Year of the Dragon by Pure Ice

So the Year of the Dragon pairing by Pure Ice is a gold metallic nail polish and a bright, crisp red crackle polish topper. I had never, for whatever reason, thought to pair these two together and I have to say, I just love the result.
The gold metallic polish is a very warm gold, almost has that "old gold" feel. I adore it - surprising for me, I don't usually care for gold, but this one is right up my alley. It reminds me a bit of Misa Ghetto Fabulous. I only needed two coats for this - I probably could have done one, it was really well pigmented.

I decided to use the red crackle, Show Stopper, in a diagonal pattern. This is a fun change up for me, I really like the look of it done in this direction. I had a mishap with my ring finger and the door, so I had to go over that spot again - forgive me if it looks a bit lumpy, but that's my fault and not the fault of the crackle. Like many crackle polishes, this dries to a matte finish. I added glossy top coat to all of my fingers but my pinkie, because I wanted to show you guys the texture of the matte - I actually like that contrast against the metallic of the gold. Pretty neat!

I know that many of us are burnt out on crackle, but when I wore this I got a TON of compliments on it, and I myself really loved the look of it. The combination of color and texture to me was really pretty and I haven't worn crackle in so long, I think I just enjoyed it. What do you guys think of this?

Disclaimer: Product(s) in this post provided in return for an honest review.

Press Release: Paint The Sky Blue by Pure Ice

"Baby I painted the sky blue, my greatest creation was you!"

Hiphop Royalty Jay-Z and Beyonce's new baby girl Blue Ivy has the most amazingFairy God Mother... Oprah!

Want to know what it feels like to have to world at your finger tips? Maybe a little bit like this!


Get into Oprah's Circle with Pure Ice Crackle & Ice Duo Strike A Pose
BUY NOW

I really like the look of this combo! I wonder if this will be as cool as the Year of the Dragon one, what do you guys think?

Disclaimer: All images and info provided by the company.

Press Release: Pure Ice Strobelight: Mother Monster vs. Material Girl

“I won't be happy till I'm as famous as God.” - Madonna

"And now, I'm just trying to change the world one sequin at a time" - Lady Gaga

Whether you are a Little Monster or a die hard Queen Madge fan, Pure Ice Strobelight has something for you. One coat disco ball-sy gold glitter and shiny patent leather badass black crackle - Pick your side and pledge your allegiance, monster claw and all.

Wear them alone or together and start making provocative hand gestures.

Pure Ice Crackle & Ice Strobelight will make sure that your manicure is anything but REDUCTIVE.

Buy yours here.




All images and text courtesy of Bari Cosmetics.

Press Release: Year of the Dragon Manicure by Pure Ice

Time to get CRACKING for Chinese New Year!


Chinese New Year is observed for two consecutive weeks, and is popularly known as Spring Festival. It usually starts from late January and early February. The variation in the date of festival is due to the changes in the track of the new moon. The Spring Festival ends on the 15th day when the Lantern festival is celebrated. Pure Ice has a quick and simple nailpolish set to help you achieve this perfect look.

In 2012, Chinese New Year Day will be celebrated on January 23. The New Year festival will start from January 22 (Chinese New Year' Eve) and end on February 6 (Lantern Festival). 2012 marks the 4710th Chinese New Year, and this time it is the Year of Dragon according to the Chinese zodiac calendar.

The Dragon is the 5th sign of the Chinese zodiac and it is regarded as an auspicious symbol which stands for power, good luck, success, and happiness.


Since ancient times, the Chinese New Year was considered as the time to honor ancestors and heavenly deities. In addition, it was the time to organize family gatherings and grand feasts.


There is a legend associated with the celebration of New Year in China. There was a monster named Nian who used to harass the villagers by eating their crops, cattle and taking away their kids. The villagers had no other option but to place food at the entrance to their homes so that the monster would eat it and go away without harming them.


One day, the villagers realized that the monster was scared of red color. So, they adorned their doors and windows with red paper cutouts and spring scrolls. The villagers also burst crackers to frighten the monster. Since then, Nian never came again to the village. Hongjun Laozu, a Taoist monk, was the one who captured the beast later on. Since then, the Chinese have been celebrating the capture of Nian on their New Year's Day.


Chinese New Year is celebrated with fireworks, lion dancing, dragon dancing and cultural performances on the street. Families organize reunion dinners on New Year's Eve and make special preparations like spring rolls and Chinese dumplings. 


You can celebrate with Pure Ice Crackle Duo Gold & Red (ShowStopper) and ring in the Year of the Dragon in style.


All images and information provided by the company.

