Just checkin'

...in. Yeah, let's have some re-instas, while we're waiting for the final results of the Swedish elections.

Smitten Polish A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise

OPI Black Spotted over Int'l Crime Caper

CND Vinylux Steel Gaze

Essence Blue Cara Ciao

H&M Jungle Me


And speaking of H&M, I don't know about you, but the new 5 ml bottle pisses me off. Yes, they lowered the price, but not as much as they lowered the contents. Pfft! Don't piss off lacquerheads, we're proud people.

Turquoise leopard

Let's have a dose of nailart, shall we? I'm still trying to get the leopard pattern right, and here I tried it on a turquoise skittlette.

The base color here is Sephora Full Moon Party, and the added glitter on index and pinky is one from Gabrini. So is also the dots in the leopard pattern, but it looked odd and not contrasting enough on top of the Sephora, so I dotted some OPI Goldeneye underneath it.

All in all rather nice despite my continuing clumsiness with the brush, adding the black bits. I'll have to get better with that...

Norway on a cloudy day

Some polishes are just better in theory. Or at least not properly executed ideas. One of H&M's newer colors, Norwegian Sky, surely is one of them.

Three, viciously painful coats. In fact, this polish was painful in so many aspects. Application, cleanup, and then as a photographic object. And then there was the removal process... Terrible. The thick, messy base covers pretty much all of the gorgeous shimmer, which you'll be able to see no sooner than while doing the infuriating cleanup, or when you finally want to take it off and all that hidden, gorgeous, duochrome shimmer sticks to your nail despite endless acetone and cotton friction cleaning. Had the shimmer been visible in these photos, you would have seen the blue direct angle shift, and the pink that is barely there in the extreme angle second picture. Can you see it?!

While the base is very pigmented and covers the shimmer all too well, it's indredibly chalky and streaky and ...gahh. When I applied the third layer, I thinned my bottle contents a bit (a "bit" being something like 15 drops of thinner), to see if the shimmer could surface more if I was able to apply the product more thinly. While it actually did, it sorta gets lost on top of the base color being so close in tone. Well, since I had worked so damn hard to get the polish on, I actually kept it for at least a couple of days. By the second day I was still not friends with my experience, so I topped it all off with Essie As Gold as it Gets, which certainly buried Norwegian Sky's own shimmer for good. It actually looked kind of nice, but guess what? I couldn't get a decent photo of that either. Now I want to kill this polish.

But most of all, I just want someone to execute this idea a million times better than this. It has got to be possible, don't you think?

Well, let me show you the best photo from this shoot, in my own opinion:

The Stöj - always where it happens. Hi readers!

Nothing gets my writing skills going like a healthy dose of anger and frustration.

This product was purchased with own funds.

Swedish name of the day:
Norge Norway
Certainly deserves better than this.

Dotting Centrale

I suddenly felt the urge to bring out my dotting tools and dot away some. Close at hand I had the larger bulk of OPI's Euro Centrale collection, and regardless of how one may feel about the shades isolated, they really go well together.

Perhaps not the steadiest of executions, but I tend to feel more than I think while dotting. The base is of course Can't Find My Czechbook, and blue dots in Eurso Euro, pink ones in Suzi is Hungary Again!, finished off with Oy - Another Polish Joke!.

And be warned, for I have more dotticures prepared for ya!

All products were sent for review.

Swedish name of the day:
Ungern -noun Hungary
More Eastern Europe than Central, actually.

OPI in Euro Centrale - bottles and quick swatches

On OPI's journey around the world, the next stop is in central Europe to celebrate spring, with Euro Centrale. With that dreamy lede, I'd like to show you the bottles and quick wheel swatches.

Counter-clockwise from left: Vant to Bite My Neck?, Polka.com, You're Such a Budapest.

Counter-clockwise from top left: OPI... Eurso Euro, Can't Find My Czechbook, I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw.

Counter-clockwise from top left: Hands Off My Kielbasa!, My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours!, Suzi's Hungary Again!.

Clockwise from bottom left: A Woman's Prague-ative, Oy - Another Polish Joke!, My Vampire is Buff.

And the wheel swatches:

Polka.com (small blue and magenta glitters, and larger blue, magenta and turquoise hex glitters in clear base), Vant to Bite My Neck? (vampy grape purple creme), OPI... Eurso Euro (saturated yet dark indigo blue creme).

I Saw... U Saw... We Saw... Warsaw (dark Prussian blue creme), Can't Find My Czechbook (turquoise-blue creme), You're Such a Budapest (lilac creme with subtle silver shimmer).

Suzi's Hungary Again! (bright pink-coral creme with fine silver shimmer), My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours! (bright warm red with fine silver shimmer), Hands Off My Kielbasa! (tan beige with fine coppery pink shimmer).

A Woman's Prague-ative (golden copper shimmer), Oy - Another Polish Joke! (yellow-golden shimmer), My Vampire is Buff (light beige creme).


