Swatch & Review: Color Secrets Amelie and Moulin Rouge

Hey, everyone! Thanks for sticking with me this week... I appreciate it! I'm so glad to be back!

Today, I have two polishes to show you from a new brand called Color Secrets. One of the really cool things about their polishes is the fact that every single one is named after a movie, most of which are chick flicks. Some of my favorites used are Casablanca, Miss Congeniality, Clueless, She's All That, Tangled, Notebook, Pretty in Pink, Never Been Kissed, Dirty Dancing, Devil Wears Prada, Love Actually, the Breakfast Club, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Night at the Roxbury, and Across the Universe!

I received Moulin Rouge and Amelie! How Academy Awards appropriate, right?

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.   

First up is Moulin Rouge, a juicy strawberry polish with electric pink glass flecks.

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?

Falling Forward Nail Art Challenge: Day 5 - Fall Gradient/Ombre

TGIF, everyone! WOO! I'm headed on a cruise for the weekend (literally, to nowhere), so I'll be MIA through Sunday. But I hope you all are excited for two days off!

The final task of the challenge was the Fall Gradient/Ombre nails! I wanted to do something a little less traditional, so I went searching through my polish drawers and was inspired by my various Zoya reds and purples.

I decided to do almost a fish scale gradient using Zoya Julianne, Jem, Sarah, and Reva. Reva is the base color and Julianne is the the tip. Originally, I had used Valerie as the tip but it's so hard to distinguish it from Jem that it didn't make enough of a difference. This is the mani in sunlight.

I found it to be very interesting when seen in indoor light because Reva and Sarah blend into each other nicely and Julianne sticks out significantly more. It has a nice warm glow to it!

LOVE IT!

Would this be something you try?

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: Deborah Lippmann Razzle Dazzle

I have never owned a single Deborah Lippmann polish before. To pay $18 for a REALLY small bottle is really hard to justify on a college budget. Sure, I have splurged on Nails Inc. magnetic shades, but those have more polish in them and well... they're magnetic.

I was fortunate enough to snag Razzle Dazzle for half the price on a blog sale recently and have been waiting for the perfect time to rock it. And that time is now. (Though I'm currently wearing it holo-fied)

Razzle Dazzle is a cranberry jelly with suspended fuschia glitter that evens out rather nicely. I'd go so far as to say it is glass-flecked, since there is no texture even after a single coat on the nail. Three coats built up entirely opaque.

 

Seriously, I LOVE it. (Though I'm still lemming for Across the Universe and cannot find its Essence dupe ANYWHERE.)

Do any of you ladies own DL polishes? If so, which ones and which is your fave?

Day 18: Zoya Valerie

Why don't you come on over, Vaaaaaalerieeeee?!?

I love that song. BUT not nearly as much as I love this polish. I mean, I love sparkles. I love vampy colors. And I love duochromes. So Valerie fits the bill on all three. With a smooth as butter application, Valerie is everything you could ask for in a polish. At first glance, she is a deep shade of fuchsia shimmer.Then, with the slightest movement of your fingers, she's more of a dark magenta glass-flecked. Here, it's more of a garnet color, with the slightest hint of gold.And in this final picture, you can see just how much of a color shift there is. There's garnet, gold, fuchsia, and magenta all in one, just like in the bottle.

A TOTAL stunner.

Valerie and Jem are definitely cousins, as you can see from {Day 2'}s post. However, Jem is not really a duochrome. Though, I do love them both and you'll have to pry them out of my hands.

For Day 19, we're going to look ahead a few months. I personally am experiencing cold and dreary weather out here in New Jersey, so we're breaking out the summer shades! So what bright polish will you vote for: Breezi or Mira?

Until tomorrow!
Princess P

OPI Meep Meep Meep

A big hello from the sunny shores of Florida! Thanks for sticking with me during the break from the 30 Days of Zoya Challenge and my time off of the grid. If you haven't voted on the most recent post, be sure to do so here.

The first polish I'm going to show you has special significance to me. When I was a toddler, I used to LOVE to watch Muppet Babies. In fact, I used to love the character Beeker so much that I would zoom around the house, yelling "Beeka beeka!"

So I found it super appropriate that when OPI released their Muppets collection, the first shade I rocked was Meep Meep Meep! Because I had gotten the polish as part of a manicure, I don't have a bottle shot. But it was just a bit pinker in the bottle than in the photo that you see.

On the nail, there's much more of a blue flash than in the bottle. But it looks redder, as well. I honestly didn't care, though. It was a beauty. It's definitely a great color for Christmas.

Until tomorrow!
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

Day 14: Zoya Yara

It literally came down to ONE vote that put Kermit and Yara on top of Miss Piggy and Reva. Poor Reva... always the bridesmaid and never the bride.

But I do happen to love Yara. I never thought this olivey color green was for me. I thought it would make my skin look yellow.But I must say that this is a much more flattering shade for me than I thought it would be. This type of army green is actually nice with my skin tone.

The gold glass flecks are the exact same color as the flecks in Neeka and I really dig them. SPARKLE SHOT!

So what do you think, ladies? Is Yara your shade of green? Or is there another Zoya you like more?

Lady Winter has reared her ugly head here in New Jersey, so for Day 15, pick from Breezi, Tao, and Ibiza!

Day 12: Zoya Neeka

Hi everyone! Sorry for the delay in posting... been having MAJOR issues with my camera card, so I had to reswatch some polishes tonight. It was kind of sad. :-(

BUT, luckily, I only lost a few and we're still on schedule to complete the 30 Days of Zoya before 12/20! Woot!

Anyway, here is Neeka!

Neeka is a beautiful gold-flecked purple that is an absolute showstopper. The gold flecks are so prominent, but not overpowering. Per usual, Zoya got it exactly right.

Even from the side, she is to die for. And the formula was dreamy. Two coats is all you need. She's still perfect for the winter.

It feels so damn good to be back. Tomorrow, let's go for a holiday theme since we've kicked off the Christmas/Chanukah season. You can pick from Colbie for Christmas, Holly for Christmas, or Noel for Chanukah.

Thanks for sticking with me!
Princess Polish

Day 7: Zoya Julieanne

Ding ding ding! The winner of glitter madness, by a healthy landslide, is officially Zoya Julieanne!




A dark, inky glass flecked purple, Julieanne is a gorgeous shade that packs all sorts of vampy goodness. It is also a dupe for Orly Out of this World from the Cosmic FX collection. You can see the punch of this deep grape in the bottle, long before you even put it on! The only complaint that I have is that unlike its Orly counterpart, Julieanne doesn't show off any duo-chrome sparkle on the nail.



I love how from some angles, she looks almost speckled. This would be under sunlight conditions.



This is Julieanne in the shade...



This is Julieanne overexposed to show just how many flecks there ACTUALLY are...



And lastly, this is Julianne at the beach...



GOTCHA!

With the warm weather making an appearance here in Jersey, let's go for a little Sunshine and Summertime. Zoya Breezi, Mira, Faye, and Reva are asking for your vote. So get to it!

OPI Let Me Entertain You

Last winter, OPI indulged my love of all things sparkly with their Burlesque holiday collection. I decided a few weeks back to bring out Let Me Entertain You, a glass-flecked bright pink polish. You can also see a hint of blue sparkle in the second picture.





The application was nice and smooth, with two thin coats. I love OPI's glass flecked polishes because they're never thick and goopy like other brands. This one was no exception to the rule.

And even though I wore it a full eight months after I first purchased it, the polish was perfect for summer.

Please note that while this was not a dupe for MAC Bad Fairy, as has been falsely spread around the interwebs for months, I will be posting swatches of the dupe shortly down the road.