Happy Holidays and a Crackling Giveaway!

Very merry holidays!

I am so happy to reach 200 followers, thank you every one! This is a great community to take part in and I am thankful to experience that. There is always a kind word in the right time, an appreciative comment, a hello and a welcome back when you've been to busy to post for a while.

You are a great bunch of people! :-)

Because of that, I decided to set up my first giveaway. I will give away a complete set of the Isadora Graffiti Nails, awesome crackle polish in 6 colors. All purchased by me, open to followers everywhere.

The rules are simple:
This is for followers, old or new. Please tell me by which name you follow and state a valid email address to get in contact with you in a comment to this post.
If you want a second entry, blog about this giveaway in a post or in your sidebar. Please provide a link to your blog.
Feel free to use my picture, no extra points but many nail addicts may not know the Swedish brand Isadora.
Open until January 25, my time ;-)

200 followers, wow! :-D

Santa's Little Helper

So as we all know, there is hard work involved with celebrating christmas. There is food to be cooked, cakes to be baked, presents to be wrapped, house to be cleaned, tree to be dressed, children to be at least modestly cleaned up before santa arrives..

To manage this you need an iron clad manicure. Enter a China Glaze Glitter!

I have very good experience from CG glitters in the past, so as my pre-christmas manicure, I choose CG Mistletoe Kisses.

Amazing, this is two coats only, base coat and SV top coat as usual.
I must point out, this photo is from our winter solstice, when sun is barely creeping up above the horizon. This polish is much brighter in clear light, but it never showed..

Midvinterblot

Today is winter solstice. For us in the northern hemisphere it is the shortest day of the year. For me this means that there is only a few precious hours of daylight until the long, dark night begins again.

Way back, when we all lived in the forest and worshipped the old gods, we used to have a ghastly celebration on this day. There would be bonfires, music and prayers. There would be animal sacrifices, some historians even say that we made human sacrifices to the old gods to make them please, please, bring back the sun.

My picture is taken exactly at noon today. Look at the position of the sun. It just barely lights up my world. A little blood sacrifice doesn't seems so crazy after all. Maybe I should offer a red polish instead...

Lady Manhattan

This is a really wonderful polish I won in a giveaway from the sweet Mon Coin á Moi. This is the essence of my polish addiction. It's a beige! It's a holo! This is the perfect work safe alternative.

The brand is Lady Manhattan, color is 96D. It is a golden beige shimmer with holographic glitter. It does not go on streaky on the nail and it covers easily with one to two coats.
The notd is basecoat, one coat of polish + top coat. In the photo, you can see slight vnl, but after adding another coat, the polish is opaque.



Now, the winter is really, really here and the days are short, the nights are very long. Look at the hand of the ice queen!



I don't want to leave you in the cold and the dark, so here is my favorite Manhattan cocktail.

2 oz of rye whiskey (use a good brand)
1/2 oz sweet vermouth (Carpano Antiqua Formula is the best in the world)
4 dashes Angostura Bitters (sometimes more is needed - how bitter are you tonight?)
1 Maraschino Cherry for garnish and a small sweet tang at the bottom of the glass :-)

Stir, stir, stir with ice. Strain carefully in a cocktail glass.
Think of the Ice Queen. Enjoy!

I caught a new bug!

This is the fantastic polish Scarab, from the Illamasqua autumn collection. Ladies, this is ONE coat, slapped on in a hurry just before my youngest daughters christening ceremony last saturday. The photo is taken on day 5, excuse the wear. As usual Nubar Foundation base coat and Seche Vite top coat.

I touched it up with a second coat after taking the photos and the color grew even deeper and more haunting. I now understand why the old egyptians worshiped the Scarab bug as a holy creature! I think I may do that too.. ;-)



As a little bonus, here is Sonja on her big day. Nails done with one coat of Orly Shine.

Finnish Delight!

This will be a short post as I haven't really found my inspiration yet. I still do two-week manicures (and getting away with it :-p )
This is my current, and I've worn it on my nails for two weeks, so please excuse the tip wear.

Lumene Make Impact is a pink holographic! I love this color but now I waited fourteen days for sun to show it to you. No game!

