Easter Chevrons

Happy Easter, my lovelies!

For my Easter nails, I used two different sized Chevron nail vinyls over a base of OPI Skull and Glossbones, plus Colors by Llarowe Good Fortune and Smooth Criminal.

I really loved how this came out. It's sparkly and pretty and very springy!

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?

Swatch and Review: R. Hobby Cosmetics Holiday Collection

Happy Friday, everyone! We're less than two weeks away from Christmas and a break from work, school, or just life in general! For those of you suffering through final exams, like I am, I sincerely feel for you and wish you all the best of luck! And Happy Chanukah to all of my fellow Jewish followers... sorry it took six nights to get that out to you all!

Today, I have two beautiful polishes to share with you from R.Hobby Cosmetic's Holiday Collection: Christmas Shatter and 5 Golden Rings. R.Hobby is an awesome indie brand you may remember from my review of Rachel's fall collection!

First up is 5 Golden Rings, a delicate gold flake polish. It's actually opaque, as you can see, on the nail in three coats and was super easy to apply. I loved how the flakes are in completely varying sizes and gives a really delicate look. It's super pretty, super girly and I loved it. It would also look gorgeous with one or two coats over a white, black, blue, purple, green, or red polish!

My favorite of the two is Peppermint Shatter, a glitter top coat of red and white shards with fine red and white glitter. Oh my God! Does this NOT look like you smashed up a candy cane and sprinkled it on your nails? I know!

This is super unique and I adore it! The above is with two coats over Zoya Holly and the application was perfect.

Overall, I am in love with both of these. 5 Golden Rings for its delicateness, Peppermint Shatter for its big pop of color! Either would be great to wear to Christmas dinner and 5GR could be worn year round for a dainty look! Plus... who doesn't love a little nail polish as a stocking stuffer

Polishes from R. Hobby Cosmetics are available through its Etsy Store for $8 per 15mL bottle. I highly recommend taking a look at Rachel's other shades, as they're all stellar. You can also follow R. Hobby Cosmetics on Facebook!

Are you as in love with these as I am?
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.

How to Save Big This Holiday Season: Part 1 - Ebates

Hi everyone!

With Black Friday 8 days away, and the holiday shopping season rapidly approaching, I thought it would be nice to do a series of posts for the next few days about how to save money.

Today, I'm featuring a site called e-bates. It's something I've mentioned before on the Facebook page and if you do online shopping a lot, you have no excuse for not partaking in this. No, seriously. You don't.

To enroll in their free program, you go to Ebates.com and sign up. From there, you can click through to most major online retailers and do your normal shopping. After you place an order, you are automatically awarded a certain percentage of cash back to your Ebates bank.

Each retailer has a different percentage they offer. For example: Apple offers 1% (that's $5 bucks right there on an iPad), Ulta and Sephora give 4%, and ProFlowers offers 12%. Even travel companies offer cash back and that's a really opportunity to make back some money. Have you looked at air travel lately? (Let's just say my family booked our flights to Florida Christmas week and I found $36 in my savings. You do the math!)

And BONUS: They not only let you use coupon codes, each retailer page on Ebates list ALL AVAILABLE COUPON CODES! How convenient is that?

I also HIGHLY recommend this for Black Friday shopping online. I know that I personally spend the most money on Black Friday, so it's my biggest chance to make money back. And if you have a cash back credit card, you're basically doubling that money. It's pretty cool.

Right now, Ebates is offering a promo that upon your first purchase of $25 or more (um, really? I drop that at Ulta alone in twenty minutes), you automatically get your choice of $10 gift cards. Easy, right?

Please note: You MUST click through Ebates to whatever online retailer you shop through in order to get the credit. It might help to set it as a homepage on your internet browser.

So really, if you shop online, there's no excuse to be lazy and not get cash back. What are you waiting for? Go get your $10 gift card and start collecting your cash back today! I know it doesn't seem like a lot now, but you'll be surprised after Christmas passes just how much you earned. Especially if you're an online shopping addict.

Tomorrow, I'll be sharing all of my Black Friday tips for you late night/early morning shoppers out there!

Do you think this will help you out this holiday season? Let me know!
Princess Polish

Disclosure: The links above are referral links. If you do not want to use my referral, you can go to Ebates.com and sign up on your own.

