Purple Friday: Lollipop Posse Lacquer A Party for Calming All Your Nerves

Hey all! My probable last Purple Friday post! Tomorrow is the big day-- UW meets Alabama in the Peach Bowl as part of the college football playoffs! I feel like there's a lot riding on us to do well because the rest of the Pac-12 has been playing very poorly in their bowl games (overall the conference is 1-2 right now... not a pretty picture). The Dawgs are big underdogs in this game and most don't expect us to have a chance. I'm waffling being pessimistic (Alabama is so good, no one can beat them!) and optimistic (if anyone can beat them, Chris Peterson can!). Hard to know! Needless to say, my husband and I have a baby-sitter all lined up so we can go off and cheer on the Dawgs with some adult beverages. Hoping it's a good game, regardless of the outcome-- though of course I want the Dawgs to pull off the big upset! Let it be known that my husband picked this polish because of the name (which I picked because of the color, of course)-- it was this or one other polish so we'll see if this brings UW any luck!

This is my first experience with Lollipop Posse Lacquer.  I felt like the shipping took a really time, though to be fair I did order Thanksgiving Weekend, which is a busy time with sales and such. A Party for Calming All Your Nerves is from the Christmas Kiki collection and is described as a " matte, royal purple shade filled with blue-violet shifting shimmer." Yes, that's pretty spot on. The first coat was a bit sheer, but it built up. I wish it had been a bit more opaque but it wasn't bad. I used three coats here and there is maybe a hint of visible nail line but you can't really see it. In applying it again I might try to use slightly more polish on the second and third coats to really make it opaque. 

 Apparently I forgot to take pictures of my other hand pose without top coat! Whoops! I will try to get some later. I did add a top coat and you can really see how the shimmer pop!

This is a gorgeous color! I'm a little sad that it started off sheer but was happy it built up! The color is pretty stunning and I love both the matte and shiny finishes of this! The shimmer is really strong and I'm a sucker for that.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Crimson Tide! 

Level Up Lacquer Rebel Scum

I meant to sneak this in on Friday but forgot my SC card and was otherwise lazy or busy (mostly busy) this weekend, so you're getting this first thing Monday morning instead! It's no secret I'm a huge Star Wars fan (do you remember my month of Star Wars inspired nail polishes?!) so of course I have been eagerly anticipating Rogue One. This year my husband and I saw it right away and I loved it! It's very intense and emotional and I can't wait to see it again (one or two or three times). So I figured that I needed some sort of manicure to help celebrate. Looking through my stash, I grabbed a polish I didn't get to back in May; Level Up Lacquer Rebel Scum! It seemed appropriate given that the plot of this new movie revolves around the rebels stealing the plans to the Death Star.

Rebel Scum is inspired by the orange flight suits that rebel pilots wear. It's a shimmery orange jelly with white hexes and squares and gold triangle glitter. I was kind of afraid this would be sheer and the glitters would be a nightmare to apply-- I was partly right. I honestly think if I had been more on the ball and not waited until 10pm on Thursday night, I would have had fewer issues. The glitter in this polish sank and so my initial coat was mostly just base and almost no glitter. I finally turned it upside down and allowed the glitters to redistribute it was much easier to grab them with the brush and get them on my nail. So really I think it's mainly because this polish has been sitting around for many months and not because the polish is bad. I needed three coats to achieve the level of opacity I wanted and there is still a bit of VNL.

I like Rebel Scum for its Star Wars inspiration, though this definitely isn't a polish I would wear every day. (I like orange polish, of course, but am not a big glitter fan on a regular basis.) This is really spot on, given the inspiration! It's too bad the glitter settled but it was easily remedied with shaking the polish up. Overall I'm glad I was able to throw together a manicure that was a Star Wars manicure so I could see Rogue One in style!

Happy Monday all! Did you guys have busy weekends or did you get to do something fun and relaxing?

Daily Hues Alexandra

I can't remember what week it was now, but back in November I skipped a Purple Friday post because I was feeling pretty sick and didn't have the energy to paint my nails or blog about it. Thankfully, the polish I had applied before I got sick managed to hold up and was close enough to being purple that I just rolled with it for the football game (which the Huskies won, so I guess it worked, hah). Now I'll finally get around to showing you the polish, Daily Hues Alexandra. This was actually a group custom for the Facebook fan group. And now it looks like Daily Hues is going on a hiatus, if not closing, due to life/work. Another sad day for PNW polish fanatics; I feel like a lot of local makers are closing up shop, which sucks! Daily Hues did have some growing pains in the beginning which also didn't help, but I have enjoyed a good relationship with the maker Jenn and never experienced any issues myself.

