31 Days of Giveaways - Day 6: China Glaze

Welcome to Day 6! If you haven't read about the giveaway and the rules, click here.

Day 6's giveaway prize is a China Glaze duo of Escaping Reality and Scattered and Tattered!

Fill out the Rafflecopter widget below to enter! And check back tomorrow for the reveal of the Coffee Lover's prize!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

ANNOUNCING: 31 Days of Giveaways!

Hello, everybody! I'm super excited to bring you this giveaway that I've been teasing on Facebook the past few weeks!

Starting on Monday, November 24th, I'll be kicking off 31 Days of Giveaway that will run through Christmas! Each day will feature a different prize and the giveaway for that prize will be open for exactly 24 hours.

Rather than reveal every specific prize ahead of time, I've created a handy calendar below that lists each day's giveaway by brand or by category. Tune in each day at midnight EST for the big reveal across the main blog and all social media pages (including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram!)

Many of these products are limited edition or are discontinued items!

This giveaway is open to everyone 18 years and older AND is open internationally.

Are you as super excited for this giveaway as I am? What products are you hoping are included based on the listing above?

2nd Annual Cosmetics for a Cure - Raffle to Benefit Autism New Jersey

After the immense success of last year's Cosmetics for a Cure, thanks to the support and the generous prize donations of fellow bloggers, nail polish companies, beauty e-tailers, and polishaholics alike, I decided to bring it back for a second year! I am a strong believer in paying it forward and since you have all given me so much love and support in the past year, I thought that it would be wonderful if I could pass that on to as many people as possible.

I chose to launch the raffle in April because it is Autism Awareness Month and this year's charity is Autism New Jersey, the beneficiary of the Ride 4 Autism.

Why the Ride 4 Autism?

I became a volunteer for this ride in its first year in 2001, having grown up with a cousin diagnosed with Autism. The diagnosis was made at 18 months, which was incredibly early back in 1993. While great strides have been made in early intervention, education, and awareness, Autism spectrum disorders still affect approximately 1 in 150 individuals and the financial burden on families of individuals with autism can create extreme hardship. The beneficiary of the Ride 4 Autism, Autism New Jersey, is a non-profit agency providing information and advocacy, services, family and professional education and consultation. They encourage responsible basic and applied research that may lessen the effects of, and potentially prevent, autism. They are also dedicated to ensuring that all people with autism receive appropriate, effective services to maximize their growth potential and to enhancing the general public’s overall awareness of autism.

How Does Cosmetics for a Cure Work?

Entries in this raffle correspond to donations made via my fundraising page. Please visit my DONATION PAGE to donate however much you'd like. $5 for 5 entries is the minimum, but certainly not a maximum. From $5 to $99, it is the same $1 an entry. (Ex: 15 entries are $15, 50 entries are $50, etc.) All donations of $100 or more will receive 2X entries. (Ex: $100 = 200 entries, $200 = 400 entries, etc.)

DO NOT check the box that will list your name as anonymous, as I will be unable to validate your entries!

I will record your name in an Excel sheet, with the number of entries equaling the number of times your name is listed. When the raffle ends, I will use my Excel sheet and Random.org to select the winners and announce them on this page. Winners will have 48 hours to respond via email.

The raffle starts today and ends on May 1st at 12:01 am. OPEN INTERNATIONALLY ! 

Please note: Princess Polish is NOT responsible for a third party's failure to deliver a donated prize or mishandling/loss of packages by any postal service. You must be 18 years or older to enter this raffle.

For every monetary milestone reached, a new prize will be added to the pot! And believe me, they're awesome. If you would like to donate a prize, please contact me via email at PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com

Check out what's up for grabs (so far!) below! More prizes will be listed, so keep your eyes peeled here, on Facebook, and on Twitter!!!


Here's the list of the monetary milestones and the corresponding prizes:

2000 Facebook Likes/1000 GFC Followers Giveaway

I've been teasing this for a month now, so I'm incredibly excited for the giveaway to go live!

Check out all of the available prizes and enter via the widget below! (Please note: Due to the ongoing issues with international shipping, this giveaway is open to the United States and Canada only!)

The mega giveaway ends at midnight EST on 3/13... Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Chinese New Year Gradient

Hello, lovelies! And Happy Chinese New Year!

Today, I'm going to show you my most recent glitter gradient featuring, what else? Red and gold!

In order to achieve this look, you need a cosmetic wedge and two chunky glitter polishes. I chose Julep Oscar and China Glaze Ring in the Red, the latter of which I bought my junior year at Rutgers and hadn't used up until this manicure.

Fair warning, my nails are going to look SO much longer here than the last few posts because I rocked this gradient long before I chopped my nails down! I like them so much better now!

I used three coats of Oscar as a base and sponged Ring in the Red from the tip of the nail down. I really like how this turned out. I think that using chunkier glitter makes for a better fade. The pieces of glitter start to get wedged between each other creating a speckle effect that lends itself really well to a gradient.

