Monday, December 31, 2012

Top of 2012: Silver


I only have one top silver shade for 2012. I'm not one for metallics or overly glitter silvers that aren't holos.

In the end, this shade shouldn't come as a surprise to you all.


What silver could be more suited to Princess Polish than one named after the Queen of England?

Lillibet's Jubilee from butter LONDON was released to commemorate Queen Elizabeth II's fifty years on the throne. And this silver metallic with lavender undertones was simply smashing.

Class, but unique... very fitting for Liz II indeed!

What's your shade of silver? Or your shade of gray? (And no, you may not pick fifty.)

Sunday, December 30, 2012

Top of 2012: Brown


I will admit that I rarely wear brown polish. And as summer passed by and I started contemplating my favorite shades of the year, I didn't have a single favorite brown.

Then fall rolled around and gave me not one, but two.


Nailtini Sidecar looks like I dipped my nails in caramel. Just looking at it makes my sweet tooth ache for candy! It was the first brown of the year I really loved.


And then came Dakota, a reddish-copper metallic with teal and red sparkle. Do I love it because it shares a name with my dog? Yeah. But what other brown have you seen pack this much wallop? Loved it!

What's your go-to brown?

Saturday, December 29, 2012

Top of 2012: Black


Plain and simple, there was only ONE black this year that blew me away. If I could only wear this shade for the rest of my life, I'd be perfectly happy.


Is there a better black than Zoya Storm? I say, no. This black scattered holographic polish is clearly the Queen of them all. The application? Fabulous. The sparkle? Mindblowing.

No other shade of black should even bother trying. Honestly.

Do you agree?

Friday, December 28, 2012

Top of 2012: Orange


Now, I'm not really an orange person. So it's rare for me to find any that I like. But there were three in 2012 that really caught my attention.


The big brand trophy goes to China Glaze Desert Sun, a dusty mandarin creme. It was just orange enough to make a statement, but subdued enough that I can rock it any day of the week.



The indie crown, without a doubt, goes to SoFlaJo Pendragon. You can wear it as a dainty peach shimmer or layer it over black for a smoldering orange-bronze sparkle. Either way you choose, it's still awesome.


And the best bargain brand orange, weighing in at a steal at $.99 a bottle, is Essence Wake Up! It's a little more tangerine in person, but it was bright and summery and GREAT to wear if you have a sports team with orange as a color. (I have both the Mets and the Knicks... score!)

Orange you glad you checked this one out? (Cue: rim shot.)

Thursday, December 27, 2012

Top of 2012: Blue


Whether it's the ocean of St. Maarten, where I'm posting from today, the Doctor's TARDIS, or my favorite color M&M, I'm always on board with blue. And to be clear, I'm not posting while IN the ocean. That'd be a sad way for my Macbook to meet its demise. Rather, I'm posting from above the ocean on a cruise ship. Just in case you thought I was inhaling too many polish fumes.

So here are my top FOUR blues for 2012!


Essie Where's My Chauffeur was the biggest surprise for ME of the year, mainly because I never go for pastel cremes. But once this was actually in my hands and on my nails, I was a goner! It's a bit streaky with two coats, but evens out at three.


When it comes to blues, I always have faith in Zoya. In fact, I own more blues (13 in all) than any other color from the company. Nothing else is even close.

Zoya Song is a true royal blue glass fleck shimmer that didn't even come close to staining. I. Love. It. So. Much. I. Can't. Take. It.


Nailtini Admiral Perry is the PERFECT navy creme. It's got such a brightness to it, though it is rather vampy, and I'm just obsessed.


The coolest blue has got to be Seuss from Whimsical by Pam. It's a milky turquoise blue base with small red hex glitter and larger silver hex glitter. Am I slightly biased because I call my dogs Thing 1 and Thing 2? Uh, probably. But it doesn't make this any less awesome!

What's the blue YOU can't live without?

