Spring 2014 Archives - Of Life and Lacquer

Tag: Spring 2014

Of Life and Lacquer > Spring 2014

KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection – Glitters

Posted on 6 May, 2014 by Cynthia

Did you watch 24 last night??? I was so psyched about it being back that I nearly went nuts with anticipation to be able to see good old Jack Bauer in action. I’m always so disappointed when shows that I love get cancelled…like Dollhouse! I’m still not over that one. Anyway, now that The Following and The Blacklist are on hiatus, I will have something awesome to replace them with. I got a chance to swatch these 3 gorgeous glitter polishes from the KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection and I can tell you that I am in love. LOVE!

KBShimmer Daisy About You

KBShimmer Belle of The Mall

KBShimmer Make My Gray

Aren’t these beautiful? I think that Belle Of The Mall is my favorite because it has such a gorgeous jelly base that lets the holo glitter shine through. It’s such a juicy polish! Make My Gray and Daisy About You are milky based glitter polishes so you will been multiple coats to get a fully opaque finish. I am always super impressed with KBShimmer polishes and these are no exception. If you want to purchase any of these, they can be found at KBShimmer.com for $8.75 each. How do you like these 3 polishes? If you haven’t seen my review of some gorgeous cremes from this same collection, you can check them out here. Thanks so much for the visit today, and I will talk to you soon.

KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection – Cremes

Posted on 28 April, 2014 by Cynthia

Hi everyone. Today I have some long overdue swatches. In my haste of organizing my desktop, I accidentally put the folder in the wrong place and forgot about putting this post together. I feel like such a dunce because I was so darn excited about sharing these polishes with you. I’m sure that you know how much I love beautiful cremes so I was in polish heaven when these beauties arrived. Let me show you 4 gorgeous cremes from the KBShimmer Spring 2014 Collection!

KBShimmer Life Rose On

KBShimmer Pansy-monioum

KBShimmer Sky Jinks

KBShimmer A Touch Of Glass

As you can tell by my nail shape, these swatches were done when I was experimenting with my nail shape. I did quite like this nail shape especially when I got some length, but I think I prefer my square shape. It could be that I’m just used to having square nails, but I just feel that the shape suits me better. As far as the polishes are concerned, they are absolutely perfect cremes. They are so smooth, creamy and easy to work with. I will always love gorgeous cremes and I can tell you that these polishes are beautiful staples to have in your stash. You can purchase these lovely cremes for $7.50 each on the KBShimmer website, so go check them out. Make sure that you follow KBShimmer on their various social media accounts to get up to date news on their collections.

Website – Facebook – Twitter – Pinterest – Instagram

Which of these do you like best? Will you or have you picked any of these up? Let me know what you think. Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

LeChat Dare To Wear Sugar Me Up Collection

Posted on 7 April, 20147 April, 2014 by Cynthia

I don’t know if it’s just my hot flashes or what, but it’s been really hot here lately. In fact, this morning I was sweating and it was only 5 am! On second thought, it probably is just hot flashes so ignore me. This morning was pure torture waking up so I hope that I’ll be able to get to bed early tonight. You know what my favorite part of my morning ritual is? It’s when my alarm rings and I hit the snooze button for 5 more minutes of sleep. Those 5 minutes feel heavenly even though I know that I’ll have to be up soon. This made me think of a question that I asked my group of girlfriends yesterday: How are people happy? What does it feel like to be happy? I honestly don’t think that I am happy, and I am constantly envious of those who appear to be happy. I dwell on all the things that I don’t like about myself and my life instead of focusing on the good things. This made me think of how necessary it is to be unhappy in order to truly appreciate happiness. Would we appreciate youth without old age? Life without death? Probably not. I just need to find some balance in my life. Sometimes I tend to complain a lot about work, family stuff or other inconsequential things because they do seem overwhelming to me, but in the grand scheme of things, they are definitely not bad. I think that I am a worrier by nature so things will always seem a million times worse than they really are. I don’t really know where I’m going with all of this, but I just felt that I needed a little dose of reflection. Now that I got some of the heavy stuff out of the way, can we get back to polish? Ha! Today I have something light and delightful to show you: the LeChat Dare To Wear Sugar Me Up Collection. The formula on all of these is rather similar so I’ll show you my swatches, and then we can get into the details.

