A Good Riddance Of Bad Rubbish! (and I wish You all a better 2010)

I decided to keep the manicure with Tiara over the Maybelline polish. We're having King Crab tonight, and since the polish is wearing like iron, I thought it would be a good move.

Not to bore you entirely, I bring you RBL Moxie. A pale whitish gold, very opaque, very nice and very discontinued. Maybe I'll change to this in the morning, maybe not.

I have not had an entirely happy year, hence the title of this post. I wish You all a better 2010 because even if your 2009 has been fantastic, there is always room for improvement, right?

xxx

Twinkle Twinkle Layering

I tried out a possible New Year manicure last night. I have an old Maybelline, Twinkle Twinkle who is supposed to be a possible dupe for Essie Starry, Starry Night.

Well, if that is a dupe, my lemming for Starry, Starry Night disappeared in a hurry. It turned out a dark blue, gloopy mess with small silver flecks sparsely scattered. Possibly, my bottle just needs thinning, so I'll give it another chance before stamping rubbish all over it.

Last night I didn't have the patience though, so I just quickly covered it with one layer of Nubar Tiara. That is the top coat sold together with the Royal Gems collection that was released earlier this fall. What do you think? Could it pass for a New Years Eve Manicure?

I haven't made my mind up yet, but I like how it looks. It makes me curious of what Tiara will do to the polishes is what meant for, the Royal Gems.

(and, I have to tell you, something with the blogger image transfer just royally f*cked up, so the pictures you see are two of the ones I cancelled. The one I saved for you is nowhere to be found, they are in my picture archive just like they're supposed to, but impossible to find in blogger. Well, it is this or nothing!)

OK, I hear you, you're not satisfied yet.. ;-)

Do you need a new notd?

I will be happy to bring you my last years christmas offer.

I worked the whole holiday in hospital ward and I really did have the impression that the patients not critically ill, where they would not even have noticed anything greater than real life valkyria's with a big sword, trying to scare and scorche the illnes away.

They actually looked at my bright colored nails and took comfort in them. I believe I heard a comment on my nails about 30 times that day, and none of them were critical, just happy and complimental! I sent very many kids on their merry way home that day..

(then I went home and that is really a different story)

edit: I forgot to tell you about the polish. It is China Glace Red Stallion, great shimmer, no streaking problems. This is 2 coats and top coat if I remember correct.

Ho, Ho, Who Stole My Nails..?

…and used them as his coat hangers!

My Santa turned out to be a real Robin Hood, stealing from the rich (in talent) and giving the idea to me.

The richly talented lady in question is Beauty Judy who came up with this wonderful christmas manicure a couple of days ago.

I used Ciaté Snatch for the red coat, white and black nail art polish from Art Deco. I didn't have any silver for Santa's belt buckle, but as it turned out this Santa is from the 'hood and he wanted Bling, so it worked out all right with a gold glitter nail art polish instead (swedish no-name brand).

A special Merry Christmas to Judy for giving me inspiration for this one!

Happy Holidays!

To all my friends in the nail polish part of cyber space, let me wish you a happy holiday, celebrating christmas or not.

The 22 of december was the shortest day of the year, so now the sun is returning, that is enough to merit a celebration if you live way up north.

Todays manicure is red like Santa Claus' coat, or red as the bonfires my ancestors lit up to celebrate mid winter and the pagan nordic gods.

Ciaté Snatch is a vivid red, not on the blue side but definitely not orange ether. This is a colour that makes men turn their heads! Pure creme. I used two coats but if I had been more careful one would have been enough.

They Came Through the Snow

..and they clearly wanted my soul ;-)

This is really a silly post, but I was so happy yesterday I couldn't help myself.

The beautiful winter weather, my new polishes from Ciaté and the fact that Christmas is almost here just made me a little silly. And of course I have to share with you. One of the polishes makes up my current manicure, can you guess which one?

A bonus picture of our drive way - winter wonderland!

