ANNOUNCING: Olympic Nail Art Contest!

I hope everyone is enjoying the Olympics thus far! I know I'm LOVING the gymnastics events… they're my favorite.

I teased it over the weekend, but wanted to launch it officially today. Princess Polish is hosting an Olympics Nail Art contest!

The rules:

1) The manicure you submit must be Olympics-themed in some way. It can feature an event or country, but must tie back to the Olympic games. Country flags on every finger don't count. :-P

2) The manicure you submit MUST be your own. It is very easy for me to cross-reference your image with the trillions on the internet. I will find out if you steal from someone else.

3) The contest is open through August 8th at 11:59pm EST. Winner will be announced on the closing day of the olympics, August 12th.

4) All submissions must be be submitted via email with the subject "Nail Art Contest" to PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com. If you do not use that subject, the email will be deleted. Also include your first name, last initial, and if you have a blog, its URL.

5) This is open internationally!

The prizes:

1) Gold: Essie Metallic Go for Gold and Art Club stripers in Red, White, and Blue!

2) Silver: Essie Metallic No Place Like Chrome

3) Bronze: Essie Metallic Penny Talk

Good luck, be creative, and have fun!

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: Rainbow Honey Mare of the Moon

Here comes the weekend! AND the 2012 Summer Olympics! I hope you're as excited as I am for all of the events. Gymnastics is my particular favorite!

Today, I'm rocking an indie polish I received in a secret swap I participated in. My awesome partner sent me this lemming of mine, made by Rainbow Honey. I LOVE the fact that Rainbow Honey is created in my home state of New Jersey.

Mare of the Moon comes from the Equestria Collection, the shades from which are all inspired by My Little Pony!

Mare of the Moon is a blue-purple duochrome polish with varying sizes of hexagonal glitter and silver moons. It has a beautiful sheen to it that always managed to catch the light.

Here, you can see the shift from the blue to purple a little bit better. It was a little difficult to capture on camera, but was a lot more prominent in person.

The only issue that I had with this polish is that it was super thick and gloppy in the bottle. I was afraid to add thinner because of how temperament some shapes can be. If I made those moons curl, I'd be pretty upset. It wasn't unworkable, it was just difficult.

Mare of the Moon, and the rest of the Equestria Collection, can be purchased at RainbowHoney.com. The 15ml bottles retail for $10 and the 7ml bottles retail for $5.

See you all in the AM! And stay tuned for an announcement about an awesome nail art contest coming up!

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: Hump Day Holo - HITS Mari Moon Cutie Pie

Happy Hump Day! Hump Day Holo has returned once again, but this time, we're going to holo-fy a color for you. It's a little throwback!

I'm bringing you HITS Mari Moon Cutie Pie, which is normally a blue-purple-magneta duochrome.

See:

And with a little help from OPI DS Shimmer, I have turned into sparkly holo goodness!

Here, you can see the MAJOR POP the OPI DS Shimmer added to the color!

And even here, you can tell the shift in color.

 

This one, lastly, shows just how much duochrome the DS Shimmer pulled out. It's not nearly as much as the original polish, but it's still a gorgeous shift nonetheless!

So what do you think? Would you rock a holo-fied Mari Moon Cutie Pie?

Enjoy your Hump Day!

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: butter LONDON Lillibet's Jubilee

I know we all hate the Monday blues, so I figured we should jazz it up with something shiny and new!

During butter LONDON's 30% off sale, I went a little overboard and purchased a few too many polishes. But who am I kidding? You can never have too many BL polishes! My favorite out of the bunch, due to my immense love of the Royal Family, was Lillibet's Jubilee.

Created to celebrate Queen Elizabeth II's 60th year on the throne, it's a stunning lavender foil nail polish with hints of silver and champagne, depending on the light.

See? No matter how you look at it, it's drop dead gorgeous!

With the London Olympics coming up, will you be rocking Lillibet's Jubilee to commemorate them? Or another butter London color? Let me know in the comments section!

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: It's So Easy Saturday - Atlantic City Nails

Happy Saturday! I hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

As many of you know from the Princess Polish Facebook page, I spent a few days on vacation in Atlantic City for my sister's Nationals dance competition.

