Purple Friday: Girly Bits Seriously Sassy

Hey all! I have a Purple Friday post this week because, ta-da, the Huskies play in Cactus Bowl tonight against Oklahoma State! So of course I had to paint my nails purple for the occasion! But which purple to wear? I have so many that I haven't worn yet!

After polling several outlets, I settled on Girly Bits Seriously Sassy as my purple polish of the moment (top left). The Girly Bits website describes this polish as "a royal purple jelly, with blue to purple colour shifting glitter." I would add that there's some pink in there too, but the blue dominants and make the polish lean blue or blurple. The description of this also calls it a jelly, and while it does have a jelly-like consistency, it covers very well and I only needed two coats (the website suggests 2-3 coats).

Seriously Sassy definitely needs a top coat as it dries down to a matte finish-- I actually used two because the first coat wasn't as shiny as I wanted, though the glitter wasn't eating through the top coat (it was still smooth to the touch).

Given that this is a purple and a blue leaning purple at that, it wanted to give me trouble so I was fooling around a bit with my camera (I am clearly no expert here... if I ever have time again, this is one of my goals) to try and get photos that more accurately capture color. They still don't do Seriously Sassy justice, and are slightly blurred on the edges but I feel capture the color a bit better. In any case, the polish actually looks purple and not blue. You can see the blue glitter in the purple base.

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This purple IS seriously sassy! In low light it is very dark, but you can tell it's not black. In other lighting situations, it just glows and has an electric quality to it. I'm definitely smitten.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Cowboys!

Purple Friday: Illamasqua Faux Pas

Hey all! I'm technically squeaking this post in on Friday, though most of you will probably see it on Saturday. I've decided to shift from Football Fridays to Purple Fridays, because that's the weekly "spirit day" we have at UW before every football game. Plus, I figured that calling it Purple Friday would be more of a reason to actually review the polish. Or something. In any case, I'm giving it a try!

Tonight I have Illamasqua Faux Pas to show you. Faux Pas is described as a "blue violet" with a rubber finish. This was released several years ago (in 2011) but I grabbed it a couple years ago when it showed up on sale at Sephora. This was my first exposure to Illamasqua as a brand and I was definitely pleased. Faux Pas has a great formula and applies really easily. This could also be a one coater, but I used two in photos below-- I have wide nail beds so it gets a little draggy if you try to use too many strokes. While Faux Pas does take slightly longer to dry down to the rubber finish, it didn't feel like it was very long and you can complete your manicure fairly quickly (always a bonus in my book). The rubber finish is a not a true matte but as a subtle shine to it, making it look kind of like vinyl. Personally, I really love the finish but if you're looking for a true matte, this isn't it. Overall, I love this polish and I regret not buying all the other rubber finish Illamasqua polishes when I had the chance. Maybe they will re-release them someday (I can only hope)!

Quick note: photos are making this a bit brighter and more blue than it is in real life.

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Faux Pas is still available to purchase, but unfortunately you can't buy Illamasqua at any brick and mortar stores in the US at the moment-- you can only buy it from their website and then pay to have it shipped from the UK... which means $$. But Illamasqua will definitely ship internationally so that's an option if you really want this and have money to spend!

Football Friday: EWU Edition

After eeking out a win last week against Hawaii, the Dawgs open up play at home and will hopefully have a better outing (fingers crossed, otherwise it will be a long, grim football season). The weather is supposed to be beautiful and in the low 80's and nothing says September like a crisp breeze, sunshine and football! We're playing a lower division state school this week, but make no mistake, this is no cupcake game!

This week I decided to pull out another of my Ozotic polishes, Ozotic 624. This has a similar base to Ozotic 513, but instead of linear holographic this has a more scattered holographic finish. This polish has also been discontinued, but the piCture pOlish brand has been bringing back some of these polishes, reformulated and renamed-- so this one might make a second appearance in the future! Here I used three coats and no top coat.

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I couldn't let this polish languish any longer, especially since the weather is supposed to be so nice! I actually love the scattered holographic finish and the glow it gives this polish.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Eagles! 

Football Friday: Aloha Edition

This week marks the start of another college football season! The Huskies play their first game this weekend against Hawaii, in Oahu. Believe me, I wish I was there. I wish so so badly that I was in Hawaii. But with two small children and no spare money, it's a pipe dream. But man, it would be soooooooooo nice. Beaches, palm trees, tropical drinks-- sounds like heaven. Actually it would be heaven whether or not we had children, but most especially now that we do. Another time, I guess. Some day!

I can't promise regular Football Friday posts, but I'll try. Really what I'm doing right now is going through my swatched polishes that haven't made it onto the blog yet. So tonight I have the now defunct Ozotic 513. This is a gorgeous medium purple polish with a strong linear holographic finish. So pretty! This would look very pretty if I was actually lying in the Hawaiian sunshine, but it still looks gorgeous here too! Shame on me for letting this linger in a drawer for ages-- what a crime!