Christmas With Charity

Finally, I made my last appearance at work for this year! Time to decorate the house for Christmas, buy the last gifts and most of all, time to relax with the family! (and a bottle of nail polish..)

Last week's notw was Zoya Charity.

I had a very busy work week that didn't end until 08.00 this morning. This polish worked with me all the way, from last saturday, 11 whole days of wear. Today I'm taking it of because I can't wait to paint my nails in a brighter colour, but there is hardly any tip wear and not a single chip. Fantastic!

The colour is a chameleon that I still don't really know how to describe. Is it a mauve? Is it a taupe? Does it shimmer?

In cloudy daylight or office light, it looks like a very shiny mauve creme, at least on my fingers. In low lamp light it's more like a light brown or taupe. There is a gold shimmer that will surprise you in a good way when you least expect it to.

The pictures are cloudy outside (actually snowing a little, brr), artificial halogen light and artificial light with flash. I used 3 coats over Nubar Foundation, SV on top. I will return to Zoya Charity as I will to my other favorite charities. After all, Christmas is a time for giving!

Where a Picture says more than a 1000 words

Nubar Midnight Glory.

This is a hard polish to capture. I tried in flash light, in "natural" indoor halogen light and finally in very cloudy natural light outside. One thing every one can agree on I think, is that this is a remarkable beautiful polish. Multi chrome, sometimes pink, sometimes gold. sometimes with a strong baby blue flash and sometimes more lavender. Just fascinating!

3 coats + top coat. It could easily had been enough by two coats, but it was a little lumpy and I wanted to make it perfect..

MIA - Here is the reason (OT)

I'm so behind posting here, and if you miss me, I'm sorry for the lack of updates the last two weeks. You see the reason above!

Yes, that is right, a new computer came to live with us, and it's a mac. I adore it, but now I'm in the middle of making the transition from one platform to another, trying to move important documents (aka my swatches and wish list ;-D) and learning to deal with the MacOS.

Actually, I didn't even change my manicure, so I wore the lovely trench coat for two weeks straight. That is a record for me, but shows to prove what a fantastic polish Under My Trench Coat is. So far, I have yet to be disappointed by a $OPI. It is so worth the extra buck, if you ask my opinion.

Now, I have a new manicure, and as soon as get myself sorted out, I'll show it to you.

And, if this post looks strange in any way, blame my new computer.. ;-)

Hidden Treasures

This week has been busy for me. I haven’t even had time to update with my notw until now. The manicure of the week is $OPI Under My Trench Coat. I snuck out during work yesterday to get some photos in the sun. The sun was setting, it was freezing (-5 C) and the pictures could have been better, so excuse me for red and frozen fingers..

Anyway, the polish is great! Do you see the gold glimmering under the greige surface? It has just enough golden shimmer to be a really shiny but inoffensive neutral crème in office light, but in the sun or in bright light, this coated baby wears gold spun silk underneath!

Three coats plus Seche Vite top coat, under Nubar foundation. It was a little thick and lumpy, but the end result is very pleasing, I have now had the manicure for three whole work days without a single chip and not any tip wear at all.

To Fall In Love With Your Pay Check

These last weeks I have been on a relentless no-buy. The family had to order a new computer, and I was the only one who possibly could cough up the dough. That is.. if I ceased wasting money on all the little feel good things, buried my nose in the ground and just thought about buying inexpensive and sensible food for the family.

I did that.
Oh, the agony as all the China glitter came available at TD, I couldn’t order a single one of them. And The Wizards collection, and the OPI Holidays, I can tell you this is not the best time of the year to go on a no-buy!

