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The Lacquer Ring – Metals

Posted on 9 July, 2015 by Cynthia

If you know me, you know that I groaned when I saw that the prompt for today’s The Lacquer Ring post is Metals. UGH! I hate metallic polishes 99% of the time (with very few but very notable exceptions), but I realized I had the perfect polish to try out today since it is fairly new and was sitting unswatched in my polish pile of shame. Let me show you what I came up with.

This OPI Centennial Celebration which is part of a new duo that was added to the OPI Coca Cola Collection from last year. One more silver, OPI? Is silver becoming the new red at OPI? I guess I wouldn’t mind it so much if I liked silver but I really don’t son blaaarrghhh. The formula on this is rather thin but it builds up really well, and it’s not the most brush-strokey thing out there. Please excuse my bad pictures. I had so much drama with my freaking camera and my skin looks kind of odd. I am having a lot of gastro-intestinal problems so I’m beyond dehydrated. I know, TMI.

And then I decided to add metal…on metal? I rarely use studs like this but I figured this would be the perfect time. I feel like I did such a lazy manicure but I think it actually looks kinda neat. I was going to do some chevron stuff, but I literally could not spend another second on my nails tonight. I am resolving to clear out and post all of my drafts so wish me luck with that one!

So what have you been up to lately? I’m just off in lala land it seems. I need to get on my nail game, but it’s been frustrating lately so I’m just kinda taking a step back–or so I have been saying for the last few months. ha! Regardless, I am glad I have my girls to keep me updated on what’s going on in the nail blogosphere. Don’t forget to check out the other metals inspired manis below. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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OPI Infinite Shine First Impression

Posted on 18 June, 2015 by Cynthia

I’ve had a really sucky June so far so excuse me for not being around much. Instead of posting sad and depressing stuff, I just decided to lay low and come back when things were looking better. I’m glad that things are getting back to normal so I figured that I should get back to a more regular posting schedule. I really do miss posting all my nail shenanigans and interacting with all of you, so I hope that I can commit to a consistent schedule. For today’s post, I have my initial review of the OPI Infinite Shine system. I can tell you that I am not the target demographic when it comes to long-lasting nail polish because I change my polish 3-4 times a week sometimes. I am extremely hard on my nails so every time I try “long-lasting” polish, I’m like..

Well, how do you think this lived up to the claim of 10-day wear? Let’s find out!

To start with, the OPI Infinite Shine system includes a primer/base coat, the polish and the gloss top coat. So basically this is just like regular polish except that this system is supposed to give you gel-like results and wear without having to cure the polish in a lamp. To be honest, I did not have any issues with these products but I have heard of people reporting bubbling. I applied one coat of the primer, 2 thin coats of the polish and 1 coat of the gloss. I remember reading Karen’s review about this line and how she suggested that you get some sun/uv rays on your fresh mani to make it harden quicker so I ended up following her tip. The polish felt sticky even 5 hours application which seemed weird, but it was dry because I did not get any smudges. Let me show you what my fresh mani looked like.The shade I decided to try out first is called Grapely Admired; and you know I love it. It’s such a gorgeous purple/pink–totally up my alley. Are you noticing the weird crinkled/wrinkled look of my manicure? Yeah–I’m not happy about that. I don’t know why it looked like that. Maybe I should have loaded up my brush a little more with the gloss so I could glide it over the polish. Maybe my application sucked…I can’t be sure what’s going on here. Next I’m going to show you what my manicure looked like 6 days later.

Ugh, that growth drives me insane! My nails tend to grow really quickly so I don’t normally wear nail polish this long to avoid that huge gap. After 6 days, I think my manicure is a little less glossy and is showing some tip wear but no major chips. I am actually really surprised by how well this wore because, as I mentioned earlier, I am very hard on my nails. When I took this off, I used my regular acetone and it came off just like regular polish–sweet!

So what do I think overall? This is a pretty nice system, and I was definitely pleased with the performance. By day 6, normal polish is barely hanging onto my nails so I think that this would work out great for me in situations where I would need a week out of my manicure. OPI Infinite Shine Gel Effects Lacquer System is available at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, beautybrands.com, Chatters, Dillard’s, Regis, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 suggested retail for each nail lacquer. Now it’s up to you to decide if you want to give this a shot. Let me know if you’ve used this system before and how it worked out for you–I’m very curious to hear what others thought of this line. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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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OPI Hawaii Collection + Giveaway!