The main tip I have is to do VERY light coats when you sponge with the glitter for a good speckle fade. Leaving too much on the sponge makes for a big blob... and nobody wants that!

What do you think of my Chinese New Year gradient? Will you be rocking red and gold today?

Announcing: Valentine's Day Giveaway

Hello, everyone! I hope you all did well in your Superbowl pools last night! (Mine was completely messed up by the safety.)

I know we all despite Mondays, so I thought I'd help brighten your day with a giveaway! I've teamed up with the lovely ladies behind nine other blogs for a really fun giveaway filled with great prizes!

The Rafflecopter entry widget is at the end of the post!

Check out what's up for grabs:

Prize 1 - Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Tranzitions

Happy Saturday, everyone! Today, I have for you three of the new Tranzitions shades from China Glaze!

The Tranzitions are a form of color-changing polish in which the use of top coat triggers the color shift. In all of the swatches with the dual colors, I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

First up is Shape Shifter, a gunmetal metallic polish. This was opaque in just one coat. The color itself was pretty, but very streaky. I did my best to hide the brushstrokes, but I wasn't thrilled with the end result.

Here is Shape Shifter with the top coat. I wanted to do some designs on the nail so you could see the difference with and without top coat. As you can see, the color shifts to a blurple that I'm pretty fond of and would probably wear on its own.

This one is Altered Reality, a teal metallic polish that was opaque in one coat. This was even more streaky than Shape Shifter.

The french tip I did was with two coats of top coat and it barely made a difference. The shift wasn't enough to be noticeable for me. This was by far my least favorite of the three.

Split Perso-nail-ity was my favorite of the three and probably the only one I'd wear again. It's a dusty pink that changes to more of a magenta. This is with two coats to even out the streakiness.

And here is the color with the top coat. I used a dotting tool to create the polka dots and then dotted the original color back on to hollow them out. I thought this was a pretty easy way to do nail art.

The pros: Versatile color. Need only one bottle for multiple looks.

The cons: Slow dry time unless you use a top coat, but you can't if you want any portion to remain pink. These shades also stained my nails. Additionally, the brushstrokes are not really attractive to me in the first two shades and not nearly enough of a color shift.

The Tranzitions collection is currently available at ULTA and other beauty retail stores. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

What do you think of the Tranzitions? Do you have a favorite?

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.

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.)

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?

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?

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Unpredictable and Want My Bawdy

Happy Thursday, everyone... Friday is so close, you can taste it! And for you Americans, a three-day weekend is coming up!

Today's Swatch and Review shades come from the China Glaze Bohemian Collection released just in time for fall. I'm going to be showing you Unpredictable and Want My Bawdy.

First up, is Unpredictable!

Unpredictable is a olive green metallic nail polish with added sparkle. It definitely screams Fall to me!

As you can see, though, there isn't much of a duochrome shift in this one, a la the oil slick effect. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty shade, just not what I expected.

 This is Want My Bawdy, which sadly for this twenty-two year old, reminds me of a Rod Stewart song. Don't judge me.

Want My Bawdy is a rich navy blue metallic polish with some violet undertones.

Again, not much of a color shift, but I like the depth of this shade better than Unpredictable.

Overall, these were two perfectly pretty polishes. I just wasn't blown away by them, so they were a tad disappointing. If I had to wear one again, I would probably pick Want My Bawdy.

China Glaze is available at beauty retailers and fine salons near you. CG is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

Tomorrow, I'll be making another Polished Professionals post about how to turn your work look into a fun, weekend look with ease!

Until then!
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. 

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: China Glaze Atlantis

Today's polish is one I picked up in a blog sale back in the fall. I wear it all of the time, but have never managed to take a picture since I received my new camera for my birthday.

Atlantis is a gorgeous teal jelly jam-packed with holo glitter that I am absolutely obsessed with.

It's drop dead gorgeous! It needed three coats to be opaque and ate top coat like nobody's business... but who gives a crap? It's to die for!

And on the subject of being to die for... remember to enter The New Black Giveaway!

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

ANNOUNCING: China Glaze Summer Neons

Heat Up Your Summer with China Glaze® Summer Collection

Los Angeles, CA – (March 2012):  The sun has nothing on you this summer!  Rival its brightness and heat with China Glaze® Summer 2012 collection, Summer Neons.  Featuring 12 new sizzling shades perfect for surf, sand and nightlife, the all new hot hues in China Glaze® Summer Neons include:

·         Pink Plumeria: Light pink with gold shimmer

·         Under the Boardwalk: Fluorescent raspberry

·         Splish Splash: Bright sky blue shimmer

·         Love’s A Beach: Sizzling hot pink

·         Hang-Ten Toes: Bubblegum neon with iridescent purple shimmer

·         Beach Cruise-r: Glimmering fuchsia grape

·         Orange You Hot?: Bright orange with attention-grabbing gold glimmer

·         Surfin’ For Boys: Glistening bright coral

·         Flirty Tankini: Shimmery strawberry smoothie pink

·         Ride the Waves: Dark ocean blue

·         I’m With the Lifeguard: Glimmering lime green

·         Sun-Kissed: Hot highlighter yellow

Also available 8-piece box collection featuring Under The Boardwalk, Ride The Waves, I’m With The Lifeguard, Sun-Kissed, Orange You Hot?, Surfin’ For Boys, Flirty Tankini and Pink Plumeria.