Anyway, things are looking a little brighter, I have received a new pay check and even if I didn’t do the math I quickly estimated that there was room for a small (well ;-) ) order to Cherry Couture as well as a few more Ciatés from my favourite English source, even before I pay this months bills. I do hope I’m not being overenthusiastic, but you all know ho it feels to be starving of new nail goodies as the seasonal collections are just raining from the sky,,

I have been away for education the last two days. I needed a fairly conventional polish, although it did not need to be invisible. So, many great choices!
I ended up with SpaRituals Fall In Love. A wonderful fall polish, conservative but striking. It is a dark wine red colour, a shimmer but yet a little muted. In the pictures, there is a flash of green in the bottle. I wouldn’t by any means call this a duo chrome, I don’t even think it will be fair to say it is iridescent. That subtle green flair does give a special dimension to the polish anyway. I adds a depth and interest to the side of the nails, and transforms a polish I would write of as a standard shimmer dark red, to something quite different, a polish with a subtle lure that will be calling to me from the Helmer and certainly make me wear again..

The polish with a secret..

The favoured manicure this weekend was the gorgeous Color Club Wild and Willing, from the autumn collection called Wild at Heart.

This is really a stunning colour, a pink-gold duochrome with a strong shine, and not a single brush stroke. I had to wait a couple of days for a wee bit of sun, something that is needed to show this polish of to its best advantage. I really love this polish! I might even need a back up of this bottle.

In the pictures, there are 3 coats and top coat, but really, the third coat is only there because I got a little chip on one of my nails, waiting for the sun..

So what is the secret?
I’ll tell you if you promise to keep it a secret between you and Wild and Willing. Every Saturday night after dinner, if the polish is on your nails, it will get this terrible craving for a brandy. You will notice because suddenly, it will become all sparkly, and take on the colour of brandy like a chameleon. And if you don’t believe me, here is picture proof! ;-)

Supernova!

So, if you already have the universe on your finger nails, but nobody else than yourself can see it, what do you do?
Easy, just add a supernova or a couple of them, then the world will stop in its tracks (well, maybe not).

I layered my black polish with two coats of Linnea from Make Up Store. This is a Swedish brand, but I’m sure Nfu-Oh has similar flakies. Then I waited for two days for the sun to come out, so the manicure is not perfect anymore, but it held up pretty good. Last picture is shade, outside but aided by flash.

Spaced Out!

When I first laid my eyes on this polish, I immediately thought of an image taken from the Hubble telescope. View it here and be prepared to surrender your heart to the greatness of our universe: Hubble Site - Picture Album: Omega Centauri

Needless to say, I had to try this polish out as soon as possible, so my chocolate treat went right off.
(Has anyone guessed I have a few days of vacation and therefore both time and possibility to change my manis more than once a week – and wear dark and vampy colours. Yay!)

This is one of Eyeko’s new polish, the name is Cosmic, which I think is very appropriate. It went on like a dream, almost full coverage in one coat, here is two rather thick coats and my usual CG FF as top coat. No bubbling or cuticle drag, very easy to work with. The pictures are in full sunlight and with flash aided inside daylight.

My only slight disappointment is that you really need full sunlight or a strong artificial light to pick out the beautiful multi coloured holo glitter in the polish. In shady daylight or under ordinary lamp light, it looks like an extremely shiny crème black. Now that is not a bad thing to have on your fingers, but I really would have liked the universe on my nails to be a little more apparent. When the light does catch the polish, it is pure magic. It really gives a 3D feeling, that you look deep into something dark and glittery.

But beware, in Deep Space – No one can hear you blog about polish!

Late In November

This is my late fall manicure. It’s supposed to look like fall leaves, already on the brown dirt ground. It is also my first Konad-icure ever. I have seen so many talented manicures done with Konad, and I’ve tried to master the secret several times, but failed miserably.

Tonight, I can report victory, and it is spelled pure acetone! As soon as I cleaned my plate and stamper with that, the pattern transferred with great ease to my nails.
So easy, yet so frustrating, I have had my Konad set for about a year, not being able to use it.

So, this is my very first attempt at this, and of course it is a little of key, but I’m happy with the result anyway. I started with my delicious No 6 Chunky Chocolate, the Konad is CG Delight and Magical from the Romantique Collection.

