Spellbound Nails Rocky Horror Valentine Collection!

(Press samples ahead!)

Hello!


Do you have the post-holidays blues? Do you know what the best way to get over the post-holidays blues is? Throw yourself into gorgeous Valentine's polishes!


Of course, I tend to like Valentine's polishes and manis that have a little edge to them...Luckily for me, Spellbound Nails is releasing her Rocky Horror Valentine Collection, a set of nails that, like Brad and Janet, turn traditional love just a liiiiiittttle bit on its head...

Spellbound Nails Rocky Horror Valentine Collection

Let's jump right on in and do the Time Warp with Spellbound Nails A Jump To The Left, a clear glitter topper in red, purple, turquoise, tangerine, caramel, and silver holographic: 

Spellbound Nails A Jump To The Left

Spellbound Nails A Jump To The Left

Coverage: Topper; depends on the effect you want
Application: Excellent, smooths on easily

To show you this one two different ways, I swiped a coat onto all of my nails except the accent, which I sponged on to get a fuller coverage. I personally prefer my glitters with more sparse coverage, but this is beautiful either way--with one coat, it looks like confetti on the table at a party, and on the accent nail it looks like a pinata just exploded, raining down candy goodness everywhere! The colors in this feel more adult-party than children-party to me, but could certainly be used either way. Fun packed into a bottle. :)


Next up we have my favorite of the collection--wait for it--Spellbound Nails Antici...Pation (see what I did there?!), a multichrome holo that shifts from fuchsia purple-pink to a rust orange-red:

Spellbound Nails Antici...Pation

Spellbound Nails Antici...Pation

Spellbound Nails Antici...Pation

Coverage: 2 coats
Application: Perfection

This polish is like a magical sunset reflected in the sparkling waters of a lake at dusk. A shift of color, a flash of linear holo--just stunning.


Then there's Spellbound Nails Dammit Janet, an orchid crelly with a variety of silver holo glitters:

Spellbound Nails Dammit Janet

Spellbound Nails Dammit Janet

Spellbound Nails Dammit Janet

Coverage: 2 coats
Application: Excellent

I couldn't think of a better polish to represent Janet than this spring-sugar concoction of flirty innocence--that is, unless somehow by the end of the evening it turned to deep, vampy purple and left your nails mostly naked.


Next we have Spellbound Nails Transsexual Transylvania, a dazzling glitter topper with silver and black holographic glitter--including lightning bolt glitters!!!!!

Spellbound Nails Transsexual Transylvania

Spellbound Nails Transsexual Transylvania

Coverage: Topper; depends on the effect you want
Application: Smooths on easily; you may need to fish for the lightning bolts.

OmgOmgOmg! Lightning bolt glitters!! And holo!!! Squeeeeeeeee!!!!! I show one coat plus fished lightning bolts over Spellbound Nails Black Eye to show you how sparkly and glitzy this is. Absolutely 100% worthy of Dr. Frank-N-Furter's stunning ensemble--so the next time you need a little drama in your life, grab this baby and show your nails what the word bling really means.

But, believe it or not, this wears a more subtle over certain colors, too--check out the snow mani I did with it here.


And last but most certainly not least, we have Spellbound Nails In Just 7 Days, a rich gold holo with flecks of microflakie:

Spellbound Nails In Just 7 Days

Spellbound Nails In Just 7 Days

Spellbound Nails In Just 7 Days

Coverage: 2 coats
Application: Perfection

This isn't some trashy cheap gold, this is stunning 24 karat glam gold. The color is silky and rich, and there's just enough holo flash to make it feel like your nails are glowing. Very wearable on its own, it also makes an excellent base for nail art; check out my 'diamonds are a girl's best friend' mani with it, here.


What do I think of the collection overall? I love a collection that tells a story, especially when it's inspired by a book or a movie. These polishes walk you through the square, innocent beginnings of Brad and Janet's journey, through the par-tay, and the various awakenings. These polishes can be used for sweet Valentine's manis if that's your thing, or they can go a little...alternative...in the blink of an eye. And there's nothing I love more than versatility. ;-)

Spellbound Nails Rocky Horror Valentine Collection

This polish goes on sale in Spellbound Nails' store tomorrow, January 15th. And in the meantime, I say we do the Time Warp again!


Happy polishing!
M. xoxo

Review: Tristaenia Love, Houses, and Baby plates from Messy Mansion

(Press sample)

Hello!

We all know it's Valentine season, love is in the air and on our minds, and I've got a set of whimsical, light-hearted plates to help you celebrate it all, by a line I've just been introduced to: Tristaenia via Messy Mansion. Many of these plates have names rather than numbers, so for my first review, I grouped together three plates that I think fit the Valentine theme: Love, Houses, and Baby.

'Cause you know--first comes love, then comes marriage (and often a house together), then comes the baby in the baby carriage!

*Ahem*. Okay, I feel better now.

You know I made a video to show them to you:


And let's take a look at some still shots, starting with Love:

Tristaenia Love

This one has a flurry of hearts, flowers, heart flowers, lace, and dot patterns: Everything you need to create a fun, happy Valentine's manicure.

Then Houses:

Tristaenia Houses

This one has architectural elements like windows, paths, fences, signs, and textile patterns: what I love about this one is all the textural elements you have to play with in admit the house images.

And finally, Baby:

Tristaenia Baby

This plate has everything you need to celebrate your little ones: totes adorbs faces, toys, prams, and frills. You're all set for baby showers, kid's birthdays, or any other bouncing baby business.

I have a couple of general notes about these plates, stylistically. I love that the plates have positive and negative sides of the same image, so that you can choose whether your stamping polish outlines the images, or you base polish does--that alone gives you a ton of options for easy, attractive manicures.

Also, I think plates like this can be overwhelming when you first look at them--there's a lot going on, and it can be hard to pull out ideas about how to use what for a mani. In these cases I recommend using a template to plan your mani--and by template I mean a piece of paper with a hole cut out of it in the shape of your nail. Take a look at my video review to see what I mean--this will really unlock the potential of the plates for you.

Let's talk size! Here are a couple of shots with a ruler to help you get a feel for how big the designs are:

And how do they stamp? I had pretty darn good results:

You know I had to do a Valentine's mani with one of these plates--I decided to go the most lovey-dovey route and used the Love plate.

I started with a base of Spellbound Nails Howler over Zoya Eden:

Spellbound Nails Howler over Zoya Eden

Then I stamped with Barry M Cotton; to show what I meant about the negative/positive sides of the plate, I played with that in the mani:

Sweet Valentine

Sweet Valentine

I used my Messy Mansion clear stamper (seem my review here) to line up the image right at the edge of my nail--look at the index, middle and pinkie, where I put the thin line right on the tip of the nail. I did mess the one on the middle finger up a little, but I could have easily swiped off that one bit and put it on again with the clear stamper. This is my first attempt trying to do something like a French manicure with a clear stamper and I LOVE how easy it was.

I love how this mani came out! It's lighthearted and fun, and that's coming from a person who doesn't normally do either pink or the traditional Valentine's style mani.

You can find these plates and the clear stamper on Messy Mansion's website, and you can follow them for updates on sales, giveaways, etc., on their Facebook page.

Happy stamping!
M.

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