In deep overcast daylight it looks like a shiny shimmery pink. In real life, it has a very interesting golden holographic effect, it verges on duochrome but it is really a holographic golden shimmer. Subtle but very catching!

To show you the holo, I had to use artificial light and a flash. Crappy pictures that reminds me of my start as a blogger but the best I could do today. Three coats plus top coat (my thick and awful SV, I haven't replaced it yet)

Not My Naked Butt!

It has been quiet around here lately. I have lacked the inspiration of writing, and my nails has been wearing two-weeks manicures because I really wasn't inspired to paint them. Lucky for me, I can get away with it if I do some small touch-ups as the days goes by.

Anyway, to my big surprise, I have gained a couple of new followers the last few days, in spite of my lack of updating. That sparked my inspiration! I never said anything about my readers and followers but now I must thank you all! I am so happy that you want to read about me and my nails! Hugs to everyone!

So, newly inspired, I show you my last manicure. This is Butt-Naked Bronze by BB Couture.

Ah. Lovely.
This is two coats! Look at the shimmer and sparkles! It is a great neutral, a work safe color, but let it out in the sun and it is going to eat your heart!

I wish my naked butt looked like this.. ;-)



This bottle was sent to me from the lovely Kim at Overall Beauty for review. My blog is not a review blog and no-one but Kim has sent me anything for that purpose (which IMHO just shows what a great place Overall Beauty is).

Shiitake Happens

Trust me, sometimes it does!

This is old school CND, Shiitake Happens. I wasn't sure at all of this color in the bottle. but it turned out I liked it very much.

It is a muted orangey coral color that goes very well with my skin tone. It reminds me of fall. Not the vampy dramatic fall, nor the bright maple leaf fall. More the soft blush of the rose hip or the golden glow of the black currant leaves left in my garden.




This is two coats over Nubar Foundation, no top coat. Ridges are all my own and not the polish fault ( I have to start using ridge filler). It dried kind of slow and I managed to bump it a little bit but a new coat the next day took care of that.

This is a polish I thought I would probably use only once. No I'm not so sure anymore. Shiitake Happens is staying in my Helmer until next time I'll need some subtle fall on my nails.

The Woman on the Verge..

...to something new!

*whispers*
Ladies, guess what, tomorrow I'm going on my first date with someone "not husband" in 20 years!
Yes, of course I choose the polish just for the name :-)

This is Misa For the Woman on the Verge. 3 coats over Nubar Foundation. No top coat, it is so shiny and lovely without so I just skipped the top coat. I never do that, but Misa makes me do unusual things.

The color is a dusty mauve with quite a strong shimmer in it. But there is something else going on there too. Look at the second picture, there is some multicolored micro glitter! You can't see this with the naked eye, but it makes the color much more interesting. It has a secret, just like the woman on the verge..



The more Misa polishes I try, the more I love them. Perfect brush, good formula and interesting colors. The polish does take some time drying and I did make a small dent on my ring finger hurrying to get sun pictures. But with a little licking it's almost invisible again. (that's right, the tongue is the poor womans Orly Smudge Fixer ;-D )

As a totally unexpected bonus, this polish is a perfect match to my camera. Look here!

Lazy Glitter Update

So. I'm on vacation. That means I can wear as much bling as I want to. It also means that I don't have to sport a perfect manicure, it's my vacation :-p

The solution to this came from the sweet Flavia of Similar Addiction. I won a giveaway, and she sent me the most gorgeous glitter polishes. This is one of them, KIKO 231.

I am so sorry I couldn't conjure the sun. I do have certain powers, but ruling the sun is a little out of my league.. ;-)

Stop Rewinding, Just Fast Forward!

Because that is were I'm going!

This is a gorgeous Misa polish. I am very often happy with my Misa's and this is one of the times.. :-D

This is a creme polish, very bright but not a neon because it dries very shiny. It is a red bordering on orange, and if you would've asked me before I tried it, I would've gotten the thumbs down. I believe I got it in a swap, and as such, since I only swap dupes, all new colors are good colors (within reason..)

