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. 

Venique So Chic! Polish review and swatches...

Don't forget to enter our giveaway celebration!  

This past Friday I did a post on my first Venique Lacquer and today I am going to continue with yet another Venique polish!  If you missed the last post you can find it here.  I really cannot say enough about how awesome this polish line is.

BLING BLING

Jamin' in Jellies is a really nice pinkish orchid creme.  With the use of the Venique sticky base coat, this polish is also a one and done!!!  The super creamy formula makes for a really nice even and non-streaky application.  I had a little fun with this color and after wearing it one full day added a little bling.

So here it is... Venique Lacquer Jamin' in Jellies!

w/Flash low back light

w/Flash slightly backlit 

Natural Light

I have a few more Venique Lacquers to show you, so stay tuned for my upcoming posts! Remember, if you can manage to get your hands on some... DO IT!  You won't be sorry.

Tell me what you think.  Do you like the idea of having a polish line specifically for natural nails?  

Ricans Gone Wild, Boricua Pride!!!

You could say that I am a proud Puerto Rican and you would be correct!  I take great pride in my culture and each year around the same time Puerto Ricans around the country gather in New York to show just exactly how proud we are!

 This year marks the 55th annual National Puerto Rican Day Parade!!!

Even though I cannot be there in person, I am so there in spirit and mani!  LOL!  

I will preface these post with a warning...  there is a ton of Puerto Rican going on in here!  So much so that E called my mani the drag queen of manis!  I will admit that I may have gone a bit nuts but ya gotta sometimes, know what I mean? There were just so many ideas floating around in my head and I think I used them all.

For my Puerto Rican Pride mani I used a base coat, one coat of China Glaze Ruby Pumps and my new Finger Paints Liners for the art.  Hip Hip Hue-Ray is the white liner and Royal Renoir is the electric blue liner.  I will say that I found them a bit thick but the colors are amazing and they weren't too terribly hard to work with.  I even managed to do my right hand with the exact same design and that is no small feat my friends! After completing the flags on all but one finger, I added my fimo stick Puerto Rican flags and blinged them out with some rhinestones.  Voila!  A Puerto Rican Pride mani that would make any 'Rican happy!  

I hope you like them!  

Woooooooohooooooo!

Bet you can't guess that I am 100% Puerto Rican from 100 miles away!  

Nothing like a drag mani to get the party started!  :)

I hope that the parade is a blast and if there are any NYC Rican's reading this blog... go and dance in the streets for me!  I will be rocking my mani, making some rice and beans and jammin' to some salsa all day long! Besos!

P.S.  I tried to get E to bust out her best 'Rican inspired mani for today (she is Puerto Rican too) but she decided to leave it to me since her fungal visiter hasn't left yet :(

SpaRituals Gold Collection Part 2

It has been a while since my first post about the SpaRituals Gold Collection and I figured what better day to complete my review than on their official launch date!  The complete Gold Collection is available today, May 1, 2012!  They will be available in most salons and spas nationwide with a price tag of about $12 a bottle.  You can find them online at skinstore.com, beauty.com, zappos.com and skincarerx.com amongst other beauty supply sites.

My previous review of the first three polishes in this collection was not the best.  I couldn't really tell if I was going to be a fan of this line or not.  However, I can say with confidence, after swatching the remaining three colors, that I am a fan of sorts.  I defiantly have my favorites and a few application issues but overall I have grown to really like the Gold Collection.

Last time I swatched Electrum, Rusted Lux and Aurum.  This time I got a chance to play with Conduit, Gilded Age and Alchemy.  All the pictures were taken indoors (I live in Ohio and the weather was not cooperating with me).  I put on three coats of each color and this time I didn't use a base coat.  I think this could have been the trick for me.  When I tried to paint over a base coat, I found it really hard and the grain of the polish just pulled the previous layer up.  I didn't have that problem this go round!  So, no undies for SpaRitual Gold Collection, naked is the way to go!


