Purple Friday: Daily Hues Angelface

Well, I gotta say... last week was above and beyond what I expected for the UW-Stanford match-up. Seriously, that was one of THE best football games I have watched in recent memory. Of course, it's that way because the Huskies put on a dominant performance all around but man oh man-- what a game! This week I'm hesitant to say anything at all, because I want to keep my expectations low and not get too excited. The Dawgs head to Oregon to face the Ducks this week and they are currently our most hated and bitter rivalry. Back in the 90's (and up through the early 00's) the Dawgs dominated, but since then our program fell into the basement and the Ducks have risen to national prominence. It's been 12 (!!) years since we've beaten them, ugh. I have no idea what Saturday could look like. It'll either be heartbreaking or amazing... no way to know until it's in the books! I think I will be watching from behind my hands, eek! 

Daily Hues Angelface was originally from the spring collection, which focused on blue and purple polishes and is named after a purple flower. Angelface is described as a "royal purple linear holo." Pretty straight forward, right? In my mind, royal purple might be just a titch darker, but this is a nice purple grape holo. The first coat was a little sheer, though not terrible so, and it built up nicely. I did get a little pooling at my cuticles, but I think that was more due to my sloppy application and not because of the polish. I did end up using three coats, though probably could have gotten away with two.

I think this polish is gorgeous. It's not as deep as some of the other purple holos I have, but the color is great-- it straddles the line between being too light and too dark, and honestly, I don't think there are a ton of purple holos that actually do that! The holographic flame is good and so I'm pleased all around with this! I'm still hoping to do some nail art for some upcoming Purple Friday posts so it's not just swatches of purple polishes... just trying to get motivated and inspired! Maybe with a bye week after this I can come up with something fun!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Ducks!

Top Shelf Lacquer Sarasota Lemonade

Today I have beautiful polish, Top Shelf Sarasota Lemonade to share with you! This is another polish from the Hella Holo Custom FB group, but from earlier this year before I had joined the group. Sometimes when makers have extra polishes from previous months, they offer them for sale to the group. Sarasota Lemonade was one of those polishes, and it intrigued me. Plus, I had never tried a Top Shelf polish before, so it was a win-win for me!

Sarasota Lemonade is another unique color. It seems like just another pink holographic, but I feel like it's got more. I would call this color a "tawny pink"-- there's just a hint of brown (or copper) to this polish that gives it a rose gold (but not quite) feel and it's very sophisticate and lovely.  I used three coats here but probably could have gotten away with two. The formula was good; went on smoothly and easily-- no issues at all!

 

This was my first experience with Top Shelf Lacquer and I'm pretty pleased! It was easy to use and I liked that there was more to this color than meets the eye. Sarasota Lemonade was a color I could have easily worn for days; it's a beautiful color that works as a neutral with a twist of sparkle and a lot of sophistication. I'm looking forward to exploring Top Shelf as a brand; this was an exciting first purchase!

Love Angeline 08/16

Today I have another of the monthly LE polishes from Love Angeline to share with you! This is 08/16, which means it's from August. We're only just into Otcober here (I know I've skipped July and really, a ton of other months) but I think the color works as a transition color for fall.

I've seen 08/16 described as an aqua holographic, but to me this polish leans so green that aqua doesn't quite fit, even though there blue tones to the polish. Perusing Wikipedia to see their list of green shades, it occurred to me that I would describe 08/16 as a spruce green-- think Christmas trees; it's a dusty greyed green with blue tones. It's a bit of a chameleon in that sense; the color shifts around from green to grey green to blue green depending on the lighting conditions. I didn't have any problems when applying this-- I think I used three coats, though I probably could have gotten away with two! No issues to report!

The holographic flame on this is just lovely; this might be one of my favorite polishes from Love Angeline! I find 08/16 to be a unique green (holographic or otherwise) in my collection, and I loved wearing this and studying it. I thought the color was very flattering and I'm really glad I picked this one up!

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

Purple Friday: Fairytale Finish Purpsicle

Look here, it's Purple Friday AND our game is actually tonight! Tonight we play Stanford and both teams are currently undefeated so it's a bit of a big match-up. Stanford has a Heisman candidate running back and quite honestly, the Huskies are going to have an uphill battle, especially when we struggled last week on the road (though ultimately came away with the win, whew!). We do tend to bring our A-game against Stanford so hopefully tomorrow proves to be an excellent game, at the very least. In any case, we're taking the day off and doing some tailgating, so I'm looking forward to some beautiful fall weather and some pumpkin cider!

