Didn't die

Hiya! Just so you'll know I didn't die on you, here are som re-instas.

From OPI Brazil: Where Did Suzi's Man-go? and Kiss Me I'm Brazilian.

Some Depend Mirage, probably 2055 Bronzy Breeze. very nice gold (!) foil.

Rimmel Torrid

Orly Androgynie

a-england Encore Margot

And if you wonder why I'm silent: I got too much to do. I rarely have any decent time off, that I don't use for absolutely nothing. I got a new temporary job, doing my political and union stuff, and on top of that I'm a single mom at somewhere around 95 % of the time. But I'll be better. I promise. At least I'm happy.

Int'l Women's Day reinsta statement nails

Guess what... Since I'm lazy, I'm starting a new series of instagram reposts, so that all of you get a chance to see all the grainy iphone camera pics of what I've been wearing lately. Well, over the course of the last three or so months, as it turns out.

 I still have about 8 minutes, Central European time, to show you some decent feminist statement manicures during one of the most important days of the year - International Women's Day. Check it out.

Feminist warrior manicure with camouflage, leopard spots, and of course the Venus sign.

Olympic games versus Pride, french skittles.

Feminist fire!

Red and white camouflage, leopard spots (yes, again), and V.

And the manicure I actually wore today (and still am wearing): pink and red with red and coral leopard spots, and some neon studs.

Hope you're celebrating accordingly!

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...

Orly Fired Up fall 2012 - quick bottles and wheel

I don't know what it's like where you live, but here in the surroundings of Stockholm, Sweden, you can almost feel the fall lurking in the air. Coincidently, we're served fall collections. I'm starting to grab for 'em vampy bottles - do you?

The Swedish representatives of Orly kindly provided me with their fall collection Fired Up for review, and here are some hasty photos for a first look.

Six shades of sultry fall femininity. Wheel swatches below are all at three coats each.

From left to right: Glow (nude beige creme), Flare (gold metallic shimmer), Flicker (orange metallic shimmer).

Ignite (cool toned cherry red jelly), Smolder (red metallic shimmer in plum purple base), Rapture (blackened brown creme).

A little low on light already at 8 PM here in August, so let's have a flashlit wheel photo as well (you may magnify if you're daring):

There you have it. Six vampy and glamorous shades. Three metallic shimmers, three in the creme division - of which one is actually a jelly, our beloved maraschino cherry red, this time named Ignite. If you're missing one, picking this one up might be a great idea. As a lover of red, I have quite a few members in this color family, but I can't say the same for oranges or golds, and when it comes to those I have very little to compare qualities with. But a gold is a gold, right? Could be a good staple as well. Nudes and blackened browns we have also seen before, but these areopaque and nice. Actually, all of these are nicely pigmented. Stated above is I did three coats of all - but only two of them needed the third: Flare and Flicker. The others are good in two coats.

I left one color out in the above paragraph, didn't I? Of course, because it's the star of the show. We may call her Smolder. Had these pictures been any better, you would have been able to see her glory. But don't despair, I'm wearing her right now. That means decent full swatch photos any day now.

It seems most of our beloved big nail brands are digging down those thrift find pockets for classic, vampy shades this fall. I won't complain, I dig vampies. A lover of vampies can never have too many - or can (s)he? Maybe when the shades look familiar. And I'm not just nodding towards long forgotten eras, but also contemporary compeditors. However, while there are striking similarities between these shades and some offered by the other big brand that starts with an O, there are also differences. I will be returning to this subject sometime within this week.

And all in all, as a collection, these go well together and present a sophisticated and mature unit. If that's what you want, Fired Up is full of win.

Swedish word of the day:
mogen -adjective I ripe II mature
This fall may have both.

OPI Germany - a quick look

The other day I went to one of those nice press events that the Swedish distributor of OPI holds every now and then to present the new collections. This time we got a peek at the fall Germany collection, and a generous box with samples of it. Here's a quick look at it - I hope to be able to swatch these in full when I get some more time and sun!

Berlin There Done That (taupe creme), Danke-Shiny Red (red shimmer), Deutche You Want Me Baby (rusty orange-red shimmer), Don't Pretzel My Buttons (nude creme).

