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?

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 Week Day 6 - Typography Manicure

Good morning to you all! Thanks for sticking by me during my sick day yesterday. I still feel a little blah, but at least it's minus the pounding migraine.

Today, I have for you the last set of The New Black for the week. It's more of a nail art set, unlike anything else I have tested out this week, and is called the Times Late Edition set.

Newspaper manicures have become all the rage in the world of nail polish. It's pretty easy and relatively anyone can do it. Unfortunately, there are a few problems.

1) You need to use nail polish remover to do it, leaving an unpleasant smell on your hands or drying out cuticles.

2) The newsprint is from an article of your choosing, but there are bound to be words and phrases you don't want on your nails.

3) Most importantly, THE PRINT IS BACKWARDS! The only way to read your nails is with a mirror!

The typography set, which includes a transfer solution and topcoat, solves this. It includes custom sheets of newsprint with phrases like faith, peace, and believe, printed mirror image style so it comes out readable on your nails. And trust me, if you mess up a few times like I did, it's okay. There are enough sheets in there for at least 40 manicures. I swear.

It also comes with a putty-colored gray that makes your nails look just like a newspaper. I wanted to keep the AWESOME fire gradient from the Runway collection and figured this would be a good opportunity to test out the set on other shades.

It's very simple to do. You cut the print the size of your nail, apply transfer solution all over the nail (don't be stingy with it), place the print on the nail, and apply pressure with a cotton ball so that the print saturates. Thirty seconds later, you're done!

As you can see, the end result was decent. I think with a few more manicures of practice, I could get it perfect. My only issue with the set was that it seemed like I could never get enough transfer solution on my nail to make the full rectangle appear saturated so that the print was dark enough to be visible. I tried to apply the solution over the square when I noticed this, but that was more hurtful than helpful. The harder I pushed with the cotton ball, the more the liquid spread over the paper, so perhaps this takes more practice.

Believe me, I'm going to try this again to get it right because the idea is super smart. That being said, it actually faded with the gradient, so it looked somewhat intentional. Just be sure not to move the print once it's on your nail, as you will wind up with smudged text like on my index finger.

Overall, I think this set has a lot of potential. It just takes a little time to get the hang of.

*SPECIAL ANNOUNCEMENT*: Be sure to come back to Princess Polish tomorrow, when I'll be giving away a special prize from The New Black. I'm not going to tell you what it is until then, BUT I will say that you should probably go ahead and like TNB's Facebook page to get an early start!

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.

Remember to check back in because the fun continues tomorrow with a freebie!
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 5 - Runway Collection Part 2

Today, we're checking out the second half of the Color Barometer Runway Collection, the cooler range of nail polishes.

The formula on these four nail polishes were just as good as the last. There is a camel color, navy blue, dusty periwinkle, and pine green. The first two are cremes and the latter two are frosts, but all only needed two coats to be opaque.

The navy blue reminds me very much of Zoya Cynthia, while the periwinkle is very much like Zoya Jo. I think I need to do a comparison in the future. But regardless, I don't have anything like that pine green at ALL and like the range of these very much. I do NOT own a camel color either!

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.

Tomorrow, we move on to nail art!
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 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.