Makeup Monday - Magnetic Nail Polish!

I've become quite a nail polish addict.  I think nail polishes are like Pokemon cards--I'm consumed with a lust to get them all.  I'm particularly fond of polishes that give unique effects, like shatter, glitter/flakey topcoats, and now magnetic nail polish.  I mean, really, what's more Metal than a nail polish that has actual metal INSIDE OF IT?!  Yeah, nothing.

So, I picked up some Magnetic nail polish at Hot Topic:  Magnetic Force by Color Club.  I got mine in HipNotic because the electric blue color (Electro-Midnight) wasn't in stock at the time.  At $7, these magnetic polishes are a bargain (normal retail is $12-16).

Yesss!

BUT HOW DOES IT WORK, LESLIE?

There are metal filings inside the nail polish, and they separate from the rest of the nail polish when approached by a magnet, creating a lovely 3D tigerseye effect!  Unfortunately, I had issues getting this polish to work correctly.  You have to paint your nails one by one, putting the magnet (located on top of the lid) over the nail while the polish is still wet.  I didn't figure this out until I had painted an entire hand, whoops!  Luckily it came off easily.  I also found that the effect is much more dramatic if you have a LOT of polish on your nail.

Without flash.  See the pretty design? :D

With flash!  I love the metallic 3D shine!

I stupidly tried using the magnet at different angles in an attempt to get different designs.  I ended up ruining the entire effect and had to start over.  Ugh.  It's pretty lame that you only get the horizontal pattern, but I'm going to pick up this magnet by China Glaze and see if it works out.  The design possibilities look badass!

Close-up of the epic Metal polish.  My finger looks really creepy.

Bottom Line: despite my issues, I think magnetic polish is very Metal and I look forward to playing with it again! :D  Highly recommended!  This kind of polish is showing up in many brands and many colors, so of course I have to get them all.  My poor wallet.

Eluveitie - Helvetios Review!

Check out my review of Eluveitie's fantastic new album, Helvetios, featured at The Metal Pit!

 

I used to hate harsh vocals.  I still try to tell myself that I don’t like them.  But when I heard Folk Metal band Eluveitie’s new album, Helvetios, I finally accepted that I actually love harsh vocals.  Even in the almost-metalcore vocal offerings on “The Siege,” I was enthralled.  I punched my steering wheel and wanted to kill things.  It was utterly badass.  And then, out of nowhere, in the middle of the song comes a beautiful violin solo which then builds back into the face-melting nearly metalcore thrashing.  That’s why I love Eluveitie.  There’s just so much depth and variety in every single album, and they keep getting better.

Besides the expected epic metal guitars and crazy awesome drums, there are bagpipes, whistles, crazy violin solos—the instrumentation and musicianship of this band is just mind-boggling.  And vocals!  In Helvetios, hurdy-gurdy player Anna Murphy’s beautifully sweet vocals show up on multiple songs.  Chrigel’s passionate, emotional screams still make orgasms happen in my ears, and now there’s the sweet voice of Anna to make my ears orgasm TWICE.  She truly shines in “A Rose for Epona,” a beautifully emotional song that proves that she’s a seriously good singer, damn it, and then she sings on many more songs on the album in case you didn’t get the message.  I just can’t get over how much awesome variety there is in this album. 

At a whopping 17 tracks, the album can roughly be summed up as follows:

Prologue:  Spoken, beautifully written story about Helvetios.  I can’t ever skip it even though there’s no music, and it makes the next song (and the whole album) that much more epic.
Helvetios:  Epic.  Just epic.  Blew my mind first listen.

Luxtos:  Feels like a second part of “Helvetios.”  Continues with epic-ness and has an awesomely catchy and folkish chorus.  Makes me bounce.
Home:  Eases off on the epic-ness and turns down the Folk dial a bit.  Sounds a bit generic when compared to the previous two songs.
Santonian Shores:  Turns the Folk dial back up a bit, but still not as impressive as “Helvetios” and “Luxtos.”
Scorched Earth:  Lovely,  soft lamentation sung in Gaulish by guest vocalist Christoph Pelgen. 