Wednesday, December 26, 2012

Top of 2012: Purple


I hope you all thoroughly enjoyed your Christmas yesterday! Today, it's time to check out my FAVORITE color of all: purple! And it should come as no surprise that I chose a top FOUR, rather than a top three!



My favorite blurple was undoubtedly Cult Nails Flushed. With a fuchsia shimmer, it practically glows on the nail. Love. It!


China Glaze Jungle Queen may not have been the most unique (as a dupe of Chanel Paradoxal), but I give them credit for a good formula and giving me an awesome $8 alternative to a Chanel! Kudos, CG!


Maria, Maria! Maria of Cult Nails did it AGAIN with a gorgeous purple jelly flakie top coat in Seduction, pictured here with two coats over Cult Nails Iconic. I mean... look at that shift of color. There are just. No. Words.


The ladies of The New Black win the award for purple uniqueness, with this awesome five piece mini set. An easy way to put a little ombre in your day, I fell for this one upon sight. And it looks pretty cute with my blueberry plant, too!

If you could only have one purple from 2012... what would it be?

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

Top of 2012: Green


Merry Christmas, everyone! I thought this installment of the Top of 2012, bringing you the top 3 greens of 2012, was a perfect way to celebrate!


Zoya claims a spot on the Top 3 with Zoya Ray, a deep pine green metallic!


R. Hobby Cosmetics takes the title for most unique green polish with Twiggy, a gold metallic polish with green hexagonal and microglitter, along with pine green and brown bar glitter. It looks like a forest on my nails!


And how could it be a top 3 without a holo? The limited edition shade from butter LONDON called Fishwife takes the last spot. A dusty blue-green linear holo polish, this was a stunner!

Monday, December 24, 2012

Top of 2012: Red


Day 3 of the Top of 2012 is here and I'm taking a look at my Top 3 reds, just in time for Christmas Eve!


Number 1 on my list is Zoya Blaze, a lush cranberry scattered holo polish. I mean, could you PICK a better shade for the holidays? I think... NOT!


Number 2 is my favorite surprise duochrome, OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest! It looked berry in the bottle, but when I put it on... holy purple shift, Batman! In a collection I wasn't particularly thrilled by in terms of uniqueness, this one was the standout.


Number 3 on my list is another Zoya, this time Rekha. Originally released in the early spring as part of the LE Bibhu Mohapatra collection and re-released in the Zoya Designer Collection this fall, I fell in love with Rekha on the spot. It's the perfect red creme: smooth application and a stunning color.

What reds do you think should have been included in the list?


Sunday, December 23, 2012

Top of 2012: Yellow/Gold


Why, yellow to you! Here are my top 3 yellows and golds for 2012!


Up first is China Glaze Kalahari Kiss, a dusty yellow-beige creme. I didn't expect to like this in the bottle, but I found that on my nails it was a nice departure from the norm.


Saint Germain Yellow Sun is up at number two and lives up to its sunny name! A bright yellow creme polish, I truly LOVED this one,


Last, but certainly not least, is Nailtini Millionaire, a goldish bronze glitter with blue and green pieces of bar glitter scattered throughout. This was super unique and SUPER awesome.

What was your top yellow or gold?

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Top of 2012: Pink


Hey, everyone! Today starts my Year in Review, in which I post my top shades that were released in 2012. I'm going to go day by day, color by color and pick my Top 3. Although, on some occasions... that might turn into a top 4 or 5.

Today's color is pink! (Even though it's not Wednesday. Sorry!)


First up is Zoya Audrey, a ballerina pink jelly. It was released in March as part of the Limited Edition Peter Som collection. I usually do not like super fair pinks, sheer colors, or light shades. But I just loved this one. It's delicate AND if you're between gel fills, it actually creates a mini fill where your natural nail is growing in.


Second is another Zoya: Zoya Aurora. Really, does this surprise anyone? It's a gorgeous, rich fuchsia scattered holo that applies like a dream and makes quite the impact! Gah, I love it.