Edit: I was inspired from this great Konadier: http://apolishproblem.blogspot.com/2009/11/yes-another-falling-leaves-mani.html

Now I realize, many girls have been tempted to use this Konad plate, here is another that was prior to my attempt, although I did not find her until today:

http://krisprimps.bradandkris.com/?p=750

So, not really unique, but actually I'm proud of it anyway!

A Parcel for the Pig!

What is this, is it an early christmas gift from my secret elf?
Please disregard the pig, it must be a polishpig which crept up to smell if there might be something interesting in there..

So pretty a parcel, do you think I can refrain from opening..?...

Nah, I couldn’t!
Look at all these goodies, polishes, lip glosses, an eye dust and an eye pen. To top it off a very cute little bag with a lot of samples in. What a great Christmas gift!

To concentrate on the polishes, I show you first two BarryM without names, the pink one and the green one. They must have been part of a promotional package or some other limited edition, since they have no names and there is a “not to be sold separately” sticker at the bottom.
Great colours, and even though I have about eight other green BarryM, none of them is a dupe of this! I don’t have the pink one either, but that is not so surprising, since I only have one other BarryM pink. The yellow one I think is from the regular line, but it is new to me, name is yellow 134.
Then there is a beautiful L’Oreal polish from the summer 09 release, 350. Unfortunately, this is one that I had in my stash already, but it will do a good job in my trade pile.
Last but not least, there is a holographic glitter top coat polish from Wet’n Wild, Kaleidoscope. I’m super happy about this one! Surely, I have other glittery top coats, but really, who could get enough holographic glitter!

Thank you very much Maria from Polishign the nails!

Now, I feel a little bit naughty for opening my christmas gift way early, I hope Santa don't read my blog.. ;-)

Yummy Mummy!

I know there is a totally different polish by Butter London that goes by this name, but trying out my first polish from Beauty Judy, I certainly felt yummy. This polish makes me want to lick my fingers!

The colour is Chunky Chocolate, a dark, crème brown. It is so glossy it was hard to see where to put the top coat, so my application wasn’t perfect. In real life though, that doesn’t matter, all you can see is a super shiny, begging to be eaten chocolate colour. This was three coats with an (uneven) CG FF as top coat.

Incidentally, it is a perfect match for the only sweets I eat nowadays, high quality dark chocolate with 85% or more cocoa. Yummy indeed!

The Winner Takes It All!

And I was a real winner a little while back, when Beauty Judy held a very generous contest. Just look at the goodies the mailman brought me a few days ago!
The polishes from No 6 is, from left to right:
Your Royal Highness, Plum Over Here, Raisin The Bar, Chunky Chocolate, Fall For Romance, Steel In Love and Rock Star.

As if that generous prize was not enough, she went out of her way to get a little extra something for my daughter Harriet, not less than two super cute BonBon polishes, and two lovely lip glosses. Harriet kindly agreed to share the prize with her little sister Sonja, so now, all females in the family are very happy! (although, mummy is planning to have a go with the cute polishes herself some day, ssh, don’t tell the kids ;-D )

The greatest thing with things like this, is that it forces you out of your box. I am so happy with my polishes because, even if I have quite a huge collection already, I honestly doesn’t have almost any colours looking like these. I tend to choose shimmers over crèmes, and light colours over dark. Five of these colours are dark, crème vampies, so exciting and new to me!

A very heartfelt Thank You Judy, from the PolishPig Girls! <3>

I Love Yokohama!

And I do, I love these polishes, and I can not even start to understand why OPI decided to make this line an Asia exclusive. Obviously, they would have sold much more polish if every nail aficionado would have had the chance to buy her (or his) own bottle.

This mani is 2 coats + CG FF as top coat. The colour is hard to describe. It’s not pink, not neutral and really not coral eather. .
I would say it is a complex mix of all three, with a generous dose of gold coloured glass fleckes thrown in for good measure. This is one picture of daylight aided with flash, and one picture with halogen lights, no flash
Short advise, If you like a subtle but striking polish, buy this!!