Don't Talk Bach To Me (light pea green yellow with silver shimmer), German-icure by OPI (red-brown shimmer), Every Month is Oktoberfest (red shimmer in dark blurple base), My Very First Knockwurst (pink leaning nude creme).

Nein! Nein! Nein! OK Fine! (blackened, muted green), Schnapps Out of It! (dusty orange with silver shimmer), Suzi & The 7 Düsseldorfs (medium purple shimmer), Unfor-Greta-bly Blue (blue shimmer in teal green base).

I have four comments:
1. The colors are very fall appropriate
2. The names are more ridiculous than ever
3. Bad porn seems to have been influential at the name creation party
4. Only one red!

Yes, very fall. But also... Rather boring. Three very neutral cremes. Standard red, purple and blue shimmers, not very inventive. The shimmer in most of these are of the finer variety that can be prone to brush strokes if you're not careful enough, although it's not that bad. However, I'm not a fan of the silver shimmer found in Don't Talk Bach to Me and Schnapps Out of It, and the shade of the latter is not that exciting at all. Actually, OPI describes it as a mauve, but I can't figure out why. Don't Talk Bach to Me could have been good, but the shimmer ruins this to a certain extent. At least I'm drawn to the name, since Bach is my favourite classical composer.

Upon first sight I couldn't find one really appealing color, but as I examined them more closely, I found one that actually got me slightly excited. More on that soon. 

Formula seems to be of standard to OPI, which is good, and pigmentation is better than it's been for a while, I think. Most of these are good in two coats, and anyone who reads this blog more frequently knows I usually do three.

Here's my favourite:

German-icure By OPI Every Month is Oktoberfest. Two coats. At first coat, it's more a dark purple with red shimmer, at second it transforms in a red with a dark purple base - if you follow me on this. The shimmer gets more pronounced as you add coats. The base is dark enough to not show as purple, but it's still there, and when the sun hits it just right, it's awesome. I think purple lovers will want this one.

Every Month is Oktoberfest German-icure By OPI has the same shimmer, but in a brownish base. But this one... Nice. But original? OPI has previously released for example Black Cherry Chutney, which gives a similar impression, even though it may be different on a particle level.That aside, this shade really is nice.

As far as the rest goes, well, what do you think of these? Do you find anything exciting? Do you, unlike me, feel that these scream Germany? (Because I don't.)

The names of German-icure by OPI and Every Month is Oktoberfest were initially mixed up in this post! This was due to mislabeled bottles, something that happened to the entire batch of bottles that went out to Swedish bloggers and journalists before the release. I'm sorry about the confusion, the mislabeled photos above, and hope you'll still like both.

Swedish name of the day:
Tyskland Germany
We have a slightly different take on the name.

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.

Depend summer 2012 + giveaway

Finally, some bottle photos and quick wheel swatches of the new Depend summer collection!

This little bunch is a rather cute set of tutti frutti like shimmers. 305 is a warm bubblegum pink with fine green shimmer that dries semi matte, 306 is a yellow, fine shimmer on the cooler side with a green cast, 307 an orange with gold shimmer, and 308 a red with gold shimmer. Sorry about the rather dark photo here.

309 is a red with fine, somewhat frosty shimmer, 317 a sheer pink with a pearly violet or pink shimmer, 311 is your average semi bright raspberry pink creme, and 316 a lilac creme with green shimmer.

314 comes out wonky in photos, but is really a bright green creme in a sort of cross between apple and warm mint kind of shade, if that sounds weird it's just because I haven't had enough coffee yet. 310 is a blue foil with particles on the more coarse side, 312 is a taupe creme with green shimmer, 313 a blurple with green shimmer, and 315 is a peacy nude with green shimmer.

Let's take a closer look at 313:

Rather nice!

And now the wheel - this is with flash, polishes in number order:

Close up shots of some of my favourites:

312 and 313.

305-308. It's not that they are so damn unique, but they look so cute together.

