The Name That Puppy Giveaway

Hello, everyone! I'm sorry I've continued to be somewhat off the grid the last few weeks. My new job has taken over my life and while I love it, blogging has been taking a backseat.

But in awesome news, a very special four-legged addition is on her way to my family next week and that means you have a chance to win TWO MYSTERY ILLAMASQUA POLISHES!

As you may remember, this contest last ran back in February 2012, when I received my first Seeing Eye puppy from the "P" litter, I ran a contest to guess her name. Seeing Eye Puppy #2, a female yellow lab from the "B" litter, will be arriving on 7/11.

For those of you who haven't been following me for long, I am a raiser for the Seeing Eye Inc. of Morristown, NJ, the oldest guide dog school in the United States. Read here about the beginning of my journey with Pebbles, a black lab who recently graduated the program.

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 7/11, I know that I will be receiving a female Yellow Lab, who will be joining my six-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 "B" litter, meaning her name will start with a B.

And this is where you all come in! From now until 12:01 EST on July 11th, take a guess through the entry in the Rafflecopter widget below as to what "B" name you think she'll have! Guess the right name and you'll be the winner! If there are multiple winners, I will randomly draw through Random.org.

Happy Guessing!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Announcing: The Comment of the Month Giveaway!

Hello, everyone! Due to the overwhelming support you all have shown me this past quarter (!!) of the year, I wanted to do something fun that would help spark some more interaction with you all.

(Image credit: beautyheaven.com.au)

So every month, one random commenter on my blog will be chosen to win a mystery prize. I'll use random.org to pick a number blog post out of how many are made that month, then use it again to pick the number comment that wins! I'll announce the winner on Facebook at the beginning of the following month, as well as reply to the winning comment.

The Rules:

1) You MUST be 18 years or older to participate.

2) You can ONLY comment once per blog post. Any posts after your original will not be counted on that day's post.

3) This is open internationally. However, if you are outside of North America, there has been an unfortunate amount of occasions in which nail polish has been flagged and destroyed by an international postal service, such as the Royal Mail. As a result, I'm not responsible for any destroyed packages. Sorry, lovelies.

4) Winners have 48 hours to respond to my Facebook post and blog comment via email. After which, a new winner will be selected.



5) Failure to follow any of the rules may result in disqualification.

6) HAVE FUN!

Alright... I'll give you a little hint as to what the prize is that is up for grabs this month. It's from OPI!

Are you excited for this new monthly giveaway? I am!

Win the Dermelect ME Core Collection!

Sally Hansen Nail Art Contest Announcement

THINK: Be your own nail artist for the chance to win.

WHAT IT IS: I Heart Nail Art is a 5-month campaign where consumers will be challenged to create nail art based on monthly themes. As the nail authority, Sally Hansen has trend setting colors women can use to express their creativity and individuality through vibrant, vivid, bold nails. Now, Sally Hansen is asking American women to show off their nail art skills with the I Heart Nail Art Contest. Each month, Sally Hansen will post a new nail art challenge on Facebook and encourage fans to post photos of their inspiring, intricate and ingenious nail art looks for a chance to win.

Monthly winners will receive $500 dollars and a trip to New York City to participate in the I Heart Nail Art Grand Finale, where competitors will be asked to create nail art looks on the spot. An expert panel of fashion and beauty experts and nail art enthusiasts will select the grand prize winner, who will earn the title of Sally Hansen Nail Art Sweetheart and win $2000. The grand prize winner will also be featured on Sally Hansen promotional materials, showcasing her nail art.

Sally Hansen’s own nail ambassador celebrity manicurist, Tracylee, will serve on the panel of judges choosing the winner. “I constantly take inspiration from fashion, architecture, events and pop culture in creating my nail art,” reveals Tracylee. “I’m so excited to see the kind of creative submissions we get and find new inspiration in my own work.”

So, if you think you’ve got what it takes to be the Sally Hansen Nail Art Sweetheart, visit facebook.com/sallyhansen to enter. You can also enter on Instagram and Twitter with #iheartnailart.

Nail Art Olympics Winners!

Good evening, all! I'm excited to announce the winners of the Nail Art Olympics!

All of the entries were fantastic and it was really hard to choose. But at the end of the day, I did have to pick my top 3 and I somehow managed to.

Are you ready to see who won?

Here we go!

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

Easter Mani Day 6: Top 5 Reader Submissions

Congratulations to all of the ladies who made the Top 5. I received a ton of emails with some beautiful work and I'm sorry I couldn't post them all! GREAT JOB!

In no particular order:

Easter Marble by Diana L.

Easter Patterns by Katee from A Girl and Her Polish

Funky French by Heidi P.

Peeps by Ashley

Bunnies by Amanda B.

Congratulations to the top 5! And a very Happy Easter and Happy Passover to you all!

Princess Polish

Easter Mani Day 5: What's New at the Zoo?

And here is the last day of the Easter manicures that I have done. Please remember to email me your pictures by 8pm EST tonight!

I wanted to go with a rainbow theme for this one, so the end result is below:

 

Clearly, this picture was taken pre-Dad's camera. In fact, it was done back in January and was the hit of where I work! But I still love it a LOT. One of these days, I'll re-do it and post it on my Pinterest page.

There's a panda, a frog, a pig, a hippo, and a penguin. I just wanted something with a lot of animals that was still fun, but it was still art you could wear beyond Easter and no one would know this difference.

