway, ever since then we have always had a strong friendship despite the fact that we went to different high schools. We’ve taken two very memorable trips together: one to Hawaii and one to Europe (Paris, Florence & Rome). For me, traveling with someone is the ultimate litmus test: if I can travel with you and we don’t try to kill each other, we will be friends for life. I’m hoping that she will join Nancy and I for our trip next winter so Europe better get ready for us because we will be causing some serious damage.

Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you’re having a good day.

P.S. Are any of you on Reddit? I’m getting “bullied” on there. (lol…sorry, I couldn’t help it, Nicole!) I guess it’s getting a little crazy in there because I had some random weirdo be totally rude to me. Don’t worry–it didn’t hurt my feelings. I thought it was amusing.

Disclosure: Sation RV There Yet? was provided by the manufacturer or their PR firm. For more information, please see my Disclosure Policy tab. Layla Ocean Rush was purchased by me.

Stamping Sunday: Red & Black

Posted on 29 July, 2012 by Cynthia

A few weeks ago, Jessica from Once Upon A Polish blogged about a facebook group called Adventures In Stamping where everyone votes for a particular look or color scheme and then all the ladies post their manis every Sunday. Well, I thought it sounded really fun so I joined! I really didn’t know what to do so I started looking through my melmers and realized I hadn’t used Layla Flash Black.

Call me crazy, but I actually don’t really like Flash Black on me. It just looks so weird on me, and I’m really disappointed…not to mention that Layla holos chip in 5 seconds on me.

I then stamped over Flash Black with Konad special polish in red and plate BM 322. I then used a dotting tool to add the black dots with China Glaze Liquid Leather. One word: barf. I hate how this turned out but not all manis are going to be winners, and you have to embrace the good with the bad. I have no idea why I thought that stamping over Flash Black would be a good idea. It just looks dingy and grey…not interesting at all. I’m annoyed that I spent so much time on this mani and ended up not even liking it; hey, at least now I know Flash Black isn’t what I thought it would be.

So I think my first Stamping Sunday Challenge is a big fat fail. Hopefully I will do better next week. Voting has already started and our three choices are:

Fun In The Sun
Olympics
Using silver, gold or bronze as a base, accent or stamping color

I voted for using silver, gold or bronze as a base, accent or stamping color. So far this choice is in the lead, and I hope it stays that way! Check out the look Jessica created here. I am in love with it!

Thanks for stopping by!

Layla Ocean Rush

Posted on 16 May, 2012 by Cynthia

I just need to resign myself to the idea that I will buy every polish in this collection…eventually. At $15.50 a pop for .33 oz, this is way too expensive for me but these are linear holos. Before these, I did not have ANY linear holos, and I think they are worth every penny. Now that they are at my Ulta, I can buy these and use their coupons. I ended up paying around $13.50 for Ocean Rush–tax included. Score!

I should have waited a little longer to take a picture of my nails because the holo hadn’t developed all the way, but I wanted to catch the last bit of sunlight. I am in love with this one. Next on my list?

Sorry, I couldn’t stop myself. I am a H&O nerd. How sexy is that mustache? lol

So have you gotten your hands on any of these? What is your favorite holo of any brand?

Layla Mercury Twilight

Posted on 18 April, 2012 by Cynthia

I had such a huge plate of pad thai for dinner that I’m afraid to go to sleep. I didn’t really eat lunch which I know is bad so I was pretty freaking ravenous come dinner time. I went to this hidden Thai place that my friend introduced me to eons ago and ordered my usual shrimp pad thai and thai iced tea. My brother had the same and he said he really liked it. I think he is the most adventurous one in the family when it comes to trying new foods. I try to be good but sometimes it’s just so hard to eat something that looks strange to me. I was ok with eating escargot when I was in France so I guess I’m not as bad as I think I am.

In other news, I today I picked up two melmers at Michaels. I seriously need a better storage solution for my nail polishes. Since I am close to the 400 mark, I think two melmers will suit me just fine. If I outgrow both of them in less than 6 months, I’m going to have to go to some sort of nail polish addiction therapy. Right now, they are 50% off so I paid around $18 for each 3 drawer melmer. Score! Once I get them all set up and decorated, I will post some pictures.

I also chopped all my hair off today. I love how light my head feels. Is that weird? My hair is so short that I don’t really have to fuss with it at all because it just does its own thing. My hairdresser was talking to me about getting some kind of mohawk, but I don’t think that it would be the best look for job interviews. When my hair grows out a little, I can totally do the flock of seagulls hairdo. Does anyone remember the look? I know it’s pretty atrocious, but it’s so like me to do something crazy with my hair.

Soooo…after all my babbling, here I am with my second bottle of Layla. Once again, I love it. Love.It.

Sorry I’m all over the place tonight. I’m finding it really hard to focus, but I still wanted to share this beauty with you. Thanks to all of you who continue to visit my blog and read my posts even when I’m not making much sense! I really appreciate all of you who leave comments to let me know someone is actually reading! 🙂