Press Release: butter LONDON Holiday Collection

I can't wait for the new butter LONDONs to hit the stores, but here is an updated preview!

 

butter LONDON Holiday 2012:   




Fiddlesticks - A full coverage, semi-matte, magenta glitter suspended in a raspberry base.

Scuppered - An opaque, copper shimmer infused with pink, gold and green glitter.

Jack the Lad - An opaque, moss green shimmer with gold, turquoise and green micro glitter.


Fairy Cake - A full coverage, silvery lacquer with multi-coloured iridescent glitter in a light grey base.


Scallywag - A full coverage, bright turquoise glitter with a clear base.
   
Trends for Holiday 2012:    

Sparkle, Sparkle! This holiday season, butter LONDON is all about making a glittering statement. We drew inspiration from the jeweled collars, sequins and metallic embellishments seen at Fashion Week. Our holiday colours are unique and edgy, while still completely wearable and elegant. This collection covers the glitter gamut with colours perfect for every holiday event, whether the party calls for a sophisticated glitter or one that sparkles like a disco ball!

The new butter LONDON shades are currently available on butterLONDON.com for $14 per bottle. They will also be available at retail stores, such as Nordstrom and Ulta.

Announcing: The Happy Halloween Trick or Treat Giveaway!

Exciting news, everyone! I'm participating in a MASSIVE Halloween giveaway with a bunch of my lovely blogger buddies. It's a big mystery giveaway, filled with tons of awesome tricks and treats, but you won't know what you win until the winners are announced.

But I happen to know there are some incredible prizes, including indies, LE Halloween polishes, fall collections, nail art supplies, and a ton of other stuff!

I will hint that my polishes (there are THREE) are not entirely what you're going to expect! So there!

Here's a list of the bloggers taking part:

ME!
DIY Polish
The Jedi Wife
Jilltastic Nail Design
Love for Lacquer
Taneja's Bride
XO Noelle
Nails by Ms. Lizard
Polished Paradise Nails
Lacquerologist
Munchy's Nails
Nail Polish Anonymous
Demi's Nails
Set in Lacquer
College Polished
SoFlaJo
Beyond Beauty Lounge
Princess Polish
Polished Cousins
Cosmetic Sanctuary
Sweet Surcee
Mandie's Manicures
Tall Girl in Heels
You Had Me At Makeup
365 Days of Color
Manicurator
Beauty Gnome
Peace Love Lacquer

Be sure to enter via the Rafflecopter widget below!
Princess Polish

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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

Zoya Memorial Day Dotticure

Happy Sunday, everyone! I'm posting this a day early because I know most of us do our holiday themed manicures a day in advance and because I'm going to be gone for all of tomorrow. It's my first day off from work since I graduated and I am INCREDIBLY excited to sit by the pool and relax. Maybe have a Malibu Bay Breeze... or three.

I haven't done a Zoya-centric post in a while (GASP!), so I figured now would be an excellent occasion to do so. For those of you who follow me on Pinterest, you got a sneak preview yesterday afternoon!

I wanted to do something fun and funky, but wanted to avoid painting the American flag. I love Old Glory, but it's so overused for Memorial/Independence Day. So I decided to stick with just the red white, and blue, but keep it playful at the same time. And what's more playful than polka dots?

I picked out Zoya Snow White, Zoya Sarah (my all-time fave Zoya), and Zoya Ibiza because a: they're gorgeous and b: I thought they best matched the colors of the flag.

Using a double-ended dotting tool with the biggest and smallest points, I scattered dots all around my nails. I started with the big dots first, dotting Ibiza and then Sarah. Seeing the white space that was left, I flipped to the tiny end and dotted Ibiza and then Sarah to fill in the holes.

I repeated the small dots to fill in the spaces, varying the amount of polish on the end to make it look like there were more than two sized dots on the nail.

I'm really happy with how this came out. I think that it's definitely what I was looking for in that it's really playful and fitting with Memorial Day, but I could also get away with wearing it another few days because it doesn't have a distinctive theme. I love when nail art is versatile!

Are you thinking of trying a dotticure for your Memorial Day plans? Enjoy the BBQ's and hopefully, nice weather!
Princess Polish

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

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.