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Of Life and Lacquer > OPI

OPI Peanuts Collection Halloween 2014

Posted on 26 August, 2014 by Cynthia

It’s not even September yet and we are already seeing Halloween stuff–and that’s fine by me because I lurve Halloween collections. Since I got out of work a little early today, I went to my nail places and ended up spending my whole polish budget for the next month in 5 minutes. Yeah, polish budget–who am I kidding? I also went to my absolute favorite Vietnamese/French bakery because they have the best baguettes in all of OC, and I wanted to make a killer sandwich for dinner. So when I got there, there was a lady in front of me ordering some stuff. One of the girls behind the counter took my order: 1 baguette and 2 macarons…ok, 3 macarons…I mean 4. Anyway, she placed a baguette on the counter and the lady who was in front of me grabbed it. She was full-on manhandling it with her bare hands on the part that wasn’t covered by the paper sleeve. Since she was speaking Vietnamese, I figured she had ordered one too but then she picks up her bag and leaves the baguette on the counter. Is this real life? Did this lady just touch and squish my baguette with her bare dirty hands????? Even worse, the lady at the register didn’t say squat to her and was acting like nothing happened. I was staring at her and waited for her to give me a new baguette. When she didn’t, I just flat out told her that I needed a new one since that lady had just touched it all over. She looked at me like I was nuts, but she gave me a new one. Am I the only one who thinks that other lady was gross? I mean, if she has no common sense, how do I know what else she has handled with her bare hands? I don’t know why I just told you that long story instead of telling you all about the OPI Peanuts Collection for Halloween 2014. This is such a cute little collection that I bet you will love. Let me show you my swatches first.

OPI Good Grief!

OPI Where’s My Blanket???

OPI WHO ARE YOU CALLING BOSSY?!?

OPI To Be or Not To Beagle

Can I just tell you how much I like this collection and how cute these glitters are??? Good Grief! and WHO ARE YOU CALLING BOSSY?!? are pretty standard cremes that require two coats for full coverage, but it’s the two glitters that really stand out. I love them both and they were very easy to apply as the glitter is plentiful. The lit nerd in me also loves the Hamlet reference in To Be or Not To Beagle. Are you planning to pick any of these up? The OPI Peanuts Collection will be available this September at the usual places. OPI nail polish retails for $9.50/ea for a .5oz bottle, and there will also be a Little Peanuts mini set which you can purchase for $13.95. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Stamping Saturdays #33

Posted on 23 August, 201423 August, 2014 by Cynthia

This week I lost my last living grandparent. Part of me is angry–angry at myself for not being able to see her before she passed, but I know that she was surrounded by all of her children (all 9 of them!) on her last days including countless great great great grandchildren. You see, my grandmother was 100 years old and she was lucid up until her last day when she fell asleep and didn’t wake up. As sad as our whole family is to have lost her, we know that she lived a long and full life and we are consoled by the idea that she is no longer trapped in a body that just wasn’t able to keep up with her sharp mind.You might think that it’s silly that I am here showing you a manicure after such a sad loss, but nail polish has always been an escape for me: it helps me stay focused, it calms me. When I saw a picture of my grandmother that I took many years ago, I was inspired by the pattern I saw on her dress for my Stamping Saturdays mani.

I started with two coats of OPI Umpires Come Out At Night (press sample) from the MLB Collection. This is a gorgeous and opaque blue that dries to a shiny finish.

I then used a pattern from Konad M61 and Konad’s special white polish for the flowery design.

That was my grandma. I was able to sneak in this picture since she always hated being photographed. She was never without her rebozo (a type of shawl/scarf hybrid) because she did not like to show her hair. She had the most amazing completely white hair that was so plentiful that she had a hard time managing it. I always loved seeing her brush her hair out before she covered it up. Thank you for all the stories you would tell me, the candies you would sneak into my hands and for being the woman who raised my mother to be a loving and compassionate mother in turn. I’ll miss you, abuelita.

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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!

OPI Ford Mustang Collection Giveaway

Posted on 22 July, 2014 by Cynthia

Hey there! I know I was kind of taunting you on Facebook about my next giveaway, so here it is. Here is your chance to win a set of the OPI Ford Mustang Collection.

If you haven’t seen my review for this collection, you can check it out here. I received an extra set of these pretties from OPI so I’m sharing the wealth.

Enter my latest giveaway by using the rafflecopter widget below. This giveaway is open internationally.

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Good luck!

OPI Nordic Collection

Posted on 14 July, 201412 August, 2014 by Cynthia

When the press release for the OPI Nordic Collection first came out, was I the only one wondering what was up with all the tan poopy shades? I never made it to he Nordic countries while I was living in Europe which is one thing that I always kick myself for, but hopefully I will make it to that part of the world again in the near future. I have to admit that I’m a bit confused about this collection. Maybe it’s that I don’t have too much knowledge about the countries that are being represented in this collection, but how do these colors fit? I don’t know! I decided to just sit down and swatch this collection instead of dwelling to much on it and let the polishes do the talking!

OPI How Great Is Your Dane?

