Comparison & Review

   Quite a bit has happened in the 6 months I've been away.  During this time time of absence from the blog my nails have been (of course) better than ever.  It feels like I'm finally finding the sweet spot in my nail care routine.  I've had the chance to try some new products, and I've left behind some old standbys.  Rather than let my 6 months of learning go to waste, here is a collective post on the different base coats I was and am using, and some things I've learned about them.

Sponsored Giveaway - Open Internationally

   Hello Princesses!  I have a treat for you today - the opportunity to win three matching glass nail files, graciously provided by Mont Bleu.  These have remained my favorite files to use since my introduction to the brand last year.  They have made a huge difference in my nail care routine.  So when I was offered the chance to host another giveaway of course I said "yes!", of course I would!

   I picked out this gorgeous pastel set, which you can view right on their website, in case you're unfamiliar with their products.  This giveaway will run until Nov 15th at midnight.  Widget for entering is below, so keep reading!  Please click the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the Rafflecopter widget, that is where you will find the rules!  Thank-you!

Video & Review

   Or, the 'Box that I never reviewed properly because it came as a surprise when I had no time to post my regular content, let alone extra reviews.  Oh, Influenster.  I do feel bad about this.  I managed to get my unboxing video done, did the Twitter party (blah), and had poked at Pinterest activities, but my plans to do anything more than that fell by the wayside.  I haven't posted anything here in a month.  Ouch.
 

   Here is my first impressions video, in case you missed it:

   The TLC VoxBox was sent to select Influenster Moms, and is actually my first "mom" box to review.  Pretty cool, but also a bit difficult because I don't blog about "Mom things".  My blog is 95% nail polish and what I share on public social networks generally leans towards fashion, beauty and art.  Not practical Mom stuff.  But let's look at it anyway!

Nail Art

   Here is a manicure I created using the new Sally Hansen Color Foil polishes.  They were perfect for this technique, which is much simpler to create than you might think!  Yes, this is the art that was originally meant to go over Raven.  But this base color was more fun - it glows in the dark!

Swatch & Review

   This was meant to be a base for nail art that never happened.  Well, it did happen, but this manicure didn't last until the time I was ready to do it, and I used a different base color for the art, haha.  So I ended up just swatching Raven, basically!

   Raven is one of my first Zoya polishes, and I realized that I don't remember ever wearing it.  It's a really pretty black with a super-fine shimmer.  However my bottle seems to have some issues, like it wasn't capped tightly.  The formula was off compared my other Zoya pretties, namely in that it did not want to level itself out and didn't wear as well.  I also has some odd bubbles when I added topcoat.  I don't know if that should be attributed to Raven or not.

Swatch & Review

   In writing up my last post I realized there was a ton of photo content to cover with just the galaxy manicure.  I had these swatch photos of my gorgeous base color, and while I didn't want to leave them out I also didn't want them to be ignored because of the more "exciting" pictures.  So here is my separate review post for Payton and MEGA! 

   First off, Payton.  It's gorgeous.  It's deep, it's glittery, it's luxurious, and it's extremely hard to capture on film SD card.  This has a sort of deep purple/burgundy/wine color that makes cameras go "Huh, wonder what if that should be more red or more blue.  Dunno.  I'll just keep going back and forth with every other photo."  It's a purple thing.  To my eyes it's a beautiful berry-toned purple.  Definitely a cool-toned color but it has a red quality, too.  It's hard to describe, but I love it.

Nail Art

   Hello!  This is a big post for me, and I don't just say that because it's image heavy!  This is my first-ever "galaxy nails" attempt!  Which turned out quite nicely... for a first attempt, at least!  I've been inspired by all the beautiful galaxy and nebula manicures, in particular the ones that play around with colors beyond the typical spacey black, blue and green.  Thus my choice of a deep burgundy and pink scheme!

   Read on if you'd like to see a bunch more pictures (including glowing ones!) and hear about what I used.  I was surprised by how easy this ended up being, though I didn't take a picture of what  used, it was a combination of dotting tools, make-up sponges and a thin nail art brush.

Review

   My third issue of Nail It! arrived early in May.  My one issue with this issue (ugh, didn't realize I was saying that until it came out) is that they changed their address labels.  I really like to peel the mailing label off of magazines when I get them because to me it looks nicer (and I feel more comfortable sharing the magazine with anyone), but this one stuck fast.  Hopefully it was just a fluke?  =(  So I quickly covered up my address labels with some scrap labels I had around...