ANYWAY... Alexandra was a group custom based on this photo:

The result is a really pretty polish! Alexandra is a rich pink toned purple orchid creme with golden shimmer with a dash of holo as well! The formula was good; a titch thick but easy to apply and I didn't struggle with it at all. I used three coats because of course I did, but I feel like two would have been sufficient for most people!

So pretty! I really like this! This is one of those shades that seems to be universally flattering and is really beautiful. I am bummed that Daily Hues is most likely going out of business but at least this gorgeous polish is mine!

Great Lakes Lacquer Leaves In The Lake

Ugh, running so behind right now! I can't remember to actually write any of my posts! That's annoying, sorry! Today I have a really pretty polish to share with you, Great Lakes Lacquer Leaves In The Lake. This was a limited edition polish released in September as an exclusive for Polish Con, which took place in Chicago. Luckily it was also released for a short time in the Great Lakes store, so even those of us that couldn't make it to Polish Con got to participate a little!

Leaves In The Lake is a deep blue jelly stuffed full of multicolor flakies. Being a jelly, the first coat was definitely sheer, but the flakies are pretty dense and easy to get out. This builds up really pretty nicely but you definitely need three coats to eliminate VNL if you're not going to layer it over a base color. But I didn't really have any troubles; even the flakies were pretty well behaved and only wanted to migrate a little.

This photographed looking a little thin on the tips, which I think is due to the jelly base of the polish; in real life, there was maybe a hint of VNL but nothing all that bothersome and it looked pretty opaque to the eye. I love that this polish really does look like fall leaves in the water. Plus, I love flakies so it's not a huge surprise that this appeals to me.

Happy Thursday! We're almost at the weekend!

Colors by Llarow Fall Is Coming

Hey, two CbL polishes back to back! Today I have the October POTM to share with you: Fall Is Coming! Fall is already here (and almost over!) but that's no reason not to share this gorgeous polish with you! And I actually wore it in November anyway, so there you go!

Fall is Coming is described as a "reddened berry plum linear holo with a pink to gold shift." Yes! Jewel tone colors like this are perfect for fall (and winter) and so this is a great choice for a color in the latter months of the year! Like most CbL's, this had a good formula-- a touch on the thick side but easy to apply and went on smoothly. I honestly don't remember how many coats I wore-- pretty sure it was three but probably could have gotten away with two!

I love colors like this. Rich but also feminine and so very flattering! It not be totally unique but it's still beautiful! I certainly do love this one and it's probably one of my favorite POTM from CbL this year!

Colors by Lllarowe Turning Leaves

Today I have the Colors by Llarowe November Polish of the Month, Turning Leaves. I actually meant to post this last week but time escaped me and I never got around to it. That seems pretty typical this month! I definitely spent some of this weekend panicking about getting ready for Christmas, but am feeling a bit better after we got our tree up and (mostly) decorated and I started baking some cookies. Now to finish the shopping and wrapping! On to the polish!

Turning Leaves is a deep reddish brown linear holographic polish. This color definitely captures the richness of fall. I would say that Turning Leaves looks more red in the bottle, and though there is a definite red tone it definitely looked more brown on the nail. I didn't have any issues with this polish-- like most CbL's it was a little thick but in the good, easy to apply way. I only needed two coats and probably could have gotten away with one if I had been careful but blah blah I can never do that anyway! So two coats! I wore this for longer than my normal two days over the Thanksgiving holiday and it held up pretty well.

I love browns like Turning Leaves. It's deep and rich-- there's a lot of depth here so it's not just a blah brown. I love the slight red tone it has, and of course the holographic finish never disappoints and really makes this a true beauty! It's dark but never looked black. Great formula, wore well, and probably one of my favorite browns this year-- if I've even worn that many browns at all!

Happy Monday! Are you busy getting ready for the holidays?

