NJ Pet Expo and 101 Dalmatians Nail Art

Two weekends ago was the New Jersey Pet Expo and I attended for the second time. Last year, I had just adopted Pebbles (read all about her story here) the week before, so I stocked up on some goodies for her.

This go around, we now have Dakota, Pebbles, and Brynn (who we permanently adopted last March), so I stocked up on some toys, treats, and a couple of new collars. Those collars are so pretty... I'm sure I'll be using them as inspiration for some manicures

So in honor of Pet Expo, I did a little 101 Dalmatians nail art!

I used Revlon Gold Coin, Milani Spotlight White, Zoya Breezi, Zoya Rehka, and Zoya Raven to make this nail art, along with gray striping paint.

This was extremely labor-intensive, but I'm happy with how it came out. What do you think?

Swatch and Review: Milani Spotlight White

Okay, I get it. You're probably wondering why the heck I'm dedicating an entire post to a plain white nail polish. I don't blame you. I'd have probably thought the same.

But you see, white nail polish isn't as simple as it should be. I'll admit to trying at least 20 different brands and shades. They're either too runny and streaky or so thick and gloopy that they never dry. So to find the perfect white polish is a pretty big accomplishment.

And guess what? I did. For only $3.99.

Milani Spotlight White is shown here with two coats and no top coat. It's entirely opaque and streak free, but didn't take hours to dry. It's the PERFECT base for neons or nail art. Really, I LOVE it.

And at $3.99 at your local CVS or other retailer, it's a steal.

Spotlight White is my go-to... what's yours?

Milani Fierce Foil Nail Lacquer Snowflake Nail Art

While swatching the brand new Milani Fierce Foil collection, I found my snowflake nail vinyls and thought that the colors would lend themselves nicely to a little winter nail art.

For this look, I used Milani Venice and Rome:

Milani Venice is a cobalt blue metallic polish that I used for the snowflakes and Milani Rome is a metallic orchid that I used as the base.

I really liked how wintery these came out with the combination of colors, but also the metallic shimmer. It's still colorful, but icy in a way. I really loved it.

And even though these are metallic, I had no issues with staining or removal. These came off really easily.

Stay tuned for a full review of the entire Milani Fierce Foil Nail Lacquer collection later this week! In the meantime, you can find these two shades at your local CVS for $3.99. But act fast! These are limited edition!

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. 

31 Days of Giveaways - Day 26: Milani

The Milani giveaway is here! If you haven't read about the giveaway and the rules, click here.

Check out the fantastic pair of prizes after the jump!

Milani Candy Cane Nails

Happy Friday, everybody!

With Christmas officially less than a week away, I figured it was high time for some Christmas nail art! So with a little help from the straight nail vinyls from NailVinyls.com and a pair of Milani Color Statement shades, I whipped up some candy cane nails!

For this manicure, I used Milani Iconic Red and Spotlight White.

Here are a few helpful tips if you want to recreate this look:

1. Paint the white for your base color and apply the red over the nail vinyls. I made the mistake of painting red as my base and it was a lot of work getting the white opaque. So save yourself the hassle and don't do it!

2. When using nail vinyl lines or striping tape, paint in the direction of the pieces. I achieved FAR cleaner lines when I applied the polish on a diagonal than when I just applied the polish in a vertical line from bottom to top.

3. Wait at least 20 minutes for the polish to dry before applying a top coat. I know that seems like a long time and the Milani Quick Dry top coat is amazing, but your colors WILL smear if you don't wait at least that long. Seriously. Hold out as long as you can. Nothing is more aggravating than having beautiful stripes and screwing it up after such hard work.

Feel free to post your Candy Cane nails to the Princess Polish Facebook page to show them off!

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?

Swatch and Review: Milani Color Statement Skittle Nails

Good evening to you all and a very happy weekend!

Over the course of the past few months, I've been doing a lot of nail art with my new Milani Color Statement polishes. I've used blues and reds and greens and sheers... but there are so many more shades in the collection. So to keep this post relatively short and sweet, while having all the colors in a single post, I decided to skittle swatch the polishes. However, I kept them in color groups for easy viewing.

All polish names are listed from index to pinky finger and have two coats applied.

Swatch and Review: Milani Sheer Nail Art

Happy Thursday, everyone! It's almost the weekend!