This is two coats and no top coat but if you are careful it is a potential one-coater. Being a bright red color, that is amazing! I always use a top coat but this polish dried so fast and shiny I didn't need one!

Meh, was I wrong letting this polish stay among my untrieds!! This is just amazing, it goes very well with my skin tone and changes color like a chameleon. Now it's orange, now it's red, now it's berry.. Love it!

A Fling with Mr Wrong!

Back to my theme, at least sort of..

As regular readers of my blog will know I am newly separated after a long marriage. Well, as every counselor will tell you, be very careful regarding a relationship when you are in my position.

So, entering Mr Wrong!
I gave him two rather careless strokes and he was all over my fingertips, not a bald spot, not any streaking to be seen. He wore me out like iron. He was not boring in the night, not disgusting in the morning, he was flirtatious, gleaming, but quite manly with his dark base and subtle glitter.





After a week I told him we should part, but he didn't listen. Instead, he coaxed me into stroking him again on day ten, covering up some minor tip wear and a small chip.

This is Mr Wrong on day 17!



After three full weeks I finally got rid of him, but ladies, this guy just stole my heart!!
If he ever comes to your neighborhood, watch out!

The Queen of Green

Last week I got a craving for green. I didn't want to change my manicure since it still held up very well so I thought of an alternative. From my Helmer, I picked up all the green polish I have by BB Couture. I don't think there is another polish company that loves the green color as BB Couture does. I don't have a complete collection, but still, if I did one manicure a week I could wear BB Couture greens on my nails for almost six month. Awesome, right?

First wheel:
(three coats)

1. Dress Rehearsal (BB for men)
2. Kelly's Green
3. Caterpillar
4. Iced Olive
5. Universal Joint (BB for men)
6. Grenade (BB for men)
7. Ceremony (BB for men)
8. Green Goblin
9. Golf Pro (BB for men)
10. Fuel Injector (BB for men)
11. Venom
12. Poison Ivy
13. Frosty Meadow
14. Studio 54
15. Mariner (BB for men)
16. Pipe Bender (BB for men)
17. Redwood Forest
18. Saturday Night Fever




Second Wheel:
(three coats)

1. Tortuga Island
2. Laguna Lagoon
3. Bassins Bleu
4. Bassins Bleu 2


For me BB Couture are really the Queen of Green!

A Sparkling Award!

I received such a sweet award today, from Biba's Beauty corner

The rules are very simple:
- Answer one question: What do you like the most about your own blog?
- Pass this award on.

What I like most about my blog is that I managed to keep it guilt free. I blog for my pleasure, sometimes almost daily, sometimes no more than once in a fortnight. Before I started this adventure, I thought long and hard about it. I didn't want to create a monster that would feed me guilt and feelings of stress when I didn't have the time it required.

Well, there is no monster, just a great hobby and an opportunity to connect to the nicest internet community ever.. Thank you for reading and letting me be a part of all this!

I pass this award on to:
Sminkan
Never Ending Obsession
Mon coin à moua
Alizarine Claws

Warning, feet ahead!

I'm sorry for the lack of updates lately. I went on a short family vacation last week and when I returned home, my internet connection was down. Not only mine, but the whole village was without access to broadband for almost a week.

It is really crazy how dependent I have grown of 24/7 access to the net. What's on TV? The weather tomorrow? Pay the monthly bills or find out what's left in your bank account? Keep in touch with friends and family?
Everything is done on the internet. Great when it works, but I think the society has grown much more vulnerable because of our dependency. You don't notice until it is gone..

Anyway, I'm rambling. Let's move on to the feet and hands which are my daughters mani-pedis for the trip. No clean up and a bit of wrestling pre-photo (between the girls, mummy not involved :p)

This is H&M Blue My Mind and Red Nail, only one coat. L.A. Nail Art striper in white. The H&M polishes are really good in pigmentation (and I'm not saying that because I'm swedish).

You didn't think I'd be cruel enough to expose you to my feet, did you? ;-)

The Posh Haul

Look what I did! I went and broke the piggy bank and really treated myself. I'm so happy about my new high ends, I just had to show you!



From L-R: Mac In the Buff, Chanel Orange Fizz, Illusion D'Or and Particulière, Dior Lemon Balm and finally MUS (swedish brand) Judith.