Meet the Enemy:  Punches you in the face after you’ve been lulled into a dreamy countryside by “Scorched Earth.”  A la “Quoth the Raven,” Anna has a nice mid-song scream in here.
Neverland:  Continues to pummel you with Metal, and features a nice, catchy chorus.  Great Metal/Folk balance in this song.

A Rose for Epona:  Another epic song.  I could seriously listen to this gorgeous song on repeat for hours and never get bored.  Beautiful. 

Havoc:  Opens with a great violin solo and is a pretty epic song that showcases Eluveitie’s incredibly awesome Metal/Folk balance.  Like “Meet the Enemy,” but more Folk. 

The Uprising:  In the vein of “Meet the Enemy” and “Havoc,” but with a great spoken bit by the narrator from the prologue.

Hope:  Aptly-named Folk instrumental. 

The Siege:  So brutal that it’s almost metalcore in places.  Anna’s screams in this are chillingly awesome.  This whole song is chillingly awesome.  It’s one of the best on the whole album.

Alesia:  Gives both listeners and Helvetians a break in this gorgeous song that again showcases Anna’s lovely vocals (but with more Chrigel than “Epona”).

Tullianum:  Heart-breaking spoken words by Anna.  It’s only 20-ish seconds long.
Uxellodunon:  Great final song.  Chrigel’s screams of “we will never forget” really bring this one home.

Epilogue:  Narrator brings the story full circle, followed by a sad/hopeful instrumental.  And there’s a choir!  Yes. 

This album is truly wonderful.  The great story, raw emotion, and pure awesomeness of the songs make this album one of my favorite Folk Metal releases—perhaps even of all Metal releases—of 2012.  It’s only March, but I doubt this one can be topped.

Songs that I thought were especially awesome:  Helvetios, Luxtos, A Rose for Epona, Havoc, The Siege, Alesia, Uxellodunon.

Rating:  9.5/10 

Lacuna Coil - back?

On my first listen of Lacuna Coil's new album, Dark Adrenaline, I heard a lot of good things.  There's more variation in their sound (guitar solos?!  Cristina does different things with her voice!), and some songs gave me a Comalies feel.  Which is good.  I need to give it a few more listens to be sure. 

I think that generally Lacuna Coil haven't "sold out"--they just need a new producer.  Their albums since Comalies have all been SOO polished (almost over-polished?), and I think that has affected their sound.  They sound way more mainstream because of how polished their songs are.  I  liked Karmacode and a few songs off A Shallow Life, but I admit Shallow Life was preeeetty "mainstream"-sounding.  I almost gave up on Lacuna Coil after that, but decided I'd give Dark Adrenaline a try.  And I think they're going back to what they used to be.

Expect a full review to come later, but for now here's the video for the extremely catchy song, "Trip the Darkness!"

Awesome Metal Bags!

I've always referred to the chalices in which I dump all my personal items as purses, but apparently it's more politically correct to refer to them as simply "bags" now (because of all the different types).  Whatever the term, I find it frustratingly difficult to find purses that fit my aesthetic.  Sure, there are black purses everywhere, but the increasingly dominant girly-girl in me wants something a bit more fancy nowadays.  Zippers, chains, buckles, maybe some bows!  Or pink accents!  Wait, did I just say pink?  To quote some Symphony X lyrics, I don't know what the Hell I've become.

Now isn't the time for an identity crisis, Leslie!  Show them the epic bags!

Metal Mulisha, though primarily a brand for assholes (ugh, just look at the homepage...), have some great purses for ladies.  These three are my favorites, but Metal Mulisha have many more to offer on their website.  I love the classic black leather looks of these purses combined with the added mixture of edgy and feminine touches.  At $46-50, they're a pretty good price, too!

I really like this purse by surfer-girl brand Roxy.  I don't like any of their other purses (or anything else at all, really), but this one is great.  Distressed black leather feel combined with silver studs, zippers, and buckles.  Very Metal :D  And it's a cross-body, which is ideal for shows and festivals because it keeps your hands free and puts less weight on your shoulder!  And it's super affordable at $44.