So, what's cool about this collection? It's got green shimmer all over, in different sizes. That makes some of the colors one would expect to be more standard, just a little less standard. I've also been trying to figure out if that shimmer could have any duochrome properties, but I can't really tell, which means that if it does, it's not that obvious anyway. Still, I rather like a bunch of these shades. It's definitely a huge step up from the spring collection, which was infinitely boring. Some of these I don't think I would wear myself, but I can see why people will buy them. For instance 307 and 308, which are cute, but not my personal style. I have tried to figure if those also has the same green shimmer the rest of the shimmers do, but if it does, it's eaten up by the base colors.

My favourites are of course the collection standout 313, and also, perhaps a little unexpected, the taupe 312. It's not just another taupe - it has green shimmer dammit! Lately, as I'm accepting this aging thing going on with me, I've grown more fond of neutral and classic colors with the small, sometimes unexpected twist. These shades sort of allow me to be the obstinate me I've always been, but with less noticeable nails. The edge is there, but only if you look closely. And sometimes knowing is enough.

Also, I would like to add that the pale lilac 316 at a distance looks a whole lot like Essie To Buy Or Not to Buy, though the shimmer is different. This is even more so because it has the same general problem the Essie does: the shimmer pretty much drowns in the creme base. It's just not that visible. But if you're in an area where Depend polishes are sold, and you wanted to get the Essie, you could do with this one instead.

For Depend polishes, these are sheerer than usual. Many of these will require three coats if you're like me, but maybe only two if you're more normal. The typical Depend one coaters aren't found, except for perhaps the blue foil 310.

Definitely one of the better collections from Depend in quite a while. I can see 313 becoming a classic, and I think most of these shades will sell well for summer. Some are pretty bland and less interesting, but adding the little extra to classic and neutral colors is great.

And now for the twist: Depend accidentally sent me two packages with this collection, so we decided together that the extra set would be a great offer to my readers. If you would like to receive AAALL the above colors at once, just leave a comment on this post with your email address. Open to all, until Sunday evening, June 3rd, 8 PM CET (GMT +1, summertime).

Swedish word of the day:
färglada -adjective pl. colorful
Summer collections should be.

Ancient tropical sun

Here's a shocker for you. Did you ever think the alizarine was going to wear anything like this? No, me neither. The polish I couldn't stand for more than a couple of hours: Models Own Tropical Sun. Shot in evening sun.

Three coats. Rather sheer, as earlier reports have already shown. A pink base with a shitload of orange shimmer and silver micro glitter bits. Really pretty in theory and bottle, but damn it made me feel like I was at least 70 years old. Not that I have anything against elderly ladies, but this isn't me in any aspect at all.

Supposedly a duochrome, but it doesn't show very well. There is perhaps a slight greenish tint to to shimmer in an extreme angle, but I really couldn't see it. There was just this almost frosty glow on my nails that made me feel like a 70's secretary. Goes in the swap pile.

Swedish word of the day:
tropisk -adjective tropical
Perhaps.

Eggstra!

That headline has some serious boozy Suzi potential, but let's not mind that and take a quick look at my Easter manicures. Not the most creative stuff ever seen, but they were fun making, and even wearing - for several minutes!

This was the first one I made. Not very complicated at all, just colorful skittles with white crackle. Little colorful half-hatched eggs. Actually, I was going to do this one for Easter last year, but I was too lazy to redo my nails at all, and I just reused the idea this year instead. All polishes are from OPI, besides White Shatter, they are, from left to right, thumb to pinky: Suzi Says Feng Shui, Green-Wich Village, Need Sunglasses?, Flit a Bit, Kiss Me On My Tulips.

Cross-eyed eggs? Well, it was a good idea, but perhaps not very boldly executed. My fried (?) eggs were done with Essie Marshmallow and OPI Need Sunglasses?, the yellow spots with the largest dotting tool I own. They should have been bigger, but I wasn't feeling confident enough to paint round objects freehand.

Not that I really celebrate Easter - I'm not religious at all and I don't particularily care for big family gatherings, but on the other hand I'm a sucker for nice food and seasonal sweets. Most of all, I hardly ever miss an opportunity to do some seasonal nails!

Swedish word of the day:
påsk -noun Easter
Not my favourite holiday.