Well heck, you're getting two Fairytale Finish polishes in the same week! Whoops! Today's Purple Friday polish is Purpsicle, which was from the July sub box! Purpsicle is a gorgeous grape holographic polish. It has a slight jellyish feel to it, but goes on smoothly. The first was a little sheer, but two coats was pretty good! I used three coats to make sure there weren't any thin spots. It was very easy to use and I love it!

This is gorgeous! All around this is winner-- formula, color, everything! I definitely made the right choice saving it for a Purple Friday post. Makes me even more sad that Fairytale Finish is closing their doors, wahhhh! Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Go Dawgs! Beat the Tree!

HPB Presents Glitter Topper: Girly Bits Black Eyed Susan

Today is a fun one! I haven't participated in a Hobby Polish Bloggers monthly nail art challenge in awhile, but when I saw that glitter toppers had been picked as the theme I knew exactly which polish I wanted to use. This is a bit surprising, because if you've read this blog for any length of time, you know I am not a glitter topper person. Rarely do I blog about them. I tend not to buy them and I rarely wear the few that I do own. However, the polish I'm sharing with you today, Girly Bits Black Eyed Susan, is one of THE very first indie polishes I ever bought-- and I've never worn it! So I felt like it was high time to use it. I actually had to search for this, because I had pulled it out to wear last fall (and never did) so it wasn't where it should have been and I had a few moments of panic! Luckily I was able to find it, so let's go!

Black Eyed Susan is clear base packed with different sizes of yellow glitter, as well as green and brown/rust colored glitter, to mimic the look of the flower it's named after. Even years later, this polish still flows pretty well and was maybe a touch thick but not terrible. The glitter came out of the bottle easily, though I did use the dabbing technique to spread it out over my nail. Here I layered it over one of the monthly mystery shimmers from Enchanted Polish, August 2016, which is a beige neutral with pink shimmer. I wanted to make sure all the glitters would stand out.

While I'm not totally in love with the finished product because I mistakenly grabbed an old bottle of top coat and got bubbles(!!) Black Eyed Susan stands the test of time and I think the polish itself looks great! I'm glad I used a neutral base because it helps the glitter stand out and gives it an autumnal feel. I got a lot of compliments on this! I'm really happy I finally pulled it out and wore it! I'm glad this theme came around when it did!

An InLinkz Link-up

Fairytale Finish Enchanted F

A little while ago Amanda of Fairytale Finish announced she was selling mystery polishes on her site called "Enchanted Polishes" (not be confused with the brand) and so I decided to buy one because, hey, why not?! The polish I got is called Enchanted F so I'm guessing they are lettered? Now that she has announced she is closing up shop I suspect this was a way to clean out prototypes etc, but regardless, mystery polishes are always a fun surprise!

Enchanted F is a denim blue polish silver and holographic glitter of various sizes throughout. The base does have a touch of purple to it, but I would say overall is still pretty blue. The formula is good, as far as I recall-- sometimes polishes like this can be thick and while maybe it tended to lean that way, was still easy to work with. I can't remember exactly, but I am pretty sure I only used two coats here! I don't like to build up glitter polishes too much unless they a) have a white base or b) are super sheer because they tend to get gloopy (due to the thicker formula) so I'm pretty sure two is what I went for here.

While I tend not to be a glitter person, I really liked this polish! It helps that it's blue, for one, because I pretty much love all things blue. The base color is gorgeous and I think the silver/holographic glitter really works with the base. All around this was a winner for me and I'm very happy I picked it up!

Different Dimension Periwinkle Posies

Ahahahahaha... when I decided to change my posting schedule, I apparently also decided to just forget that I actually needed to write posts! Whoops! It happens, right?! This post was supposed to go up last week but I completely forgot to write so.... you're getting it now! Better late than never! Today I have Different Dimension Perwinkle Posies to share with you; this was a group custom for the Different Dimension FB group and after dithering for awhile, I was able to snag it. Periwinkle Posies is an icy blue periwinkle (to me it seems more blue than periwinkle, honestly) with silver holographic and blue flakies scattered through out.

This started out on the sheer side but built up nicely. I think you get away with just two coats but I used three to make sure I didn't have any thin spots, especially because my nails were longer. The formula, though, was great and I had absolutely no issues. It went on smoothly and easily!