Great Lakes Lacquer All Those Dreadful Little Cuts

I wore this back in October when I was in WI visiting my grandmother-- I wanted a neutral polish that would go with a lot but was also interesting. I mean, I do love a good creme, but I knew I would be wearing this for several days so I wanted a little more! Enter Great Lakes Lacquer All Those Dreadful Little Cuts, which was a limited edition polish and a collaboration with another blogger, Polished Pathology. All Those Dreadful Little Cuts is a deep grey creme with a strong silver shimmer and smattering of red flakies.

The formula of this was pretty good, from what I recall (especially since it's been almost two months since I wore it)! I think I used three coats here in an attempt to ensure the longevity of the polish (which I wore for... four days in a row, which is practically unheard of). I probably could have gotten away with two; this polish was pretty opaque. I definitely didn't have any issues with this-- it went on easily and smoothly!

I do think this polish is nice looking, but it didn't really wow me, unfortunately. I'm not quite sure why-- I think it was a little darker and more metallic looking on my nails which I didn't love as much as I wanted to. But really, that's life. I mean, I really do love the pictures of it, I just didn't love it on my nails as much. I don't know! I wish the base were maybe just a few shades lighter, but it's a minor complaint. You can see the red flakies, though they get a bit overwhelmed by the silver shimmer.

All in all, not one of my favorite polishes of the year, but still very pretty!

Darling Diva Andromeda

I was feeling the need for something different and so reached for a red, because I feel like it's been awhile since I a wore a good red polish. I love a good red polish but find I tend not to wear it during the fall because I'm more fixated on purple and football season. But even I need a break everyonce and awhile! Today's polish, Darling Diva Andromeda, was a custom polish from Fantasmic Flakies FB group. Andromeda is described as a "red berry polish flashes from brick red through purple berry with a soft linear holo and blue to red multichrome flakies."

The first coat went on pretty sheer, but it did build up nicely despite give me some initial worry. Two coats wasn't quite enough for me due my wide nail beds, so I used three-- which I probably would have anyway. The larger flakies did want to drag to the edge of my nail,  but it wasn't a huge issue and otherwise (aside from the sheerness on the first coat) there weren't any issues with Andromeda because application was fine aside from those two minor things! As you can see in my photos, the final product is well worth it!

Andromeda is so so gorgeous! While I was worried because the first coat was a little sheer, I was really happy with the finished product. The color is deep and beautiful, and the holographic finish and flakies give it depth. It's definitely a unique polish to  my collection!

Hope everyone's week is off to a good start! 

Purple Friday: Different Dimension Aster Purple Dome

We did! We stomped the Cougars in the Apple Cup just as I hoped (and maybe was praying for, haha) and by doing so, claimed the Pac-12 North crown. After the last regular season Pac-12 games were played on Saturday, we're facing Colorado in the Pac-12 Championship game that happens to be tonight! While we'd love to be there in person cheering on the Dawgs, traveling to California wasn't in the cards this time around. But we are fortunate that our regular babysitter was available and she's going to watch the kids so we can have a nice date night and watch the game! Colorado will definitely present a challenge-- they started in the Pac-12 as one of the worst programs but have turned it around, as evidenced by the fact that they won the Pac-12 South and are currently ranked in the top 10 themselves. I'm not really sure what to expect from this game-- I definitely know Colorado will not be push over, but I'm also not sure their defense can match ours, which may give us the edge (I hope)! But they have a very good offense and the Dawgs will have to work hard to keep them contained. Fingers crossed! I suspect I will have severe anxiety over this game as the day goes on!

While I was searching  my extensive collection of purple polishes (and I do mean extensive), I was having a hard time deciding which purple I felt I should pick for the championship game. Nothing seemed quite right (and I had swatched several) until I pulled out Different Dimension Aster Purple Dome. This was a fan group custom that was released sometime this past spring and I was hoping that the purple with gold combo would be what I was looking for: BINGO! Exactly I what I was hoping for. Aster Purple Dome is a deep grape purple creme with gold and holographic glitter scattered through out. I had no issues with this; it went on smoothly and the glitter is perfectly distributed. And I only needed two coats! TWO! Practically unheard of for me, you guys!

In the bottle, I thought this might lean too blue, so I was really happy when I applied Aster Purple Dome and it was a nice rich purple. I love how smoothly this went on. The gold and holographic glitter takes it to the next level. Purple and gold is always a great combo, so it's not really surprise that I love this! I love how deep the purple is-- it is definitely blue leaning but I have no problem seeing that it's purple.