On a side note, if you really want to know which top coat is best, follow this blog: http://theedgeofsanity.org/

I follow this blog all the time, for my pleasure, but now the girls running it are doing a remarkable experiment trying to find out what top coat is the best. Do like I do, read all about it here: http://theedgeofsanity.org/

18 Causes of Bliss!

I don’t always show photos of my new nail polish bottles. I prefer to wait until I have them on my nails, but today I’m making an exception. I got a box in the mail yesterday, and when I finished unpacking it earlier this morning, I actually felt a little dizzy and had to lay down for a while, all from pure joy!

From the Yokohama collection:
Baby Blue, Yokohama Twilight, Penny For Your Thoughts, Sweet Love At Ferris Wheel, Bay Bridge Sunset, Pinkerbell, Swirl of Euphoria, Starbright Sparkles II, Vintage Violet, I Love Yokohama, Blush Of Adrenaline, Cherry Blossom

The Reflection Collection:
Rosy Reflection, Reflecting Pool, Disco Ball Sparkle, Golden Rainbow

And last, two asia exclusive valentine polishes:
Love Will Blossom, Kiss Of Peach

Tagged :-)

The sweet Judy from http://beautyjudy.wordpress.com/ tagged me for the Kreativ Blogger award. Thank you Judy, this is the first time I’ve been tagged, exciting!

The rules are, list 7 facts about yourself and then tag 7 blogs you enjoy reading.

I love fast cars, and I really like driving them. I commute by car to work every day, usually about a 35 five minute drive twice a day. I enjoy it, it gives me time to wake up and set my mood for work in the morning, and it gives me time to unwind at night, letting go of work and stepping into “family mode”.

I’m afraid of spiders and dentists (one is as bad as the other, methinks).

I have been on the Internet since 1993, before WWW even existed as we know it today. I remember how it grew, at one time there was a browser (Mosaic) that on their home page would list “the new sites of the week”, and it might be a dozen or so in the whole world!

I love computer adventure games (although I barely have the time to play anymore)!

I have green eyes.

I like to read, my favourite genre is science fiction.

I have 5 Helmers filled with polish, and I will soon have to get a new one (but that will be my last, promise ;-) )

I tag:
The Edge Of Sanity
Neglelakkmani
Polishaholic
Misa Polish
Polishign the nails
Polish Mayhem
Saintbella Beauty

All of these blogs are in my blog roll, and I can’t se any of them participating in this award yet.

Misa Foxy & Folksy

This weeks mani was really a surprise polish! I picked it out Sunday evening, in the lamp light it looked like a light brown, bronze colour with a slight lavender iridescence. It looked the same in the bottle as it did on my nails, and I went to bed content with my neutral manicure.

I commute quite a distance by car every day, and I have to start early, so come Monday morning I went on my merry way. Halfway to work, the sun rose, and I started staring at my polish. It was no longer a work safe neutral with a little twist, it was now a lilac bordering on purple!

Oh, well, I guess I cannot hide my true polish self from my work mates any more. I really like this polish, it gives the word duochrome a whole new meaning.

Polish Piglets: Late to the Party!

I didn’t have the time to show you my daughters Halloween manicures yesterday, but better late then never, right?

Here is my now experienced hand model Harriet, showing off the purple and gold manicure she designed herself. (I actually was so impressed I got her a purple dress to wear with it).
Again, it is the Hello Kitty polish she likes so much, one coat, gold striper and top coat.

Then we have Sonja, sporting a swedish brand: Viva La Diva. This is a neon orange/pink, only one coat because a 4 year old has limited tolerance to holding hands still to let the polish dry. It dries fast and matte, but with a coat of CG FF the shine is back, and it looks almost like a jelly. This is pre clean up, trying to take advantage of the bleak natural light.

I wish you all a good Sunday! Now I’m off to try to take care of my own nails for the week to come (surely, I’ll find a nice beige shade in my drawer :-P)