Press Release - OPI DS Pewter and Lapis

Diamonds are a Nail’s Best Friend!

OPI Launches Two NEW Designer Series Lacquers featuring DS Raw Granite

                This fall, OPI adds DS Raw Granite, two new granite-inspired hues – DS Pewter and DS Lapis – to the Designer Series by OPI collection. Featuring a matte textured finish with mineral-like reflections, each Designer Series Raw Granite lacquer formula offers subtle sheen with a sparkle finish.

DS Pewter, a matte textured metallic with deep silver ore, will launch simultaneously with DS Lapis, a deep sapphire blue with a textured matte finish.  Designer Series by OPI offers a mosaic of 11 glistening shades and a high-shine top coat, including these two new stunning hues. DS Pewter and DS Lapis can be used without DS Top Coat to achieve an alternate matte look.

            “Diamond-dust gives nails the perfect touch of glamour and can instantly transform any look.   These two new shades are inspired by raw granite – the diamond’s edgy cousin – and we’re excited to broaden the range of color in the Designer Series line,” said Suzi Weiss-Fischmann, OPI Executive VP & Artistic Director. “These lacquers incorporate rich pigments with brilliant shine, to create a bold yet elegant statement. DS Pewter and DS Lapis are the ideal high-fashion, festive accessory.”

OPI DS Lapis

OPI DS Pewter

Designer Series by OPI nail lacquer shades each feature OPI’s exclusive ProWide™ Brush for the ultimate in application.  DS Raw Granite lacquers should be worn without top coat for a matte finish. DS Pewter and DS Lapis will be available beginning September 2013 at professional salons, including Beauty Brands, Beauty First, Chatters, Dillard’s, jcp Salons, Pure Beauty, Regis, Trade Secret, ULTA and ulta.com for $12.50 ($14.95 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!

ABOUT OPI

As the world leader in the professional nail care industry, OPI is committed to providing high-quality products and services to both salons and their customers, along with a focus on industry safety and innovation. Known for its exceptional formula, fashionable colors and iconic names, OPI’s heavily-pigmented lacquers are super rich, long-lasting and chip-resistant – offering an affordable luxury to consumers. OPI nail lacquer is available in over 200 shades. Each lacquer features OPI’s exclusive ProWide^™Brush for the ultimate in application. Currently, OPI is available in over 100 countries and retails a full line of professional items, including nail treatments, finishing products, lotions, manicure/pedicure products, files, tools, gels and acrylics.

Cult Nails Riot and Mayhem

Here's a fun fact, I usually write my posts late at night. I, for perhaps the first time, am writing this post early in the morning. I am not a morning person. Never have been and never will be. I've never been a good sleeper so this time of day is just not pleasant for me. I barely slept last night. In fact, I finally fell asleep around 5:00 a.m. and then one of my demanding kitties felt the need to ask for breakfast by yelling in my face. How dare he want to eat. Welp, I've given up and I have a post to write so here I am. Why am I telling you this? There's a big chance that I will have grammatical errors and/or not make sense. Please focus on the pretty pictures and go easy on me please! 

So the Snail Nail Swatcher has struck again! Last week was Maria's of Cult Nails birthday. On the day of, a lot of fabulous bloggers recreated one of her manis and dedicated it to her. I wasn't in the loop but wanted to participate and I am just now posting this. At least it's still her birthday month right? *doh* The manis I have the skill set to recreate were already done so I decided to put my own spin on one instead. This is what I did.

 I used two coats of Cult Nails Riot (green), two coats of Cult Nails Mayhem (holo topper), and one coat Cult Nails Wicked Fast Top Coat. The rhinestones are from a Kiss Nail Art charm pack that I received from the May Nail Art Society Kit. 

I think the center rhinestone is a pretty good match! 

This is the mani that inspired me.

This is not my picture. I repeat, not my picture. This picture belongs to Maria not Mira. You can find this picture on the Cult Nails Facebook page, here. 

I hope you like my mani, Maria! Happy very belated birthday!