Saint Germain Pink Lotus is one from early summer. It's a magenta creme that applies like a DREAM. I absolutely adored this shade. I know Saint Germain isn't a well known brand yet, but this was a top notch polish that I didn't expect to love.

What would YOU pick as your top three?

Friday, December 21, 2012

Dupe or No Dupe: Layla Ceramic Effect 52 vs. Nfu Oh 51


Hello, lovelies! I'm so happy to report that finals have officially ended for me and I have a life once more. My last exam was on Wednesday and I'm currently typing from the Queen Mum's apartment in Florida, which is a nice change of pace from the cold, windy, and overall dreary New Jersey weather.

I picked up the Layla Ceramic Effect 52 a week ago after I spotted it at Ulta. It was kind of buried in a corner with the false eyelashes, oddly enough, and I really just stumbled onto it.

I've heard around the internet that CE 52 is a dupe for Nfu Oh 51, so it's time to play...

DUPE OR NO DUPE!


Here are the bottles: Layla Ceramic Effect 52 on the left, Nfu Oh 51 on the right.


Upon a closer inspection, you can see both have a wisteria purple base. Also, the flakies seem to be in the same color spectrum of cranberry red with lime and bright yellow shifts.


CE 52 is on the index and ring fingers, with Nfu Oh 51 on the middle and pinky. With one coat over Cult Nails Flushed, you can see there's a distinct difference. The Layla polish seems to have much finer flakes that can almost be mistaken for microshimmer. They're also kind of sparse. Nfu Oh 51, on the other hand, has much more visible, dense flakes.


With two coats, the distribution of flakes seems a little more dense for CE 52. But still, there is a noticeable difference in flake size and density.



Here's a close up of Nfu Oh 51 (left) and Layla Ceramic Effects 52 (right).

So what's the verdict? Definitely, no dupe. While they are similar for sure, CE 52 isn't a dense and doesn't flash different colors in quite the same way as its Nfu Oh counterpart. They're certainly different enough to allow you to own both, with equally good formulas.

Ultimately, I still prefer Nfu Oh 51.

What do you think?



Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Oh, Make Me Over!


Hello, everyone! You may have noticed that Princess Polish has had a little bit of a makeover since the last time you visited. Okay, maybe a BIG makeover!

Now that I've been blogging for a little over a year, I thought that the old girl had earned a little pampering. And thanks to the lovely Brea over at Utterly Chaotic Designs, I think the site has a little more flair to it.

More importantly, I'm dying to know what YOU think... so let me know!

Lots of love!

Swatch and Review: Essie Where's My Chauffeur


Happy Hump Day, lovelies!

I'm bringing you today a polish that I was given by the lovely Jillian over at Jilltastic Nail Design! It's one that I never thought to buy myself, given that I'm in a vampy state of mind, but holy smokes am I obsessed!


Essie Where's My Chauffeur is a turquoise creme polish with just a touch of mint. I am in LOVE with it! The application was a little streaky on coat two, but coat three completely evened it out, so I was fine with it.

I loved this SO much that you're going to see it again, later in the week, as part of my vacation nails!

Are you as in love with this shade as I am?
Princess Polish

Press Release: Zoya Lovely Collection (Spring 2013)




Zoya Lovely

Beauty is a lovely state of mind

Lovely, just LOVELY!

Spring is awash in six soft and lovely new Zoya shades including three dewy metallics and three fresh blooms of cream. Poetic in nature, this collection is sure to capture the beauty of the season like no other....