LeChat Dare To Wear Rock Candy

LeChat Dare To Wear Mint Jubilee LeChat Dare To Wear Cotton Candy

LeChat Dare To Wear Lollipop

LeChat Dare To Wear Lemon Drop

LeChat Dare To Wear Spearmint

Overall, I really like this collection. It’s sugary, sweet and fun which is just what I would expect from a Spring collection. I can’t say that the colors are all that unique, but these polishes have a nice formula that I enjoyed. A couple of these polishes (Spearmint and Rock Candy) have some shimmer in them, but the rest have a crelly type formula. Since I prefer using thin coats, I applied 3 thin coats for all of these but 2 thicker coats would have gotten the job done. I think that we have seen a lot of similar colors as of late, so I’ll be putting these up on my blog sale. If you’ve never tried LeChat’s Dear To Wear line, this would be a good opportunity to give them a try. I’ve been very happy and impressed with their polishes and was excited about the way they have revamped their line. What do you think about these polishes? Do you have any suggestions on how to relax and live in the moment instead of worrying about anything and everything? I hope you’re having a nice Monday, and thank you so much for visiting today.

Nubar Spring In The City Collection

Posted on 31 March, 201430 March, 2014 by Cynthia

I know that in many parts of the country, it really isn’t Spring yet but in others, like Southern California, it feels like Summer already. What is a girl to do besides loading up on Spring polish collections? On Saturday I went to my nail polish places to scope out any new collections so I was super excited when I spotted the Nubar Spring In The City Collection. This collection is made up of 8 shades that are mostly Spring inspired, but I also see some darker shades that make me think more of Fall. The formula on all of these polishes was pretty much identical, so I’ll show you my swatches below and then I’ll give you my thoughts at the end.

Nubar Dreamy Moss

Nubar New Mood

Nubar City Self

Nubar Spring In Her Step

Nubar Sleek In The City

Nubar Fashion Is Forward

Nubar Wildflower Blooming

Nubar Succulent

I am a huge Nubar fan so I was a little confused about these polishes. The formula was just strange in that the polishes seemed like they were all separated. They do mix up once you give them a good shake and roll, but they still seemed a little thin. I found that the best way to work with these polishes was to make sure you give them a good mix and then apply three thin coats. This seemed to work well, but I was still thrown off by the strange formula that is NOT typical of what I have come to expect from the brand. Overall, I think that despite the somewhat awkward formula, the colors are nice. Succulent and Wildflower Blooming are super similar–so much so that I thought they were mislabeled and maybe I got two of the same color. Once I applied them, I did see slight difference. My favorite color of the collection is Spring In Her Step…and New Mood…and maybe Dreamy Moss. hahaha! Ok, I really do like these colors–even the ones that look very Spring appropriate such as Fashion Is Forward and Sleek In The City.

So what do you think about this collection? Do you like Nubar polishes as much as I do? Since these polishes aren’t exactly unique in my ~~hoard~~ collection, I have put them up for sale so please check out my blog sale here if you’re interested in trying these out. Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

NUBAR

Website – Facebook – Twitter

OPI Spotlight On Glitter Collection

Posted on 20 March, 2014 by Cynthia

Ok, so I know I’m way behind on EVERYTHING lately, but I promise you that I have an excuse. I recently got a promotion, and my new position is kind of kicking my ass at the moment. I’m really grateful that my hard work did not go unnoticed, but there is a definite period of adjustment so right now I’m mentally and physically exhausted by the change. Even though I did a ton of swatching this past weekend, it’s been torture having the energy to actually write up a bunch of posts, but I’m trying! I’m trying to remain active on Facebook because I enjoy talking to all of you on there so join us on my Facebook Page if you want to chit chat

! Today I will be showing you the OPI Spotlight On Glitter Collection which I layered over some solid colors. I don’t have that much to say about glitters in general, but I will address a few things at the end–mainly the whole dupe thing. Let’s take a look at my swatches first.

OPI Blush Hour

OPI Chasing Rainbows over OPI Red Hot Rio

OPI Desperately Seeking Sequins over OPI Incognito In Sausalito

OPI I Reached My Gold! over OPI I Sao Paulo Over There

OPI Rose Of Light over OPI Don’t Bossa Nova Me Around

OPI You Pink Too Much over OPI Kiss Me I’m Brazilian

Before I say anything else, let me tell you that I absolutely adored Blush Hour. I think it looks amazing on it’s own and because I used the Glitter Off base coat, I did not have a hard time with removal. Now, for the bit about these being dupes of existing polishes: I can confirm this 100% with all the polishes, because I don’t have them all, but I do think that a few of them seem to be repromotes. For example, I Reached My Gold! seems to be When Monkey’s Fly–taco glitter and all. Chasing Rainbows looks a lot like Rainbow Connection and Desperately Seeking Sequins looks a lot like Which Is Witch? So I say that if you don’t already have dupes, these are really nice. However, I don’t like the idea that these may just be recycled polishes that were just renamed. If you see any other dupes, please let me know!