As a final note, the name on this is totally confusing. I've seen it as Aster Dome Purple (another review) and Aster Purple Dome (on my bottle/order) so I picked the latter because seems to be more common.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Buffs! 

Native War Paints End of Summer

I initially meant to post this, uh, two weeks ago(?!) but I started getting sick and felt so terrible that I couldn't muster the energy to finish the post. Frankly, I'm still recovering from whatever the heck bug this is-- it's really done a number on me! Here's another polish dealing with transition of summer to fall, the appropriately titled End of Summer by Native War Paints. I believe this was their Labor Day mystery polish which I got because I'm a sucker like that, haha! End of Summer is a stormy blue (or denim blue? Take your pick!) with with a silver/gold shimmer running through out it.

I wore End of Summer while ago so of course I can't remember all the details, but I don't recall any issues with this polish! I used definitely two, probably three coats of this and it was easy to work with. I do think the shimmer gave it a bit of a metallic-y feel to it, so I had to be careful not to overload my brush with polish to avoid any streaks, but as you can see, I didn't have any problems with that!

I think this is super pretty, though I did wish the shimmer was a bit more prominent on the nail. It's a small nit to pick! But the color is so pretty that I don't really care. This gorgeous color works all year round!

Just a quickie post today-- happy Thursday all! 

Enchanted Polish Congratulations

Let's kick off the week with a bang, as it were! Today I have an older Enchanted Polish, Congratulations, which is actually happens to be available right now-- it was re-released this year and has been in stock for awhile. I believe it was originally released in 2013. Congratulations is a beautiful bronze holographic with a slight gold/green duochrome shift. I've had this sitting around for some months, but the color seemed appropriate for the fall season so I decided to wait until fall and then grabbed it to use!

The formula on this was a little thin, compared to some other Enchanteds, but not difficult to work with. The first coat was a bit sheer, but built up nicely. I ended up using three coats, but that's pretty standard for me, as I have probably mentioned a few thousand times. You might be able to get away with two coats but I felt three was what I needed to get the opaque coverage I wanted! But other than being on the thinner side, I had absolutely no issues and it applied easily.

The rainbow on this is just stunning, isn't it?! So freaking beautiful. I love how strong it is, it's just entrancing. I didn't find the duochrome to be very strong in this polish, compared to others from the same collection (like The Youth or Future Reflections) but it was still hard to tear my eyes off it. So beautiful! 

Purple Friday: Different Dimension Raindrops on Roses

And here we are, the last game of the season: Apple Cup!! As always, the last game of the season pits us against our in-state rival, Washington State University. This promises to be a fierce game as each team only has one loss in-conference and the winner will make it to the conference championship game. Added to being state rivals and there are of course a lot of taunts being thrown around from both sides and a lot of heated feelings. So we'll see what happens! I suspect this game will go down to the wire! I'm afraid for the Dawgs because we've been slow to start the past few games and we can't afford to do that here, as the Cougars will strike fast and a lot given the chance. Hopefully the UW defense (and offense) will bring their A game! Considering I never thought we'd be this good, it's awesome to be playing for a shot at the conference title! 

Different Dimension Raindrops on Roses was a recent custom (I think from October) for the FB group Fantasmic Flakies. Of course, being purple, there was no doubt that I had to get this. When it arrived, I quickly decided I wanted to wear it for one of my Purple Friday posts! Even though this won't be the final Purple Friday post of this football season (the Dawgs will go to a bowl game regardless of the outcome of this game) my thinking was "save the best for last" because this is a truly stunning polish so it felt fitting to use it for our last regular season home game. Raindrops on Roses is a medium violet jelly with a strong blue shimmer, scattered holographic and blue flakies! There's a lot going on but it's worth it! Being a jelly the first coat was a little sheer, but not bad. It built up nicely and while two coats probably would have been fine, I used three due to my giant nails. 

This polish is so fabulous, I'm glad I got it. The blue flash is pretty strong but adds a lot of depth to this polish. I love everything about it! 

Go Dawgs! Beat the Cougs! 