Gilded Age is a really pretty rose gold color and in the bottle it really glows.  It also painted really well and is a super quick drying polish.  I got three coats done and dry in no time.

w/ Flash, 3 coats

w/out Flash

I love the color difference between the flash photos and the ones without flash, it really shows how magnificent this color can be in different lighting.

Conduit is the most copper of the whole collection.  I think the gold in combination with the copper color makes for a really interesting and bold final look.  

w/ Flash, 3 coats 

w/out Flash

Finally, my favorite of the entire collection!  Alchemy is the "white" of the bunch.  It is a really pretty pearl white with the obvious gold undertone.  After three coats, I would wear this by itself.  I think it has some awesome possibilities for other things, especially with layering.

w/ Flash, 3 coats

w/out Flash

Overall, I am going to give the SpaRituals Gold Collection a B.  I love the concept and the colors, but the formula is not my favorite.  However, you know there's something fun and spectacular when you can say, "I have 24K nails today!" and really mean it!!

Techo... am I Raving Again?

I will admit that I was a rave girl once upon a time and boy were those days fun!  Seems so long ago now that I think about it, but one thing that I will never forget is how they made me feel.  Depending on the party planner, the overall feeling that I would usually leave with would be one of shock and awe.  Had I really just partied the night away inside a disco ball?  All the lights and pounding music was such a rush. People dressed in crazy clothes, waving glow sticks around and dancing so hard that it hurt the next day!

Please excuse my rant about my youth but it does have a point, I promise!   All of those excited feelings that I used to have getting ready for a rave hit me all at once one day at the local Ulta.  Sounds silly I know, but stay with me here and hopefully it'll all make sense.

While shopping around and looking for a good deal I suddenly stopped in my tracks.  In my peripheral vision I had spotted something sparkly and my ADHD kicked in big time.  I had a feeling that once I turned my head I was going to fall in love and boy was I right!  Just like all those old excited feelings that I used to have getting ready for a night of ridiculous dancing and eye catching flashiness, I was hooked on my new love, China Glaze - Techno.  However, I managed to leave the store without my new best-friend!  :(  Unfortunately I already had a bag full of polish that had reached my max budget for the trip.  Booooooo!  I know!  But, I try my hardest to be a responsible spender even when it comes to polish!  I was so sad that I had to leave Techno at the store especially since she was the last one.  A couple days later when I called to see if she was still at Ulta, I was not surprised to find out that Techno had been sold.  I then began calling the Sally's in and out of my area but it was the same story each time.  Techno was sold out!

Fast forward a couple of weeks and some serious Amazon.com consideration later, I still had not bought Techno.  Here is where the story gets happy... on a shopping trip with my husband one of the stops that we needed to make was to a Sally's to pick up some raincheck items on hold.  I also warned him that I would most likely find a few more polishes to add to the collection, so he was prepared.

My first stop in the store was the China Glaze display shelf.  On a previous shopping trip I had picked up a few of the new Prismatic Collection and loved them, so I decided to try and complete the collection.  I noticed a polish on the display that I had not seen the last time I was in the store so I was really intrigued.  When I picked it up and looked closely I almost had a heart attack!  Could it be?  Had the polish gods picked that day to smile down on little old me!  I looked at the bottom again... low and behold... it was Techno!  I took that as a sign of course and added it to my basket for the day!

China Glaze had done it again and Techno is just how they did it!  Techno is part of the Electropop Collection release for Spring 2012.  I had seen the collection at Sally's several times but was not really excited by any of the colors on display (Techno was obviously missing!).

In the bottle, Techno looks like a million little disco balls.  A beautiful collection of round holographic glitter mixed with a bit of micro glitter.  I couldn't wait to try it out and I hope you enjoy what I came up with!

The Magic Duo... Rimmel London Steel Grey & China Glaze TECHNO!!!!

With flash

Close up with flash

After two coats of Steel Grey and two coats of Techno, I am giving this polish an amazing A+!  I love it! For some crazy reason I feel like I should be holding some glow sticks, flailing my arms around creating trails with these magnificent nails!  (all you former ravers know exactly what I am talking about)