Have a great day everybody, today is my first day of vacation and it couldn't have started any better! :-D

A Very Subtle Pimping

So, I was not very happy with my last manicure. It was the right color and from a distance it looked pretty clean and work appropriate, but I felt it was streaky and uneven.

I decided to add a layer of Mavala Antares. This is a sheer white color, with multicolor micro shimmer and flakes that shift from white to pink to green. It turned out very pretty on the nails and I am still wearing this manicure six days later, but it proved almost impossible to photograph correctly. You will have to take my photos as is, and trust me.
If you want a subtle but different manicure, try Mavala Antares!

Pinking Up the Pieces

Because that's just what is going on here!
(and might I add, with a great amount of success)

Hi guys, I guess I'm back with my theme again.
The manicure itself was, I'm sorry to say, without any great success at all. It turned out very streaky and hard to manage. It might be that I lack the skills needed for sheer polish. The problem subdued with the fourth coat, but then I had an unmanageable amount of polish on my fingers and it dried slow, in spite of Seche Vite (who caused bubbles again, I might have to chuck this bottle even if it is brand new, grr)
I was pressed for time and had to give my girls a bath right after I finished the mani, so of course I suffered some dents. I'm showing you the best preserved hand.

The polish itself is lovely enough, a sheer pink with a little blue flash. But I doubt I will use this again anytime soon, I think I have pink sheers in my stash that are easier to handle.

After living with this dented manicure for a day, I made a very descrete pimping for a better look. I'll show you soon, my first pictures came out so discrete there is no visible change at all. I will try again today.

Nail Art from Viva la Nails

Just recently, I found a great offer. Viva la Nails offers you a sample of their nail art products, all for free if you are a nail related blogger. In return, they want you to spread the word and blog about them.

This is what I received. Six different packages of nail stickers, a small sample of nail wipes and a generous amount of rhine stones, small flowers and hearts, beads and bullions. All in all, a great little package. Shipping was very fast and communication with the company was good.

I still have left to try out the products, but knowing the limitations of my nail art skills, any failure with execution will most likely be operator dependent, rather than due to lacking quality of the supplies.

All in all, I think this is a great way for a company to get publicity and good will. They ship world wide, so if you too would like a sample, go here.

Happy Flakey Me!

I am working right through this week end and when my last manicure started to chip I didn't really have the energy or time to change it. Luckily, someone has invented flakes and glitters for just this reason, to cover lazy girls a**es in their time of need.

So I just slapped on a new coat of OPI More Time For Me to cover the worst chipping and proceeded with two coats of Nfu-Oh 50. I used BB couture top coat Top Rock over the flakes, to even the surface out a bit, and it worked great.

With a manicure like this, no one can walk around with a grudge, so I took a pause in my "theme" just to be sincerely happy for a while. Actually, happy suits me better, I'm that kind of girl!

More Time For Me

Because there is!

I must declare, it is so much fun with a theme for your polish, even if divorce isn't the theme I would have guessed to be my first choice. But as I will show you in a later post, sometimes Shiitake Happens, and you just have to go with the flow.

This is OPI More Time For Me, from the I Don't Do Dishes! collection of fall 2006. This is a polish that would probably have lingered in my untrieds for a long time it if wasn't for my theme, but I am really glad I tried it.

It is a deep mauve color with a very subtle shimmer. Good pigmentation, almost opaque in one coat, here is two coats over Nubar Foundation base coat. My new bottle of Seche Vite played tricks with me, turning all thick and ugly and didn't want to level out at all, so any unevenness I blame on the top coat. I guess I got a bad bottle, I'll have to thin it a little before using it again.

Mid Summer Greetings

Here in Sweden, we celebrate Mid Summer this weekend. We raise a maypole covered with flowers and leaves and dance around it, singing traditional songs and listening to traditional music played with fiddles and accordion.

Some of us may celebrate by opening very cute parcels from France (se last post :-D)

Look at all these shiny, glorious flakes and glitters! I'm in Glitter heaven for the holiday, and I don't know if I want to come back at all.
Thank you Marie, what a great giveaway you held!