   At least the cover look is basic enough that the only thing missing from the model's nautical nail art look is a blue pinky nail.  Not too bad.  I will say that my daughter really liked this cover.  She must have thought the girl was trying to play peek-a-boo with her.  At 8 months old it's her favorite game.

Nail Art

   Oh, readers, this post is a fun one for me to share!  You may think that with all the pastel colors around here that I am simply a girly-girl.  Not true!  Beneath my frilly, lacy outer layer you will find a cold, hard nerdy comic book geek.  Hey, sometimes your knight in shining armor is actually a knight in really tight spandex.  Don't complain, fellow princesses, you know a spandex spidey-suit is easier to clean than a full suit of armor.  Yay for wash-and-wear!  ...Moving on!


   See what I did here, channeling the vintage comic book cover style?  I'm pretty proud of it... not nearly as proud as I am of these nails, though!!  I painted them on May 3rd, in preparation of my my 2nd wedding anniversary day-early dinner & movie celebration.  (What a mouthful.)  See, I really am a geek - I totally felt this was a sufficient romantic date for an important occasion.

   So yes, this was nail art for The Amazing Spider-Man 2 movie - wait 'til you see the other hand! - but  promise that I will reveal no spoilers.  I hate spoilers!

Swatch & Nail Art

   My could manicure obsession continues!  This time I switched the color layering up by offsetting the "bumps" of the clouds.  It's a subtle difference but I like it!

  For this manicure I used a base of ILNP Dreaming in Violet, my one Pantone orchid-inspired polish... as of yet!  This is a really nice pinky-purple holographic polish.  It is linear, and stronger than what my photos show, of course.  While Dreaming in Violet's formula is very good (I only needed 2 coats!) there was just one thing I was let down about...

Swatch & Review Manicure

And says her prayers
In awe of what she sees
I could never see the things she sees

And she's always far away
In some other place
She likes to make believe
I can't stand to see her in such pain

Even when the world is pushing down
She stands so tall she can almost touch the clouds

   Wow.  It's been a month since I've made a post here.  Six weeks since I've updated either of my Instagram accounts.  Of everything I do blogging has never come first for me, not even second or third, but this is ridiculous.  Could I seriously not post any tiny updates anywhere in a month?  (I poke at Twitter, yes, but honestly who sees those? So I'm not counting my tweets.)

 

   I was very depressed in April, and when I'm depressed I don't write, when I don't write I don't update regularly, when I don't update regularly I get depressed about not not blogging, and so on.  It's a really lame cycle.  In the face of everything that I have going on (studies, family, work, LIFE, etc) I've even considered taking a break from (or quitting) blogging.  But to be honest I've done that already in the past.  Not actually quitting, but letting my breaks stretch on for seasons at a time.  And I didn't much care for it, since I genuinely enjoy writing reviews and documenting my progress as a nail addict.  While others my not miss my posts, I sure do miss blogging for me.

   I've typed and retyped this post about 10 times now, and I've decided that I'm not going to try to explain exactly what has gone on.  But I do want to say that I plan to keep blogging as best as I can, as part of my creative outlet and for my own sanity.  After all, I do still paint my nails from time to time!

   And because I don't want this to be a lame, sad-news post, here are some nice things that happened in the past month:

   That's about it, though.   Hopefully I'll have time to edit some pictures over the weekend and write my usual fare of blog post goodness for next week.

Layering Nail Art / Swatch

Nail Art / Swatch & Review

   These weren't supposed to look like snowy, winter nails, I promise!  If you're having flashbacks to negative temperatures I give you my whole-hearted apology.  After wearing Color Club Over the Moon for a day and enjoying it's sunny-sky hue I thought puffy cloud tips would be pretty cute.  So I free-handed cloud tips using Zoya Purity.

   Ah spring, you wonderful season of renewed lawns and cheerful flowers, and expert dasher-of-hopes when you leave us wondering why snow keeps falling.  Where I live in the US I've seen some brave crocus flowers poking their stems up, but other than that most things are still brown.  And snowflakes were falling this morning, though it rained yesterday.  Rain.  April showers bring May flowers, they say.  I wondered how I could work an "April Showers" themed giveaway but there is a distinct lack of "rainy" nail art and make-up supplies.  So instead, I give you Rainbow Showers!