Today, I have some quick nail art to show you! Normally, I don't do your typical French manicure with white and sheer shades. But when I was provided the Milani Color Statement collection for review, I knew I had to put my own spin on the Classic French Manicure.

To achieve this update French, I used three coats of Milani Lady-like Sheer for the base color with two coats of Milani Frenchie Sheer to paint on the French tip. Then I used black acrylic paint to make the flower petals, the arches, and the dots, the latter using a dotting tool. Of course, I used two rhinestones, as well.

I was surprised at how well Frenchie Sheer built up. The Lady-like Sheer was a little streaky at first, but with three coats, I got it under control.

The new Milani Color Statement line is now available at CVS stores for just $3.99 or from Milani’s website HERE at just $3.99 each.

Keep an eye out for more swatches of the Color Statement polish collection!

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.

Milani Red Chevron Gradient

Happy Hump Day, everybody!

While I'm in prepping mode for NYC Comic Con, I thought I'd post some nail art using three of the new red shades from the Milani Color Statement Collection.

I've actually never worn chevrons (I KNOW, RIGHT?!?), so I thought I'd do a bit of a chevron gradient because there were a ton of beautiful reds in this collection. I have four more to show you still!

From cuticle to tip, I used Enchanting, Modern Rouge, and Red Label.

Enchanting is a gorgeous blackened-red, bordeaux cream, Modern Rouge is a rich cherry red cream, and Red Label is a bright tomato red cream.

I only needed one coat of Enchanting to achieve opacity, while I needed two coats each of Modern Rouge and Red Label.

These are PERFECT colors for the fall!

The new Milani Color Statement line is now available at CVS stores for just $3.99 or from Milani’s website HERE at just $3.99 each.

Keep an eye out for a future review of the remaining reds in the Color Statement polish collection!

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.

Milani Monday: Funky Teal Daisies

It's a Milani Monday here at Princess Polish! I'm decided to use two of the green-leaning shades from the new Color Statement collection, along with a little gold, to create a look similar to the Antique Flowers I tried last week.

I used Mint Crush for the base, which you can see is a pastel mint cream. Then I used Tattle Teal for the flowers and Gilded Rocks for the center of the flowers.

The new Milani Color Statement line is now available at CVS stores for just $3.99 or from Milani’s website HERE. Truly, these are a great value at just $3.99.

Stay tuned... more Color Statement polish reviews are on their way!

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.

Milani Color Statement Nail Art: The Blues Part 1

Happy Monday, everyone! (Yeah, I know... I can hear you grumbling from over there.)

Today, I'm bringing you some nail art featuring three of the brand new blue shades from the Milani Color Statement Collection.

To achieve this look, I used a base of Ink Spot, which is an almost-black shade of navy. Then I used Blue Print, a cornflower blue, to make a half-heart like shape. The last shade on the very tip of the nail is Water Front, a bright sky blue.

This is a very different look from anything I've ever tried. It reminds me a little of hearts, a little of clouds, a little bit of waves. But I love how these colors contrasted against each other!

Ink Spot was opaque with one coat, while Blue Print and Water Front each needed two. The formulas on these were really easy to work with and quite lovely!

The new Milani Color Statement line is now available at CVS stores for just $3.99 or from Milani’s website HERE. I honestly think these are a great value at just $3.99.

Stay tuned... more Color Statement polish reviews are on their way!

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.

Milani Swatch and Review Part 3: Gold Label Glitters

Today is Milani Monday here at Princess Polish! So in honor of that, I'm bringing you four glitters from the Milani Gold Label Collection for 2014.

And they're all named after sugar!

First up is Sugar Burst, a mix of tiny and small particles of pale pink and holographic glitter. The above is one coat over Periwinkle Power!

Next is Sugar Cane, pink and purple and blue bar glitter, over Coastal Coral. This is with two thin coats.

Next up is Sugar Coated over Blue Zoom. I love how the small particles of lime and holographic glitter popped over the royal blue shade. This is a sister glitter topper of Sugar Burst.

Here is Sugar Rush over Aqua Crush. Sugar Rush consists of pastel pink, orange, green, and silver hexagonal glitter. I liked this chunkier look over the bright Aqua Crush. This is with two coats of glitter.