This is super pretty; how can you not love it? This is a color that works at any time of year and it's so pretty. I'm really pleased with this! Different Dimension polishes are always gorgeous and this was no exception!

Purple Friday: Colors by Llarowe Giant Giraffes In My Yard

It's Purple Friday again, yay!! This week had has some ups and downs but it's ending on a high note as my husband and I are going out to celebrate our ninth anniversary tonight! Crazy how much time has already passed! We had initally thought we might celebrate by going down to Arizona for the Husky game but it ended up not working out. While it would have been fun, I'm not totally bummed out because there's always stuff to do around the house! This week's game kicks off conference play and I'm a bit anxious about it. This is our first real test of the season and we haven't won in the desert for 10 years. But given our uneven play over our first three games isn't giving me a lot of hope for a win. I mean, on paper we should be able to do so, but paper means jack when it comes to game time! So we'll see! Hopefully the Huskies can get it together and bring home the W! 

This week I picked CbL Giant Giraffes In My Yard for my purple polish, which is described as a "bright, deep grape purple scattered holo with intense pink shimmer. This polish glows!" They're not kidding when they say this glows. It has that "lit-from-within" quality that makes it sing. This started off a bit sheer, and while two coats looked pretty good, I ended up using three to give it a nice depth and to make sure I had completely opaque coverage. The formula has a jellyish feel to it but was fairly easy to apply and built up nicely. 

Truly, the photos don't do this justice at all! The red glow is very prominent in real life, and it's stunning. Run out and get this immediately! I mean, if purple polish is your thing. The holo in this did not really stand out under my lighting conditions but we'll see if I get some sun on Saturday so maybe I can catch it. I'm really happy with Giant Giraffes In My Yard! 

Go Dawgs! Beat the Wildcats! 

Essie Aim to Misbehave

Essie Aim to Misbehave has been making the rounds for awhile now, but it finally showed up in Seattle area drug stores in last couple of months so I snagged my bottle back in August (even though I believe this came out in the spring). Aim to Misbehave is kind of a big deal because it's Essie's 1000th shade! That seems like a pretty big deal, and so they made a special polish to celebrate! (OPI's 1000th shade had to be a red, amiright?! At least, I'm assuming OPI has hit 1000, right?) And not only that, but they made it a yellow! That seems so unusual for Essie but I freaking love it! Not everyone is a yellow fan, but I love yellow so I think it's awesome. Aim to Misbehave is a bright egg yolk yellow with a glass fleck type shimmer.

Aim to Misbehave had a pretty decent formula, I'm pleased to report! It went on smoothly and the first was a little sheer, but it builds up nicely. I probably could have gotten away with two coats if I had wanted to; I ended up using a thicker third coat to eliminate any potential streaks (and I would recommend using a light touch to avoid streaks). I did get some bubbles but I think it might be due to my crappy top coat and not the polish, though possible my last coat was too thick and I should have waited longer... hard to say.

Sadly while I love this color in the bottle, I'm not really sure it does anything for me...? Ugh, I don't know! I love how bright and cheerful this is, and I love the shimmer but something just isn't clicking with this. I don't think it works with my skin tone very well; I might need to try this in January when my fingers are pasty pale again. I'm not ready to give up on this, but I don't know how often I'll be reaching for it. Frustrating, but not unheard of, sadly!

Enchanted Polish The Youth

I'm going to try a slight change in my post schedule-- I've been aiming for five posts a week but am now going to hit four instead because I've been falling behind! I'm hoping giving myself a break day (Wednesday in this case) will help me stay on top of things! Today I have another polish that I actually wore awhile ago: Enchanted Polish The Youth. This was a re-release, just like Future Reflections.

The Youth is a green to bronze shifting duochrome holographic. Like most Enchanteds and from what I recall, the formula was good. I used at least two coats, but probably three coats because I'm like that.

I know you are looking at the photos above and saying "green?! Cat, you are full of it!" But truly, I am not lying! Here I've got a slightly different lighting situation so you can see the green tone of the polish (and really, it was green in most lights-- the flash brought out the bronze tones).

Look at that!! Pretty stunning, right? I love this, maybe more than Future Reflections! There's something about a green duochrome that I just freaking love! Pretty much one of my favorite ways to wear green! I love this one so much! Hope everyone is having a good Monday!