And considering the fact that it was my first time in Atlantic City since I turned 21 in April 2011, I had to rock something cool on my nails to bring me luck.

So I broke out HITS Mari Moon Trendy, my Stripe Rite in red and black, along with my striping brush/dotting tool, and went to work!

And here was the end result! I incorporated the card suits of hearts and clubs, along with poker chips, and a blackjack hand! I went with an Ace and a ten because that would be easier to draw than any face cards!

Unfortunately, I didn't do very well in Atlantic City as far as gambling went... BUT I did come home with five new pairs of shoes, a new pair of pants, new headphones, and new glasses! And that was money better spent than the $30 I lost at the slots.

Still, I can't wait to head back to AC with my friends later in the summer for hopefully some better luck in the casino.

See you all tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: SoFlaJo Sunset Grille

Hello again from Atlantic City! Today, I have for you a GORGEOUS color from SoFlaJo's Life's a Beach collection. How appropriate since I'm at the boardwalk, right?

I LOVE this color. It's a beautiful peach nail polish with subtle sparkle and applied like a DREAM. I love the fact that this color has the TINIEST hint of frost in it make it a metallic-sparkle, but just enough that it wasn't streaky.

Seriously, Jody continues to surprise me! Plus, I adore the name of this polish. It looks like the color of the sky right as the sun starts to disappear. Amazing.

The Life's a Beach polishes retail for $5 for a mini bottle like the one shown above and $10 for a full-sized bottle. There is also a discount for the full collection of minis ($40) and full-sized ($80). They can be purchased via SoFlaJo's shop page or Etsy page. Be sure to check it out!

See you all tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: a-England St. George

Happy Hump Day!

Today I have a major lemming of mine that I was able to snag in a swap. I think it is one of the most gorgeous holo polishes out there... a-England St. George!

Look at this stunner in the sun! A-England St. George is a beautiful teal scattered holo polish. It applied like a dream and was not all that difficult to remove. It didn't stain my cuticles or anything, which is common of darker blues and greens.

I was so excited to finally be able to rock St. George!

Right now, over at a-England's website, you can snag any of the Mythical collection for $7.82 and free shipping! While that doesn't include St. George, it includes awesome holos like Tristam and Lady of the Lake! EXCITING!

Until Thursday!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: China Glaze On Safari Collection

The first collection of the fall is here and it's China Glaze On Safari!

Swatch and Review: Julep January

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday so far!

Today, I have for you a blood red creme polish that I have been waiting to try for a while now. I received it in my Easter Mystery Box... and unfortunately, it was obliterated. So that pushed it back for a while. However, I finally got to break it out this week!

Julep January applied like a dream and dried pretty quickly. I usually have an issue with reds that lean towards the orange end of the spectrum because of my skin tone, but because January is more of a violet red, it was much more flattering.

I know I'm a bit delayed on the July box, but I'm STILL waiting on my add-ons, so I will wait for those to arrive before reviewing it.

Julep January, and all other Julep products, are available at Julep.com. January retails for $14.

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Announcing: Zoya Designer, Diva, and Gloss

NYFW 2012

DESIGNER, DIVA & GLOSS

three new couture nail color collections ZOYA for Fall 2012

Inspired by backstage beauties, talented designers, runways and VIP fashion events, the NYFW 2012 Color Collections by Zoya for Fall 2012 are simply stunning. Choose from full-coverage creams and metallics or incredibly shiny jellies. If it’s in style this season - Zoya has it!

Each New Fall Collection (Designer, Diva and Gloss) features color that is beautiful, long-wearing and “haute” off the New York Fashion Week (NYFW) Fall 2012 runway!

Zoya NYFW 2012: Designer Collection

• Rekha (ZP626) - Blood red cream (Bibhu Mohapatra custom shade)

• Toni (ZP627) - Dark maroon red cream

• Monica (ZP628) - Dark mulberry purple cream

• Natty (ZP629) - Smoked navy blue cream

• Evvie (ZP630) - Evergreen green cream (Peter Som custom shade)

• Noot (ZP631) - Charcoal green gray cream

Zoya NYFW 2012: Diva Collection

• Elisa (ZP632) - Crimson red metallic

• Suri (ZP633) - Royal purple metallic

• Song (ZP634) - Egyptian blue metallic with a subtle sparkle

• Ray (ZP635) - Pine green metallic

• FeiFei (ZP636) - Magic blue foil sparkle metallic

• Daul (ZP637) - Magic violet foil sparkle metallic

Zoya NYFW 2012: Gloss Collection

• Katherine (ZP638) - Sheer eggplant jelly gloss, buildable formula (Peter Som custom shade)

• Paloma (ZP639) - Sheer berry red jelly gloss, buildable formula

• Frida (ZP640) - Sheer teal blue jelly gloss, buildable formula

ZOYA IS THE NEW COLOR OF FASHION!