Here are the bottle shots:

March Madness Top 32: Midwest and East Divisions

Kicking off the Top 32 for the Midwest and East divisions.

Game 1:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Image Credit: AllLacqueredUp.com and NailsNeverFails.blogspot.com

March Madness Top 32: West Division

Here is the West division! Get to voting and remember, you'll have a chance to win the top polish after March Madness is over. So be sure to campaign for your favorites!

Game 1:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Image Credit: Mylucidbubble.blogspot.com and VampyVarnish.com

Official Press Release: China Glaze Prismatic Collection

Array your nails in a myriad of color this spring with China Glaze® limited edition Prismatic nail polish collection! Inspired by the colors formed by the refraction of light through a prism, Prismatic by China Glaze® combines glitter and holographic particles to create the ultimate eye-catching, 3-dimensional manicure.

Bursting with color and dimension, Prismatic shades include: 

Ray-Diant: Greenish-gold shimmer filled with specks of silver, pink, green, orange and blue.  

Polarized: Silver metallic sheen sprinkled with yellow, pink, orange and green glitters  

Liquid Crystal: Bright blue holographic with purple tint dusted with silver, gold, green, pink and orange.  

Prism: Grape purple holographic gleams with pink shimmer and glitters with pieces of pink, blue, green, orange, silver and gold.  

Full Spectrum: Baby pink bursts into holographic magenta to party with silver, gold, blue, pink and green particles.  

Optical Illusion: Aqua green glimmers with a hint of purple filled with pink, yellow, silver, orange and green flecks.

China Glaze® Prismatic will be available April 2012. Individual shades retail for $8 (US).

(Hat tip to The Nail Files for first piquing my interest in this collection!)

I don't know about you, ladies... but this collection already has me salivating. I know Kayla Shevonne already has a preview up of the swatches until I snag my collection. What you do all think?

Hump Day Holo: China Glaze Traffic Jam

I've been toying around for a few days with my bottle of OPI DS Shimmer and using it as a top coat to make creme polishes holo. So I thought it would be kind of fun on Wednesdays to showcase the holo-fied polish of the week.

Up this week is China Glaze Traffic Jam!

BEFORE:

AFTER:

SUPER SPARKLES!

Introducing... Pebbles!

Hello everyone! I just wanted to let you know that Pebbles arrived at our house around 11:40 this morning. She is super sweet, loves to be held and cuddled, and also loves to sleep. What a relief!

I was going to take this time to announce the winners of our grand prize. Except there's one minor problem: out of nearly 300 entries, no one guessed Pebbles!

So here's what I'm going to do. I'm still going to draw seven names for the China Glaze Ruby pumps and will announce them on the Facebook page. I will email the winners and they will have 24 hours to reply with their address. If I don't hear from them, I will choose another person.

The other prizes will go back into my magical bag of prizes and be prizes for upcoming giveaways!

Thank you so much for the wonderful support and I can't wait to giveaway more free stuff!

Lots of love!

Princess Polish (and Dakota and Pebbles)

The Puppy is Coming + A Giveaway

I am happy to announce that after nearly a year of waiting, my first Seeing Eye puppy is on her way! For those of you who don't know me, I am a raiser for the Seeing Eye Inc. of Morristown, NJ, the oldest guide dog school in the United States. This year, TSE is celebrating their 70th year of puppy raising.

Puppies are assigned to families and individuals, whom they live with for anywhere from a year to 16 months. As a raiser, I will be training the puppy in obedience, house manners, and general desensitization to various locations and circumstances.

On Valentines Day, I know that I will be receiving a female Black Lab, who will be joining my five-year-old Chocolate Lab, Dakota, however, I do not know her name. The Seeing Eye names all of their puppies by assigning a letter to each litter in order of birth from A-Z. This makes it easy to recognize siblings and in fact, my puppy's sibling will belong to another member of my school club. What I do know is that she is from the "P" litter, meaning her name will start with a P.

And this is where you all come in! From now until 12:01 EST on February 14th, take a guess through the entry in the Rafflecopter widget below as to what "P" name you think she'll have!

There are three grand prizes up for grabs. The people who guess correctly will be entered to receive either the OPI Holland Mini Collection, the OPI Nicki Minaj Mini Collection, or a Valentines Day prize pack, which includes one full sized bottle of China Glaze Ring in the Red, and some other awesome surprises

However, I will pick seven random names, regardless of your guess, from the widget and each person will receive a mini CG Ruby Pumps and a mini Out the Door Top Coat. So even if you aren't correct, you still have a chance to win!

Good luck and get to guessing!

Princess Polish, Princess Puppy, and Little Miss "P"