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!

   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.

Nail Art / Swatch & Review

   I'm wearing an extremely princess-y manicure today!  I did these nails Saturday after deciding I wanted something holographic and was inspired by some pretty glitter gradients on other blogs.  Then I realized that all the polishes I used were essentially untrieds - swatched but never used in a manicure.  So I'll be talking a bit about them, too.

   So pink, so girly, so great!  For as much as I love pink I don't do pink nails that often.  I have a hard time finding the right pinks for my skintone.  These are the polishes I used:

Color Club Halo-graphic, Milani Pink Flare, Nyx Girls Dynamic Glitter and Salon Perfect Silver Sparkler.

   First let's talk about Color Club Halo-graphic.  How did I let this go for so long without doing a proper manicure with it?  From the 2012 Halo Hues collection, this pink is gorgeous in the bottle and cool-toned enough that I find it wearable.  I used two coats on my thumbs, index and pinky fingers, then my regular Poshe topcoat.  Once the manicure is totally dry the holographic effect comes back 100%.  Application is good for a holographic polish, but isn't very self-leveling.

   Milani Pink Flare is part of the One Coat Glitter line, but it is most certainly not opaque in one coat.  My right hand, pictured above, shows this polish at one coat on my ring finger and at two on my middle finger.  Both have one coat of Halo-graphic as a base/underwear color.  I must say I love this glitter, it is the perfect combination of soft and sparkly.  Different from my expectations but I don't like it any less.

   The photos below show my left hand.  I had the good sense to wrap my tips with Halo-graphic before putting on a coat of Pink Flare, so the sheerness isn't noticeable unless you're really looking.  My middle finger (three flower-shape paillettes) is wearing 4 coats of Milani Pink Flare, and if you look closely you can still see some VNL.  As soon as I saw how sheer it was I put a base coat of Color Club Halo-Graphic down on my ring finger, and only used two coats of Pink Flare.

   For the gradients I used a combination of Nyx Dynamic Glitter and Salon Perfect Silver Sparkler.  I started off by dabbing Dynamic glitter at the cuticles and then placed individual glitters from Silver Sparkler to fill in spaces that needed it.  I also used loose flower paillettes to enhance the gradient nails.  These nails would have had a lot of texture so I used extra topcoat until they were smooth and super glossy!


   The only negative thing about this manicure is that it is SO sparkly that it is hard to photograph!  There is so much glitz that my camera seems to be at a loss about which nail to focus on.  Of course, that quality is also what makes it so fantastic.  I'm really enjoying this glittery, rainbow-filled manicure!  =)

   Here is a design that I thought up awhile back and recently got an excuse to try.  Chalkboard Nails is running a nail art contest for either warm or cool colors, and of course I picked cool.  My design?  Use heart-shape paillettes upside-down and tightly packed so that they look like fish scales!

   I used China Glaze Refresh-mint as my base and pressed rows of scales into the polish, starting with fuchsia at the tips, then a row of lavender, and finishing the nail in baby blue.  My thumb nail had the colors staggered farther up the nail one one side.  This took two coats of Tough Coat and a coat of Poshe to seal everything and there was still texture, but it was an interesting, smooth texture, and it wore like iron.  I didn't shed a single scale!

   Sadly having that many paillettes means quite a few bubbles.  They seem to form no matter how much time I take or how carefully I place the little spangles.  =(  Fortunately from a regular viewing distance they are hardly noticeable.  All the scales have a bright green-to-purple flash that shines and dazzles you in the light, haha.  No really, see the bright green flashes?

   So, this isn't a very difficult mani, it just takes some patience and many, many heart-shape spangles.  (So many hearts littered the table after removal.  @_@)  But, I do feel it is original, and attainable for someone like me who isn't very steady-handed.  Next time I want to do a dragon-scale manicure, with heart scales (Pokémon reference!) in red, orange and yellow.  =D

   Would you try this?  Leave me a comment!

   Today I have a very easy nail art design to share.  I did these nails several months ago, for a spring nail art contest which I then never submitted the pictures to...  At any rate, I figure they have relevance now as I attempt to breathe new life into my blog.  Consider them a plea not to forget about me!  =P

   I just LOVE these~!!  Ahem.  I had to get that out.  You see, forget-me-nots are one of my most favorite flowers.  =)  And they were easy to mimic since they are a basic 5 petal shape.  The steps I used to make these are after the jump.

