Swatch and Review: Cult Nails Seduction (and a Photography Experiment

This post was a bit delayed from yesterday, but I'm really excited to share it with you. Since my the beginning of March, I've begun to dabble in photography with a DSLR camera and received one for my birthday. I've been toying around with it, experimenting to see how to get different results.

The lovely Maria of Cult Nails is in the process of moving the brand to their first ever office and is looking for photos of her polishes to decorate the walls. I absolutely love Iconic, but wanted to give it a little extra oomph in order to help pick up the flakes on camera.

So I pulled out an untried of mine to give me a little boost... Cult Nails Seduction!

I went through my entire garden, trying to find an appropriate medium with which to convey the beauty of two coats of Seduction over two coats of Iconic.

My surfinia petunias!

Take 2!

My Sarah Bernhardt peonies!

And lastly, my swimming pool! I think that the water and waves help magnify the flakies and really pick up the color shift in them under sunlight!

So what do you think of my photos? And of course, of this layering combo?

Until tomorrow!
Princess Polish

Swatch and Review: Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away

If there's anything in life that I love, it's a beautiful spring blue. And that's exactly what I have to show you today!

Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear Blue Me Away is a gorgeous Robin's Egg Blue creme. It applied a little watery at first, but was pretty manageable and opaque in two coats. It was pretty shiny on its own, but Dazzle Dry's top coat made it pop that much more.

Removal on this was pretty easy too. I didn't find that it stained my nails or my skin, which is typical of many blues.

I also think that this color is going to be GREAT for nail art. I can already see myself using it as a nice background for flowers or rainbows. It just has a beautiful pop of color that is muted enough that I won't draw too much attention, but bright enough to make a statement.

Sally Hansen nail polishes, including this one, are available at most drug stores, including CVS, Rite Aid, and Walgreens, as well as many supermarkets and stores like Target and Walmart.

Happy Wednesday!
Princess Polish

Zoya Memorial Day Dotticure

Happy Sunday, everyone! I'm posting this a day early because I know most of us do our holiday themed manicures a day in advance and because I'm going to be gone for all of tomorrow. It's my first day off from work since I graduated and I am INCREDIBLY excited to sit by the pool and relax. Maybe have a Malibu Bay Breeze... or three.

I haven't done a Zoya-centric post in a while (GASP!), so I figured now would be an excellent occasion to do so. For those of you who follow me on Pinterest, you got a sneak preview yesterday afternoon!

I wanted to do something fun and funky, but wanted to avoid painting the American flag. I love Old Glory, but it's so overused for Memorial/Independence Day. So I decided to stick with just the red white, and blue, but keep it playful at the same time. And what's more playful than polka dots?

I picked out Zoya Snow White, Zoya Sarah (my all-time fave Zoya), and Zoya Ibiza because a: they're gorgeous and b: I thought they best matched the colors of the flag.

Using a double-ended dotting tool with the biggest and smallest points, I scattered dots all around my nails. I started with the big dots first, dotting Ibiza and then Sarah. Seeing the white space that was left, I flipped to the tiny end and dotted Ibiza and then Sarah to fill in the holes.

I repeated the small dots to fill in the spaces, varying the amount of polish on the end to make it look like there were more than two sized dots on the nail.

I'm really happy with how this came out. I think that it's definitely what I was looking for in that it's really playful and fitting with Memorial Day, but I could also get away with wearing it another few days because it doesn't have a distinctive theme. I love when nail art is versatile!

Are you thinking of trying a dotticure for your Memorial Day plans? Enjoy the BBQ's and hopefully, nice weather!
Princess Polish

Review: How Tweezerman Saved My Skin

Hello again, everyone! I know I have been MIA, but if you follow me on Facebook, you have been reading about the on-going saga after my unfortunate use of the Cutex Non-Acetone Polish Remover.

Here's a brief recap: I used the remover after my mom picked up the wrong color bottle at Harmon's, immediately felt the skin of my fingers had a weird texture, and noticed the next day that they looked like alligator skin. It was as if I painted my fingers with clear nail polish and it dried all cracked. That's honestly what I thought had happened. I really thought I had spilled top coat on myself and not realized.

So here is how my fingers looked last week. Be prepared for the grossness of the skin 48 hours after first contact: