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?

Doctor Who Nails: 5 Shades of TARDIS and NerdLacquer I Think You Call Me...Sexy

Hello out there, Whovians! And non-Whovians, too! With Series 7 of Doctor Who premiering tonight after a near year-long hiatus, what better way to celebrate than decking out my nails?

If you recall, I started law school roughly two weeks ago and could NOT figure out what to wear on my nails. But considering the fact that I was channeling the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) in wearing my black Converse Chuck Taylor All Star high tops as my travel shoes (heels are too painful to walk the streets of NYC in), I thought that I needed to do SOMETHING to bring the good luck of the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith), as well.

It was then that I realized I had been saving a bunch of NerdLacquers, which are no longer available, for a special occasion. And this was pretty special.

So I reached for I Think You Call Me... Sexy, a rich cerulean blue with small to medium light blue, dark blue, and silver chunks of hex glitter in in. Now, it's pretty. And I can see how it reminded me of the TARDIS. But I wasn't head over heels for it enough to keep it for tonight.

So instead, this week...

I rocked Five Shades of TARDIS! I liked this one much better because it was funky for school and had a much richer finish, even as a simple ombre.

For this mani, I used (thumb to pinky) Zoya Indigo, Zoya Ibiza, the new Zoya Song, Zoya Tart, and Zoya Tallulah. Each was two coats, except for Tart and that was only because I used a third coat to really make sure there was a noticeable difference between that and Tallulah.

Overall, I'm really happy with Five Shades of TARDIS. I feel like having Zoya Song now completes my ability to do a full blue ombre from the brand. I am obsessed with it.

Also, check out a group of fellow bloggers who have also been posting their Doctor Who-inspired manicures!





So what do you Earthlings think? Are these manicures Time Lord-approved?

Feel free to check Facebook tonight to see my reaction to the premiere. We'll discuss I promise!
Princess Polish

PS: Check out what I just splurged on and bought myself last night. It's a functional Sonic Screwdriver that can be programmed as a Universal Remote Control. I'm dying inside.

The New Black Week Day 7: The Big Giveaway

Hello, everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful weekend!

I know that the Monday blues are upon us, so here's a fun giveaway to cheer you all up!

Using the Rafflecopter widget at the end of this post, enter to win your choice of Ombre set OR the Times Late Edition set from The New Black! This includes the Graffiti, Haze, Waves, and Times Late Edition sets!

After the cut, you can take a look at every set available for the giveaway...

Swatch and Review: The New Black Day 4 - Runway Collection Part 1

Hello again, all! The New Black week presses on with part one of the AWESOME Color Barometer 8-piece Runway Collection.

When evaluating how to write about this collection, I realized that while I could definitely wear a different color on each finger, the first four and last four kind of went together. It's a very tropical feel for the first four shades, which are a pinky coral frost, tomato red creme, tangerine frost, and a bright sunny yellow creme.

This was entirely confirmed when I put them on my nails. Not only are the shades gorgeous, but they scream tropical vacation to me! I felt like an island girl with these nails.

Only the red needed two coats, the others I used three to even out the color and make it more opaque. But with a top coat, it came out perfect.

But was I done? No. When am I ever?

I realized that these four were a gradient waiting to happen and that in the spirit of TNB, what I needed was an ombre on each nail. So I got to work and here is the end result:

Oh MAN, I love this! It's like my nails are on fire... and it almost has a watercolor-like effect. You can't make me take this off!

For those of you who had emailed me or commented on the Facebook page to ask if the whole bottle is gone in one mani, I assure you that it's not. The bottle usage in the picture is from TWO full manicures at three coats per nail. You can easily get somewhere between 8-10 manicures out of a TNB bottle of nail polish from any set.

All of The New Black sets are available at Sephora, Nordstrom, and Beauty.com. However, this collection is currently exclusive to Beauty.com. All of the sets, like Graffiti, Haze, Waves, and Runway include five 0.125 fl oz. bottles of polish. Polishes by TNB are 3-free, cruelty-free, and vegan friendly! The sets range from $10 to $32, with the Runway Collection retailing for $32.

Overall, I LOVED the range of nail polish shades in this half of collection and for a cost of $4 a bottle, I think it's worth it.

Stay tuned for part two tomorrow!
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. Product photos provided by The New Black.

Swatch and Review: The New Black Week Day 3 - Waves

Though it's raining here in New Jersey, there are still plenty of sunny beaches out there somewhere!

So today, I bring to you Day 3 of The New Black Week with Waves!