   Hello all!  I don't generally put up two posts in one day but this is related to my previous post about the Icing magnetics - it's the polishes on my nails!  If I had added my manicure the post would have been too huge, I think.  So, here are some additional pictures and thoughts about my nails... and some exciting news - I have a new camera!

   The colors are Rose Sparkle, Antique Brass Sparkle, Black Sparkle, and then Rose Sparkle again.  I skipped out on using Blue Shimmer because it doesn't have a glittery finish like these do.  I'll do that one another time.  There is top coat in these pictures,  but not a very shiny one.

   I think the magnetic designs came out better on my right hand.  I used the wavy-design magnet on all my nails save for the black ones.  I used my LCN star-pattern magnet for those.  I love the wavy magnets.  It looks like ribbons running down my nails!  And each ring finger got a holographic silver star paillette applied to one side.  The magnetic pattern looks like shine rays coming from the stars.  =)

   I just have to say it's so much easier using magnetics on my own nails, rather than swatching a nail wheel.  Having to hold both the wheel and the magnet - carefully! is just about as much as my shaky hands can muster.

   I just got my camera a couple days ago, it's a Canon which I never thought I would buy.  My boyfriend has a Canon and while it takes great pictures I never liked using it myself.  This one has the kind of controls I like, though.  In fact, it mostly done by touchscreen.  Anyway, I'm still getting used to it and what settings I should use.  I'll probably make a separate post about my camera when I have less awesome nail polish to blog about.  ;P  But I have to ask: can you notice a difference for the better?

   My kitty was in my lap during my Nail-of-the-Day pictures.  So, here are my nails, on her pretty fur!  This actually came out really well-focused (click to see larger).  I don't know about you but I think she looks great with these polish colors, too.  Good thing cats don't have fingernails.  =P

   One more picture of my nails for the road!  Thank you so much for reading and if you have any thoughts please share them.  =)

   Finally, right?  Sorry for my lateness in getting this up, but at least it is here at last!   I want to say thank-you to everyone who takes the time to read my blog.  Some of my earliest followers may remember I planned to do a giveaway at the 101-follower mark.  I've passed that, which is awesome!

   Let's take a look at the prize items, which are all new and provided by myself.  Everything is packed into a black velvet Zoya gift box...  I had a lot of fun putting this together:

• Zoya nail polish in Anaka
• 3D nail art stickers - 3 sheets
• an assortment of nail art paillettes
• cute footie socks with pom-poms

   This giveaway is running from Dec 30th, 2011 to January 20th, 2012.  It is open to United States residents.  International followers don't despair, I'm planning more worldwide giveaways in the future.  As usual this is being done using Rafflecopter, so simply use the widget to record your entries and you're good to go.  =)

   Here is my Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid mani dressed up with a coat of China Glaze Fairy Dust.  Fairy Dust is my absolute favorite microglitter top coat and it pairs fabulously with MKoCA!  The holographic dazzle on this one is perfect.

   As a reminder to everyone please join in on Picturesday!  The theme is "It Sparkles!" and I'd appreciate having everyone's photos before Wednesday the 4th.  =)  Here is my first post about the theme, and another post with all the details on how to join in.  Thanks!

   I'm at the point where I have so many new polishes that I can hardly decide what to put on my nails next!  I made my first Cult Nails order last month and finally decided to ignore all the other new things and try a full mani in the color My Kind of Cool Aid.

   It is definitely My Kind of Color!  In most lights it looks a little darker than this.  A muted, greyed-out lavender with silver shimmer.  The shimmer shows more in the bottle than on the nails, but it gives the creamy polish some character.  Also this doesn't dry very shiny on it's own, but a top coat glossed it right up.

   I added a few star paillettes to some of my nails!  And there is my thumbnail, steadily growing back out...

   Even though it has a big round cap it was still pretty easy to paint with.  Not the most comfortable, but not bad like I expected.  I really loved the formula on this.  It was easy to work with and didn't destroy itself or create bald spots.  Also, the coverage on this polish is awesome.  Here it is at just one coat:

   Isn't this gorgeous?  My of my Cult Nails polishes were.  I picked up Time Traveler for my Mom so I don't have that one to show you (though I've seen it on her nails and can tell you that it is the prettiest deep navy-sapphire-blue).  I have Feel Me Up, Clairvoyant and My Kind of Cool Aid.

