Swatch and Review: SinfulColors Get it On and Strapped

Happy Hump Day, all!

Today, I have two shades from SinfulColors' new Leather Luxe collection for the fall, which is exclusively available at Walgreens!

First up is Get it On, a tomato red matte polish. The above is with two coats.

Now, for those of you who have been following me for a while, you'll know I'm not a huge fan of the matte trend. I'm really picky about the shades that I like.

However, this was a stunner as soon as I put it on. It's highly pigmented, but its matte finish has a frosty feel to it that makes it wintry and I'm obsessed.

Even Queen Polish (aka: my mother) was in love!

The second shade is Strapped, a seafoam green. The above is with three coats.

I really liked Strapped a lot, as well. It has a delicateness to it that reminds me of the waters of the Caribbean. It has the same frosty finish as Get It On and I adored it.

I've heard from others that this is a stainer, but I used my regular base coat and didn't have a problem at all.

Overall, these two polishes were awesome! Get It On is my clear favorite, but Strapped was really pretty too. I foresee doing some Christmas nail art with these two! They'd look so nice with some silver on them, too!

The Leather Luxe collection is currently available at Walgreens for $2.99.

Clearly, I love these two. What do you think?

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 & Review: Color Secrets Amelie and Moulin Rouge

Hey, everyone! Thanks for sticking with me this week... I appreciate it! I'm so glad to be back!

Today, I have two polishes to show you from a new brand called Color Secrets. One of the really cool things about their polishes is the fact that every single one is named after a movie, most of which are chick flicks. Some of my favorites used are Casablanca, Miss Congeniality, Clueless, She's All That, Tangled, Notebook, Pretty in Pink, Never Been Kissed, Dirty Dancing, Devil Wears Prada, Love Actually, the Breakfast Club, Breakfast at Tiffany's, Night at the Roxbury, and Across the Universe!

I received Moulin Rouge and Amelie! How Academy Awards appropriate, right?

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.   

First up is Moulin Rouge, a juicy strawberry polish with electric pink glass flecks.

Swatch and Review: Zoya Lovely

Good morning, my lovelies! So sorry for the break in posting... I was overwhelmed with school work. But am so excited to bring you the swatches of the Zoya Lovely Collection!

A little fair warning before you peruse through the rest of the post. For those of you who haven't been following the saga of my alligator skin on Facebook, I used Cutex non-acetone remover with the foil method and it turned my skin into a cracked mess. So this was the very beginning of that. I apologize for any trauma it may induce, but you should be thankful I didn't swatch these a week later. Blech.

The first of the three cremes in this collection is Zoya Blu, a chalky pastel blue creme. The above was with two coats. I really liked this color and I think it can work with just about any skin tone. I loved this. The formula was not too liquidy on this, which was great.

Next is Zoya Neely, a pale mint creme. With two coats, the formula and coverage on this was also great. I'm going through a mint phase these days, so I was VERY happy with this shade!

 

The last of the cremes is Jacqueline, a camel-beige shade. Oh, how I wanted to like her. But I just couldn't. The above was with three coats and you can still see it's uneven and gloopy. Also, the formula was super watery and pooled at the cuticles. Just so hard to be neat with.

This shade made my skin look yellow and ruddy, which is not ideal for a pale girl like me.

I wanted to use this as a base for a water marble, but I couldn't even get it to dry after two hours and a coat of HK Girl. This was the only failure of the collection, in my opinion.

 

The first of the shimmers in the Lovely collection is Piaf, likely named for Edith Piaf. It's funny... I would have pictured Piaf being the pink (as in La Vie en Rose), but I still liked this shade. This yellow veered slightly towards the olive end of the spectrum, but that's what made it unique.

This is with two coats and the formula was excellent.

Zoya Julie is the purple shimmer in this bunch, which automatically makes it my favorite. It has a bit of a frosty/metallic quality to it. And that's very unique. Not like anything in my purple drawer, that's for certain.

Two coats again above and great formula!

The sixth and final polish is Zoya Gei Gei, a dusty rose shimmer with a similar frosty/metallic nature similar to Julie. This is another polish that is different from the rest of the pinks.

Again, two coats and awesome coverage.

So there you have it, folks! The Zoya Lovely Collection.

The Lovely Collection is currently available at Zoya.com for $8, as well as at your local ULTA. I really liked these shades, with the exception of Jacqueline, so I really do think they're worth buying.