I looove tokidoki.  The designs are just so damned cute.  This design is a nice middle-ground between my love of cuteness and Metal.  The adorable characters are there, but in subtle, vintage-y grays instead of the rainbow color explosion found in most tokidoki products.  Unfortunately, these purses are crazy expensive (by my standards).  This purse is the smallest offered (though still a good size methinks), and it's $98.  Yowch!  D:

Here's a cute purse from Iron Fist.  Though Iron Fist's primary Metal fashion offering is shoes (which I'll be sure to write about later), they have some other great things to offer.  Like this purse!  At $45, it's very affordable!  Also, Iron Fist tend to lean more towards the Horror than Metal aesthetic, so if you find yourself also leaning more towards that, google Iron Fist!  Their website doesn't have all their items, so some googling/ebaying may be in order. 


If you're the type that needs to try on a purse before purchasing, here's a list of some purses that can be found in stores (click the picture to view):

Phew, that was a LOT of purses!  I focused on black because, well, it goes with everything!  Hopefully I at least gave you names of some designers that cater to the Metal aesthetic more than others.  Enjoy, and happy shopping!

<3

Makeup Monday - Urban Decay Heavy Metal Liner

I went to Sephora recently and spotted this "Heavy Metal Glitter Liner" at the Urban Decay kiosk.  It had "Heavy Metal" on it, so of course it piqued my interest!  But I had a moment of ignorance and failed to see what could be so awesome about putting glitter on my eyelids.  And the $18 price tag made me cringe a little.

Aww, there's even a cute guitar <3

Now, after watching videos on YouTube and reading rave reviews on Sephora's website, I desperately want to go back to Sephora and try it on for myself (why I didn't do that at the time, I have no idea).  I'm mostly interested in the silver (called "Glam Rock"--the names are quite cheesy) and opalescent pearl ("Distortion") colors, as they would probably look best layered over dark eye shadow. 

After going back to Sephora, I found that I love this stuff!  It was very sparkly and made quite a statement!  I still couldn't spend the $18, though, but luckily I found a nice dupe at Hot Topic that's only $1.99.  Yes, two dollars. 

But if you have the kind of money to spend $18 on glitter liner (because the Urban Decay stuff IS better), have a look at this video review!  She doesn't fit my aesthetic, of course, but she's very informative about the product and I liked listening to her talk.  I didn't even turn off the video when she started rambling at the end, which was weird. 

Serenity at Progpower XIII

I love Austrian Power/Prog band Serenity.  I bought their new album, Death & Legacy, on a whim while at an F.Y.E. store in Chicago last summer (I had never seen so much good music in a physical store before.  It was glorious.) and immediately fell in love with it.  The singer's voice is fabulous (I have no idea why YouTube trolls say he sounds like Mickey Mouse), the music sounds akin to a mixture of old Kamelot/Sonata Arctica (both of which I miss very, very much), and I think I listened to the album exclusively for two weeks or more.  There are also lots of guest female vocalists, which is delicious icing on an already-awesome rainbow cake.

So it should be no surprise that I'm extremely excited that Serenity are coming to the States for ProgPower XIII!  And it was announced this morning that Serenity will be bringing a female vocalist, Clémentine Delauney, with them for the show.  I was hoping their guest vocalist would be Amanda Somerville, as I'm a huge fan of hers and I haven't heard much of "Clemi."  She sounds great on YouTube, though, and I look forward to seeing her perform with Serenity this September!

Here's a video of Serenity's "The Chevalier" featuring the lovely Ailyn from Sirenia!  I love this song, and it's the reason I bought the Serenity album in the first place.

    I really hope they play this song at ProgPower.  -crosses fingers-

New things ahead!

In addition to my makeup and album/show reviews (which unfortunately take a lot of time, but I promise there will be more!), I will post specific things every day according to the schedule below.  Besides these scheduled things, I will also share news as I find it (bands breaking up, new lineups, US tour announcements, etc.).

• Monday:  Makeup finds (that I want to try but haven't gotten around to)
• Tuesday:  Shopping day (Like this)
• Wednesday:  Women of Metal mini bio (I'll pick a lady that I admire and write about why I like her, what she's done for women in Metal, stuff like that!)
• Thursday:  Music Video day
• Friday:  Hopefully an album or product review!  If not, another one of the aforementioned things!

Let me know how you feel about the list :)  Like it, hate it?  Is there something missing? 

Here, have an adorable marshmallow cat:

The cuteness kills me.