Glitterbomb

I was working in the lab, late one night...nah, just kidding. Getting into the spirit of the season early. I was up super late one night, browsing through my dashboard and I came across this awesomesauce post by Marisa. I thought, I don't have all of those but I have similar stuff, surely I can pull this off! Seven layers later, I had something different, but I still love it.
Okay, I used Taunting Teal by Sonia Kashuk as my base. I know I've got a deep navy somewhere but I couldn't think of one, so I picked this off of my desk and thought it might be similar enough to achieve the results.
My layering went like this: Sinful Colors Green Ocean, Island Girl Mahalo Dream, Nubar 2010, NYX Girls Aqua Glitter, Pure Ice Busted, and Sinful Colors All About You. Whew. The flakie/glitter iridescence going on here is amazing - it flashes so many colors and it just glows. Mermaid scales! You'd think seven layers would dry slowly, right? Nah, it went pretty quickly since I used thin layers. I was pretty shocked myself. I think the next time I try this I'll be more careful in my placement, and maybe go for more of a gradient effect.
On to the photos. I think this looks a lot better in person, in my opinion, but hopefully you'll get the idea!

Really, it doesn't feel as thick as it looks here, especially my pinkie finger. Also, this is surprisingly smooth - the mylar opalescent flakies in Mahalo Dream can be sticky, but smooth out well with one layer of top coat.
I wish I could capture how much more magical this looks. If you decide to try this, please let me know, I'd like to see!

Milani Rad Purple

Milani Rad Purple was one of the neons that came out last summer. These were all in opaque bottles. Kind of weird, but I was glad I snagged this, because not only is it a red-toned purple, which I love, but it's an awesome jelly! Seriously, for me this is right up there with New York Summer Amaranth. It's a perfect jelly - you'll see how light and squishy it is at the tips! So, being a jelly, you should know if you read my blog enough that this will have VNL. It does, even after three coats. I'm okay with that, and since this is billed as a neon, it definitely dried matte. Since I like neons shiny, I slapped a coat of Revlon Quick Dry Top Coat on it. As you can see from the photo, super shiny!
As if this wasn't enough awesome for me, I decided to do a little layering, and added a coat of Pure Ice Busted. Too sheer to wear on its own, it's an awesome layering polish - and combined with Rad Purple, it's magic!
I can't tell you how much I love this. I got so many compliments on it!
Speaking of compliments, I went to get my hair cut and my brows done yesterday, and all of the girls were oohing over my pedicure - which, of course, I do my own. I used Sonia Kashuk Taunting Teal and Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Set The Stage. I'll have to show off this combo on my fingernails!
Alright, enough blathering. On to photos!

Hopefully you can see how Busted flashes both pink and purple! SO cool.

Focus On Blue: H&M Blue My Mind

H&M Blue My Mind is another beauty I got from Solveig. This is a bright cornflower blue creme, and I used two coats for this swatch. It's divine! So bright and so pretty. I couldn't resist layering this, so I pulled out Pure Ice Oh Baby!, which is a fantastic layering polish - it's a sheer white jelly with microshimmer that flashes aqua and pink. I tried to capture the pink shimmer, but I had a hard time doing it - you can see it best on that last photo, but it's kind of fuzzy.

If you want a closer look at the shimmer in Oh Baby!, you can click to enlarge those last two photos. I think this polish would look fantastic with flakies, too.

Pure Ice Strapless

I've still got two more Sinful Colors to show you, but I thought I'd break it up with another brand. Phew, I had a lot from the two new collections to get through!
Pure Ice Strapless has been around for a little while, but it's well worth a look. This is a fine blue metallic glitter in a clear base - I used three coats for this swatch. Super sparkly and hot! A tip I've found when using this is to wait until each coat is dry, because otherwise you'll be pushing the glitter around on your fingernail and causing bald spots.

I think that the blue is a little deeper in tone "in real life".

Sinful Colors Beverly Hills and Pure Ice Busted

Today's Sinful Colors is another namesake of the new collection, Beverly Hills. This is a pastel purple with quite a bit of red in it - I don't have anything like this, and I have a lot of lilac and pastel purples!
Again we have what I'm coming to see as Sinful Colors' signature formula, the jelly creme. Squishy and shiny, but well pigmented. The Beverly Hills collection comes with these little rings around the neck of the bottle, with a little flower. Kind of cute, but nothing I'd wear.
Now, I wanted to do some layering with this, so I pulled out Pure Ice Busted, which is a great layering polish. I'd only ever worn Busted over a black, so I was curious how it would look over a lilac. It's awesome! This is a super sheer purple with metallic shimmer packed in the bottle. I tried so hard to capture the pink shimmer on the nails, but you may have to click to enlarge the photos to see it.

I'll have to try this over some other colors! It's awesome. Do you have Busted? What have you layered it over besides black?

Pure Ice Twinkle

I haven't featured Pure Ice enough here. This color, Twinkle, is a cute rich peach! It's packed with beautiful gold shimmer that shows up nicely on the nail. I used two coats here. Oh HI big gap on my pinkie! Whoops. I'd definitely recommend clicking to enlarge these, but I did get a good macro!

This is much more flattering than that WNW peach I had two days ago (on me, anyway). And hey, it'll be June tomorrow! This year is flying by already.