Are you feeling the Eastern European vibe here? This surely is a collection full of stereotypes and simplification. Let's see... Two vampire jokes, three food and eating related names, three silly jokes with the pretention that local names have English meaning ...and, you know, the list goes on, in the usual OPI manner. We've learned to live with it, but sometimes it's bordering ridicule and exotism, which, by some more prone to analysis, could be perceived negatively. While Prague-ative is a less terrible play with words and names, the OPI team already used it once before, for It's My Prague-ative! (European Collection, 2002). The drained imaginations circulating the OPI offices are painfully obvious.

If we manage to forget the names for a while, they are actually plastered onto polish colors. Many good, some great, some less intriguing. The cool-toned half of the collection is bound to be the favourite of the less conservative youth, with the most outstanding member in the deep but vibrant indigo blue OPI... Eurso Euro. Can't Find My Czechbook is a very nice shade as well, though I think many lacqueristas will find that they have a bunch of similar colors already -that doesn't remove the fact that it is bright and tempting. The grape purple vampy Vant to Bite My Neck? is pretty standard, but the name alone will make some  people less hesitant, while the soft yet bright lilac subtle shimmery creme You're Such a Budapest is described by OPI as a periwinkle shade that I cannot see personally will lure many into its exquisit twinkle. Polka.com is an improvement in the glitter section compared to other recent OPI glitters with its two sizes of glitters, and for OPI a whopping three colors.

The warm-toned half of the collection holds the few more conservative colors, but that doesn't mean they are boring or suitable for your granny (unless she's utterly cool, of course). Except for the almost-but-still-not-really-nude My Vampire is Buff (the nicest and most ambiguous name of the collection), and perhaps the rather conservative Hands Off My Kielbasa!, this part has the super sizzling colors, like Suzi's Hungary Again! and My Paprika is Hotter Than Yours!, which are both exclamation colors despite their classic color families respectively. Unfortunately, they are struck with a fine silver shimmer that renders them slightly pearlescent - personally I would have preferred them as cremes. For those who like bronze and copper tones, A Woman's Prague-ative is a given; a gorgeous gold shimmer suspended in a sheer, brick red base. Last but not least, Oy - Another Polish Joke! was a surprise to me, as it's not just the yellowish golden shimmer apparent in the bottle, but also dries a little rough, which makes the shimmer reflect different colors and actually ...look kinda cool. Skipping the topcoat on this one could be beneficial for achieving a nice effect.

I found the formulas to be a wee bit different in this collection. While I'm used to a rather thin and easily spreadable product from OPI, some of these are a little on the chalky and/or gluey side. Nothing most of us can't handle, of course, but still a bit different. The shades with fine shimmer may require a more careful approach, lest we want visible brush strokes.

All in all, I like this collection, up to a like +. It's a nice palette of spring colors, ranging from cool to warm, from dark to light via bright. Although no one can love them all, everyone can like something. Note that this collection lacks a green shade - and I still like it. That is, if I disregard the silly names.


Any colors in particular that you wish to see full swatches of?

All products were sent for review.

Swedish word of the day:
Centraleuropa -noun Central Europe
We love putting words together into one long.

Depend spring 2013 bottles and more...

A quickie today to show you the coming spring colors from Swedish Depend Cosmetics - quite a colorful collection!

Pinks, peaches and oranges... 346, 347, 348, 349 and 350.

Turquoise, blue, purple and lilac... 351, 352, 353, 354.

...and green and yellow! 355, 356 and 357.

No wheel swatches this time, as Sweden proved to be too gloomy for any decent photography sessions. However, there is an interesting theme in this collection: several of the lacquers have a very fine green shimmer, mixed with sparse glass flecks. I wish the green shimmer was more prominent, but I love the idea, and for one of those recurring finishes throughout a collection that Depend seems to specialise in, it is a fun one. The orangey red 350, the turquoise 351, the lilac 354, the yellow 356 and the lime green 357 all have this combination of particles, while the sheer peach 349 is a more classic glassfleck. Then the cremes of course... Although not all of these are totally breathtaking and inventive, it's quite a cheerful bunch, which is something I like in a spring collection. Thumbs up from me this time.

The Depend peeps also sent a bunch of releases for Christmas, and among them were a few samples of a collection of chromes, foils or possibly metallics that go by the name Mirror.

A dark and gloomy wheel - this is 2048 Java Dusk, 2039 Pixie Pink, and 2041 Frosty Lilac.

Metallic? Sure. Foil? Perhaps, in some cases. Mirror like finish? Definitely not. But perhaps the name of the collection is not to be taken literally. There are also green and blue hues, among others, in this collection, but I haven't seen those - I wish I had, though. These few examples don't really tickle my fancy, but I'll always find use and the appropriate time for a good gunmetal shade, so I'm sure 2048 will be satisfactory to wear a good day.

All products were sent for review.

Swedish word of the day:
spegel -noun mirror
To be loved or feared...

Spam of complete randomness

Here's a post full of manicures that didn't get their own posts. Enjoy (if possible).

Ebalay 006/A08 over some medium purple.