Different Dimension Buttersweet Symphony

Hey look, it's another polish from last fall! Throwback post! Although I feel like almost all of my stuff is throwbacks because I never get around to posting it on time, haha! Buttersweet Symphony was from the Different Dimension Fall 2015 collection, and I got it on sale this past spring I think. Given that it was from a fall collection, I figured I would wait until the fall to wear it! And then in the aftermath of the election I was looking for something to wear and the name and the color called to me, so here you go!

Buttersweet Symphony is rich butterscotch yellow with a strong green tone and a holographic finish. This had a pretty good formula; the first coat was a little on the sheer side but it built up nicely and I didn't have any issues applying it at all. I used three coats here, though I feel like you could maybe get away with two depending on your polishing style/nail size.

I think this is a fabulous color! It does a lean a little green which some might not find all that flattering, but I enjoyed this a lot. It's just a smidge more unique than most golds. I found that this mostly looked gold on me, but did have a stronger green tone in certain light. So this is a huge winner for me, I love it!

Polish 'M Autumn's Palette

Well last week I got sick and felt terrible, so I didn't post as much as I intended-- I have more posts planned for this week but of course am already running behind! Today I have a fun bit of sparkle to share with you! This is actually a polish from Polish M's 2015 Fall collection, but same old same old with me: I'm finally getting around to wearing it! Like with many of polishes, it's really a shame because this one is beautiful! Autum's Palette is a glitter bomb that has a “clear base with copper-gold-fuchsia UCC mega flakes, gold galaxy holo glitter and copper galaxy holo glitter.” That's a lot going on! 

Despite the clear base, Autumn's Palette is jam packed and while it definitely wasn't full coverage on the first coat, it built up nicely. I used three coats here. I love how the magenta flakies stand out against the copper base; it really does feel like fall in a bottle! 

The blingtasticness of this polish freaked my camera out just a bit! While I'm bummed I waited so long to wear this in the first place, it was definitely worth the wait because this polish is beautiful!  I loved wearing it and couldn't stop staring at my nails while I did so. Autumn's Palette is just stunning and really captures the feeling and colors of fall! I love it! 

Colors by Llarowe Summer Always

Hah, it's a little late to be posting this but time has been getting away from me (not a good feeling heading into the holidays)! Another week and I'm totally unprepared with posts and pictures etc etc! Ugh. Football season is almost over and then the holidays are upon us-- can you believe Thanksgiving is next week?! I'm starting to panic just a little. Today I have the Colors by Llarowe POTM from September(?), which is called Summer Always. Seems pretty appropriate for that month, when we are generally clinging to last of the warm weather. I have to say we had a pretty nice fall out here in Seattle, with lots of sunny, crisp days. Hard to beat that, especially when the rain comes! Summer Always is a very pretty mint green holographic with a strong pink shimmer. 

CbL Summer Always falls right in line with other polishes from this line-- no complaints. I wore this a month ago so I can't remember all the details but I probably used three coats here as that's what I usually do! There certainly aren't any issues that standout to me as I think back to it. 

Because I'm blogging this so late, the color is a little off for the season but it's still a gorgeous color! I love that the pink shimmer doesn't get lost in the base. I also like that it's a slightly deeper mint base too. I feel like this color may not be totally unique these days, but I love the combo of holo and shimmer and am always happy to have more of those in my collection! 

Hope your week is off to a good start! 

Purple Friday: Love Angeline Laying Under Midnight Skies

Despite my lame attempts at blogging this week, of course I needed to get a Purple Friday post up! This week is a big one for us-- we face USC, who even though they are having a "down" year and are sitting at 6-3, are still a strong and fast team that can't be overlooked. I'm not exactly sure if I would call it bad blood, but this game generates a lot of feeling, given that our former coach left UW for SC (and then was subsequently fired) and I have no doubt they would love to knock us out of the number 4 spot. Honestly, the election pushed a lot of thoughts about this game out of my mind and so now I am getting a little anxious about it. Luckily we're at home but we'll definitely need to come out strong to take a win over the Trojans! I'm actually skipping the game to go wedding dress shopping with my sister, who got engaged last month! I feel like that might be a better way to direct my post-election anxiety (which will turn into football anxiety tomorrow).

