Swatch and Review: Orly Miss Conduct

Happy Hump Day!

Sorry my posts have been somewhat inconsistent. I am now officially at my summer internship and our office is crazy busy all the time. I have to say I am so grateful for this job because I never thought, even though I love law, I'd ever be in the position as a lawyer to wake up every morning and be excited to go to work. The old saying "if you love what you do, you'll never work a day in your life" never appeared to apply to lawyers. But I can safely say that I roll out of bed every morning and can't wait to get into the office. It's a wonderful feeling.

I also knew it was going to be a good job when my boss was wearing lime green polish on her tips and toes. Good omen, right?

Today, I'm bringing you some Hump Day Holo in the form of Orly Miss Conduct!

Orly Miss Conduct is a magenta linear holo nail polish. It has some major pop to it and is opaque in two thin coats. The first time I wore it, I honestly got away with one!

Drool-worthy, I'd say so! What do you think of Orly Miss Conduct? I just love the name, too!

Swatch and Review: Orly High on Hope

Hello again, everyone! Thank you for sticking with me this past week. I'm getting better slowly, but surely and am able to type comfortably with my right hand again.

Today, I'm bringing you a shade I had heard a lot about from my fellow bloggers and had to go ahead and pick up myself during Ulta's Buy Two, Get One Free sale a few weeks ago. It's Orly High on Hope!

Orly High on Hope is a dusty indigo blue creme base with violet and orange shimmer. The above is with two coats.

I really lovely the level of depth that this color has. The shimmer is very prominent both indoors and outdoors and was opaque with just two coats. I also loved the fact that despite the base color leaning towards the blue side, I didn't have any issue with staining. At. All.

What do you all think of this shade?

Swatch and Review: Philly Loves Lacquer

Yay! The weekend has arrived!

To kick off the weekend, I'm bringing you three awesome polishes sent to me by the indie brand, Philly Loves Lacquer!

Philly Loves Lacquer is a one-woman business venture, owned by a nail polish addict named Esther. All polishes are 3-free and cruelty free nail polish, handmade and hand-blended in the City of Brotherly Love.

Because Esther is a big supporter of cruelty-free cosmetics, one dollar of each full size (and $.50 of each mini) bottle of PhLL polish sold will be donated to a local non-profit organization called Forgotten Cats. Forgotten Cats helps to provide homes for adoptable cats and kittens in the PA/NJ/DE areas, as well as finding foster parents for feral cat colonies.

Now through 5/18 at 11:59PM EST, Esther is celebrating her birthday with a 27% off all purchases of $15 or more with code HOLYCRAPIM27! Yes, you read that right. Esther is also running a giveaway through the end of the month on Facebook!

First up is Mummer's Parade, a magenta jelly base with dark pink diamond, purple and blue hex, orange bar, and fine pink, orange, and purple glitters.

The above is with two coats over OPI I Theodora You.

Here is two coats of Mummer's Parade over Orly Miss Conduct.

The application on this shade was stellar. I didn't have any problem getting the different shapes out, like I've had with other brands. And it REALLY popped well over the pink holo that is Miss Conduct!

The next shade is South Street, made of fine turquoise and lavender glitters. Above is one coat over Bootie Babe Nudie Tudie.

Here is two coats over Bootie Babe Nudie Tudie.

And here is one coat over Dermelect Buzz-worthy.

The glitter in this one applied very evenly, which is a major upside. It also dried very quickly and built up nicely, as you can see between the first and second coat over Nudie Tudie.

The big surprise for me was how awesome this looked over Buzz-worthy... perfect for summer!

Last, but far from lease, is The Devon, a black jelly base with ultrafine lavender glitter, green hex, pink diamonds and squares, blue hex and lavender holo circle glitters. It has some super bright glitters in a dark, vampy base, which is a great combo.

I applied two coats of The Devon over Bootie Babe Crack a Toe Uh, a red glitter. I love this blackened blood look.

Here is two coats of The Devon over Borghese Stellar Notte. I was hoping that the duochrome nature of Stellar Notte would shine through, but it didn't. Still, the effect of The Devon over black is amazing. The glitter pops SO well!