Ultra long-wearing, glossy 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.

Find over 300 other Zoya shades at www.zoya.com. Each and every name has a color as unique as the women who inspired it.

Zoya Audrey

Happy Monday!

This morning, I'm starting off with freshly painted nails for a casual look. And what better for a casual look than Zoya Audrey from the LE Peter Som Collection?

Zoya Audrey is a milky pale pink jelly nail polish that built up perfectly in three coats. You can see from the bottle just how MUCH I use this color. In fact, I use it SO often that I have a backup!

First of all, this is the perfect polish for the "your nails but better" look. Second of all, if you have gel nails and you're a LITTLE far between fills, three coats of this will hide it. It's definitely a perfect shade to own for that!

Are you into the bare nails trend? Or do you only use nude shades for French manicures?

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: It's So Easy Sunday

Good afternoon, everyone! Sorry for the delay... some NASTY storms ripped through the Tri-State area yesterday and I was without power for a while. But now I'm back with a fun and funky design I tried out on Friday night.

Using black and silver Stripe Rite paint and the dotting tool from It's So Easy, I was in the mood to rock some ladybug nails, but wasn't quite sure what to do.

After experimenting around a little (with a few complete disasters), I finally settled on a manicure that I liked!

These are my Ladybug nails! The thumb, which I struggled to get a good shot of, looks just like the pinky.

I normally don't rock an accent nail, but I wanted to paint a ladybug and I thought it'd be silly to paint it over red. So silver seemed like the best option.

Remember, you can visit the website at www.itssoeasynails.com for more information on the variety of products and retailers near you. Be sure to also check out their Facebook, Instagram at @ItsSoEasyNails, Twitter, and Pinterest pages!

So what do you think everyone? Would you try this trend at home?

See you tomorrow!
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. 

Hump Day Holo: Independence Day Manicure

Happy Independence Day! I hope no one has singed themselves with fireworks! I got stung by a bee (a yellow jacket) today for the first time in my life, which was pretty interesting.

It was the first time I had ever gotten stung (side of my bicep, near my elbow) and while I was allergic, I didn't go into shock or anything. I just broke out in a rash from elbow to wrist. And while a little Benedryl cleared that up, I did require a bag of frozen blueberries to ice my arm! It also afforded me a nice little nap on a lounge chair by the pool, which was nice.

Anyhoo... I wanted to do something fun for Hump Day Holo that was July 4th themed, but didn't want to repeat my Memorial Day Manicure or go cliche with the flag.

So I grabbed a-England Tristam, OPI DS Ruby, and my white Stripe Rite bottle... and went to work.

The tips are Tristam with the swipes of Ruby and white. I wanted something that had some pop (you can see the sparkle of Tristam's holo glitter), but that I could get away with wearing for a few days. The hardest part was the white swipe with my It's So Easy striping brush, which thins out towards the left side of the nail. The Ruby stripe was not only pretty, but helpful, as it helped even out any errors I made with Tristam. My base, for the record, was my go-to nude: Zoya Audrey.

I think that if this wasn't a holiday, it would have a very nautical feel to it!

I would definitely like to do this manicure again with some different colors. Have any suggestions? Leave them in the comments section!

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: June Julep Maven Box

Happy Monday!

To kick off the work week, I thought I would show off my June Maven Box. I receive American Beauty, though I did switch for the July box that is due to arrive any day now. You can receive your very own Maven box for just $.01 by clicking here and using the code MAVENINTRO. You can cancel after that first box if you would not like to receive any more boxes.

So without further adieu, here is my June American Beauty Maven Box!

WARNING: This one's a little pic-heavy.