If anyone tries to re-create this or change it up, I'd love to see it on the Facebook wall!

Have a great Friday!
Princess Polish

Easter Mani Day 4: Funky Flower French

Welcome to day FOUR of the Easter mani series! Today's color is pink!

As it happens, the colors I picked out of my new nail polish holder were both Zoya. That seems to happen more and more often these days, though the odds are pretty high. I think I'm up to over 50 Zoyas at this point. Though, who knows?

I wound up picking out Zoya Audrey, which I find myself liking more and more with each wear. She's definitely a "my nails but better" look that I've grown to love. The best part about her is that she hides my secret shame: BAD gaps from the need for a fill! Now, I'm not in need of a fill at the moment, nor do I currently have gels. But in a pinch, the girl will help you out!

Then I used Areej for the tips, with Snow White dot flowers and Trixie for the centers! This is exactly what I wore on my birthday yesterday. It's funky, but it's a very sleek look that fits the in-between of Spring/Summer we're going through now.

You can really use any color combo for this type of french, but I thought a nude color was best for the base to tone it down a bit.

If you try this out sometime... I want to see!

Remember to email me your Easter manis for a chance to win a prize and stay tuned for more posts today!

Thanks again for all the birthday love!
Princess Polish

Announcing: March Madness Tournament + Giveaway!

 March Madness has begun in the world of college basketball, with the first group of teams from the top 64 in the country taking the court tomorrow.

As many of you know, I'm a HUGE sports fan so this event could not go unnoticed on my blog. So tomorrow is going to kick off Princess Polish's own March Madness tournament!

Here is how it is going to work:

Similar to NCAA March Madness, the nail polish tournament starts off with 64 contestants. Each contestant is a shade of polish representing the color(s) of a college in the NCAA contest. The bracket matches up these teams according to the actual matchups for the first round of 64, 8 matchups for each division of the country (North, South, East, and West).

Every day will feature a regional tournament in which you will vote for your favorites. The top 64 will run and March 15 will be the South, March 16 the North, March 17th the East, March 18th the west. The top 32 starts on March 19 with the South again and so on. As polishes are eliminated, the field will narrow and the voting will continue until we have a winning polish.

For example, the first round of competition in the south has South Dakota State/OPI Catch Me in Your Net taking on Baylor/Zoya Yara. The winner will move on to face the winner of Colorado/Wet n Wild Gray's Anatomy v. UNLV/Color Club After Hours in the Top 32.

And just like in the NCAA tournament, there are the favored powerhouses (like the designer brands of OPI, Essie, China Glaze, etc) and the underdogs with the potential to bust the bracket (like Cult Nails, Wet n Wild, Revlon,etc.).

Now here is the fun part! Whichever polish is crowned the champion will be the grand prize for the giveaway, with the runner up polish as the second prize. Since you're in control of what polish ends up as top dog, make sure to vote for your favorites and get the word out! This part of the giveaway will run for a week and then be chosen by Rafflecopter.org.

So stay tuned for tomorrow's post and get ready for March Madness!

New Years Contest

While I'm off sailing the seven seas (okay, maybe just one), I thought it would be a fun idea to run a little contest. One winner will receive a very appropriate prize: a mini set of the OPI Pirates of the Caribbean collection.

All you have to do is create your best New Years-themed manicure! To enter, you can email me a picture of your nails at PrincessPolishBlog@gmail.com.

Here are the rules:

1) Only one entry per person.

2) This contest ends at 11:59pm EST on December 31st.

3) This contest is open to residents of the US only.

4) All winners must be 18+.

Good luck!

- Princess Polish

Day 16: Zoya Reva

Oh, Reva... how you have earned this one! *Sigh* Now she gets to ride off into the sunset with Prince Charming. (Who, in my mind, is the Prince Charming/James from Once Upon a Time, but I digress...)I'm so glad that Reva finally got the love that she deserves because she is gorgeous. A hot pink with gold glass flecks, Zoya Reva is an absolute stunner.
And here she is in the shade!

I really considered using this color for my holiday manicure, but chose to go with something a little more representative of Chanukah. Don't get me wrong, it's sparkly (which you know, I'm all in favor of), but I wanted to go against the trend of bright pink and red sparkles.

On the subject of the holidays, this will be my last Zoya post until the New Year, as I am traveling with my family on vacation. Our first stop will be Florida to visit my grandmother and then we're heading out on our third annual cruise (technically, cruise #5 for us… but the other two were spaced further apart). We'll be making stops in St. Thomas (I have been once and it is LITERALLY paradise), Antigua, Tortola, and the Bahamas.

I'm going to schedule posts through New Years Eve, but none will be Zoya. They'll be a hodgepodge of various nail art and swatches I have been collecting over the past few months for the occasion. But I promise, it's going to be pretty cool. Keep an eye out for a special post tomorrow for a giveaway that will run while I am gone, as my holiday present to you all!

As a result of my absence, I'm going to give you options for a New Years Day-themed Zoya post and please pick the polish you would most like to wear for a New Years Party: Charla, Mimi, Jo, Jana, Petra, Dree, Nimue, Tao, Kristen, Jo, Breezi, Mira, Colbie, Kotori, or Valerie?

I hope you all have a great holiday, whether it be Christmas, Chanukah, or Kwaanza and enjoy your vacations. I'll try to post pictures while I'm gone, if my iPhone (and Verizon) cooperate.

Lots of love,
Princess Polish