Bizarre? Nah! Beautiful! Oh Yeah!!!

October marks one of my favorite times of the year!  Some of the reasons that I love October so much are as follows - fall is officially beginning, my wedding anniversary, awesome hoodie weather and HALLOWEEN!  Oh ... and let's not forget the fact that I LOVE fall polish lines.  I did come to appreciate some of this past summers bright and bold colors but honestly, I am a fall polish girl through and through!  I love the richness of the colors that fall brings.

China Glaze has come correct this season with the 2012 Wicked Collection.  There are six really pretty Halloween inspired colors with names like Cast a Spell and Immortal in this collection.  You can buy the collection at Ulta right now and they will be available at Sally Beauty Supply this coming Monday, October 1, 2012.

I was on a trip to Ulta last week when I spotted an entire rack of Halloween goodies.  As I got closer and closer I realized that they had put out the Wicked collection a bit early and without hesitation I grabbed the one color that I knew I needed to have!  Bizarre Blurple is an amazing purple base with loads of blue shimmer.

I DIE!!!  Bizarre Blurple! 

In the bottle, this polish looks ridiculous and it does not disappoint on the nail!  When I brought it home I made my hubby let me test it, with some other newbies, on his nails!  Bizarre Blurple was by far his favorite of the haul.  (YES, I make my husband let me test colors on his nails!)

Now let's see what it looks like on lady hands, shall we?  

w/Flash 

w/o Flash

w/o Flash

SO PRETTY!  Bizarre Blurple has a really nice formula and with two coats I got full opacity.  This color is gorgeous and I didn't even need a top coat.  I have several similar colors in my collection but nothing quite like Bizarre Blurple.  The two colors that came to mind immediately when I bought BB were Orly Mysterious Curse and Royal Velvet.  They look really similar in the bottle so I decided to do a quick comparison to see how similar they really are.

Don't they look the same in the bottle?

But, they are not the same at all!

Well, there ya have it!  In my opinion Bizarre Blurple is the must own of the Wicked Collection.  Let me know what you think?  Do you have any other favorites from this collection?  

Go PINK on Wednesdays in October!

Happy end of September! This year has gone by so very fast but thankfully each day is a gift so I am thankful for all my days! As the summer turns to fall I am reminded of not only the changing of the seasons but the seasons of my life. As a people we are so busy working and scurrying about that sometimes that's all we think about- what "has" to get done. Work, kids, bills, groceries.... where in that list is "take care of me"?

As a collective group of people we need to take time out for ourselves. We do that somewhat with our polish obsession and mani enthusiasm, but the most important thing, being our health, is often times overlooked and undervalued. The list of "important" things to do cannot be accomplished if you're sick.

 That's why here at Mani Curiously we are participating in the Go Pink Wednesday campaign hosted by Finger Painting Fingers! The month of October is Breast Cancer awareness and for every wednesday we will feature a pink mani for you to oooh and ahhh! :) We'd love to see yours and will be reminding you with posts on the Mani Curiously Fan Page.

But just to give you some more food for thought... According to The American Cancer Society an estimated 227k new cases of invasive breast cancer will be diagnosed in 2012. Furthermore that breast cancer is the most common cancer among American women, except for skin cancers.

But the scariest statistic of all? 1 in 8 women in the United States will develop invasive breast cancer in their lifetime. Look around you... think of your friends and family... you know 8 women and according to this statistic 1 of them will become part of this. Will it be you? Your mother? Your sister? Your best friend? This is no joke and these statistics are very real.

So I ask you... how important is your health and the health of your loved ones? Please take a moment to schedule that exam or take the extra 5 minutes in the shower to do a self breast exam... it could save your life or the life of someone you love.

Much love,

Football Season Officially Hit OHIO!!!

There comes a time in every football fanatic wife's life that she just has to jump on the wagon and cheer for her husbands team!  I am not a sports fan by any stretch of the word, but my hubby loves anything and everything sports related; therefore when it came to college football he is nuts for Ohio State University!  When I say nuts I mean that Byron is a total BUCKEYE!