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page. 

-Mira

Wing Dust Blue Steel

Wing Dust Collections is an indie polish line that's available both on Etsy and Llarowe that was created by Stephanie. Located in Canada, they ship worldwide (from Etsy) and in the U.S. (via Llarowe). From what I read on the "About" page on Wing Dust's Etsy page, $1.00 from each bottle of polish sold goes to a fund for Stephanie's team mission fund to Zambia. 

The majority of the polishes from this line look like glitter toppers which is one of the many types of polish I'm obsessed with right now. The one I'm showing you today is a flakie polish named, Blue Steel. 

 Blue Steel has a sheer blue jelly base with blue and green iridescent flakes and a subtle iridescent shimmer. This polish is intended for layering; I used one coat on top of Ludurana Rock (black creme). I used one coat of Seche Vite for my top coat. 

 When applying, I didn't get a lot of flakies on my brush. I tried to remove the base without loosing too many flakes but it was a little tricky. The jelly base doesn't drip as fast as a clear base would and hold on tightly to the flakes.You can see that I don't have a ton of flakies on my nail (this is one coat). I did not apply a second coat so the effect was more subtle on my nails. In the sunlight, it is more noticeable and quite pretty. The more bling the better (in my world) so I'd recommend using more than one coat to make the flakie effect really pop.

 Here is a macro shot of the bottle. Doesn't this shade of blue remind you of the ocean?

I didn't notice Blue Steel in the Wing Dust Collection Etsy shop but it is currently available at Llarowe for $8.50. 

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I'm also on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

-Mira

*The product in this post was provided for review. 

Dance Legend Yellow Watermelon

Ahhh, Dance Legend. I've been seeing a lot of hype about this brand lately. I was excited to try a polish from this company even though it's so not my style. Yellows do not get along with my skin tone. Hello, lobster hands! It's definitely a party on my nails though. Even though this isn't my style, it was nice to see what the formula was like. 

Dance Legend is a Russian brand that is available on Llarowe's site for U.S. customers. They have been getting attention for their holos and thermal polishes. They also have a selection of neons and textured polishes. The thermals are the polishes I'm the most curious about. They look amazing.

 I'm wearing Yellow Watermelon which is from the Exotic Fruit Collection. It is highlighter yellow with green glitter flakes. They must be a very dark green because they look black to me. 

The formula is absolutely flawless. From what I can tell with this one polish, Dance Legend is a good quality polish. If they all have a formula like Yellow Watermelon, sign me up! It was perfectly smooth, leveled well, and dried quickly. I only needed two coats for opacity. The first coat was a little sheer but the second coat covered the nail completely. I used Seche Vite for my top coat. 

You can get this polish from Llarowe for $9.00. It's currently out of stock but you can keep track of restocks by signing up for newsletters. 

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page!
I'm also on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter.

-Mira

*The product on this post was provided for review.

Cadillacquer Where the Wild Things Are

I've been so lucky to try out a bunch of new brands lately. Cadillacquer is another new to me brand and I'm intrigued! First of all, I adore the name. As a first and second grade teacher, I often read Where the Wild Things Are (by Maurice Sendak) to my students. I also have fond memories of it from my childhood. It's such a cute story and the illustrations are absolutely charming. It's one of the books I saved when I stopped teaching. Now that I'm thinking of it, I should find it and send it to my nieces and nephew. It's not doing any good collecting dust is it!? The polish, I'll keep for myself. 

Where the Wild Things are by Cadillacquer is a very smoky greyed out green that seems to have some blue in it as well. I love this color. I need to paint a room in my house this color. As for the shimmer and glitter, there is a lot more going on than what immediately meets the eye. There is actually glitter, shimmer, and flakies in this polish. Oh my? Definitely. The shimmer looks like a light yellowy gold, the flakies are iridescent, and the glitter is iridescent and light silver. I probably got some of that wrong but that's what it looks like to me! 