I was debating about which purple polish to use and finally settled on Love Angeline Laying Under Midnight Skies, which was part of the fall collection. In the bottle this polish is a medium purple holographic with scattered holographic glitters. On the nail, the color deepens-- I did use three coats though two would have sufficed. The first coat was a little sheer and had a slight jelly feel to it, but I didn't have any issues and as you can see, builds up nicely! It's not quite as shiny as it could because I was lazy and didn't use a top coat here.

Lovely! I love the flame-- it's present but still has a softness to it that I can't resist. The holo glitters are harder to see, but they are and sparkle in just the right light! I was a bit worried because this looks a lot lighter in the bottle, which really wasn't what the swatches showed, so I was happy when it darkened up as I applied more coats. And even though the game tomorrow kicks at 4:30, it's practically a night game now that we're off DST so the name works too!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Trojans!

Lucky 13 Lacquer Valkyrie

I can't lie, I am feeling pretty devastated after the election results on Tuesday and have not been motivated to do a lot. I'm mostly staying off social media because I'm tired of people arguing and/or gloating. I don't want to turn this into a political blog, but I'm tired, sad, and worried. And maybe you're happy about the results, and that's fine too-- we live in a big country and we don't have to agree on everything. I do hope we can come together and things will get better but I still feel very raw emotionally. And with that said... let's move on to the polish. I have a nice subtle palette cleanser today.

At some point recently, I was having a hard time picking a polish and was being very wishy-washy and then I saw this bottle and decided to go with it! I wanted a brand I hadn't used recently and was leaning toward a nude polish, so Lucky 13 Lacquer Valkyrie fit the bill! I've actually been wanting to wear this polish for awhile, but kept pushing it aside for other things so now here we are! Valkyrie is a neutral beige holographic and a subtle pink shimmer. I used three coats here, but I probably could have gotten away with two. I was expecting this to be a little sheer, and while the formula was a little thin, it covered very well. I didn't have any issues! I wasn't really able to capture the pink shimmer in any photos, but it was visible in person.

This is a really lovely polish. First of all, it's a gorgeous neutral-- very sophisticated and elegant. Secondly it has a gorgeous subtle pink shimmer and holographic finish to help elevate it and give it more depth. Thirdly, the formula is good! So winner winner chicken dinner! I love these elevated neutrals (as opposed to say, a plain creme) because they have just enough of a twist to keep things interesting-- though of course I love a good creme as well!

I hope everyone is having a relatively okay week (it's been hard for me, I can't lie) and I'm looking forward to the weekend because we're going wedding dress shopping for my little sister, who just got engaged last month!! Eeeee! Very excited to have a brother-in-law and see them get married! That will be a nice distraction! 

Girly Bits What Happens in Vegas... Ends Up on Twitter

Ugh, trying to get back in the groove of blogging. It's hard when you get out of practice for any length of time! This post was supposed to go up last month but I kept putting it off and off and here we are in November! Today I have this year's LE Cosmoprof shade from Girly Bits, the fourth in a series entitled What Happens in Vegas... Ends Up on Twitter. This was a LE shade released this summer for CosmoProf in Vegas, so if you missed, unfortunately you are probably out of luck for the time being (though previous shades have made a return before, so maybe it'll be released again in the future). Sorry it's taken me so long to get it up!

What Happens in Vegas.... Ends Up on Twitter is described as a "denim blue holo that shifts from pink to gold, with an added sprinkling of gorgeous aqua holographic glitter." I guess this is mostly accurate? I see a lot of purple in the demin blue base and I feel there's a slight overall green shift to the polish.I only used two coats here. I probably would have used three to be thorough, but the brush was giving me some fits and two coats looked pretty good. 

As you can see, my camera picks up a lot of purple, but its kind of a dusty blue-purple. I couldn't really catch of the shift but I did manage to get some of the turquoise (errr, aqua) glitters: 

Pardon the one chip and focus on the glitters! What Happens in Vegas.... Ends Up on Twitter is just gorgeous; I'm really glad I snagged this! These polishes never fail to disappoint! I can't wait to see what color Pam comes up with next year!

