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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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Stamping Saturdays #46

Posted on 6 December, 20146 December, 2014 by Cynthia

Something horrible happened last night, something that didn’t allow me to sleep: American Horror Story Coven is on Netflix so of course I’m not going to sleep this entire weekend just binge watching every single delicious episode. I actually stayed up until like 4 am watching episodes which means that I didn’t wake up until like 11 am this morning. UGH! I hate sleeping in that late, but I was pretty tired. It seems that whenever I sleep in super late, I am extra lazy the rest of the day which means that I will be rushing to get all my stuff done on Sunday. Womp womp. Last night I got it in my head that I wanted to go buy Sinful Colors Prosecco for my Stamping Saturdays mani. Apparently I’m the only person on the planet who didn’t know that it’s really hard to find because I went to 5 different stores and no one had it. Once I got home, I decided to look through my “high end” melmer drawer and couldn’t decide between Dior Rosy Bow and YSL Vert d’Orient. Of course I ended up going with Rosy Bow which is probably my favorite baby pink of all time. Let’s take a look at it.

I know that most people balk at the price, but Dior Rosy Bow is worth every penny in my book. I just love this polish so much and I am a super huge fan of the Dior brush as well. This is two smooth coats of the polish with a coat of Seche to amp up the sine.

I then used an image from Born Pretty plate BP-02 for this lace design. I also used my Mentality stamping polish in Black Opaque and I really loved how it performed. One thing that I really love about this stamping polish is that it is opaque but doesn’t stain like crazy unlike my black Konad polish. I also like that it doesn’t smear and smudge like the Konad one either. No matter what I do, my black Konad polish smears when I top coat it.

What do you think about this mani? I personally like the way it turned out BUT it almost pained me to stamp over my base color because I love it so much. The beautiful simplicity of this creamy baby pink just blows me away. So how is your weekend so far? I am thoroughly enjoying being lazy so I hope you’re enjoying your weekend as well no matter what you’re doing. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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Stamping Saturdays #31

Posted on 9 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I am super late today with my Stamping Saturdays post but better late than never, right? This morning I was supposed to go watch Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but I totally overslept and ended up going to my nail places. It was a total waste of time because two of my favorite stores were closed. The only good thing was the coffee macaron I had at this awesome Vietnamese-French bakery I like to go to. Anyway, once I got home I started planning my mani. I decided to use Deborah Lippmann Let’s Hear It For The Boy.

Deborah Lippmann Let’s Hear It For The Boy is a streaky nightmare, but it sure is pretty. If I had paid full price for this, I would be pissed but I got it on clearance on HSN so it’s ok. This is three coats and it’s still kind of streaky.

Have you heard of the brand Kiara Sky? I had not until I saw a huge shiny new display today. I picked up one glitter and two cremes to try the brand out. This is Kiara Sky Serene Sky.

This is two coats of Kiara Sky Serene Sky over Deborah Lippmann Let’s Hear It For The Boys. The polish is full of glitter and is very easy to apply. Isn’t it pretty?

I then used an image from Konad M51 to stamp with Mentality Black Opaque. I just recently purchased this polish for my stamping needs and it’s a decent stamping black. I noticed that this polish dries a lot quicker than the Konad black so you have to work fast before the image dries on the stamper. The image on my pointer finger did not transfer nicely because I waited too long to stamp it. Once thing I like is that the polish isn’t a huge pain to clean up. If you get the konad black on your skin, it is a PITA to clean up because it’s so incredibly pigmented. I will have a more in depth review of the two Mentality stamping polishes that I purchased in a later post.

So what do you do think of this mani? I’m not in love with it, but it’s ok. I can’t wait to try the other two cremes I bought from the new Kiara Sky line so I’ll let you know how they work out next week. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #30

Posted on 2 August, 2014 by Cynthia

I should have gotten this post done last night, but of course I didn’t. I ended up catching up with a friend and didn’t get home until late. After that I was watching the Robocop remake which wasn’t that good but you know me and action movies. This morning I thought I was going to sleep in but I ended up waking up at 7:30 even though I went to bed around 3 am. Ugh! I went to my nail place early, and they only had ONE new collection I wanted which I’ll be swatching today. Whoever thought i was a good idea to close 3 out of 4 lanes on the main street to get there is a freaking genius considering there is always tons of traffic there no matter what day of the week it is. Can you sense how annoyed I was? haha! I need to chill out and just relax. Let’s move on from my complaining to my Stamping Saturdays mani since that is the main purpose of this post.