OPI Ice-bergers & Fries

OPI Going My Way Or Norway?

OPI With A Nice Finn-ish

OPI Can’t Afjord Not To

OPI Suzi Has A Swede Tooth

OPI My Dogsled Is A Hybrid

OPI Do You Have This Color In Stock-holm?

OPI Thank Glogg It’s Friday

OPI Viking In A Vinter Vonderland

OPI Skating On Thin Ice-land

OPI My Voice Is A Little Norse

The formula on all of these was pretty identical across the board: creamy, easy to control and opaque at two coats. One thing I do want to stress is that I felt the polishes took a bit longer to dry so make sure that you leave plenty of time between coats. Now I’m realizing that maybe it’s the crappy weather that slowed down the drying time on the polishes. So what do I think about this collection? I am always delighted with consistency, and all of these polishes are consistently good because they applied flawlessly. I am still not entirely convinced about the actual colors and how they work together because the color palette seems a little random to me. I’d be interested in hearing from ladies from the Nordic countries these polishes are supposed to be inspired by since I’m still wondering if there really is a connection besides the pun-y names.

I really like Going My Way Or Norway? because it works as a great neutral for my skin tone. As you may have guessed, my least favorite is OPI With A Nice Finn-ish because it’s yellow gold and yellow gold is just ICK in my book. This one was a lot better than the gold from the Ford Mustang collection so at least the formula sort of saved it a bit. I was also really looking forward to playing with My Voice Is A Little Norse, and I was definitely not disappointed because it creates a really beautiful effect. As for the rest of the colors, they are very nice but nothing revolutionary. Still, there are some really amazeballs cremes here so if you don’t have similar colors, they are definitely worth picking up. What are your thoughts? Will you be purchasing any of these? The OPI Nordic Collection will be widely available in August so get your list ready! Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

This collection has an official release date of August 6, 2014 so go get it now! You can purchase the OPI Nordic Collection at the usual places that carry OPI and each polish retails for $9.50 ($11.50 CAN). For my Canadian readers, you will also be able to purchase this collection at Nail Polish Canada. Fun times! Happy shopping.

OPI Ford Mustang Collection 2014

Posted on 11 July, 201410 July, 2014 by Cynthia

You have absolutely no idea how happy I am that it is Friday. I am jumping out of my skin for it to be the end of the workday so I can just relax and swatch my little heart out. I am so excited because of all the new collections that are coming out, especially the Nordic Collection, but I won’t say too much about that since this post is about the new OPI Ford Mustang Collection. I have to admit that I have zero interest in cars and absolutely hate driving, but I love looking at older cars. I think Mustangs are beautiful and I know that to some people, cars are what nail polish is to me so I can imagine them being super excited about this collection. Before I ramble on forever, let me show you my swatches of this small collection…and by small I mean small in OPI terms since some of their collections are just massive.

Let’s get the ugly shade out of the way first. OPI 50 Years of Style is a very frosty and brush-strokey metallic gold. Ick all around. Not only does it show every imperfection, but it also got super bumpy on me. I have seen other swatches where it looks infinitely better, so maybe it was an application issue on my part. Still, it’s not a color I like.

I have a total polish boner for white polishes as of late, so I was excited to try OPI Angel with a Leadfoot. Unfortunately, this is not a super nice white because the formula leave a lot to be desired in comparison to other spectacular whites that have come out lately. I do like how bright and creamy this looks, but be prepared to apply 3 coats to make this look good.

It’s no secret that I love hot pink so of course I like OPI Girls Love Ponies. It’s not really a unique color or anything, but it applies nicely and is a pretty staple color. I applied two coats for my swatches above.

I really don’t know if I really love OPI Queen of the Road or if I really hate it. It’s a strange color. At first I thought it was just a regular kind of coal black, but then it looks like a murky green. I still don’t know what to make of the color–it’s unique, for sure. The formula is a little thin, but it builds up well and only needs two coats which surprised me.

Is it just me, or are you also disappointed that OPI Race Red is super orange? I have a newly found love/hate relationship with orange so I’m not completely digging this color. Still, it’s a nice red-orange with a good formula so there isn’t too much to complain about.

I definitely left the best for last: OPI The Sky’s My Limit. Yep, this is the belle of the ball. I absolutely love how this looks, and it immediately reminded me of the much lusted after OPI Catch Me In Your Net. However, this is much bluer but it creates the same type of effect. The formula is great, but it did stain my nails a tiny bit because I swatched it on my bare nails.

So what do you think about this collection? Overall I like it. While I don’t LOVE every single shade, I think that I love more of them than dislike them. The Sky’s My Limit is my number one pick from this collection so if you only get one polish from this collection, get this one! The OPI Ford Mustang Collection is available now and retails for $9 a bottle. Have you already picked up any of these shades? Let me know what you think of this collection and if you have a favorite. Thanks for stopping by today, and I hope you enjoy your weekend.