Purple Friday: Zoya Iris

The Huskies managed to pull out a win over a top-25 ranked Utah... really I feel like we could have run away with the game, except for an early turnover helped give Utah momentum AND points and we had to do some catch up! But luckily we swung the momentum back in our favor and ended up with the W! I was getting very anxious and ended up almost finishing a puzzle in an effort to avoid watching the game, hah. This week we have another away game, the Cal Bears, and my husband and I are actually headed down to the Bay Area to watch the game in person! We're trying to hit at least one away game a year and we were initially also going to go to Arizona in September, but it didn't end up working out (aka we got lazy and didn't our shizz together). But we're going this weekend! I'm worried about this game too, but really all of UW's games in November are killer. Hopefully the Dawgs come out strong and it's a good game! 

Traveling has thrown me off and I'm pretty unprepared for blogging in general right now! I got back from my trip to Wisconsin and hadn't even changed my polish, let alone picked out a new purple for Purple Friday... I was casting around to think of what purple polishes when I remembered that I had Zoya Iris lurking in one of my boxes and I thought "aha! A brand I haven't worn in awhile... I'll use that!" Iris is described as a "deep amethyst with a fuchsia pearl fleck in the traditional MatteVelvet finish." I was a little concerned when I applied my first coat and it looked more red (or perhaps magenta) than purple. I would say that Iris leans a lot more red than I expected but as you layer it, it deepens and takes on a more purple tone. I ended up using three coats, though two probably would have been sufficient. I liked the depth that three coats had. The formula was smooth and not too thick! 

Because Iris is a matte, I also decided I needed to show it to you guys with a top coat:

I'm not sure if I would have chosen Iris if I had more time, solely for the fact that it leans a little more red than I was anticipating-- the color itself is gorgeous and flattering. The formula was good and it looks good either matte or with a top coat! 

Go Dawgs! Beat the Bears!

Purple Friday: Salon Perfect A Royal Affair

We prevailed last week over Oregon State and even though I'm out of town this week, I'm still rooting on my team from afar! And not only that, this week ESPN Gameday is in Salt Lake City for the UW-Utah showdown! It would be a lot of fun to travel down there, so I hope the Dawg fans who do have a great time. This week will be a tough challenge for the Dawgs; frankly, the back half of our schedule is pretty brutal at this point, with at least four good teams that will be chomping at the bit to take us down. I just want the Dawgs to keep their heads down and grind out one game at a time! Hopefully we take the same magic that we had in Oregon down to SLC and come back with the win!

This week I chose Salon Perfect A Royal Affair for my purple polish. I'll be honest, I picked this polish partly for selfish reasons-- I'm traveling with it and wanted a polish that I wouldn't cry over if it got lost or broke in transit. No offense to A Royal Affair, but I believe it's a perennial polish and even though I hate to lose a polish in any circumstances, I would really hate to lose a special indie. So there you go! A Royal Affair is a neon grape purple. This was my first experience with Salon Perfect, and alas, perfect was a misnomer in this case. The formula of this polish was pretty finicky and my first coat was a nightmare; very sheer and pooled all around the edges. Luckily, three coats gave me pretty good coverage; it's definitely not completely even and there are some thin spots but it looks mostly good.

The formula of A Royal Affair leaves a lot to be desired sadly, but the color is very pretty. It's not neon as the color in the bottle seems to suggest, but it's still a lovely color. I'd be curious to see how it looks over white (though not this week) to see if that would make it pop more. I certainly wish the formula was better; hopefully my next experience with the Salon Perfect brand is better!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Utes!

Purple Friday: Fairytale Finish Picking Huckleberries

Hah, apparently when I talked about taking a brief hiatus, I actually meant this week because I completely forgot to get anything together for blogging! Whoopsie!  Sorry about that. I will try (and probably fail) to have some stuff up next week, when I am actually traveling, but this month has turned absolutely crazy so I make no guarantees.

Well, I could not have asked for more in regards to the UW-Oregon game! If I were writing a report card for UW football (in regards to that game) it would be: exceeds expectations. We just walloped the Ducks, and I don't feel sorry about it at all, given how they've beaten us 12 years in a row! I'm trying not to get too excited because there's still a lot of football to play. But the Dawgs are already bowl eligible and things are looking good! I'm loving how this team looks! It's a lot of fun to watch them! This week we play the other Oregon school, the Oregon State Beavers. OSU has suffered a lot of injuries, though they did just beat Cal, so I would call them a sleeper team and we've been surprised by them in the past! Hopefully the Dawgs are rested and ready after their bye week and haven't fallen asleep at the wheel.