   I have to say I like this concept quite a lot.  Just looking at the mix of color up there makes me giddy!  You have teeny bags of colorful micro glitter, which you can either sprinkle on your nails or mix into a bowl to for dipping your nails in.  I made up a bag of color "drops" that coordinate, and they'll be great as accents!

   This image is a close-up and I don't want to misrepresent the size/amount of what you're entering to win.  So: the bags are about 1 inch across and the multicolor paillettes are only a few millimeters wide!  Definitely enough to do a full manicure, though.  =)

   This giveaway will run until April 18th at midnight.  Widget for entering is below, so keep reading!  Please click the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the Rafflecopter widget, that is where you will find the rules!  Thank-you!

Influenster Prizes!  ·  Craft Projects  ·  Spring, is that you?

   Oops, it's already April!  I don't know exactly how it happened, but I haven't been the only one to say this: March went by just as quickly as February.  (Was it that way for you, too?)  Perhaps because it had the same cold, dreary blur that the days of February had.  I don't really know.  I do know that I was very disappointed 1 week ago when I realized how close April was.  Alas, now it is already here.  Let's see how I did this month.

March Goals

   Not too bad, I guess we could call that 50-60% completed?  I left my list of goals pretty bare because I expected to be busy, and indeed I was.

Review

   After taking my first issue of Nail It! for a test run, I bought a year's subscription and was very happy to find the next issue in my mailbox recently.  Yay for not missing any issues!  I'd like to continue to share my thoughts on the magazines I get, and if you're a reader too I'd love to hear what articles you enjoyed, too!

Swatch & Review / Nail Art

   I can't resist a good minty aqua polish.  I have so many creme hues in this family that when I saw Music Box it only seemed right to branch out into the holographic end of things.  I'm wearing 3 coats of this pretty polish, and I found the formula to be agreeable.  This isn't a super-strong holo polish, but the effect is more prominent in person than it shows in photographs.  And out in the sunshine it really does serve up a dollop of rainbowy goodness.

Review / Video

   I've made another YouTube unboxing/overview video for my most recent VoxBox, which was different from my past boxes because it included something specifically for my other half to try.  This post gives an overview of all the products and links to some of my stand-alone posts.  You can check the video out, too!  Keep reading for the quick run-down of what products are winners, and which ones are, well, not so much.

Vaseline® Men Spray Lotion

This spray-on lotion was sent for my husband to use and give his opinion on.

What he thinks:  It was a little weird at first (it really does spray a fine mist of lotion) and you have to be careful of where you're aiming it so you don't end up with slippery overspray on the floor.  Sometimes you have to spray into your hand and then apply it as you would a regular lotion, so what is the point of it being a spray..?  But it works well, absorbs quickly, and is non-greasy.

What I think:  I don't like the smell!  I sprayed some on my arm and I agree, it absorbs quickly, leaves your skin nicely softened and non-greasy, but I had to wash it off my arm!  It's just too strongly scented for me, with what I feel is a nondescript cheap "men's product" aroma.

Our verdict:  He says it works well enough but having spray-on lotion doesn't seem necessary, so once it's gone he probably won't buy more.  I say he can use up what he has so long as he only uses a small amount at a time.  Not a winner for us.

Nail Art / Tutorial

   This is a nail art look that immediately came to mind when I opened my last Influenster VoxBox and saw the bag of cutely colored Hershey's KISSES candy.  So, I've created a pictorial explaining how you can create this look, and I'm sure you'll want to check it out.  This may be one of the only nail art looks that requires you to eat chocolate as the first step!

Influenster Review

    Tonight I'm sharing a great product from my J'adore VoxBox from Influenster.  I was really excited to get this product to test, in a full-size bottle, no less!  I really enjoy doing face masks but I don't use them often enough.  Read on to see what I think of the Boots Ionic Clay Mask and how I fit this mask into my schedule!  Oh, and did I mention I'll have a coupon code to share with you?

Swatch & Review

   I'm currently getting over a cold (which is why I missed posting on Wednesday), while also dealing with a really cute baby that has decided not to stay asleep at night for the past two weeks.  My husband and I have been in a perpetual state of running-on-empty.  I've been depressed about my inability to get things done, but looking on the bright side (literally, since the sun is out and our snow is melting!) I do have a lot to be thankful for.  My very supportive husband, a generally healthy family, and getting to watch all the amazing accomplishments of our baby girl.  Little Freya will turn 6 months old tomorrow, is getting used to being spoon-fed, loves to sit up on her own, and yesterday she said her first word: "mama".