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So pretty! Doesn't this deserve to soak up some Hawaiian sunshine?

If you're into football, I hope you enjoy the first week of the season!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Warriors!

Football Friday: Arizona Edition (Part I)

This is probably my last big Football Friday manicure, as we've got between 2-3 weeks before our babies are born! So I except the next few posts (assuming there are ones) will probably be fairly simple. Tomorrow we start Pac-12 play against the Arizona Wildcats (and then later on will play Arizona State, hence the Part I). Last year we lost terribly to Arizona, but this year is more difficult to predict-- it's early in the season and neither team is really proven, though theoretically UW has played the more difficult schedule thus far. I'm also making the decision to skip this game and I'm glad, because there's supposed to be a huge rain and wind storm hitting the Seattle area and that doesn't seem appealing to me at all. 

This week I went back to my favorite nail art technique, a sponge gradient. I wanted to play off our uniforms a little so I used FingerPaints Bare No Secrets as my base and then sponged FingerPaints A Grape Catch on top of it. Then to add to zing, I layered Wet n Wild 18K Gold over it. I really like how this manicure turned out. It's subtle, but still spirited.

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Go Dawgs! Beat the Wildcats!

Football Friday: Idaho State Edition

Time for another Football Friday post! Last week was an away game and we won, which was awesome! The Huskies actually moved up in the polls and this week we face an FCS opponent in the Idaho State Bengals (seriously... tigers in Idaho?). This should be an easy win for the Dawgs, though every FBS fan knows that it's a mistake to overlook an FCS opponent-- just ask Michigan, Oregon State or Kansas State. Sadly, I won't be attending the game tomorrow, just for the sake of not overtaxing myself. I love football games, but they are not super relaxing to attend and so I will stay home on the couch. Given that the weather calls for rain, this is not entirely a bad thing. I'll miss the atmosphere, of course, by I'm sure my body (especially my puffy feet) will thank me,

For this week, given the opponent and the fact that I'm not going I decided to go fairly simple with my manicure this week. I picked out Julep Reece, an add-on polish from my September Maven Box. Reece is a scattered purple holographic polish-- that also happens to be a duochrome! Depending on the light, Reece can shift from purple to a greenish grey. But straight on it's a gorgeous metallic purple with some holographic sparkle. Slightly low key with just the right amount of flare-- basically what we need at our game tomorrow.

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I'll probably do a full review of this polish at a later day, but I loved the surprise duochrome and the holographic qualities.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Bengals!

Football Friday: Chicago Deep Dish Edition

Hey all! After a break last week due to an early bye, I'm back this week with another Football Friday look! The Huskies are in Chicago to play the Fighting Illini of Illinois. These two teams have actually met 9 times, which blows my mind, but the most recent match-up was in 1972, so it's been awhile. Originally my husband and I thought we would go to this game, but obviously things have changed and traveling is not really an option right now. So we'll watch the game on TV, which isn't necessarily a bad thing. Road games are always frustrating to watch and the Huskies tend to struggle when they travel. Illinois hasn't been a great team over the last few years, but they seem to be on a hot streak right, so we'll see what happens tomorrow. I am trying to temper my optimism so I'm not disappointed, though obviously I hope the Dawgs run away with the score.

Since we've also got a couple of other engagements tomorrow in addition to football, I have a great purple ombre maternity dress that I plan on wearing and still be spirited.  My Target maternity dress (the colors are off as the top isn't nearly as bright in person) looks like this:

So I decide to recreate my dress as my manicure! First I grabbed Cult Nails Vicious as my base, which is a warm deep purple. Then I decided to sponge on Julep Padma, a shimmery dark purple on the tips of nails to recreate the deeper purple bottom of the dress. Add  top coat and viola!

Note: sorry about all the bubbling on my ring finger-- my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri top coat is obviously on its last legs, ugh. So annoying!

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Sorry for the short post tonight-- it's been a busy week and I didn't have a lot of time (and I started this too late). I like this manicure, but I need to work on my sponging as I'm never really happy with the way it turns out. 

Go Dawgs! Beat the Illini!

Update: I was much happier with the actual gameday manicure I did than the one I did for the blog. My nails are a bit shorter and the sponging is a bit more subtle, but I was really happy with how it turned out. I had a hard time capturing it, so all my pictures have flash (you will see the reflection in my nails) but I just want to share a few more pictures! The clean-up isn't perfect, but I was much happier with this manicure in general.

Hope everyone is having a great weekend!

Football Friday: Boise State Edition

Hey all! This week has been really busy but we have important business tonight-- it's my first Football Friday of the year! Tomorrow kicks off the Husky football season in our brand new, remodeled stadium-- we haven't see the inside in a year and a half!! So it's really exciting. We're throwing a big tailgate to celebrate and while I know it'll be a lot of fun, I also know I'll be exhausted when all is said and done! In any case, the Huskies take on the Boise State Broncos, who we last faced in Maaco Las Vegas Bowl-- a mere 8 months ago! Since this is a big game-- not only are we looking to avenge our bowl loss, but also to break in our new stadium the right way-- with a win!! So to celebrate, I wanted to do something fun and new, so I decided to try a saran wrap manicure. I hate saran wrap because it always wants to stick to itself, but that quality it what makes it perfect for this manicure!