Wing it, y'all!

Some kind of spring is in the air, here in Stockholm. The sun is shining, the snow is melting, and most people can really feel it. Me too. Finally. I hope it lasts, and my efforts to make spring stay, will as usual be in the form of manicures. I have way too many candidates among untried polishes to wear, and usually go for something I got recently because it is the closest one will get to exciting, but while in the shower this morning I felt like something ...peachy. Orange-y. Maybe coral. Perhaps a bit of shimmer. Yeah, that's right. The alizarine entered peachy mode. So, I thought of a few colors I have, and pretty soon landed on doing some kind of shimmer sandwich. I still have some of the OPI Texas 'Sorbets' in my untrieds drawer, which seemed perfect. So I pulled out Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, and the shimmer part could easily be obtained by another rather sheer OPI color, Wing It! from the Summer Flutter collection of 2010.

This is in total four coats of color: one coat of Y'All Come Back Ya Hear?, one of Wing It!, and then two more in the same order. Many jellies tend to come out very intense on camera, especially in strong light, so in reality you need to imagine this manicure a tad more sheer. There is visible nail line, but the shimmer hides it somewhat.

I took a couple of photos in the shade as well, in pretty low lighting. A bit more ISO grain, but a rather different overall look.

There you have it. Do you feel spring closing in in your area? And is fall coming in the southern hemisphere? Sometimes it feels so distant to imagine the opposite side of the planet experiencing an opposite season.

Also, I just noticed that "the new Blogger interface" seems to do something to the colors of the photos I upload. Most likely, automatically converting to web palette colors. I haven't noticed this before, except that the colors look dull when I view my posts on my iPhone. And while I was still using the previous interface I never noticed this. If you feel the colors have gotten less vivid in my posts (or your own, if you're a Blogger user), please let me know. I'd really appreciate feedback on this.

Swedish word of the day:
fladdra -verb flutter
Waiting for butterfly wings to do so.

Bright ideas

The peeps over at Kings Hair, the Swedish OPI distributor, sent me a set of minis - Bright Idea!, that was put out here for the summer. A bit late now in August, I know, but I thought I should try them out, along with the included Rapid Dry topcoat, to see how rapid it really is. This is the set:

It includes older Brights shades: That's Hot! Pink from Mod About Brights, the 2008 Brights collection, and Atomic Orange and Teal the Cows Come Home from the 2006 Brights. So, rather summery shades, then.



That's Hot! Pink, three coats. I don't know about other people's reference frames, but I don't think this pink is hot enought to be called a hot pink. But it's rather nice, though nothing that would have caught my eye normally. Somewhat jelly texture.



Atomic Orange, three coats. Creme, but I didn't manage to get it even enough with the small mini brush to avoid a third coat. Hard to photograph, comes out much brighter with my camera than it really is.




Teal the Cows Come Home, three coats. I actually had this one in a full size bottle, so I cheated and used this one instead. However, I think my brush was a bit funky, because during application it flattened out so much that fitting it on the nail was a bit worrysome. This is of course not a problem with the mini brush, but on the other hand, some people would probably find it too small instead. I can sense early B3F formula problems with this one, at least in my old full size bottle - you know, the formula that is kind of weird and likely to cause bubbling. Hopefully the mini bottle in this set is a new batch with an improved formulation.

Pretty standard summer shades that a lot of people would like, including the blue that is now part of the standard stash for many. The OPI mini bottles are terribly small, as I am sure many of us are aware of already, only 1/8 fl oz or 3,75 ml - smaller than the standard mini bottle.

However, I was very curious about the Rapid Dry topcoat, which I haven't before tried. I did so over Teal the Cows Come Home. After about one minute, the surface was dry, but sensitive to friction and could not resist smudge marks:

Though, it's flexible and retracts pretty good and the smudges mostly even out after a short while. No shrinking to be found.

I wouldn't replace my favourite super fast drying topcoat with Rapid Dry, but it sure dries faster than a standard topcoat. If you're very sensitive to shrinking, maybe this one will work out for you.

Swedish word of the day:
sommarfärger -noun pl. summer colors
Almost overwith?