It has been said that The Ohio State University has the largest fan base of any college football team.  Sure, we have had our share of mishaps but this season is proving to be a fresh start of sorts.  With the addition of Urban Meyer as our new head coach, my husband is more excited than ever about the prospect of a great season.  So far it is shaping up to be a good season! Let's hope the Bucks keep it up!

When I asked my husband what I should do to my nails this weekend he smiled and asked if I could do an OSU inspired mani.  Was I up for the challenge?  You be the judge!  I must admit that my model for this mani was Cheryl Cheryl at Polish2Times.com.  Cheryl did this mani (minus some embellishment) in December and I loved it so much I decided to try it myself!  You can see Cheryl's post here.

For this mani I used OPI An Affair in Red Square, China Glaze Recycle and Finger Paints striping polish in Hip Hip Hue-Ray and Ch-Art-Coal Black.  Using my dotting tool from M.A.S.H Nails and some cute little rhinestone accents my mani was complete!  I hope you like it as much as my hubby does!

CG Recycle, OPI An Affair in Red Square, FP Striping Polish

And now the mani that all of you OSU fan's have been waiting for!

Left Hand

 Left Hand

And just to prove that I can paint on my right hand... LOL!

Right Hand

Right Hand

So there you have it, my OSU mani!  Off to watch the game with my freshly manicured fingers crossed for a win!!!  GO BUCKS! 

Tell me what you think!  Who will you be cheering for this season?  

Zoya's Guilty Pleasures Limited Edition Trio

Good Evening Ladies!  We wanted to make sure that all of you polish lovers were informed about Zoya's upcoming Guilty Pleasures Limited Edition Trio!

Gilty Pleasures 18K Real Gold Flake Topcoat Gift Box by Zoya

Just in time for party season!

The Gilty Pleasures velvet gift box features Zoya Gilty*, the 18k Real Gold Flake Topcoat  (0.5oz) Plus, two long wearing, full-size (0.5oz), colors to cover in gold as a bonus... Zoya Raven (black) and Zoya Purity (white).

Pre-Order Today HERE! 

Official Ship Date 10/15/2012 - Due to extreme demand and scarcity of the gold material, we are asking everyone to pre-order the Gilty Pleasures Trio Box in advance. Once pre-sell is sold out, there will be no more product available(that means when it's gone it's gone). You will not be charged until for the Gilty Pleasures Trio Box actually ships. 

So run, don't walk, over to the Zoya website and place your order!  As it states above...when it's gone it's gone!

 &

Different Dimension: WoW Expansion Inspired LE Lacquer Set *PIC HEAVY*

Where my gamer girls at?!! I got the awesome chance to show off an amazing Indie brand for you and man I hope I lived up to the pressure!

The newest Limited Edition (LE) Indie set comes from the amazing Missi at Different Dimension. This set was inspired by the new expansion pack for World of Warcraft (WoW) coming out September 25th, Mists of Pandaria.  More info on that can be found on the WoW website!

In this newest expansion WoW is introducing lots of new stuff and from what I've read it sounds like it'll be pretty amazing! I feel that visually these lacquers are a great polish interpretation of their namesakes.... If you're a gamer new or old or even just a lover of beautiful sparkly glitter polish, this set is for YOU!

Before we get to swatches, here are some beautiful bottle shots!! 

L to R: Horde, Alliance, Bad Ass Panda, Spectral Tiger & Murloc

WOW WOW WOW right?! Soooo pretty and every single one sparkles like a million bucks!! On to the swatches!!

First up is Horde. To give you a little background, the Horde is a faction in WoW. It is made up of mostly the "undesirable" classes and is seen as dark. These are my words and my interpretation as a long time player. The insignia is red and behind it is black, so as I'm sure you can see from the Horde inspired polish- she really let that darkness be embodied in it.

