University of Washington's 150th Anniversary

Today is W day, University of Washington's 150th Anniversary. In celebration for this monumental day, I decided to sport my purple and gold. Now, originally, I had painted this design without the "W". But what would be "Washington Huskies" without the "W"!? Then after I painted it....I realized I liked it more without. hehe
But I didn't take the picture until after the damage was done. :(
So for the purple, I used Wet'N'Wild's Buffy the Violet Slayer. The picture doesn't show how deep and bright this purple really is. Then for the gold, I used OPI's Bling Dynasty. It's very sheer and I definitely needed 3 coats for it. Then I just used black konad polish for the W and the paw print and topped it off with Seche Vite. 

Enjoy!

Butter London Victoriana

I'm so stinkin' exhausted today. I've spent the last hour and a half trying to create a design for movember. If you don't know what it is....you're totally missing out! Just kidding. But here's a link http://us.movember.com/. It's basically raising awareness for men's health. While I work on that, here is just a quick swatch of Butter London's Victoriana. Kind of a dusty blue/teal with really fine silver glitter. Like all Butter London nail polish, this went on really smooth and was very opaque. Such a pretty color.

Strawberry Lemon Drop

It's pink Wednesday! Oh heyyyyyy. The week is almost over. And it's November! Holy guacamole.
So today, I took my pink shatter and decided to layer it against Sally Hansen's Mellow Yellow. Like a strawberry lemon drop. Or pink lemonade. Both of which are very delicious.

I'm liking the colored crackle more than the OPI black shatter. I like the formula of the China Glaze a bit more than OPI, but it could also be because I've used them a lot less.

....Now a real strawberry lemon drop from Duke's. Not only do they have the best chowder...they have a fantastic happy hour!

Big Hair Big Nails

I've been wanting to swatch this for some time now....then when I finally do it, my cuticles are all sorts of jacked up. Please ignore them. They've had a rough week.

So this is OPI's Big Hair and Big Nails from the Texas collection. This color is a bit sheer and needed 3 coats.

It's a nice orange/red. Perfect for summer.

MAC Glitter and Ice

I was so giddy Monday when I received my little black box from MAC. I had been looking forward to their holiday collection for a while now. I didn't actually get a chance to open up everything and play around with it until tonight.

Wahhhhhhh I'm so disappointed. I bought 2 paint pots in Let's Skate and Morning Frost and then 1 lipstick in Double Spin. The description online made them sound so pretty and I was totally excited to try them out.

 oooooo ahhhhhhh the packaging is so shiny.

Let's talk about the lipstick first. Double Spin, described as "Pale mauve pink (Cremesheen)". It's very nude and would probably look better on some with very fair skin. Definitely not me.

Please tell me why MAC decided to make their lipsticks look like a tampon....
Well anyways...the swatch on my hand doesn't make it look too bad. It just looks like a shimmery slightly glossy color. WRONG. When I put it on my lips (I didn't even want to take a picture...it was that bad), it made me look dead. It showed every line and flaw on my lips. Completely disgusting.

Next are the paint pots. I've been really loving MAC's paint pots. I didn't get a chance to pick up the ones I wanted from the last collection that had a butt load of these. I looked at some of other people's pictures online at these...didn't seem too bad.

They look so pretty in the pot. Morning frost is gorgeous. I love it. It's a very warm brown and can go with every neutral eye. Let's Skate is not too bad....my only problem with it was the texture along with the huge chunks of glitter that you can't/don't see until you actually swatch it. It's very pale and chalky and it doesn't work well with my skin tone.

To julep or not to julep...

So many of you may have already heard of the nail polish version of Birchbox. If you haven't, it's a monthly subscription, similar to a magazine, that comes with new samples of polish that is not available yet in stores.

This is their fancy description about their Julep Maven program:

"When we launch new products, we start out by creating beautiful sneak peek sets to send out to the top beauty editors and celebrity trendsetters across the country for their consideration and review.  And our girlfriends are always asking to sneak them an extra set. Now they can - and so can you.  We launched our new Julep Maven program to give all of our girlfriends access to the beauty editor Sneak Peek Box we create every month.  As a Julep Maven, you will have access to the hottest trends in nail color and the latest Mani Care and Pedi Care products - delivered right to your doorstep, just like the beauty editors do.  And you'll have access to these trends and products before anyone else.

We know that tailoring and customizing each editor delivery is critical to gaining her attention and enthusiasm, so every Sneak Peek Box we send you will be tailored to your needs and preferences.  Just take our fun and easy Julep Maven Style Quiz to help us understand your style profile.

Then each month, we'll send you an email to let you know what we've curated for you in your customized beauty editor Sneak Peek Box.  If you don't like what you see, you can request another "shelf pull."

Or choose to send your Sneak Peek Box to a girlfriend as a gift - every month's set comes beautifully packaged and ready to gift.

Welcome to VIP treatment - because your opinion matters to us.  YOU are our favorite beauty editor!"

Sounds totally great, right? ehhhhh sure.

The first introductory month is on special right now for $5. Then after that, it's 19.99. You get 2 colors and then lotion and cuticle oil?! That's what the picture shows. They say its $40 worth of product. I just don't know how I feel about all this.

....yes, that's my cat

Happy Belated Halloween

 I know I'm a day late....but this was too cute to not post. I was looking through some pictures of Halloween ideas and decided to re-create one of my favorite designs. It's a tad off because I don't have a real brush and decided to use a dotting tool instead. For the green, I used Sally Hansen Insta-Dri in Lickey Split Lime. It's such a nice vibrant green. I can't remember if it's still available in stores or if it got discontinued. I bought it as a "surprise" set that Sally Hansen puts out every year around the holidays. Sometimes you can get some really pretty discontinued items...and sometimes you get crap. This one I'm on the fence about....not something that I would necessarily wear on a regular basis or just choose out of the blue. But it's nice for stuff like this. Enjoy!