If you’re interested in any of these, Spotlight on Glitter by OPI nail lacquers will be available now at Professional Salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $9.00 ($10.95 CAN) suggested retail for each nail lacquer. For more information, please call 800-341-9999 or visit www.opi.com. Follow OPI on Twitter @OPI_PRODUCTS and become a Facebook fan!

Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

Vapid Lacquer Purp-etrator

Posted on 27 February, 2014 by Cynthia

Don’t you love the rain? It was raining so hard this morning and now it’s nice and sunny but a bit chilly. I wish I would rain all day since we’re in the midst of a terrible drought, but I guess a little rain is better than no rain. I took the day off today since I’m still nursing my broken toe back to health. It’s feeling better but my foot just feels all hard and swollen so I’m just going to keep trying to keep it elevated and all that. Today’s polish is a gorgeous creme that I wore last week. If you know me, you know that cremes are my absolute favorites so I loved wearing Vapid Lacquer Purp-etrator. Let’s take a look at my swatches below.

Vapid Lacquer Purp-etrator is a gorgeous creme with insane shine. It least more purple than what my pictures show, but I would still call it blurple. The consistency is nice but slightly thicket than I’m used to. The pigmentation is great so I only needed two coats for full opacity.

I then used Dior Perlé to do some dots. I fail at dots–they look all random but I still liked the end result. My nephew, who loves dark colors, kept staring at my nails so I think that he approved.

I hope that you’re having a good day and that you are ready for the weekend. I’m glad I got two days off to rest but I do work Friday and Saturday so womp, womp. If you’re interested in Purp-etrator or any other Vapid Lacquer pretties, I suggest that you check out their big cartel site here. Purp-etrator can be purchased for $8 for a full size bottle and $4 for a mini. Speaking about buying polish, yesterday I updated my blog sale with a bunch of new stuff. I even added the grab bag option that I had first brought up on Facebook. Help me destash and regain some of my sanity and space!!! Check out my blog sale here to see if there’s anything that you’re interested in. Well, enjoy the rest of your day, and I will talk to you soon!

Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection

Posted on 26 February, 2014 by Cynthia

If you follow me on Facebook, you probably read about how I broke my toe because of these polishes. Yep, these polishes made me break my toe…let me explain. When I got home from work, the box of polishes was waiting for me so I teared into it like a lunatic, and I was admiring their speckled pastel gorgeousness. I immediately put one on, and I jumped up from the couch so I could go to my light box to photograph them. In my excitement, I stubbed my toe on the coffee table and I heard/felt it snap. It hurt like hell, but I proceeded to take pictures of my freshly polished nails. It wasn’t until a few minutes later that I noticed the swelling and the tenderness and now it’s just a bruised mess. There’s not much that I can do about it except keep it bandaged and not hit it again which will be hard since I’m so clumsy. Despite the broken toe, I am feeling pretty hopeful about a few things, so not everything is bad. And of course, I am so excited to be sharing the Nicole by OPI Roughles Collection with you. When I first saw the press release, I read it as roofies or ruffies which prompted Jessica to call them puppy drugs…I know…I know….haha! Let’s take a look at my swatches below, and I will share my thoughts with you at the end.

Nicole by OPI I’m Stucco on You

Nicole by OPI On What Grounds?

Nicole by OPI Rock the Look

Nicole by OPI Sand in My Shoe

I don’t know how you feel about pastels, but I have to say that I am in love with these. The beautiful pastel shades are perfect for this time of year, and the speckled effect gives them a little extra kick. The formula was a breeze to work with because it applies so smoothly and easily. I do recommend that you apply 2 thin coats and that you let the first coat dry for a few minutes before applying the second because otherwise you might create some bald spots. Luckily, these dry super fast so you won’t have to wait too long. I also wanted to mention that On What Grounds? leans very blue in my pictures, but in real life it is more of a turquoise color–my stupid camera strikes again! I really hope that polishes with a similar effect are release in the future because I’d love to have these in a bunch of different colors. What do you think of these? Do you have a favorite or are you over textured polishes? Thanks so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon!