The polish I picked for this week if Fairytale Finish Picking Huckleberries, which is described as a "lovely purple jelly with micro silver holo flakies, and scattered holo." To me this is a kind of reddish purple, though with the jelly formula it does deepen and darken as you layer it. With the jelly formula, it does go on a little bit sheer at first, but builds up nicely. I used three coats here and didn't have any issues! 

Picking Huckleberries is very pretty; the scatter holographic flakies make this a more unique purple polish in my collection. It's really lovely and again, makes me sad that Fairytale Finish has closed shop. Because this polish was part of a collaboration celebrating Washington, it felt right to pull out as we play another Northwest school.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Beavers! 

Enchanted Polish August 2016

Happy Thursday! My posting schedule is shifting a little again, like I mentioned in Tuesday's post I will either have a reduced number or no posts the last couple of weeks in October due to some traveling, but also I realized I need to wear some more polishes! I'm running out of previously worn/photographed polishes to talk about and so my posting schedule will also probably be a bit lighter. Currently I'm only changing my polish about three times a week just due to scheduling, and I don't have much in reserve right now! I honestly need to go back into my old hard drive because I'm pretty sure I have unworn polishes there that I need to share with you, so maybe I'll have time for that one weekend soon. Today I have one of the Enchanted Polish monthly mystery polishes to share with you-- this year the monthly mystery polishes are shimmers (instead of holographics) and the one I'm going to share with you now is August 2016.

August 2016 is a neutral toned beige with pink shimmer. I only used two coats here!! That's pretty impressive for a nude polish. Honestly, though, I only used two because I knew I would be layering a glitter topper over it-- if I had been wearing it alone I would have put on a third coat just to be thorough. But really, it almost doesn't need and I'm really happy with the formula. I did use a lighter touch, anticipating possible dragging/streaks which may have helped, but it does look really good!

Sometimes a clean, elegant nude manicure is what you need and August 2016 fits the bill. I think the pink shimmer gives it a nice depth and keeps it from being just another neutral polish. I think this would be flattering across a wide range of skin tones as it walks the line between being too pink or too yellow. The formula was great, which is plus because the base is so light. Even at two coats this is mostly even and there is maybe one minimal thin spot. I'm impressed!

Girly Bits Sun Dog

For the life of me, I am just feeling so uninspired to write lately! It's a bummer because I really loved the polish that I am sharing with you today, but finding the words right now is so freaking hard! If you blog, do you ever go through periods like that? I guess I'm in a rut and need to find a way out of it! Not sure exactly what I'm going to do, but hopefully I can come up with something! Today's polish is one of the Girly Bits COTM polishes from August, Sun Dog. I really loved this duo (I'll have the other half to share with you later) but Sun Dog is the one I wanted to wear first. Not only is the color right up my alley, but the name, though totally unrelated, makes me think of my alma mater (UW), the mascot of which was originally the Sundodgers (get it, because it rains a lot in Seattle?!) and our current mascot, the Huskies, or as we also say, Dawgs. The strange things we think of when looking at a polish, am I right? 

Sun Dog is described as a "light golden copper shimmolo, with bronze micro flakes and copper shimmer." Think this is pretty straight forward and accurate, don't you? This is truly a color for all seasons, but I think the colors definitely capture the sun drenched, heat soaked days of summer and the golden, changing days of fall, so it's perfect as a summer to fall transition shade. But really, a metallic is always in season! The formula on this was good, which is generally what I expect for a Girly Bits polish. The first coat was a little sheer, but built up nicely and I used three coats for the coverage I wanted.

I'm a sucker for colors like this and so it's no surprise that I love this, a lot. The holo is gorgeous, I love the flakies... it's a flattering and wearable shade. I love everything about it! I think it will definitely be going on my "best of 2016" list!

On a programming note: I will probably be taking some time off blogging at the end of October due to some traveling. My grandma was recently diagnosed with cancer and while we're still getting details/information/a timeline, my sister and I have decided we need to spend some time with her so we'll be traveling to the Midwest this month to visit! I'm really looking forward to it and we'll see if I can get some content up and running before I leave, but I make no promises (except that I will definitely make sure I have a Purple Friday post planned)! Just wanted to let you guys know in case I vanish and you actually think "what the heck is going on?"