Posted on 8 April, 20154 April, 2015 by Cynthia

I don’t think I have ever had so many questions about when I would have swatches of a collection up before this one, so I am glad to finally have this review up. I got the collection a little late so that’s why I ended up swatching it and posting it later than I would have wanted to. I’m sure that you’ve already seen a million and a half swatches of these so mine won’t be a revelation, but I’m glad to bring them to you nonetheless. Coming off of last year’s HOT HOT HOT Brazil Collection, this year OPI is taking us to a tropical paradise. Yep, I am imagining drinking my mai tai by the beach and relaxing under the sun. Wouldn’t it be nice if that could have been my true Hawaii experience? Instead I got drunk at a luau and took a bumpy day-long tour of Oahu while thoroughly hung over the next day. I also could have done without a ginormous wave sneaking up on me on Sunset Beach and drenching me while on said tour. Ahhh…it was still a nice trip though. So anyway, before I tell you about other silly things that happened on my trip, let me show you my swatches of the OPI Hawaii Collection.

OPI Hello Hawaii Ya?

OPI Lost My Bikini In Molokini

OPI Just Lanai-ing Around

OPI Suzi Shops & Island Hops

OPI That’s Hula-rious

OPI Do You Take Lei Away?

OPI Is Mai Tai Crooked?

OPI Aloha From OPI

OPI Go With The Lava Flow

OPI This Color’s Making Waves

OPI My Gecko Does Tricks

OPI Pineapples Have Peelings Too!

I have to be honest in that when I first saw the press release for this collection, I wasn’t that excited about it. I was hoping for super bright and saturated colors–like almost neons in brightness–and these colors are more muted. After actually swatching the colors, I am definitely changing my tune. You know how I feel about creme polishes so I was super glad to see a nice selection of cremes here as well as some pretty shimmers. I really did not have any problems with the formula which I’m getting used to–we are talking about OPI, you know! I think that the red headed stepchild of this collection is going to be Pineapples Have Peelings Too! Where do I start with this one? I feel like it could have been an awesome yellow crelly polish but that ugly yellow frosty base is just…ick.

Anyway, now I have the part you’re waiting for: Giveaway time! One lucky reader will be winning the entire OPI Hawaii Collection (12 full size bottles) courtesy of OPI. This giveaway is open internationally, but please don’t enter if you’re from a country that has strict restrictions on shipping.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

So what do you think about this collection? Is it your cup of tea or have you passed on a lot of these? Personally I am a huge fan of the cremes/shimmers but would pass on Pineapples Have Peelings Too! and maybe on My Gecko Does Tricks. Good luck if you decide to enter the giveaway and thanks for stopping by today!

OPI Soft Shades Collection 2015

Posted on 24 February, 201524 February, 2015 by Cynthia

I love obnoxious colors. Sometimes I think that the louder and more obnoxious my nails are, the better I feel. Is that weird? Whenever I do my nails, even if it is a simple manicure, people always seem to think it’s ok to grab my hands and inspect my nails. What if I am gross and don’t wash my hands after going to the restroom? I DO wash my hands every time, I was just using that as an example–I swear! I just think it’s kind of random that people do that (I even had a guy do that once), but I think I’ve gotten used to it over the years.So when soft and delicate colors come around, you would think that I I’d run the opposite direction, right? WRONG! I love soft colors as well because someone you want classy nails and don’t want some craziness on your fingertips. OPI puts out some of the best delicate colors, in my opinion, so I was definitely looking forward to this year’s OPI Soft Shades Collection. Let me show you what I’m talking about.

OPI Put It In Neutral

Doesn’t this kind of remind you of a lighter OPI Dulce de Leche? I seriously love this polish, but it is super sheer. I have to admit that I am not a sheer fan, so I applied 4 coats to get this opaque look. It’s one of those polishes that is supposed to be a wash of color on your nails but I couldn’t resist layering it up. I really love how it looks on my skintone

OPI Petal Soft

This one may not seem like much in the bottle, but hot diggity it’s beautiful. I adore how it looks over Put It In Neutral and I bet it will look awesome over a lot of different colors. Doesn’t this look like Spring in a bottle? The only thing is that fishing for the big flowers is kind of a pain but worth it at the end of the day. Soooo purty!

OPI Act Your Beige!