Like Graffiti and Haze, Waves is also an ombré set. But it has a little more variation than the other sets. It moves from a peacock blue to a light seafoam green. It doesn't seem like a true ombré at first glance, but that's because I think the second polish (the glittery one) isn't really a medium between the middle jade and the first teal.

Regardless, this set is gorgeous. The application of the nail polish was smooth and even, so it's quality was as stellar as the last two sets. I only wish the index finger's polish was a little bit more in line with the shades before and after it, but it's a minor complaint. I do like that this set mixes cremes, frosts, and glitter.

I still think that Haze is my current favorite!

All of The New Black sets are available at Sephora, Nordstrom, and Beauty.com. The ombré sets, like Haze, include five 0.125 fl oz. bottles of polish. All polishes by TNB are 3-free, cruelty-free, and vegan friendly! All sets range from $10 to $32.

So that you've seen Graffiti, Haze, and Waves... which one is your favorite?

Tomorrow, we move onto full manicures!
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. Product photos provided by The New Black. 

Swatch and Review: The New Black Week - Haze Collection

Hello again, everyone! Today's post is Day 2 of The New Black Week here at Princess Polish and I'm very excited to bring you this next set because it is my FAVORITE color on earth: purple!

It's one of the five piece sets from TNB and is an ombré collection called Haze. It makes me think of Jimi Hendrix, so that's another reason for me to love it already. The purples range from a jewel-toned blurple (!!!) to a dusty lilac. Unlike yesterday's Graffiti Set, there are no glitters in this collection and it's all cremes with a slight metallic in the blurple.

Oh man, do I love this set of nail polishes. I took this picture in the sun of my backyard and the plant you're seeing is of one of my blueberry bushes. I though that it was kind of appropriate for purple because when I think of blueberries, all I think of is "You're turning violet, Violet!" And there are definitely shades of violet in this set!

While I love the Graffiti set, I think Haze has officially overtaken it as a favorite!

All of The New Black sets are available at Sephora, Nordstrom, and Beauty.com. The ombré sets, like Haze, include five 0.125 fl oz. bottles of polish. All polishes by TNB are 3-free, cruelty-free, and vegan friendly! All sets range from $10 to $32.

One of the super smart things TNB is doing is that they offer polish duos for $10 called the Glimmer Twins, where they take the two darkest or two lightest shade from a set and offer those two together! FYI, The two blacks and two silvers from Graffiti are available in these sets!

So what do you think of the Haze set? Do you like it better than Graffiti?

Tomorrow... we go to the beach with The New Black!
Princess Polish

PS: Be on the lookout for more upcoming photos of my nails around my garden, as it's finally getting to be that time of year!

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. Product photos provided by The New Black.

ANNOUNCING: The New Black Week at Princess Polish + a Giveaway

Good morning, everyone! Hope you've had a wonderful weekend so far!

I'm very happy to announce that today kicks of The New Black Week here at Princess Polish!

The New Black is a relatively new presence in the world of nail polish, but I am being entirely honest when I say that their products are incredibly unique. Instead of offering singular polishes, they created specially-themed sets that are highly affordable, yet offer the ability to re-create hot nail trends at home.

So this week, I'm going to be showcasing a different set of nail polishes from The New Black every day, culminating in an awesome giveaway on Saturday. Excited? Me too!

First up is a set that caught my eye right from the start. It's one of the five piece sets from TNB and is an ombré collection.

As you can see, this is definitely an ombré effect at your fingertips. It goes from a black creme all the way to a silver glitter. At first glance, I wasn't sure how this would look on me. The idea of mixing cremes, glitters, and metallics to make the ombré nail effect was a little perplexing. But then I figured... what the heck and tried this one out first.

Holy grail of nail polish... I LOVE it! The colors blended SO well into one another as I progressed from thumb to pinky. In fact, the black on my thumb was a one-coater. When does THAT ever happen? (I apologize for the squishy photo... so hard to get my thumb in there)

Everything dried relatively quickly and I had ombré nails in under 15 minutes. With the polish-mixing technique that is what most of us rely on, it takes me that amount of time to mix two shades. With the Graffiti set, I had five manageable bottles to work with that created an outstanding effect that was not only show-stopping (in one class alone, I had to pass on the polish info at least twenty-five times), but drop dead gorgeous. I honestly felt like a rock star.

All of The New Black sets are available at Sephora, Nordstrom, and Beauty.com. The ombré sets, like Graffiti, include five 0.125 fl oz. bottles of polish. All polishes by TNB are 3-free, cruelty-free, and vegan friendly!

So what do you think of the Graffiti set? Are you excited as I am for The New Black Week?

Until tomorrow!
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. Product photos provided by The New Black.