   The manicure I'm sharing today is one that came from poking halfheartedly through my untrieds, and then being surprised with how much I enjoyed wearing it.  The nail polish from I♥NP is called Absolute Zero, and it was an exclusive color only available with pre-orders some time back.  In all honesty I wasn't too enthused about it, navy blue isn't my thing, but I did pre-order some polishes, thus it ended up in my collection anyway.

   My swatches show 1 coat plus topcoat; I'm especially impressed that I only had to use 1 coat for a nice rich finish.  Absolute Zero has a slightly metallic and holo-infused finish.  It ended up being quite pretty in person and had a lot of life on the nail.    Sadly it doesn't come across very well in my pictures, and it also didn't seem to get along with my Poshe fast-drying topcoat, which was causing the polish to pull up around my cuticles.  I also found I had tipwear much faster with this manicure than I normally do with any other ILNP color.

   It's already March, and that means it is time for another Mini Giveaway!  While searching for inspiration for this month's theme, I was reminded that this Saturday we'll be losing an hour of thanks to Daylight Saving Time.  (Ugh, I don't want to lose an hour!  If you're in an area that doesn't follow DST, be thankful!)  Also, the first day of spring is March 20th.

   And what better way to combine the thoughts of spring and the bitter reality of lost sleep than with quick-and-easy flower nail art stickers?  The winner will get 12 assorted sheets.  Yay!  I'm also including a pack of Fringed Iris tip guides (3 styles in the pack!) and carded samples of Urban Decay Primer Potion and Stardust Eyeshadows!

   This giveaway will run until March 21st at midnight.  Widget for entering is below, so keep reading!  Please click the "Terms and Conditions" link at the bottom of the Rafflecopter widget, that is where you will find the rules!  Thank-you!

I Got Sick!  28 Days Is Not Enough!

   Haha, I didn't know what to do with the highlight captions this month.  February sure went by quickly.  Between getting really sick at the beginning of the month and my little girl experiencing a 2-week fussy spell in the middle, it sort of feels like February didn't even happen.

 

February Goals

    Stocking the shop would be done except I found a few more things that need to be listed.  The shop is open however, and sales have been going well!  Zoyas and indies are especially hot sellers!  (Go see what is already available if you don't want to miss out.)  Still haven't found the right box for Goal #2... but I'm faring well without it so far.  And yes, I did host a mini giveaway!  Winner revealed in this post, as I hoped.  =)

Swatch & Review / Nail Art

Arizona, take off your rainbow shades...

   I grew up listening to the oldies.  So when it comes to a girl named Arizona, the song is all my brain can come up with.  I wonder who is the real inspiration behind Zoya's Arizona?  Anyway, this is a manicure that seemed so much better in my head.

Swatch & Review

   I've been so busy lately that I have fallen into a 1-mani-per-week routine.  Fortunately when I'm wearing polishes this gorgeous I'm happy to have them on my nails for a week!  Let's take a look at ILNP Washing Ashore and Zoya Bobbi, shall we?

Swatch & Review

   12 pictures.  I have a dozen photos to share of these polishes, and I still don't feel like it's enough to show off their pretty color shifting.  I tried a few different types of lighting to show the range of colors, but believe me when I say these two polishes are much more flashy in person.  These nails all started with a black base.

Swatch & Review

   So, in my last post I said that I was looking forward to the weekend...  Well, my husband and I ended up coming down with "the stomach flu" (that's a misnomer, did you know?), and we're still not back to 100%.  Out of the two of us I ended up being the really, really sick one, so my weekend was pretty much a loss and so far this week has been a yucky blur of missed work and trying to nap.  At least I'm finally coherent enough to write about some manicures I did awhile ago!

   Greetings, princesses!  I hope your week went better than mine - my daughter is in a crazy, needy phase and has hardly let me do anything.  I'm looking forward to the weekend, and what better way to kick it off than with an International giveaway?  Yayyy!

   What I'd like to do each month is hold a giveaway for Princessly Polished subscribers, and to make it easy to share worldwide I came up with the idea to choose an assortment of nail art products that can be sent safely in a letter!  I'll have a different theme each month, and I'd love to hear your suggestions.  The theme I chose for February is Pantone's color of the year...

   Radiant Orchid!  I figured this is a great place to start, as most of us are really excited about this color.  I'm not really into following trends or wearing a color because it's "in", but this is a gorgeous shade with a wonderful color family.  Bring it on.