This is pretty much Put It In Neutral in a beige color. This also required 4 coats to be opaque but it’s not really meant to be opaque…but you know me and my OCD about sheer polishes. Still, it’s a beautiful and creamy polish.

OPI Make Light of the Situation

This is like snow in a bottle. Do you even understand how much my pictures don’t capture the beauty of this polish? It sparkles so much in the light that it’s mesmerizing. I layered this over Act Your Beige!, but I bet it will look like hot lava over a dark color. Make note, Cynthia…don’t forget to try that soon.

OPI Chiffon My Mind

And then we have this amazing white. It’s so icy yet so delicate! It has this amazing shimmer that isn’t captured very well in my pictures, but it is there and boy does it make this polish come alive. I applied 3 coats for my swatches above.

OPI This Silver’s Mine

Dear OPI, can we please stop with the silver chromes? I hate them. No mas, por favor. That is all I have to say about this.

Overall, this collection is a winner in my book. The lone bad apple here is This Silver’s Mine, but I can put it aside and focus on how pretty the other ones are. Some of you may not like the sheer shades and I get it because I want opaque polishes too, but you cannot deny that the glitters are soooo pretty. This collections isn’t due to be out until May so don’t forget about them! I can already see myself using a few of these soon in some Stamping Saturdays looks. Which one is your favorite? I seriously can’t choose but if I had to, I’d probably go with Put It In Neutral and Petal Soft…it’s a tie, I tell ya. Or Chiffon My Mind…or Make Light Of The Situation. See? I told you I can’t pick–it’s an evil process anyway. Let me know what you think of this collection overall. Are you sick of silvers like I am? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

HEY! There is 1 week left for my massive giveaway. Have you entered? Click the image below to enter.

Stamping Saturdays #53

Posted on 24 January, 201524 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Aren’t you guys happy that the weekend is here? Last night I found Masked Affair at my local Rite-Aid and I am still wondering why the display only has two of each polish…is that ridiculous or what? Anyway, I had a pretty big polish week because I bought a ton of new stuff that I’m already regretting but hey–that always happens to me. As usual, I had no idea what I wanted to do for today’s Stamping Saturdays so I just went with the flow. Let me show you the gorgeous polish that I used as my base.

This gorgeous polish is OPI Taylor Blue (press sample). If you don’t know the story behind this polish, make sure that you read it here. This gorgeous polish is so incredibly shiny and has a beautiful crelly consistency.

I then used Mentality White Opaque to stamp an image from plate MoYou London Sailor Collection Plate 07 (press sample). While the Mentality polish stamps beautifully, it has more of a pearl off white finish and I was really looking forward to an opaque white creme. I got so excited with my mani, that I top coated it with OPI I Can Teal You Like Me (press sample) before taking pictures of it. Womp womp. I really love how this looks but dang those bubbles kill it. I’m getting irrationally upset with the bubbles so I may have to take Emma’s suggestion and try the Dance Legend Top Aquarelles.

Minus the bubbles, I love this!!! What do you think? I’m starting to feel really gross because of the Santa Ana winds which make my allergies go bonkers…i’m not looking forward to that so I’m loading up on Benadryl. I have an eye exam later this morning which I’m not looking forward to. Lately I’ve been having tons of issues with my vision which is a huge concern since I’m diabetic. However, I’ve had all the check ups with my doctor and she said my eyes are perfectly healthy. I’ve noticed that I have a lot of trouble seeing up close now with my glasses, and by the end of the day, my eyes are so painfully dry that I can barely see. I bought some eye drops last night and when I got home I realized it said they were for dry “aging eyes.” Yep, I’m old. Well, I hope you’re having a nice Saturday so far and don’t forget to join us for Stamping Saturdays by adding your link below and tagging your posts on IG 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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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 #52

Posted on 17 January, 2015 by Cynthia

Saturday is my favorite day of the week, and not just because of Stamping Saturdays–ha! I have a 4 day weekend to enjoy so I’m kind of in lazy heaven right now. I’ve been so dang tired this week so I’m hoping that this break with recharge me. I don’t have too much planned for this weekend, so I’m going to try to get some swatching done. I am still dealing with my damaged right hand nails so you’re continuing to see my left hand. In fact, I changed the shape of my nails to more of an almond shape on my right hand because they were tearing at the corners due to how weak they are. The last time I changed the shape of my nails, people didn’t seem too happy with the shape but I’m going to keep it until the damage grows out. Last night I could not figure out what to do for today’s Stamping Saturdays so I went with a color that I love: OPI In The Cable Car-pool Lane.