   Sadly I shouldn't have risked buying Feel Me Up.  It is not a yellow I will wear, so I'm leaving it brand-new and hopefully I can swap it.  (Anyone interested in this color?  It is currently not available from Cult Nails.)  Clairvoyant is awesome, of course.  Mom got a bottle of that, too.  I might have to do a full flakie manicure next!

   Anyone else use Cult Nails?  I guess I'm late to the party, but I am really impressed!

  This manicure was inspired by my favorite gemstone: the opal.  I picked up the two Nyx Ave polishes that came back in stock on CherryCulture (more from that haul later) even though I wasn't expecting much.  I had heard them described as sparse with difficult to work with flake glitter.  I was pleasantly surprised.

   Sure, this was three coats of the glitters and my nails aren't loaded with flakes, but they are spread evenly and never stuck up off my nail.  The polishes had the same great consistency of all my other Nyx nail polishes and I really liked the brush.  Blue Ave has multi-colored flakies, Purple Ave has just cool-toned flakies.  Their jelly bases are very sheer and didn't effect my white nail polish at all other than to add more shine.  I used 2 coats of Essie Blanc and 1 coat of Marshmallow to give my nails a milky white base.  I also added two peach heart paillettes to my ring fingers.


   I also did one picture before clean-up which shows the colors quite well.  I really like this look, it's subtle but pretty.  So, do you mainly use your flakie nail polishes over dark colors, or have you tried them on white like this?

   At the start of October I was pleasantly surprised - I won a giveaway for my choice of three piCture pOlishes!  I have to give a huge thank-you to both piCture pOlish and Johanna from Paillette.  The polishes just arrived Monday so I immediately painted my nails up with one of the colors, Twinkle.  Find out my other two colors at the end of this post!

   So I was on the hunt for a nail polish thinner that wouldn't break the budget, and most reviews Online were pointing to Beauty Secrets brand - carried at Sally's.  The closest Sally's to me is a couple towns away and with how inconsistent my work schedule is it is a rare thing for me to go over that way anymore.  So I turned to the Online storefront where I found not only my nail polish thinner but other goodies, as well.  Here is most of what I ordered:

   I picked up a set of nail wheels, China Glaze Tinsel, Tough Coat top coat, Beauty Secrets Cuticle Oil, and some nail art glitter flakes and silver bullion, and a Picker Upper tool.

   I doubt I'll ever swatch all the colors in my collection that I know and love, but I will definitely use them for testing new colors and different polish layering combos.  China Glaze Tinsel was on my wishlist, and they happened to have in on sale for $1.99!  Tough Coat seems to be a good, thick and protective top coat for nail art, and I needed one of those.  All the other accessories were things I was interested in trying and bought up so I'd reach the free shipping mark!  I did order a few more things, dupes of what I own, and one item that was not in stock so they did not charge me for it or send it to me.

   Everything was shipped out pretty quickly and arrived safely, as you can see they taped over the top of the bottle of thinner.  Everything else was in bubble wrap.  I'm happy with what I got and think it's awesome that I managed to use a coupon from their site, got free shipping, and earned cashback.  Plus a few items were on sale!

   The best part of buying Online rather than in the store?  I found out SallyBeauty.com does cash back!  They have it through a few sites but the highest rate is from BigCrumbs.com, a whopping 9.6% cashback on ever dollar you spend.  So if it's not an "emergency" that requires running to the physical store to buy something I will definitely just keep a wishlist there Online and place an order through the webstore now and then.

   Do you shop in their physical store or Online?  If you ever use their Online site make sure your sign up for Big Crumbs to get some of your money back on what you buy! 

   I'm currently rocking this totally awesome manicure that appeals to my love of black nail polish and cutesy, girly things.  I used my new L.A Girl polish from their Rock Star Nail Lacquer collection.  The color?  Rockstar.  It is a black polish with a jelly-ish quality that is loaded with purple micro-flake shimmer that flashes green in the bottle.  I have only seen purple show on my nails, but it's gorgeous and I love it anyway.

   In fact I love it so much that I took a ton of pictures of it, which you can click to see larger.  =)