What's your verdict on the collection?

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Tranzitions

Happy Saturday, everyone! Today, I have for you three of the new Tranzitions shades from China Glaze!

The Tranzitions are a form of color-changing polish in which the use of top coat triggers the color shift. In all of the swatches with the dual colors, I used China Glaze Fast Forward top coat.

First up is Shape Shifter, a gunmetal metallic polish. This was opaque in just one coat. The color itself was pretty, but very streaky. I did my best to hide the brushstrokes, but I wasn't thrilled with the end result.

Here is Shape Shifter with the top coat. I wanted to do some designs on the nail so you could see the difference with and without top coat. As you can see, the color shifts to a blurple that I'm pretty fond of and would probably wear on its own.

This one is Altered Reality, a teal metallic polish that was opaque in one coat. This was even more streaky than Shape Shifter.

The french tip I did was with two coats of top coat and it barely made a difference. The shift wasn't enough to be noticeable for me. This was by far my least favorite of the three.

Split Perso-nail-ity was my favorite of the three and probably the only one I'd wear again. It's a dusty pink that changes to more of a magenta. This is with two coats to even out the streakiness.

And here is the color with the top coat. I used a dotting tool to create the polka dots and then dotted the original color back on to hollow them out. I thought this was a pretty easy way to do nail art.

The pros: Versatile color. Need only one bottle for multiple looks.

The cons: Slow dry time unless you use a top coat, but you can't if you want any portion to remain pink. These shades also stained my nails. Additionally, the brushstrokes are not really attractive to me in the first two shades and not nearly enough of a color shift.

The Tranzitions collection is currently available at ULTA and other beauty retail stores. For more information, please visit www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook (@ChinaGlazeOfficial), Twitter (@ChinaGlaze) and Pinterest (pinterest.com/chinaglaze).

What do you think of the Tranzitions? Do you have a favorite?

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: OPI ULTA Holiday 2012

Happy Saturday, everyone! I hope you are all enjoying your weekend so far!

Today, I'm bringing you this year's OPI holiday shades exclusively for ULTA Beauty. I stumbled upon them at my local ULTA in East Brunswick. If you purchase two OPI shades this weekend, you receive a special gift of your choice of the holiday shades for free.

 

Last Minute Shopper is a juicy strawberry red metallic polish. It applied evenly and was opaque in two coats. It's not the most unique shade out there, but it's a very pretty one. It has a very subtle glow about it. I like that has depth to the color without being a glass fleck. This reminds me of You Only Live Twice from the Bond Collection for Holiday 2012 without the aforementioned flecks.

For the record, this has already been stolen by the Queen Mum (aka: Nana) and I have not seen it since. I have a feeling it will make an appearance when she heads back to Florida and I find it on her dresser during winter break there.

Next up is Skip the Gift Wrap, a vibrant emerald metallic polish that slightly skews towards the frost spectrum. The application was fine and even. The brush strokes in this picture are virtually unnoticeable in real life. I think it's the macro that brings that out.

As Pantone has announced, emerald is SO in for 2013 and I think Skip the Gift Wrap is definitely a color to rock in the new year!

The last of the trio is Gift Cards for Everyone, a blurple shimmer with scattered specks of sapphire glitter. Forgive the lack of a bottle... it has gone missing somewhere within my bedroom.

The glitter is definitely apparent in sunlight, but not as much as in the bottle. It's a lot more scattered on the nail. Though, the effect is mostly there.

Overall, I liked this trio better than last year's two rough glitters and shimmery red. All three are very wearable for me and while they're not incredibly unique, I think they're very pretty shades that anyone would like to find in their Christmas stocking or for their last night of Chanukah.

As I mentioned before, you can currently receive one of these shades free with the purchase of two OPI polishes at ULTA. Because I only purchased these three, they were essentially B2G1 for me. They retail for $8.00 each and are available only at your local ULTA store! They also have a mini set called Stuff My Stocking that retails for $12.50 and includes the three minis

Three OPI's for $16? Not a bad deal, in my opinion. (And the 20% off my total purchase coupon didn't hurt... so they wound up being closer to $12!)

What's your verdict on this holiday collection?

Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: R. Hobby Cosmetics

Happy Tuesday!

