Gobble Gobble, Bitches!

Good evening everyone! With the end of August comes classes, changing leaves, cooler temperatures...and college football. Now, I don't claim to be a football fan at all, but with all of the "welcome back" type things that are going on on campus as well, I couldn't help but throw together a school-colored mani. After all, I may not be a game fan, but I am a Hokie.

For this, I used a base of OPI Nail Envy original. I started with two coats of Essie Orange, It's Obvious! on my pinkie, ring, and middle finger. Orange, It's Obvious! is a red-leaning orange cream, very similar to the infamous color of the year, Tangerine Tango. Formula and dry time were good on this one, and it was perfectly opaque. On my pointer and thumb, I used two coats of Essie Recessionista, a maroon cream. Formula was good, maybe even better than the orange, and it dried quickly.

On top, I decided to try a non-fast-dry top coat today: Barielle Advanced Gel Top Coat. It's a bit watery, but easy to control, and super shiny. It looked great - then I added a coat of Out the Door on top, and it started bubbling like crazy! Maybe it was too much top coat, or the humidity in here or something...at least the bubbles aren't visible unless my hands are close to my face...

For the middle finger, I took a thin paint brush and freehanded a line with Recessionista, then filled in the right side of the line with it. I let it dry, then cleaned up a bit with a thin, flat paintbrush dipped in acetone. The extra topcoat allowed me to fix a minor imperfection on my right hand without disturbing the orange - fair trade-off for the bubbles. I'm also getting better at cleaning around the nail with a brush! Exciting...for me, anyway :)

Orange, It's Obvious! came out in the spring 2012 collection, Navigate Her, and Recessionista is in the new Stylenomics collection that was just released. Both should be easy to find at your local drugstore, or any etailer.

I plan to go to my first football game this year...if only to have an excuse to get my drink on with friends! Do you do special manicures for sporting events? What are your favorite polishes for your chosen team or school's colors?

Thanks for reading!