I started with 2 coats of Cult Nails Let Me Fly. Don’t let my crazy camera fool you: this polish is a lot more teal than what my pictures show. Still, it’s a gorgeous polish and that shimmer is just perfect.

I have used this image from Konad M64 many times, but I never get tired of it. I used my new Mentality Opaque White stamping polish for the design. I’ll be reviewing the two stamping polishes I recently purchased soon so watch out for that.

So how is your Saturday going? I hope it’s relaxing and fun. Let me know what you think of this mani cause I always love to read what you think. Thank you for stopping by today!

P.S. A little update on my blog sale grab bags: For this weekend only, they are $22 instead of $26!

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The Lacquer Ring – Geometric

Posted on 1 August, 2014 by Cynthia

Aww man, I feel like such a loser. After postponing this post last week, I still managed to post this late. I sort of have an excuse because I had a really stressful day, and I just didn’t have it in me to write up this post. I’m sorry for being a total flake for my fellow ladies in The Lacquer Ring. I promise I won’t be a flake this month. Can you believe it’s August already? WTF? Where did time go? Where have all the cowboys gone? Anyway, the theme we were working with is geometric. I have to admit I suck big time at freehanding anything especially when it has to be precise so I knew I had to do some stamping. Let me show you what I did.

I started with my two favorite polishes from the OPI Nordic Collection: OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid (press sample) and OPI Suzi Has A Swede Tooth (press sample). These are such gorgeous colors and the apply like butta.

Since I’m newly obsessed with China Glaze Fairy Dust (press sample), I applied one coat to really get this to sparkle.

I picked out a design I’ve used before from my MoYou London Pro Collection 18 plate(press sample.)

So what do you think about this end design? I’m happy with it because it is geometric and I love the colors.

I’m cutting this short because I am soooo running late right now to meet up with one of my besties. We have a lot to catch up on! Don’t forget to stop by tomorrow for Stamping Saturdays. I have tons of ideas right now and I just hope that I can execute them.

Talk to you later!

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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Mentality Gumdrop

Posted on 9 December, 20139 December, 2013 by Cynthia

I had a super hard time waking up this morning mostly because I had such a strange night. I was basically tossing and turning because of some crazy dreams I was having. Sometimes I like that I have such an active imagination, but other times I just feel like I can never get a good night’s rest. Today I found out that one of my co-workers does personal training so I’m going to start training with him a few times a week after work so he can get my big butt in gear. I always need that extra push to get me going and having a trainer has always been something that really helps me. The last time I had a trainer, it was crazy expensive through 24-Hour Fitness, so I am excited that he has very reasonable rates. In addition, another one of my co-workers will be training as well so now I’ll have a gym buddy! Fun times. Speaking of fun times, I have a super gorgeous polish to share with you today: Mentality Gumdrop!

Mentality is a brand that I love to keep a close eye on because they are always coming up with amazing polishes and collections. Gumdrop is part of their Candy Jelly Holos Collection which I am absolutely obsessed with. There are 3 other colors that I plan on ordering: Pastille, Sourball and Hard Candy. The holo effect on this line is not super strong but in certain lights, you can see some of the linear effect. The color is so outrageously vibrant even though the polish is a little thin. Despite being slightly sheer, the color builds up nicely. My swatches show 3 thin coats but 2 thick coats would probably be enough.

And because I’ve become a stamping fool as of late, I used an image from Winstonia plate W112 along with Konad’s black special polish for this design. I really like how this looks and I got a lot of compliments today!

I’m hoping that I can get some rest tonight so I don’t feel like death tomorrow morning. Since I like my nails so much, I’m going to try to keep this mani for at least 2-3 days. What do you think of this design? Have you tried any Mentality polishes? If you haven’t, I recommend that you give them a try because they are great quality and are very reasonably priced. Anyway, let me know what you think of this mani–I’d love to hear what you think. Thanks for the visit, and I will talk to you soon!