Win a $100 Amazon Gift Card!  Princessly Polished is on Facebook!

   Is it any surprise that things didn't go as expected for me this month?  I ended going back to work 2 weeks earlier than we were planning on, and now I'm just starting to get into a new routine.  Again.  As I said a couple posts ago, I'm trying for blog updates on Wednesdays and Fridays for now!

January Checklist

   One of these things got checked off, but I already need to update my social media buttons again.  The media buttons I'm using currently seem a bit off with my new layout, anyway.  (Does this mean I should have left this item un-crossed off?)  As for my other projects, my Storenvy shop is close to being completely stocked (and I've already made sales!  So I'm not too upset about that - I'll have the rest of my destash polish listed soon.  The light box hasn't been built because I couldn't find a box that I was 100% happy with.  I refuse to buy a square box...  I know I will get one to recycle eventually.

Review

   Hello reader!  I understand you like to read things, since you're a blog reader and all, so I thought you might like to read a review about something I read!  Confused yet?

   I picked up the January/February 2014 edition of Nail It! magazine while I was at the supermarket a couple weeks ago, curious to see what one of the only nail-focused 'zines was like.  Magazines aren't something that get a lot of serious reviewing, so I wanted to share my first look at this relatively new bimonthly magazine.  Want to see if Nail It! earned my subscription?

Nail Art / Tutorial

   Here is a very quick and easy manicure!  Last spring pond manicures exploded onto the scene, no doubt thanks to the prevalence of jelly polishes and the fact that nail art creators everywhere were loving the effects those sheer washes of color can give.  A true pond manicure involves a dotting tool and a bit of skill as you create small white designs (usually flowers, hearts, dots, etc) between layers of juicy transparent polish.  I set out to create something even easier!

Swatch & Review

   Today I have swatches of the very pretty Kismet from Color Club's second Halo Hues collection.  Before I gush about this holo I want to give a few updates about what is going on around here, though! Exactly 1 week ago I got a phone call from work saying "hey, we got the return to work note from your doctor, you're on the schedule next week".  Next.  Week.  As in yesterday.  My husband and I were so not expecting that!  We both figured I'd have until the end of January before I was given any hours at work.  So, last week quickly unraveled into hasty baby-sitter planning and me trying desperately to get as much as I could done before Sunday.  Only I didn't get a whole lot done because I mostly made myself depressed and incredibly stressed out.

   Now that everything is done I'm still recovering from my migraine-filled weekend, but work has been fine.  Little Freya does just fine without me for 9 hours, and having to pump breastmilk on my lunch break isn't so bad after all.  Still, this does eat up more of my time.  Until I become a Super Mom who can do it all (ha) I am aiming for a blog post schedule of Wednesdays and Fridays.  If I can manage anything more than that I'll just consider it a happy bonus until it becomes regular.

Swatch & Review

   How awesome is this combination of polishes?  ILNP Animal Cookie is one of the first polishes I saw from the brand, and it immediately landed on my wishlist.  It took awhile for me to get it it, but it was worth waiting for!  I used one coat for my swatch, and the glitter spread nicely.  I dabbed a little extra into a few bare spots and then it was perfect.  The mix of white and pink glitters pops over my base of Zoya Rocky.  Rocky is a semi-dusty turquoise blue creme, and I only needed two coats.

Nail Art / Swatch & Review

   Have you ever had a manicure stuck in your head?  The only known cure is to sit down and paint that manicure!  I've had this one stuck in my head for weeks, and while it isn't quite as great as my brain imagined it to be, I still really enjoyed it!  First off, this is my first time doing an ombre manicure where each nail is painted a different color.  I couldn't find anything that talks about names for the different types of ombre manis - and there are many!  What is up with that?

Health / Review

   Disclosure:  This post is about free products that I received for review from Smiley360... and the timing couldn't have been more perfect!  The flu has been going around town as Airborne gummies arrived at my doorstep!  Read on for my experience with them and a $1 coupon for you!

   Now, here is one of the quirky things about me...  I don't enjoy orange-flavored things, and I make faces when I drink fruit juice.  Orange juice makes me gag!  The only juices I can tolerate are cranberry juice blends (in small amounts) and unsweetened grapefruit juice (which is hard to find).  So, the wonderful advice to drink a glass of orange juice for a boost in Vitamin C just doesn't work for me...