Swatch and Review: Barielle AND a Promo Code

Recently, I had the opportunity to select three shades from Barielle to review for you all. It was an arduous process to narrow my choices down, but I finally landed on Blue Cotton Candy, Decadence, and Do Unto Others.

However, my all-time favorite Barielle is Elle's Spell, so I included that in here, too!

Gold Fleck Racing Stripe

Hi, everyone! Today I'm bringing you some simple and easy nail art!

What I love about this design is that it doesn't require any form of precision. All you need is a base color and a flaky top coat. Remember all of those 24k gold flake top coats that were out there? How about the translucent flakies?

Well, here's your chance to break them out again!

For this manicure, I used Zoya Pepper (from the Cashmere Collection) with Zoya Maria Luisa (from the Satin Collection).

I had been wearing Pepper for a few days by this point and wanted to freshen up my look. So I painted a single stripe of Maria Luise right down the middle. The great thing about flakies is that there is no need to be perfect. They cover up the mistakes because of their sparseness.

So for all of you ladies looking to spruce up your manis this coming weekend, break out your flakies and get ready to race!

Swatch and Review: Julep Joan

Happy Tuesday, lovelies!

Today's post is a quick one, as my schedule is jam-packed from 6am to 9pm today.

I received Julep Joan, named for Academy Award winning actress, Joan Crawford, in my February Box! Right now, you can receive your first Julep Maven box for FREE by clicking here and entering the code FREEBOX. All you pay is $3.50 for shipping. A $20 box for just $3.50? Sounds like a steal to me!

Julep Joan is a deep magenta polish with gold flake shimmer. The above is with two coats.

I like the flakey effect, but the glitter seems to sink into the polish a bit too much for my liking. That being said, I still think it's a very pretty color. But the pop of the gold flake would have made it spectacular.

So what do you think of Julep Joan? Are you a maven? Are you planning on becoming one?

Have a great rest of the day!

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: 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?

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?

Polished Professionals: Weekday to Weekend

The weekend is nearly upon us, a three-day weekend at that, and I don't know about you, but I'm SO ready! So here's a little weekend-themed post as part of the Polished Professionals series. If you missed last week's post, you can check out my Beauty Survival Kit!

With Labor Day weekend officially here, I'm sure that many of you, like myself, have plans for a party or barbecue. Weekend plans can often throw a little bit of a wrench into things when it comes to your nails.

Maybe you've just gotten a manicure at the start of the week and it's tough to part with your perfect polish job. Or maybe you have gel polish in a neutral color that's just not going to cut it for a party. You could have last minute plans. Or perhaps, as this is often the case for me, you're too lazy/tired to take off your polish, put on new, and wait for it to dry. After all, it's a long process!

Today, I'm going to show you a few weekday to weekend looks that can be accomplished in just fifteen-twenty minutes. And most of that is just drying time. You could really even do this on the way to the party in the car... not that I've done it before or anything...

The best part about the looks to follow is that they're very simple and easy to achieve. All you need is two kinds of top coat: your normal quick-dry brand (I use either Seche Vite or HK Girl) and a special effects top coat.

Special Effects top coats are those that change the look of your polish in some way. They can be your ordinary glitter/sparkle, a flake-filled fiesta, or even a holo top coat. It's totally up to you.

So, let's get started with some transformations!

Swatch and Review: Zoya Gloss Collection + a Special Promo Offer

 Good afternoon, everyone! I'm very happy to bring you the Zoya Gloss Collection and some fun jelly sandwiches. So without further adieu, let's get down to the polish!

From left to right: Katharine (from the Peter Som Collection), Paloma, and Frida!

First up is Katharine!

Swatch and Review: Cult Nails Seduction (and a Photography Experiment

This post was a bit delayed from yesterday, but I'm really excited to share it with you. Since my the beginning of March, I've begun to dabble in photography with a DSLR camera and received one for my birthday. I've been toying around with it, experimenting to see how to get different results.

The lovely Maria of Cult Nails is in the process of moving the brand to their first ever office and is looking for photos of her polishes to decorate the walls. I absolutely love Iconic, but wanted to give it a little extra oomph in order to help pick up the flakes on camera.

So I pulled out an untried of mine to give me a little boost... Cult Nails Seduction!

I went through my entire garden, trying to find an appropriate medium with which to convey the beauty of two coats of Seduction over two coats of Iconic.

My surfinia petunias!

Take 2!

My Sarah Bernhardt peonies!

And lastly, my swimming pool! I think that the water and waves help magnify the flakies and really pick up the color shift in them under sunlight!

So what do you think of my photos? And of course, of this layering combo?

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: Cult Nails Iconic

Today, I have a polish that I have been looking to snag for a while. So when Cult Nails had their $5 sale, I snatched it up immediately!