The application of this shade was pretty good. I found that I had a little difficulty getting some of the larger shapes of glitter out, but letting the bottle sit upside down for a minute or two made all the difference. I didn't have a problem after that.

Overall, I LOVED these three shades. I think The Devon is my absolute favorite of the trio, but the others were really nice too. I didn't have any gloopiness issues, which is a big upside.

Philly Loves Lacquer is available through Etsy for $10 per 15mL bottle. Remember, Esther is holding a 27% off sale on purchase of $15+ (minimum of 1 full size and a mini to get to that $15 price point)! Be sure to check out the PLL Facebook page, as well!

Are you in love with these glitters as I am?

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.

2000 Facebook Likes/1000 GFC Followers Giveaway

I've been teasing this for a month now, so I'm incredibly excited for the giveaway to go live!

Check out all of the available prizes and enter via the widget below! (Please note: Due to the ongoing issues with international shipping, this giveaway is open to the United States and Canada only!)

The mega giveaway ends at midnight EST on 3/13... Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Relay for Life Water Marble

On Friday afternoon, as I sat down to do my nails for that evening's Relay for Life, I was stuck trying to decide what I wanted to do with my manicure. I couldn't pick a shade of purple, the color of Relay. Should I go dark or light? Glittery or creme?

And then I could have smacked myself. Duh. DO ALL OF THE ABOVE!

I picked out Essie Bangle Jangle for the light, Orly Fowl play for the dark and glittery (FLAKIESSSSS!),  and Zoya Mira for the in-between.

After doing a quick coat of Bangle Jangle for opacity's sake, I got to work.

 

And this was the end result. I was really happy with it overall. 

First and foremost, Bangle Jangle was a nail polish dream and applied beautifully. The other colors seemed to play off each other rather nicely and make an impact. My nails were the talk of relay, especially once word got around that they were the reason I was the #2 fundraiser.

I was a little upset at the event, truth be told, because in years past, they had recognized the top 3 individual fundraisers and top 3 teams. This year, they only recognized the top individual, while doing all three teams again. My team, the Rutgers University Seeing Eye Puppy Club (hey Pebbles!), was the top team. And that was awesome. But I was a little sad they skimped out. I really wanted them to mention that I had raised the money in honor of my dad. 

But at the end of the day, the good of what this money did far outweighed my minor disappointment. It only lasted a few minutes. I just hope that the nearly $80,000 raised overall at the Rutgers event really makes a difference in people's lives. I know a lot of you donated in honor of a loved one lost, currently battling the disease, or a survivor. And I thank you for allowing me to honor them on your behalf that night. It was truly a wonderful experience that I will treasure.

Much love and appreciation!

Princess Polish

March Madness Top 32: Midwest and East Divisions

Kicking off the Top 32 for the Midwest and East divisions.

Game 1:

Online Surveys & Market Research

Image Credit: AllLacqueredUp.com and NailsNeverFails.blogspot.com

Hard Candy Beetle (MAC Mean and Green, Orly Space Cadet dupe)

I'd been coveting MAC Mean and Green, as well as Bad Fairy, ever since the Venomous Villains collection came out last year. But as a college student, I couldn't justify spending $14 on a nail polish (I have a hard enough time justifying $5 for OPI on clearance!). Even when Orly's Space Cadet came out and was a dead-on dupe, the $10 price tag was just too high.

Enter Hard Candy Beetle, from the 2010 Holiday collection exclusively at Walmart. Not only is Beetle another dupe, it's a cheap one at $4. I had a hard time finding it by school, but when I ventured to the Freehold Walmart to pick up some things for the upcoming semester, I found it laying all by itself. I knew at that moment the stars had aligned... and I needed that polish.



Beetle is definitely a duochrome, flashing green, gold, and purple. And boy is it a STUNNER!

Below, you can see a little more of the green and gold.



Check out these three bottle shots... they almost look like entirely different polishes!





So what are you waiting for? Go out and get Hard Candy Beetle already! It's the only Beetle I'll ever be happy to see on my desk.