Zoya Lovely – spRING 2013

Piaf (ZP652) - Fresh Forsythia Yellow Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Fashion Designer Zang Toi)
GeiGei (ZP651) - Blushing Cherry Blossom Pink Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).
Julie (ZP650) - Soft Wisteria Purple Metallic - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Zang Toi/SS13).
Blu (ZP653) - Lucky Hyacinth Blue Cream - Full Coverage
Neely (ZP655) - Earliest Spring Green Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13).
Jacqueline (ZP654) - Perfect Magnolia Nude Cream - Full Coverage (Originally designed for Peter Som/SS13)

 
Shipping January 01, 2013
 
Ultra long-wearing, nail lacquers by Zoya are BIG5FREE - all formulas are completely free of harmful industrial chemicals such as toluene, camphor, formaldehyde, formaldehyde resin and dibutyl phthalate (DBP) that are known to cause cancer and birth defects.
Zoya Lovely $8 (US)
Follow the Zoya Nail Polish and Treatments Blog and stay tuned on Twitter (@Zoyanailpolish) and Facebook for release date updates.
Hashtags: #ZoyaLovely and #nailpolish.

So what's the verdict, everyone? Excited? Disappointed? Let me know!

Princess Polish

Sunday, December 16, 2012

Swatch and Review: Cult Nails Flushed


Happy Football Sunday, everyone! Or, if you're like me... Happy Start of Finals Hell Week! I'm right there with you guys, I promise.

Today, I'm going to show you the polish I rocked for my first final exam of law school: Cult Nails Flushed!


 Flushed is a true purple with fuchsia shimmer that appears to flow from within the base. Oh my God, I'm OBSESSED WITH THIS.


In this picture, you can see the glow of the shimmer even better! It looks amazing!

The polish applied fantastically, per usual, and was opaque in two coats. What else do you expect from Cult Nails at this point?

Flushed is available at the Cult Nails website for $10, along with the rest of the Behind Closed Doors Collection.

Are you as head over heels as I am for Flushed? Let me know!
Princess Polish

Saturday, December 15, 2012

Swatch and Review: OPI ULTA Holiday 2012


Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far!

Today, I'm bringing you this year's OPI holiday shades exclusively for ULTA Beauty. I stumbled upon them at my local ULTA in East Brunswick. If you purchase two OPI shades this weekend, you receive a special gift of your choice of the holiday shades for free.


Last Minute Shopper is a juicy strawberry red metallic polish. It applied evenly and was opaque in two coats. It's not the most unique shade out there, but it's a very pretty one. It has a very subtle glow about it. I like that has depth to the color without being a glass fleck. This reminds me of You Only Live Twice from the Bond Collection for Holiday 2012 without the aforementioned flecks.

For the record, this has already been stolen by the Queen Mum (aka: Nana) and I have not seen it since. I have a feeling it will make an appearance when she heads back to Florida and I find it on her dresser during winter break there.


Next up is Skip the Gift Wrap, a vibrant emerald metallic polish that slightly skews towards the frost spectrum. The application was fine and even. The brush strokes in this picture are virtually unnoticeable in real life. I think it's the macro that brings that out.

As Pantone has announced, emerald is SO in for 2013 and I think Skip the Gift Wrap is definitely a color to rock in the new year!


The last of the trio is Gift Cards for Everyone, a blurple shimmer with scattered specks of sapphire glitter. Forgive the lack of a bottle... it has gone missing somewhere within my bedroom.

The glitter is definitely apparent in sunlight, but not as much as in the bottle. It's a lot more scattered on the nail. Though, the effect is mostly there.

Overall, I liked this trio better than last year's two rough glitters and shimmery red. All three are very wearable for me and while they're not incredibly unique, I think they're very pretty shades that anyone would like to find in their Christmas stocking or for their last night of Chanukah.

As I mentioned before, you can currently receive one of these shades free with the purchase of two OPI polishes at ULTA. Because I only purchased these three, they were essentially B2G1 for me. They retail for $8.00 each and are available only at your local ULTA store! They also have a mini set called Stuff My Stocking that retails for $12.50 and includes the three minis

Three OPI's for $16? Not a bad deal, in my opinion. (And the 20% off my total purchase coupon didn't hurt... so they wound up being closer to $12!)

What's your verdict on this holiday collection?