From Nicole by OPI

Nicole by OPI formulas are long-lasting, fast-drying, and salon-quality. The 4 new nail lacquers will be available in stores beginning March 2014 for $7.99 each at retailers including select Duane Reade, Kroger, Kmart, Fred Meyer, CVS locations. In Canada, these shades will be available for $10.99 each at Shoppers Drug Mart, Jean Coutu, Rexall, Walmart Canada, Loblaw, and London Drug. For more information, visit nicolebyopi.com. Follow Nicole by OPI on Twitter @NicoleByOPI and become a Facebook fan!

Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection Spring 2014

Posted on 17 February, 201416 February, 2014 by Cynthia

I’ve got to warn you before I get started: I’m feeling off. Basically, I am feeling a little stressed out about a variety of things and that stress is carrying over to every area of my life. Last night I went on a binge trying to get rid of tons of polishes I never use so I added A LOT of stuff to my blog sale. Thank you to all the ladies who have purchased from me already–I was surprised by how much I sold in the first few hours. I’m going to try to not be such a weirdo at least while I write up this post. Deep breath…you can do it! On Saturday, I told myself that I needed to get up really early on Sunday in order to do some swatching so of course I went to bed at like 2 am which made it really hard to be up by 7:00 but I did it. Yay me! The first collection I wanted to tackle is the one I am sharing with you today. The Essie Hide & Go Chic Collection for Spring 2014 looked really promising in the promo shots so I was super excited to get my hands on it so early. Is it worth all my initial excitement? Let’s take a look.

I really, really love colors like Essie Spin The Bottle. Unfortunately, they don’t really love me. I think this looks a little gross on me and makes my skin look uber-yellow. I do have a lot of yellow undertones, but this is just too much for me. It is a rather sheer nude color, so expect multiple coats if you want a more opaque look like my swatches above. This was 4 thin coats. Nope. Not liking it.

I don’t find Essie Romper Room too original as it is just a very pale pink, but I do like how it turned out on me. Again, the formula is pretty thin and streaky which I was expecting considering the shade, but it’s always a bit disappointing, you know?

When I first saw the promo pics, I was so excited about Essie Fashion Playground because it appeared to be super fun an shimmery. Hello shimmer? Where are you? Oh, you’re one of those disappearing on the nail shimmers that we all love–said no one, ever. Despite the fact that the shimmer doesn’t show up at all, who doesn’t love this type of greens? Besides, it’s perfect for Spring. Again, I found the formula very streaky and disappointing.

The curse of my blue hating camera strikes again. I think I have mentioned that my camera has serious issues photographing blues accurately, so Essie Truth Or Flare is a little more dusty than what it looks like here. I thought this was going to be very opaque but it ended up being not very pigmented. It felt like a jelly polish in that it applied smoothly but looked kind of glossy and squishy. Personally, I like it even though it wasn’t as pigmented as I had hoped.

And here we have the collection’s namesake: Essie Hide & Go Chic.What a pretty blue. Out of all the shades in this collection, this one had the best formula. I was afraid that it would stain, but luckily I had no staining issues with it. Again, the color is a little off in my pictures because it has the slightest bit of green in it that makes it look somewhat teal. I applied 2 coats for my swatches above.

And lastly we have Essie Style Hunter which also had a pretty nice formula. This polish made me think of a juicy ripe watermelon and reminded me of traditional Summer colors. I think that Style Hunter and Hide & Go Chic seemed a little too pigmented for a traditional Spring collection, but I rather enjoyed seeing them here. Maybe the contrast of these bolder colors against the other pastels in the collection made them stand out even more because they ended up being my two favorite shades.

Well, once again I’m going to be a party pooper and say that I am not that impressed by this collection. The colors are ok…some traditional and some not so traditional Spring colors. The lighter shades had streaky formulas which I was already expecting while the 2 dark shades were super pigmented and easy to work with. Overall, I can’t say that this is a “must-have” for me so I’ll be placing these in my blog sale in case you’re interested in them. For me, the Resort Fling Collection was a dud and now this one didn’t even manage to get me mildly excited. Oh well. Summer is just around the corner, right? That’s when all the super juicy colors come out and I get all obsessed with them all. So tell me what you think: Am I being too hard? Am I too hard to please? Please chime in as I would love to hear what you think of this collection. Thank so much for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Dior Perlé