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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Stamping Saturdays #22

Posted on 7 June, 20147 June, 2014 by Cynthia

I feel like such a slacker. I’ve been pretty much neglecting my blog and responding to comments which is so unlike me. Sadly I feel like it’s a trend lately only because I have other stuff going on that is sapping the creativity and motivation out of me. I think I just need a swift kick in the ass to get back on track–or a really awesome Stamping Saturdays mani! I hope you’re not tired of me using my MoYou London plates so much because I’m not going to stop any time soon–they’re awesome.

Today’s plate du jour (see what I did there? I’m sho shmart) is MoYou London Pro Collection 18 (press sample.) You can click on the image to be taken to this plate on MoYou London’s website. Buy it. You know you want it.

So I started with 2 delicious coats of OPI Incognito In Sausalito (press sample.) This polish is so amazing and buttery that it can be a one coater, but I’m a creature of habit so two coats is my preference. The polish may look a little off here because my bottle of Seche Vite was acting up. I don’t know what the dealio was, but it made my polish wrinkle a little bit. I added a shit ton of Restore to it and then it was acting normal again so maybe it was just too thick…that’s what she said.

I don’t know why I forget that Essie Shine Of The Times is so freaking awesome. Seriously. Look at it.

And here is the final mani. I am a little on the fence about it because part of me loves it but then it looks a little off. I’m just going to go with it. I’m a little annoyed that I stamped the image all crooked on my ring finger but at least I got it straight on my other fingers.

Do you have a Stamping Saturdays mani to share with us? You can link up your mani below or you can grab the code for your blog. I get super excited when I see more people joining in so I hope you will too. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon. Enjoy your Saturday!

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Stamping Saturdays #21

Posted on 31 May, 2014 by Cynthia

It would have been a great idea if I had actually published my post on time, right? I had it all set up and then I started watching some weird alien documentary on Netflix followed by A Nightmare On Elm Street 2 and suddenly it was 4 am and I was falling asleep on the couch. I was planning to be up early today, but that didn’t work out so hot. I am feeling so lazy that I will probably stay in my pj’s most of the day unless I get the polish bug and decided to go buy polish. There is one polish that I’m dying to get my hands on ever since I saw it on Yadi’s blog: Sinful Colors Peppered Amazon. It’s so gorgeous and I hear SC will be 99 cents at Walgreens this week…woot! Anyway, this post is supposed to be about Stamping Saturdays and not my fails and laziness. Let’s get right to it, friends!

For today’s design, I chose a design from the MoYou London Sailor Collection Plate 07 (press sample). In case you haven’t noticed, I am a MoYou London convert and use these plates often!

Hey, look! It’s OPI My Signature is “DC” (press sample) on the blog again! This silver shade is part of the OPI Coca-Cola collection which I reviewed here for your amusement. I don’t normally like silvers, but this very nice and the formula is just perfection in 2 coats.

This is a very simple design, but I just love it. I love the contrast of the black on the silver base and I love that weird swirly feeling I get when I look at this–like I’m getting dizzy.

Now that I started to think about polish, I think I’m going to go jump in the shower and go treat myself to some new polishes. I really should get all of my unpleasant stuff done today so I can relax tomorrow and not feel all rushed as usual. If you did a stamping mani, we’d love for you to join us so make sure that you either link up below or you can grab the code for your blog from the link at the bottom of this post. Anyway, I hope that you’re having a nice weekend so far. Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

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OPI Coca-Cola Collection

Posted on 27 May, 201427 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Hello everyone! It is a major feat that I got this post done for today. Last night at 11 pm, I was still trying to get this post together. I had 3 days off so I thought I would be able to work on a bunch of posts, but of course I was just a lazy bum the whole time. I did get swatches done for a whole week’s worth of posts, but the hardest part for me is actually putting the posts together. Well, today’s post is super fun for me because I was so excited when info on this collection first came out. Before we go any further: Coke or Pepsi? If you prefer Pepsi, close the browser and never come back. Just kidding…sorta. I am a hardcore Coke lover so I think the OPI Coca-Cola Collection is super fun. Let’s take a look at my swatches and then we can chit chat about them.

OPI You’re So Vain-illa

OPI Sorry I’m Fizzy Today

OPI Coca-Cola Red

OPI Orange You Fantastic! (1 coat over Coca-Cola Red)

OPI A Grape Affair

OPI Get Cherried Away

OPI Today I Accomplished Zero (1 coat over Get Cherried Away)

OPI My Signature is DC

OPI Green On The Runway

I think this collection is absolutely awesome! All of these polishes applied beautifully and were two coaters except for the glitters. You may find my choice a little boring, but my absolute favorite here is You’re So Vain-illa. I just love this creamy nude and can see it becoming my go-to work nail color. I would also say that Today I Accomplished Zero is my second favorite because it has so much depth. The jelly base is very dark so you can definitely wear it on its own. So what do you think of these polishes? Do you have a favorite? Let me know what you think below.

Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon. Enjoy your day!

GIVEAWAY REMINDER

There are just a few days left! Have you entered my giveaway to win a full size 4 piece set of the OPI Sheer Tints? Click on the image below to go to the giveaway post. Good luck!