Mentality Nail Polish – Swatches & Review

Posted on 17 June, 20139 December, 2013 by Cynthia

Mondays suck. There, I said it. I was feeling down in the dumps last night about a variety of things and also because I was dreading going in to work this morning. So I started to think about fun things, and I fell asleep thinking about how great it felt to be a kid without all the adult worries. Isn’t it crazy how when you’re a kid, all you wish is that you could be a grown up but when you’re an adult you look back on the simplicity of childhood with a fond nostalgia? Well, last night I had a dream about one of the funnier episodes of my childhood.

You’ve got to imagine what I was like as a child: I am the oldest child. My first words were “¿Qué es eso?” which means “What’s that?” in Spanish. I was bossy, loud and kind of obnoxious. Oh, and the worst part was that I had a crazy imagination. Since I grew up in such a bad neighborhood, my mom wouldn’t let my brother and I go outside and play because she didn’t want us running into crack whores or pimps and also didn’t want us finding another dead body. Yes, I said another because I did find a dead body when I was like 4. Anyway, this forced my brother and I to find ways to entertain ourselves. One particular day, I decided that we should jump up and down on my parent’s bed. We were literally going batshit crazy, and I accidentally jumped right on the edge of the mattress and the wooden base just snapped. Holy crap, I still remember what it felt like to realize we had just broken my parent’s bed. My brother, who was a major momma’s boy and cried about everything at the drop of a hat, started bawling because he knew we were in deep shit. I pulled him aside and told him that we were going to pretend like we knew nothing about the bed. We conspired to get my mom to go into their room and have her sit on the edge of the bed and then act surprised that she broke the bed. Only a 6 and 4 year old would consider this a good idea. We tried to act normal, but I’m sure that we looked like a couple of spaz balls. When we finally got my mom to come in and sit down on the bed, she knew exactly what had happened. I remained pokerfaced while my brother burst into tears and pretty much sold me down the river. I’ll spare you the details of our punishment, but I can tell you I’m still bitter about my brother being such a crybaby. These are the things I remember the most about how awesome it was to be a kid.

Now that I have regaled you with my ridiculous childhood adventure, let’s get to the polish. These lovely polishes were a gift from a reader (thank you, Heather!) Two of these polishes are shimmers and the other two are holos so let’s take a look at the shimmers first. Get ready for Mentality Nail Polish shimmer domination!

Mentality Nail Polish Patience

Mentality Nail Polish Vigilance

The formula on both of these polishes is identical. I am sorry to say that they are super finicky and kind of a pain in the ass. I figured out that it’s super important not to overwork the polish–they act almost like really touchy metallic chrome polishes. You may have noticed some bubbling on my swatches, and that is the result of overworking the polish. It’s too bad that they acted this way because the colors are out of this world. If you try these out, I highly recommend that you try to apply the polish in one swipe without going over the same spot while it’s freshly applied and also let each coat dry before applying another. These polishes are super pigmented, and I only needed two coats for full coverage.

Mentality Nail Polish Entice

Mentality Nail Polish Charm

These are the two holos that I was most excited about. Unfortunately, my pictures don’t really capture the pretty holo effect too well, but I can tell you that they look gorgeous in sunlight. I had a much better application experience with these because I learned from the issues I had with the shimmers. These polishes are super opaque and you *might* be able to get away with one coat if you’re careful, but I applied two coats out of habit. These two colors are so UNIQUE in my holo collection so I am seriously in love with them.

Overall, I am pleased with my first experience with Mentality Nail Polish. I wish they hadn’t been so finicky, but I definitely think they are worth the effort because these colors are gorgeous and out of this world.

I couldn’t resist sharing that because I used to watch Out Of This World religiously, and I can still sing the whole intro theme song. I know, I’m a nerd.

So, if you’re interested in seeing more of what Mentality Nail Polish has to offer, make sure that you follow them on facebook because they always have updates AND they are currently running a 25% off sale! Seriously…go buy some. NOW! You can find them at the following places:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MentalityPolish

Etsy: http://www.etsy.com/shop/MentalityNailPolish

Big Cartel: http://www.mentalitynailpolish.bigcartel.com/

Let me know what you think of these polishes! I’d love to hear what you think. And one more time, a huge thanks to Heather for being so kind and awesome!