Finger Paints Twisted over Essie Turquoise and Caicos.

Creative Limelight over OPI If You Moust You Moust.

H&M Brown, part of Spring Nails miniset from last year.

China Glaze Snow Globe gradient over Ruby Kisses Hot Pink Obsession.

Models Own Indian Ocean over some light blue.

H&M Mustard, from a fall miniset from last year.

Danged up and sunny OPI Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine!.

Flash lit photo of Dare to Wear Smokin' Diva (it's a very nice shade actually).

Duochrome stamping over duochrome: China Glaze Swanky Silk over Rimmel Hard Edged.

China Glaze Ride the Waves.

Color Club Shabby Drab.

Swedish expression of the day:
spara till senare save for later
It's what I did here...

Hippies are chic

You know I love me some Brazilian lacquers, right? I found this gem among my untrieds. It's a jelly-like turquoise blue semi transparent thingy from Colorama, called Hippie Chic.

This is three coats, and for some reason you can't really tell from these photos that there's a small amount of translucency here. Or can you? Anyway, I like jellyish polishes, so I enjoyed this one. And it's not totally see-through anyway.

I keep being slightly envious of the Brazilian population for having such interesting brands and colors. And the formulas... Full of toxins, they work like a charm! I love me some toxic polish from time to time.

Swedish word of the day:
gift -noun poison, toxin
Pick yours.

Dotted flowers

Do you remember my Midsummer manicure? It was bound to happen again. My friend Malin (one of them Malins) came by for a new manicure before she left for two weeks in Provence, and we decided on something feminine, yet not too overly sweet. Dotted flowers on something other than pink. More on that later.

First, what happened after she left. It's not unusual - I just want to do my own nails like I did hers. In this case, dotted flowers. I had been planning for a while to do a dotted manicure in a greyscale with red accents, and this is what happened.

It's not terribly well executed if you look to closely, but on a fair distance (say working with your hands), it looked awesome. The flowers are too far apart and weirdly placed in relation to each other, but the colors and different finishes together were amazing. The base I used here is two coats of Essence Movie Star, black flowers are some limited edition H&M from last X-mas, called Kiss Goodnight (but any shimmery black will do of course), the white is my beloved Essie Marshmallow, the red glitter is one of the typical Color Club X-mas minis, I think this particular one was called Yule Love This (it's basically Ruby Slippers), and the silver and holographic glitter bits are China Glaze Nova. With some improvement this is insanely glamorous.

What do you think of it?

But last, I promised to return to Malin's nails. This is how they ended up:

Two coats of China Glaze For Audrey, Essie Marshmallow flower petals, and China Glaze Nova for the center accent. In some places a little sloppy execution - we were in a hurry since Malin had to catch the train - but from a normal distance this is ridiculously cute too (and Malin has the cutest little nails!).

Swedish name of the day:
Frankrike France
A European country.

Lights... Camera... and ACTION!

Ready for one of the worst posts in the history of this blog? It's aaall the iPhone photos. Why? Because I tried the neon capturing thing with my camera on ... Well, Camera, actually, and gave up immediately. Then I just took snapshots of these manicures to send to friends and the like, and now, suddenly, for some mind-blowing reason, I've decided to post them?! I know, I should just shoot myself. Yet, here they are, the infamous neon-ish colors of Essie's Poppy Razzi collection. So kill me. (Or just look away.)

Lights.

Camera.

Action.

No, I haven't worn Bazooka yet. It was the least tempting one, but it will be worn eventually, because I just can't stay away from neons, especially lately. I like saving all my neons for the dreary and depressingly grey Swedish fall, but I just couldn't do it this time. 

Also, my imagination wanders when thinking of the names here. Lights, Camera, Action... And then Bazooka? What kind of movie is this? And if Poppy Razzi is a play on paparazzi, why aren't the colors muted and named Hiding, Tree, 10 Feet Wall and Telephoto Lens?

Here's the grand finale. I used all the other colors and dotted them over Action. Then I decided it needed some kind of exclamation. So I made a few extra dots with Turntable, from the LA Girl Disco Brites line.

All the dots were annoying though, so I only wore this for half a day or so.

Sorry about the crappy post, but I decided I just adore this little collection way too much to not tell anyone.

Swedish word of the day:
prickig -adjective dotted
Not always that relaxed.

China Glaze III: Shower Together

Hello ISO-grain! And hello gorgeous, super bright aqua creme! The China Glaze theme week continues, today with Shower Together, from the 2008 ecollection.


Two coats. You can see the visible nail line, right? If you hate that, you should probably do three. I don't know if this polish is a tad jellyish in texture on purpose, but since I didn't mind it, I didn't strive for complete opacity. Here it's with topcoat on, but this baby is crazy shiny in itself. I love colors like these, so I'm happy with this manicure for a while. I'm almost dreading taking it off, if not for the sadness of losing the color, at least because I'm fearing stains. Maybe I should keep it on until it grows out.

Swedish word of the day:
miljömedvetenhet -noun environmental awareness
China Glaze apparently promotes it as well.