Posted on 14 February, 201414 February, 2014 by Cynthia

Are you happy that it’s Friday? I should be, but unfortunately I work tomorrow morning at 6 am AND I don’t have President’s Day off…poo! One thing I am super excited about is that House Of Cards Season 2 is on Netflix!!!!! Holy crap I’ve been waiting for this forever, and I anticipate a huge Kevin Spacey binge this weekend. If you haven’t watched House Of Cards, I am going to tell you to watch it–you will love it. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Robin Wright in such a splendidly cold role! Some other great news is that my medication stuff got figured out; my doctor changed my meds to something my insurance wouldn’t give me a hard time about so instead of $400 a month, my co-pays total $40. Not bad! I’m lucky to have such a responsive and attentive doctor and she always emails me back quickly which I appreciate. I guess that all in all, things are looking good and now I can start taking my meds and get my big ass to the gym. I was telling my co-workers that I have to lose 65 lbs this year and we were all talking about the changes we are going to make. I’m hopeful that I can get there and can’t wait to share my progress with all of you. Now, let’s get to the polish du jour: Dior Perlé. I’m sure you all know how I feel about Dior (love!), so it was a no brainer when I saw their new spring collection. I managed to control myself and not buy all the polishes in the collection and only picked out Perlé since it seemed so unique. Let’s take a look at it, and I’ll let you know what I thought.

I started out with two delicious coats of OPI I’m Feeling Sashy (press sample). This is such a gorgeous polish!

And this is one coat of Dior Perlé over I’m Feeling Sashy. Ehhh…I don’t know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I absolutely had to buy this because it’s Dior and limited edition (the most evil words ever), but I am also not that impressed with it. It’s like I want to LOVE it, but I’m still holding my full judgment until I try it over a super dark color. This polish gives your nails a sugary sparkly matte finish which I know a lot of people love–including yours truly.

I am currently stressing about what to do with my nails since tomorrow is Stamping Saturdays! I have a bunch of ideas in my head, but usually when I am this indecisive it just means I’m going to have a major fail on my hands. Let’s hope that’s not the case although it will be difficult to top last weeks awesome design. Well, what do you think about Perlé? Would you pay the $25 price tag or is this a pass for you? Let me know what you think! Thanks for stopping by today, and I will talk to you soon.

Jessica Coral Symphony Collection Spring 2014

Posted on 9 February, 2014 by Cynthia

This weekend has just flown by. I guess it doesn’t help that I only have one weekend day off, but I feel like it has just gone by in a blur. I’ve been super lazy all day today and only cleaned my room and organized some of my melmers. I’ve also been watching all the Twilight movies at the same time–don’t judge. I’m not a fan, per se, but I just felt like watching them. Last night I watched that new Kate Winslet/Josh Brolin movie, Labor Day, and it was pretty bad. I love the actors, but the movie was just so damn lame that I had a hard time enjoying it. I have been meaning to post my swatches for this collection, but I just had a bunch of stuff queued up already and decided to just jump ahead and post it tonight. Starting tomorrow, I will be doing Valentine’s Day Challenge so I have those manis to post for the next 5 days. Yes, you read that right: Valentine’s Day. If you know me well, you’re probably laughing because I am not a hearts and flowers type of girl, but I figured that I should to a challenge where I am not really a fan of the holiday inspiration just so that I can push myself. Also, it was organized by Jessica and she’s pretty awesome so I jumped right on it. So, the collection I have for you today is the Jessica Coral Symphony Collection for Spring 2014. Are you tired of all the Spring Collections yet? Well, bear with me because this is a really nice one!

Jessica Starfish Glow

Jessica Conch Shell

Jessica Ocean Bloom

Jessica Tropical Sunset

Jessica Monsoon Melon

Jessica Sharktooth

Jessica is one of my favorite brands because they always do the most amazing cremes out there so I get giddy any time they put out all-creme polish collections. All of the polishes in the Coral Symphony collections are dreamy: smooth, pigemented, self-leveling and opaque. All of them required two coats for full opacity–even Sharktooth. You know I love me some white polishes, and this one is great. I can see myself using it often as a nail art base color. Overall, I am really happy with this collection because of the beautiful colors and the glorious formula. I would say that the colors aren’t super exciting as there are a lot of similar colors being released for Spring so I am sure that you may have dupes. However, if you want a perfect creme, you may want to check these out.

This collection should be available now in cause you’re interested. You can follow Jessica Cosmetics on their website and facebook page for all their latest news. Let me know what you think of this collection. Thanks so much for stopping by, and I will talk to you soon.