I have another indie brand on tap for today, R. Hobby Cosmetics!

Please note that while the bottles below are labeled Black Cat Lacquers, Rachel changed the name of her company to prevent confusion. All you need to know is that she is now making polishes under the name R. Hobby Cosmetics! :-)

Today, I have three lovely shades from R. Hobby... and I'm really excited to bring them to you!

Swatch and Review: China Glaze Unpredictable and Want My Bawdy

Happy Thursday, everyone... Friday is so close, you can taste it! And for you Americans, a three-day weekend is coming up!

Today's Swatch and Review shades come from the China Glaze Bohemian Collection released just in time for fall. I'm going to be showing you Unpredictable and Want My Bawdy.

First up, is Unpredictable!

Unpredictable is a olive green metallic nail polish with added sparkle. It definitely screams Fall to me!

As you can see, though, there isn't much of a duochrome shift in this one, a la the oil slick effect. Don't get me wrong, it's a pretty shade, just not what I expected.

 This is Want My Bawdy, which sadly for this twenty-two year old, reminds me of a Rod Stewart song. Don't judge me.

Want My Bawdy is a rich navy blue metallic polish with some violet undertones.

Again, not much of a color shift, but I like the depth of this shade better than Unpredictable.

Overall, these were two perfectly pretty polishes. I just wasn't blown away by them, so they were a tad disappointing. If I had to wear one again, I would probably pick Want My Bawdy.

China Glaze is available at beauty retailers and fine salons near you. CG is free of DBP, toluene, and added formaldehyde. China Glaze nail lacquers are available through salons and professional beauty supply stores nationwide. For more information, visit: www.chinaglaze.com or follow China Glaze on Facebook and Twitter: http://twitter.com/ChinaGlaze

Tomorrow, I'll be making another Polished Professionals post about how to turn your work look into a fun, weekend look with ease!

Until then!
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. 

Swatch and Review: Saint Germain - Part 2

Hello again! I hope you had a wonderful weekend!

You may remember Saint Germain from Part 1's swatches. Well, today, I have the second half of my Saint German polishes!

From left to right: Blue Moire, Purple Silver, and Purple Moire.

Swatch and Review: Nailtini

Today I'm going to show you a wide variety of products from Nailtini, the nail products from Tini Beauty. Tini Beauty's product line revolves around the theme of a cocktail party and I'm kind of obsessed with how adorable they are!

As you can see, there are Cocktail Napkins (nail polish remover squares), a nail art striping brush, a nail art dotting brush, the Mini Bar Collection (Garden Party - a collaboration with Mad Men's costume designer, Janie Bryant), and a Sparkle Topper (Sparkler).

I was also sent Club Soda Fizz, a nail-whitening soak. But I'm going to be reviewing that later after my sister and I overhaul our garden. That will be an excellent test!

Warning: This post will be MAJORLY picture-heavy!

Swatch and Review: Dazzle Dry Calypso Romance

Good morning, all!

Today, I'm bringing to you a shade from the just-released Summer Scape collection by Dazzle Dry called Calypso Romance.

In the bottle, Calypso Romance has a prominent blue shimmer. But did it translate to the nail?

Swatch and Review: Julep Maven May Box

Hello, everyone! This is Princess Polish, B.A. writing to you today! YES, I finally did it. I graduated Rutgers University on Sunday with honors, earning my Bachelors in Political Science.

Today, I'm going to discuss my Julep May Box. For now, I'm going to focus on the polish because I'm doing a trial with the pedicure products. I'm currently taking a one-week Julep pedi challenge and a two-week Tweezerman nail care challenge. So we shall see how this goes!

But back to the topic at hand...

If you're not a Julep Maven, you can sign up today to receive your first box of $40 products for just A PENNY! Click here and use the code SHAREONMAY to pay just $.01 for your box!

Now, onto the box...

Swatch and Review: Dazzle Dry 3 Piece Nail System, Cherry Parfait, and Silver Lace

Good morning, all! Thank you for being patient while I moved out of college these past two days. It's a VERY daunting process, though was depressing because it was the last time I will ever do it. I'll be commuting when I do attend law school, so no more moving into dorms for me.

Today, I have a brand that is near and dear to my heart. I initially found them while searching for vegan-friendly nail polishes for my best friend.

And I'm pretty sure that in the end, I fell in love with them even more than she did!

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 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.