The Horde polish is a dark/black jelly base with red & holographic hex glitter along with some micro holo(graphic) glitter to fill in for some extra necessary bling! This polish is opaque in 2 coats and absolutely lovely without undies. I apologize but I did not photo this with undies.

Outside

Alliance is next! They are the other faction in the game and for most die hard players only one faction will do lol. I know personally that I have never had an Alliance character and many of my friends have never had any Alliance characters lol. That doesn't mean there is anything wrong with EITHER faction... it's just choosing a side ;) So, sadly I cannot tell you too awfully much about the Alliance side except to say they are more light than dark and their lands are usually really pretty lol.

The formula is great in all of these, show are two coats with Sally Hansen - Gilty Pleasure as undies. While I was all set to pre-emptively dislike the Alliance polish, I found that this is one of my favorites of the set. I love gold glitter and quite honestly this glitter is just SO amazing in person. If you like sparkle and bling this is for you. It also can be understated and simply beautiful if you so choose. The lovely blue and purple square glitters mixed in with the lovely round gold and micro holo glitter really make this a stand out gold glitter. You absolutely cannot go wrong with this!

Outside

Outside 

1 coat Alliance on top of Zoya - Robyn

Next up is Bad Ass Panda! I mean... who doesn't love a black and white glitter?! With some more micro holo goodness mixed up with some mean diamond shaped black glitter, a side of pearl white hexes and a dash of small white matte hex... woah nelly this is a statement glitter. Absolutely beautiful but not for the weak nailed lol. This can be worn alone or on top of something to make it pop. I love this glitter because it is just so damn cool and again... who doesn't love a black and white glitter!

1 coat of Bad Ass Panda on top of Essie - No More Film

1 coat of Bad Ass Panda on top of OPI - Y'all Come Back Ya Hear!

My second favorite and of course the most awesome embodiment of a character yet... Spectral Tiger! This beauty is not only bling-tastic but it is also a possible dual for those of you that wanna stand out or an understated elegance. Spectral Tiger also does double duty and can go from day tripper to night haute with the change of lighting... it is a GLOW IN THE DARK glitter! WHAAA?!!! Yes! GITD is amazeballs!

I want to point out though... with any GITD anything you have to charge the particles/chemicals with light to make them glow. If you have ever had anything that didn't glow that brightly- stick it under a lamp or out in direct sunlight for just a bit. In just a minute or two you'll be ready to rock and roll!

Spectral Tiger 2 coats on top of Barielle - Swizzle Stix as undies :)

WOW!!!

1 coat Spectral Tiger over China Glaze - Liquid Leather (Black)

Spectral Tiger GITD on top of China Glaze - Liquid Leather (Black)

Last but certainly not least is Murloc! What a lovely spring colored glitter! At first I wasn't sure I'd love it nearly as much as the other four but again, formula is a winner and the colors really warm up to you. The green and red bold mix can also make you feel like Christmas year round but there is plenty of holo glitter to really bounce more colors than just those. I really loved this one after I used it and intend to use it more!!

I intended to show Murloc over a second color but completely spaced out, so I apologize! Murloc is show with 2 coats on naked nails and 1 coat on top of Models Own - Lime Light.

All in all this beautiful set is totally worth buying as a set, but if you're a lil tight on cashola or think you'd prefer just a couple instead of all 5- you can't go wrong with any of them. I love the artistry and thought that went into these as well as the balance of glitter to base. Like I've already said, the formula and application is great! Nothing less than what I'd expect of some beautiful glitter bombs! Oh and all polishes had a coat of Seche Vite on top :)

You can purchase these and more from Different Dimension's Etsy page. Remember... these are Limited Edition and once they're pulled from her virtual shelf... they're gone! They will be available until September 25th (also the day the expansion drops!) so be sure to pick up yours while there is still time AND stock!!!

xo,

Disclaimer: These polishes were sent to me for review. My opinions of the brand and products are my own and unbiased in any way. I do my best to accurately and honestly report my findings to the best of my ability.