In The Cable Car-pool Lane (press sample) is one of my favorite colors from the San Francisco Collection. Just look how glossy and delicious it is.

For my stamping, I used my favorite stamping gold, Essie Good As Gold, and an image from Born Pretty plate BP-21. I really like the combination of the base color and the gold even if the actual design is just ok.

So what do you think of this mani? If you are in the US, do you also have a nice long weekend? Well, I hope that you’re doing well today and are enjoying your Saturday. Check out the other Stamping Saturdays designs below and join us on Instagram by tagging your posts #stampingsaturdays so I can find you. Also, if you haven’t entered my flash giveaway which is running for one week, make sure to click here to enter. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

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Chevrons and Flowers

Posted on 29 December, 201428 December, 2014 by Cynthia

Happy Monday, ladies! Ghhhaaaaa! It’s the last week of the year, and I decided that I wanted to try something a little different today. While I admire all of the amazing ladies who do tons of freehand nail art, I am usually a big fat failure when it comes to anything more complicated than stamping. I got together with Amy and Siobhan to do a mani based off an image or pattern just to mix things up a little. Amy found an awesome pattern, and we decided to use it for today’s mani.

Am I the only one who wants that shower curtain like immediately?

I started off with OPI Angel With A Leadfoot (press sample) as my base. I’ve been using this white a lot lately for my manicures. Can you blame me? It’s so crisp and creamy.

Since I always end up messing up something simple such as chevrons even with vinyls, I decided to use a stamp for this kind offset chevron design. This image is from plate MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample) and I used my Konad special polish in black. For the flower design, I used a water decal that was sent to me by the lovely Jacqui last year after I mentioned that I had never used them before. She has a great post explaining how to use water decals which I referred to today before I used them. Check out her post here. It was super easy to use the water decal, but I did have to do some trial an error. It’s really important to trim them down do that you don’t have any overhang. Because my nails are naturally very curved, the decal did not lay all the way flat at first so I had to fiddle with it to make sure it was as flat as possible before top coating the entire thing. I really loved this design! Even better, I loved doing this with my girls because sometimes I feel like all I do is swatch. While I love swatching, it can sometimes get tedious so doing something like this can get my creative juices flowing.

Make sure that you check out Amy’s and Siobhan’s designs by clicking their links below. What do you think of this design? It was rather easy to create, and it turned out really cute if I do say so myself. I hope you’re having a great beginning to your week. Thank you for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Stamping Saturdays #48

Posted on 20 December, 2014 by Cynthia

Happy Saturday everyone. It’s kind of a gloomy day here which feels weird for California. I thought that we were going to have more rain, but apparently we’re going to have a pretty sunny and mild holiday week. I still haven’t done any Christmas shopping, and I think I’m pretty much dead on that at this point. Yesterday I went to Target and it was mayhem–what was I expecting? I’m going to try to go tonight to get everything done but first I’m going to stop by and visit my Peanut Brat. Last night I had such a hard time deciding what to to for today’s Stamping Saturdays until I started digging in my untrieds. Let me show you how my mani came together.

First I started with 2 coats of OPI Get Cherried Away (press sample) from the OPI Coca Cola Collection. It’s such a beautiful berry color that is super opaque. I wanted to use this berry shade as my base for the next polish because it has a jelly finish that needs to be built up.

This is the first time that I use anything from Pipe Dream Polish, and I love it. A big thanks to Frosso for this gorgeous polish. I love being exposed to new brands and sometimes I just don’t even have time to check out what’s out there. Pipe Dream Polish Interference is a glitter polish in a dark jelly base. I love the glitter in this polish, but it does dry super lumpy/gritty which is why you need a good thick top coat to smooth it out. I only applied one coat of Interference over Get Cherried Away and one coat of Seche to give it a smooth and shiny finish.

For my stamp, I used my trusty Pure Ice Silver Mercedes and the paisley image from Bundle Monster plate BM-315. I love how cleanly this stamped.

So what do you think of this mani? I really like it, and I loved trying out a new polish brand. It’s always a love/hate moment because now I’m going to be drooling over yet another brand when I’m trying to to be good about my spending. Well, I hope you’re doing well today and don’t forget to join us every Saturday for Stamping Saturdays. You can use the hashtag #stampingsaturdays on instagram so that I can find you! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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