Cult Nails Iconic is a rich berry polish with subtle flakies suspended in the nail polish, as well as iridescent gold shimmer.

Look at that macro shot! Isn't she lovely? Mhmm.

Iconic applied wonderfully and took two thin coats to be opaque. This was an indoors picture, due to the rain here for three days. Though, I wish it had been sunny. The nail polish was a STUNNER. Really, is there anything Maria doesn't make beautiful?

Day 17: Zoya Jo

Day 17: Zoya Jo

Sorry for the delay, folks! Between my camera deciding to die immediately after I uploaded my vacation photos, law school applications (good news is, it looks like I will be at some law school in the Fall), work, and whatnot, I have been facing many obstacles leading up to this post. But thankfully, it has arrived and I can continue the 30 Days of Zoya.

To give you all ample time to vote, I'm going to post the rest of the write-ups in the challenge every other day. IE: Mon, Wed, Fri, etc. In the interim, I will post other swatches!

So here was the New Years Manicure you all voted on… Zoya Jo!As you can see, Jo is a stunning periwinkle color. But the biggest surprise is that she's got a big kerpow in the form of silver glitter. Amazingly, Jo turned out a lot darker on the nail than in the bottle itself. But it was a pleasant surprise.

As part of my new-found love of all things flakie (I'm hoping to get my hands on the Mylars soon), I threw on a coat of Essie Shine of the Times to see if it would change things up a little bit.And while it was really hard to capture in the harsh light of my dorm room, it turned out better when I took the flash off. You can really see how it morphs the effect.

So what do you think, ladies? Are you on the flakie train?!?

Day 18 is going to be full of purple-tones: Valerie, Nimue, or Petra?

Until tomorrow!
Princess P

PS Be sure to vote in the Theme Thursday challenge too!

Day 11: Dupe or No Dupe (Zoya Noel)

The closest Ulta to my house has always been forty-five minutes away and not even remotely on the way to anywhere else I might need to travel, preventing me from making an excuse to drive there.

But, as of yesterday, a new location opened up ten minutes from Rutgers and fifteen minutes from my house, giving me little to no excuses any longer. Combine that with the fact that Torrid and Five Below are in the same shopping center and, well, you can deduce where my entire paycheck is going to be going in the near future.

One of the great things at Ulta is the fact that they constantly have sales going on. So yesterday, I took advantage of two of them. The first, was the Buy 2, Get 1 (B2G1) on Orly, China Glaze, and Nicole by OPI. I really wanted Fowl Play (FLAKIES!!!!), so wound up going with Orly.

But the other sale, which happens to be partially the subject of today's post, was the Mix n Match 5 for $5 sale. This included some shades of Ulta polish, so how could I resist? I picked up five shades, along with some other goodies, and came home to enjoy my haul.

After rifling through my bag, I picked up Ulta Alter Ego:

Does this look familiar to you? Because it should...

This is my brand new bottle of Zoya Noel. So new, in fact, that I had yet to even open the bottle... until now.

Let's play...

Dupe... or No Dupe!



Noel is an icy blue with silver glitter, a cousin to last winter's Crystal. The main difference is that Crystal has gold glitter. But the base color blue is virtually identical.

Alter Ego is also an icy blue with silver glitter.

From index to pinky: Alter Ego, Noel, Alter Ego, Noel

They look pretty similar after one coat, though Noel (middle and pinky) looks slightly darker.

After two coats, Noel might be a tinge darker. But look at the index and pinky fingers. Did you have to scroll back and see which were which? I know I had to double check my notes.

Just for fun, and to confuse you a little more, I added a coat of the new Essie Shine of the Times from the Luxeffects Collection. Ignore the pinky, I'm a KLUTZ. (Note: SotT is a dupe in and of itself of Nubar 2010 and Sally Hansen Hidden Treasure)

So are they a dupe? Let's find out!

Leila, open the case...

...

...

IT'S A DUPE!

I love Zoya more than I can possibly say, but to get the same shade for $1 at Ulta would be much easier than ordering online and save me some money I could spend on another shade via a promo.

I received Zoya Noel via the Halloween Promo, so all I paid was shipping. I just would have picked Kissy over Noel, had I known.

This will be the first time I'll ever advocate another polish over Zoya, solely because it's less expensive and of virtually the same quality. Just make sure you check the brush to avoid having a stray bristle like I did. None of the other Ultas I bought had that, so just be aware.

Your regularly-scheduled programming will continue tomorrow with Day 12, which will now be the designated day of glass-flecked polishes! Be sure to vote for Reva, Yara, or Neeka in the comment section here and on Facebook for a bonus entry!

See you all tomorrow! Happy shopping!
Princess P