Princess Polish

Friday, December 14, 2012

Swatch and Review: R. Hobby Cosmetics Holiday Collection


Happy Friday, everyone! We're less than two weeks away from Christmas and a break from work, school, or just life in general! For those of you suffering through final exams, like I am, I sincerely feel for you and wish you all the best of luck! And Happy Chanukah to all of my fellow Jewish followers... sorry it took six nights to get that out to you all!

Today, I have two beautiful polishes to share with you from R.Hobby Cosmetic's Holiday Collection: Christmas Shatter and 5 Golden Rings. R.Hobby is an awesome indie brand you may remember from my review of Rachel's fall collection!


First up is 5 Golden Rings, a delicate gold flake polish. It's actually opaque, as you can see, on the nail in three coats and was super easy to apply. I loved how the flakes are in completely varying sizes and gives a really delicate look. It's super pretty, super girly and I loved it. It would also look gorgeous with one or two coats over a white, black, blue, purple, green, or red polish!


My favorite of the two is Peppermint Shatter, a glitter top coat of red and white shards with fine red and white glitter. Oh my God! Does this NOT look like you smashed up a candy cane and sprinkled it on your nails? I know!

This is super unique and I adore it! The above is with two coats over Zoya Holly and the application was perfect.

Overall, I am in love with both of these. 5 Golden Rings for its delicateness, Peppermint Shatter for its big pop of color! Either would be great to wear to Christmas dinner and 5GR could be worn year round for a dainty look! Plus... who doesn't love a little nail polish as a stocking stuffer

Polishes from R. Hobby Cosmetics are available through its Etsy Store for $8 per 15mL bottle. I highly recommend taking a look at Rachel's other shades, as they're all stellar. You can also follow R. Hobby Cosmetics on Facebook!

Are you as in love with these as I am?
Princess Polish

Disclaimer: The product(s) in this post were provided to me by the manufacturer or their PR company for consideration. For more information please visit my Disclaimer page.

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Holiday Presents

Oh, hello again all of my lovelies! I have missed you so much!

Prior to Thanksgiving break, my professors at law school saddled us with enough assignments to bury me in my textbooks for two weeks. I have finally come out of case book hibernation and am so happy to be reunited with you all. The Halloween Hangover prizes are all on their way and things are getting back to normal!

Today, Princess Polish is getting in the holiday spirit with nails I rocked on Black Friday! I went back to the toy store I worked at for a little under two years (as my second job, Mets-aside) to help out on the super busy day. I am very well known for my crazy nail art amongst the customer base, so I HAD to go a little overboard for the day. And both Christmas and Chanukah are represented.

I went back into my It's So Easy drawer filled with their awesome products for nail art and pulled out their white Stripe Rite paint and rhinestones to create this simple and easy design.


Here are the Chanukah presents, represented by the blue and silver colors. I used Zoya Song (which is my new go-to blue) and Essie No Place Like Chrome. It took a little extra dexterity for the bows because I'm right-handed and this is my right hand. 

If you can't do the loops, this will still look very pretty using the straight lines to make a t and the rhinestone at the center.


And here are the Christmas presents! I used Sally Hansen Insta Dry in Emerald Express and Zoya Elisa to get a nice metallic glow. For some reason, the "ribbon" on the ring finger yellowed after I put on my top coat, but it worked alright with the color scheme. I apologize for the raggedness of the middle finger near the cuticle... I got into a fight with a door. Though I win, this was the sacrifice!

So what do you think of this mani? If you try out this technique, be sure to let me know!
Princess Polish

Saturday, November 17, 2012

Halloween Hangover Giveaway




Happy Weekend, everyone! I hinted at this at the start of the week, but it is now officially here!

I don't know about you, but there is leftover candy stashed all around my house. Because of Hurricane Sandy and Winter Storm Athena (let's not even get into the subject of naming winter storms), Halloween was postponed and then ultimately canceled in my town. So I've been straining to will power myself away from all of the candy. Milk Duds are my biggest kryptonite of all.