For my manicure, I broke out two of the polishes from my Zoya LE Zang Toi trio and used Peterhof Palace (also known as Zoya Ziv), a gold foil and Imperial Russia, a metallic purple. I put down two coats of Peterhof Palace, let that dry and then put one coat of Imperial Russia. Using a balled up piece of saran wrap, I then touched it on my nail to create the final design.

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I'm really happy that this technique worked out-- I love it when that happens! It was really easy to do and I love the way it looks on the nail. I'll definitely be using this technique again in the future with other color combinations.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Broncos!

Spring Football Friday

Just a quick post! Tomorrow is the UW Spring Football game (well, "game" is a misnomer-- it's really just a scrimmage) and I have a quick purple polish post for you!

I finally painted my nails for the first time in ages (seriously, I can't remember when I last painted my nails) and went for a new purple, Julep Eden, which is described as a "bright violet creme" and topped it off with Julep Candy, a sheer purple jelly.

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Of course, being a purple, my camera automatically hates this polish and it was impossible to get an accurate photo of it. Eden is a deep, but still vivid purple-- if that makes sense. It's definitely not a shrinking violet type of purple! My photos show it leaning more towards the blue end of the purple spectrum, but in reality it has more red.

Hope you all have a great weekend!

Football Friday: Las Vegas Bowl Edition

Tomorrow the Huskies will appear in their third bowl game in three years-- the MAACO Las Vegas Bowl. We play the Boise State Broncos-- the first of three meetings over the next two years. This isn't the first time the Huskies will have played an opponent in a bowl game and then turned around to play them the following season-- between 2010 and 2011 the Huskies played Nebraska three times in the span of a year, including a bowl game. It's a little strange, but not unheard of. I'm not really sure how this game will go, honestly. We've beat Boise State before, but that was a different team. We are surely capable of beating them, but given how inconsistent we are offensively, it won't be any easy task, especially if half our team doesn't show up. 

This manicure is super late because I've been busy everyday since last weekend. I was also wracking my brain for what exactly I wanted to do. I wanted to have some bling, since the game is in Vegas, which practically screams bling. You've seen the showgirls, right? Eventually, I decided to recreate a manicure I had done for a friend earlier this year. I used two coats of American Apparel Gold Flash and then layered one to two coats of Sephora by OPI Sugar Plum Fairies Gone Wild over that. And then I decided to get even more creative-- I decided to add some stamping on top of it! I just received some stamping plates and bought myself a stamper, so this is the very first time you're going to see some of my efforts. I am having some issues, but more on that later! I used American Apparel Imperial Purple to stamp a paw print on my ring finger using Mash plate 36.

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Sorry for the minimal pictures-- I only finished this manicure tonight because I've been so busy, so I could only take pictures in a couple of lighting conditions! I guess I need to have some of these manicures socked away for future use. I'm not in love with this manicure, mainly because I need to work on my stamping, but it definitely has potential! I do like that it's sparkly, but in a sort of understated way.

Go Dawgs! Beat the Broncos!!

Football Friday: Apple Cup Edition

This week is end of regular season football and means that, in general, it's time for all the annual rivalry games that fans eagerly await. Rivalry games, especially in-state (and sometimes, inter-state rivalries) stir up a lot of crazy feelings in the fans and a lot of times, the games are crazy in and of themselves. Our annual rivalry with our other in-state public university, Washington State, is called the Apple Cup... mostly because Washington (the state) in known for it's apple production. This year is a little bit odd because not only is the game after Thanksgiving (it used to be the weekend before), it's also on the Friday after Thanksgiving! This is the second time this year that the Huskies will play on a Friday-- something that is highly unusual for us. Of course, this game is highly contentious in my extended family, as many of in-laws are WSU Cougars, while my husband and I are UW Huskies.

Because it's the Apple Cup, I decided to pull out all the stops. I purchased my first two Illamasqua polishes at the beginning of November, but only just got to play with them because I sent them to my parent's house in Portland (hooray no sales tax!). First I pulled out Prosperity, which is an eye-searing neon purple. I used this on my pointer, middle, and pinkie fingers. Then I pulled out Jindie Nails Geaux! which was inspired by the LSU Tigers (boo, hiss) but according to Jindie Nails description is supposed to be worn to support any football team with the same colors, which UW has. As a superstitious sports fan, that works for me. On my ring finger I decided to go with American Apparel Gold Flash and a UW nail tattoo. Then on my thumb I decided to go back to my very first Football Friday manicure of the season and do the UW football helmet. For that I used Gold Flash, Illamasqua Faux Pas, and the Stripe Rite white stripper polish. Ta-da!

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Go Dawgs! Beat the Cougs!