 

But my favorite combination of ALL has to be both Sugar Coated and Sugar Rush over Aqua Crush. This has to just be Spring in a bottle, but totally wearable for summer!

These new Milani shades for 2014 are currently available for $3.99 at CVS and MilaniCosmetics.com.

Overall, I found that this collection was all hits and no misses, including in the application, the department in which glitter toppers are notoriously difficult.

I think Sugar Coated was my favorite!

What were your hits and misses?

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.

Milani Swatch and Review Part 2: High Speed Fast Dry

Here is Part 2 of the Milani for 2014 swatches, featuring the High Speed Fast Dry trio. In case you missed Part 1, you can read it here.

Three new shades have been added for 2014 and I just can't decide which one is my favorite!

First up is Aqua Crush, a beautifully pigmented turquoise cream polish. The above is with two thin coats.

I found using one coat alone to be a little on the streaky side, so I used a second to even it out. You could probably get away with one thick coat, but it was easier to work with when using thin layers. 

 

Sangria Rush is a mulberry cream that borders on oxblood. The above is with just one coat.

However, as you can see, this will stain your cuticles, so be very careful when applying. Even more so when removing!

Blue Zoom is a royal blue cream polish and as sharp a shade as its name implies. The above is with two coats.

This shade is just so highly pigmented and shows up even better in person. I just adore it.

Overall, I thought these three additions to the High Speed Fast Dry line by Milani were total winners. All three had such vivid color and dried relatively fast compared to the regular Milani line, as well as other brands.

These new Milani shades for 2014 are currently available for $3.99 at CVS and MilaniCosmetics.com.

Do you agree that this collection is a trio of hits?

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: Milani Nail Lacquer for 2014 Part 1

Happy Friday, everybody! Phew! I thought this week would never end, but alas, it's here!

Today I have for you the first of four parts of Milani's 2014 collection!

Swatch and Review: Milani Textured Creams

It's Milani Monday over here at Princess Polish and I have the six new LE Textured Creams collection for you today!

The Textured Creams collection consists of six dramatic, fall-inspired cream nail lacquers with a textured, matte finish. They are similar in texture to the Texture Collection released this past March.

PRESS RELEASE: Milani Fall Textured Creams

A new limited edition collection has arrived from Milani!

The Textured Creams collection consists of six dramatic, fall-inspired cream nail lacquers with a textured, matte finish. They are similar in texture to the Texture Collection released this past March.

Shades are currently available at HEB, Meyer, and any other retail outlets at which Milani Cosmetics are sold. Additionally, you can check out and purchase these shades on the Milani Website.

The polishes retail for $4.99 each.

Keep on the lookout for a swatch and review of the Textured Creams here on Princess Polish in the next week!

ANNOUNCING: Back in Action Giveaway

Hello again, everyone! Thank you for sticking around during this crazy month. Now that the publishing issue with Blogger is fixed, Princess Polish is officially back in action!

As a thank you for standing by me, I decided to create this giveaway featuring some awesome prizes:

The prizes include: Illamasqua Poke, Zoya Audrina (mini), butter LONDON Champers, Milani Carnival, Julep Zelda, and OPI Light My Sapphire!

Here are the rules:

1) Due to mail restrictions, the giveaway is open to US and Canada only. Sorry. :-/
2) All winners will be notified by email and have 48 hours to respond.
3) All participants must be over 18 years of age.
4) All rules, as well as entry requirements, must be followed. Failure to follow any of the aforementioned will result in a disqualification and a new winner will be selected.
5) The giveaway starts today (8/25) and will end at 12am EST on Sunday, September 1st.

Now that all of the technical stuff is out of the way, enter via the Rafflecopter widget below. And good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Swatch and Review: Milani Fantastical Plumage Collection

Swatch and Review: Milani Retro Glam Collection

Happy Monday, everyone! Today, I have for you six AWESOME new limited edition shades from Milani, including a really fun glitter topper called Jewel FX. It's named the Retro Glam Collection and my favorite part is that they're all named after ice cream flavors!

Swatch and Review: Milani Texture Collection

Hello, my lovelies! I'm typing this from sunny southern Florida and loving it immensely!

Right before I left, I received the Milani Texture Collection in the mail. So I decided that I needed to try out these brights before I left for Florida!