So I thought it'd be kind of cool to do a giveaway of a bunch of Halloween polish I had been planning to award through a flash giveaway on Halloween. Rather than save it for next year, I figured why not give it away now?

Enter below!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thursday, November 15, 2012

Swatch and Review: NYC Penn Station


Good afternoon, everyone! This is just a quick post today with a little red to get us into the holiday spirit as Black Friday approaches. Be sure to also check out my first post in the How to Save Big This Holiday Season series!


NYC Penn Station is a berry red creme with a hint of shimmer. It applied beautifully in two quotes and dried pretty quickly. It's a nice little red to keep in your collection at an affordable price of $1.99. Of course, I love it because it's named after a place I spent probably 1/8th of my life in!

I did a little abstract swiping with a white nail art paint just because I felt a little fancy today. Hehe.

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

How to Save Big This Holiday Season: Part 1 - Ebates



Hi everyone!

With Black Friday 8 days away, and the holiday shopping season rapidly approaching, I thought it would be nice to do a series of posts for the next few days about how to save money.

Today, I'm featuring a site called e-bates. It's something I've mentioned before on the Facebook page and if you do online shopping a lot, you have no excuse for not partaking in this. No, seriously. You don't.

To enroll in their free program, you go to Ebates.com and sign up. From there, you can click through to most major online retailers and do your normal shopping. After you place an order, you are automatically awarded a certain percentage of cash back to your Ebates bank.

Each retailer has a different percentage they offer. For example: Apple offers 1% (that's $5 bucks right there on an iPad), Ulta and Sephora give 4%, and ProFlowers offers 12%. Even travel companies offer cash back and that's a really opportunity to make back some money. Have you looked at air travel lately? (Let's just say my family booked our flights to Florida Christmas week and I found $36 in my savings. You do the math!)

And BONUS: They not only let you use coupon codes, each retailer page on Ebates list ALL AVAILABLE COUPON CODES! How convenient is that?

I also HIGHLY recommend this for Black Friday shopping online. I know that I personally spend the most money on Black Friday, so it's my biggest chance to make money back. And if you have a cash back credit card, you're basically doubling that money. It's pretty cool.

Right now, Ebates is offering a promo that upon your first purchase of $25 or more (um, really? I drop that at Ulta alone in twenty minutes), you automatically get your choice of $10 gift cards. Easy, right?

Please note: You MUST click through Ebates to whatever online retailer you shop through in order to get the credit. It might help to set it as a homepage on your internet browser.

So really, if you shop online, there's no excuse to be lazy and not get cash back. What are you waiting for? Go get your $10 gift card and start collecting your cash back today! I know it doesn't seem like a lot now, but you'll be surprised after Christmas passes just how much you earned. Especially if you're an online shopping addict.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing all of my Black Friday tips for you late night/early morning shoppers out there!

Do you think this will help you out this holiday season? Let me know!
Princess Polish

Disclosure: The links above are referral links. If you do not want to use my referral, you can go to Ebates.com and sign up on your own.

Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Swatch and Review: Whimsical Ideas by Pam Seuss for World Diabetes Day


Hi everyone! Today's a brief post in honor of World Diabetes Day and I must send out a big thank you to Victoria of Manicurator for this polish. She sent it to me as part of my birthday group this month!


Seuss by Whimsical Ideas by Pam is a milky turquoise polish with blue microglitter and red and silver hexagonal glitters suspended inside! This is with three coats and it applied beautifully.

I. Love. This.

Why?






 Because it reminds me of my very own Thing 1 and Thing 2, of course! Red, blue, and silver... The Cat in the Hat? How could it be anything else! :-D

Polishes from Whimsical by Pam are available through her Facebook page and retail for $10 per bottle.

Tell me... how are you more obsessed with the polish? Or my dogs' costumes? I'm having trouble deciding for myself!

Princess Polish