The formula is a bit on the thick side. I wiped the excess off on my brush to make my coats pretty thin. If you apply it with a lot of polish on your brush, it will get a little goopy and hard to control. Once I put less on my brush, it went on just fine. I will probably add a little polish thinner to the bottle.

I used two thin coats and finished up with Seche Vite top coat. 

Here is a macro of the bottle. You can see the shimmer on the upper right side of the picture. It's kind of hard to see the flakies, but they are there. Have I mentioned how much I love the color? Yum.

If you don't mind adding some polish thinner or putting in a little extra effort for a beautiful polish, I can recommend this. I personally don't have a problem adjusting the amount I normally have on my brush as long as I love how it looks. This will be a keeper for me. 

You can get this polish from the fabulous, Llarowe for $13.00. 

Thanks for reading!

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I'm also on Instagram, Pinterest, and Twitter. 

-Mira

*The product in this post was provided for review. 

Press Release - China Glaze Autumn Nights

FALL INTO THE BEAUTY OF RICH COLOR

China Glaze® Introduces 12 Luxurious Shades

Los Angeles, CA – (July 2013): As the season begins to change and the weather cools, China Glaze® invites you to step inside for an evening of cocktails, gossip, flirtation and gorgeous nail color with the new Autumn Nights collection. Gab with the gals, clink those glasses and cheers to a fabulous Fall with nails that strike up a conversation.

The China Glaze® Autumn Nights collection includes:

Gossip Over Gimlets: Platinum shimmer soiree

Goldie But Goodie: Eternal rust gold shimmer

 Strike Up A Cosmo: Sparkling rose gold shimmer

      Rendezvous With You: Shimmery purple affair

Public Relations: Impressionable violet gunmetal shimmer

Kiss My Glass: Feisty blue gunmetal shimmer

Tongue & Chic: Playful emerald shimmer

Scandalous Shenanigans: Rich blue shimmer

Queen B: Regal blue-purple crème

Charmed, I’m Sure: Gracious purple crème

Don’t Make Me Wine: Reserve-worthy red-violet shimmer

·         Red-y & Willing: Frisky red shimmer

Cheers to China Glaze® Autumn Nights, available in September 2013 at fine salons and beauty supply stores as open stock colors, 6 piece box collections, 6 piece counter display, 12 piece counter display and 36 piece rack. China Glaze® is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde.

China Glaze® nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

FNUG Gold Stiletto

I've always wanted to try a FNUG polish so I was thrilled to get this polish to review from Llarowe. FNUG is a Danish brand that was started by Charlotte Fnugg Munksgaard. I was curious about the name so I looked it up. I figured I'd share that little tidbit. For those of us in the states this is a hard brand to get. Luckily, we can get FNUG and other international brands from Llarowe!

Gold Stiletto is a yellow gold metallic polish with a golden shimmer. In the bottle you can see tiny pieces of coppery particles but they don't seem to translate to the nail.

The formula is amazing, it applied nice and smooth. I could definitely tell that I was using a high quality nail polish. The first coat was a bit sheer but it was completely opaque by the second coat. It is extremely sparkly and shimmery which I of course love. 

Here's a macro of my nail. It looks like I painted my nails with real gold. 

This is a macro of the bottle. It looks a bit different on the nail then in the bottle doesn't it?

 It's quite lovely.

As you can tell by the pictures, the bottle is really small. It's 8.5 ml which is a little more than half of the size of a standard bottle of polish. This brand is more expensive as well, around $14.00 a bottle. There are many shades including this one on Llarowe's site that are for sale. Gold Stiletto is currently on sale for $8.00. Now, I'm not saying this brand is overpriced. I own quite a few bottles of polish that are on the expensive side. I just want to make you aware of how much polish you're getting for your buck. 

This was my first experience with FNUG and I'm quite impressed. There are many shades from this brand that have quickly jumped onto my wish list. Have you seen their holos? Oh my...

Thanks for reading!

Please subscribe and visit me on my Facebook page.

-Mira

*The product in this post was provided for review.