Shake your pond

I know, I know... The headlines are just getting worse by the time. But let's yet again ignore that, and check out another one of those pond manicures I did back in... well... Way too long ago.

This is Essie Shake Your $$ Maker with some random white in the form of dotted flowers. As per usual with pond manicures, the flower dots were added in between layers. I thought one of Essies summer neon jellies was going to be perfect for this, since it's recommended they are put over white for extra pop effect, but damn... The formula on this one sucks. I mean really. First coat is okay, but each added coat just makes application more hellish. And neons really need building up.

I will put this bottle with seemingly lush contents in my drawers, but damned if I use it ever again.

Re-re-re-insta!

These are the last ones - promise. Well, at least for now...

Finger Paints Twisted over Orly Glow.

Depend 387. Love this finish!

Kill it with fire, pt II: China Glaze Bend Over Backwards with the orange-yellow-green flakie gradient over (I've forgotten which one of all those I used this particular time).

Smitten Polish Electric Lime. Best (neon) green holo ever.

Last days of summer: Essie Boom Boom Room.

Beware of continuations to this type of posts in the future.

Re-insta revisited

Updates are scarce, I know that, but let me apologize for my otherwise hectic life by letting you know that manicures aren't nearly as scarce - I've posted most of them on instagram. So let's have a few sucktastic cell phone pictures, shall we?

Misa Grey Matters, mattified with Essie Matte About You topcoat.

Revlon Mistletoe with added Essie As Gold As it Gets gradient.

Orly Ignite, with Essie Matte About You.

A-England Lancelot and OPI In My Santa Suit. Reversed order on the other hand.

Nicole by OPI Just Busta Mauve.

...and again. Truly spectacular, that one.


I have more stuff like this. So many manicures never eneded up being shot with a decent camera, but rather snapshot with what seems to constantly be in my hand: my phone. Though I have like four months worth of real manicure photos waiting in the pipline, so hold on to your hats.

Recovered from instagram

As a follow-up to yesterday's post, here are some miscellaneous manicures that never made it onto a decent photo shoot, but got hastily captured with my phone and then published on instagram for my friends to drool over. Far from good, these photos represent manicures that were a lot better in reality.

Pahlish Anticipating and Pacing.

OPI Lost on Lombard.

OPI Alcatraz... Rocks pedicure, big toes have been topcoated.

Smitten Polish Isla de Muerto.

I don't even remember what this was, but the shimmer layered on top is a LE glassfleck from H&M, bought last summer.

Fun one, OPI Haven't the Foggiest with Darling Diva Polish I'm Fwee on top.

Darling Diva Polish Lucky Star.

Fimo butterflies encapsuled in a gel manicure, with slight bits of iridescent glitters. Hell to make, but pretty for work.

Scofflaw Thunderkitty.

OPI Save Me from the Nicki Minaj collection, over some cheap bright pink gel polish from Chinese ebay.

Essie As Gold as it Gets over Color Club Bright Night.

OPI Innie Minnie Mightie Bow.

And again, Essie As Gold as it Gets, this time over China Glaze Sun-Kissed.


Yep, that's pretty much what I've worn lately.

Skirting is not the Issue

How about a classic red, a beautiful deep jelly, a feminine, vampy and sexy manicure? Could Essie's Skirting the Issue provide us with that?

Oh how luscious these three coats of translucent hotness look! Until you look too closely and see the bubbles. And then you remember what application was like. And then you just want to cry.

Skirting the Issue could have had everything. It could have been the femme fatale-ish intellectual hot stuff. Instead it's just a miserable, depressive failure. Skirting the Issue is lying in its bed, crying over how thick, gluey and streaky it is, when, if it had just been blessed with a better formula, could have been the most beautiful of them all.

Now it's just a bitter memory of a failed career as our go-to vampy red.

This product was purchased with own funds.

Swedish word of the day:
sorglig -adjective sad
Skirting the Issue really is.

Having a butler is slightly twisted

Some polishes are just impossible to photograph, and the recently released Essie Butler Please is one of those. Luckily, you've already seen it a million times, but I still wanted to show you how I wore it: with a nice flakie on top - Finger Paints Twisted.

I believe I did two coats of the Essie, and one coat of the Finger Paints on top. I love a spectacular flakie combination, and I love them super saturated blue cremes, so this is right upp my alley. Inspiration for this manicure came from a girl named Anne (we hang around the same forum), and while I was painting on this particular manicure, fellow Swedish feminist Annahita posted her version, which in turn was inspired by seeing Nails Inc Baker Street paired with Nubar 2010. This combination and similar are just too tempting for any lacquerhead to resist trying out!

All products were purchased with own funds.

Swedish word of the day:
betjänt -noun butler, servant
Nothing I'd put my money in.

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...

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.

Happy Midsummer!

This is what I'm wearing for Midsummer - rather girly stuff!

I couldn't get any decent pictures in the sun, but this manicure is cute anyway. Green nails are two coats of OPI Thanks a Windmillion, pink nails are two coats of OPI Pedal Faster, Suzi! over one coat of Ciaté Strawberry Milkshake (the OPI is sheer). The flowers are made using dotting tools, and the white ones are Essie Marshmallow, pink ones Pedal Faster, Suzi! again, glitter centers are Wet n Wild Sparked.

Have a nice Midsummer weekend!

Swedish word of the day:
blommig -adjective floral
What better symbol for summer?