China Glaze Immortal

Unfortunately, I am still suffering from multiple nail break down. Soon my poor nails will have reached above my smile line and then I will be able to share my actual notw with you, but alas, not yet.

So to bring you a post today, I had to dig deep down in my archive.

This is China Glaze Immortal. Two easy coats, no clean up required. SV top coat as usual. 

The polish is  a cold grey and it has an adorable secret shimmer. I wore it last fall and the weather was really foul, I had to wait a couple of days for the sun to show so I could take my pictures. I think the polish held up well, this is day three or four.

I am not an overly religious person, but as we are now celebrating Easter Monday, I think the name of the polish is very fitting indeed.

Maybelline Colorama Steel Wheeling

Let me do a quick post about an oldie that's been in my archive forever. Actually the reason for it to appear here is a swap group on Facebook. I put this polish up for swap (well, my back up - I am slowly accepting that I will not need any back up's for the next 350 years or so..).

I wanted to link to my blog post and found out I never wrote one. So excuses about the photos, even in my early blogging days I probably thought them so crappy I never posted them.

But by omitting to publish because of the crappy photos, I really did this lovely polish wrong. It needs to be shown as I am certain there are still bottles lurking in dollar stores and on ebay auctions.

This is two easy coats of Maybelline Colorama Steel Wheeling 160. Basecoat and top coat as usual. Great holographic glitter in a greige shimmer base. Endurance was good, I wore the polish for at least five days working with my usual mani-stressful job. 

  If you should run in to this little gem I suggest you get your greedy polished fingers around it asap. And if you're in the facebook group Lacka-Byt, well hurry up before someone beats you to it! ;-)

Sinful Colors Luminary

Ladies, meet Sinful Colors Luminary!

A soft coral color that truly sings of hot and lazy summer days with a refreshing cold drink somewhere close. To me this is such a succulent, juicy color. I get the urge to lick my nails and try to taste the color. 

I'm not the only one in the family who feels this way, yesterday morning Little Miss 7 wanted to sniff my nails to find out if they really smelled like oranges.

This is one of those colors with a secret silver shimmer. You can see it clearly in sunlight and in sharp indirect light if you look really hard for it. Most of the time though, the shimmer is invisible but makes the polish look like a smooth and super shiny creme. I like very much!

Application was an easy three coats. The texture of the polish is a little weird, it's not exactly thick but it feels a little like an airy mousse. It made me think of orange sorbet and then I wanted to lick my nails even more :-p

For this manicure, I used OPI NNS, Nubar Foundation, three coats of Luminary and one coat of Seche Vite. The wear is excellent, I am now on day 5 and not a single chip or any tip wear at all.

The first three pictures is taken in the sun, the last one outside in the shade.

Nail Art Sunday: Isadora Glamour White - Or how to wake up a sleeping Beauty Blog?

How to wake up a sleeping beauty blog? Why, with a kiss of course.

This is my first feeble attempt to start blogging again. I really miss it. I won't promise daily posts or anything (like I ever done them..) but I hope to get back to updating more often than twice a year.. :-p

I'm wearing a lovely swedish polish, Isadora Glamour White. It is a true white shimmer, no brush strokes at all but a satin finish. This is three coats. Very good formula. I probably could have gotten away with two coats but I'm not on friendly terms with the wide brush and to even it out I used an extra coat. 

Some of the swedish blogs I follow uses Sundays to do nail art, obviously almost always more elaborate than my stamping. The talented Lela is the lady who started this fad. 

I used the CH 29 plate from Cheeky for my kiss pattern and Konad Special Red for the stamping. 

Last but not least, a huge thank you to the followers that have not given up on me completely. Hugs all around!

OPI It's My Year

Really, this is the obvious pick for the perfect New Year manicure!

Three coats over Lumos Base coat, Seche Vite on top. I don't need to tell you all the great things about this polish, you know all about it already.

Suffice to say, this is my year. It can be yours too!

A England Perceval

Happy Holiday Ladies! 

Even if my blog is really on the back burner at the moment, I couldn't resist showing my christmas manicure.

This is A England Perceval, a glowing red shimmer. This is a beautiful, true red with a hint of darkening at the edges to really bring that glow out. The color pops at you from a distance, but not in your face, just elegantly red.

To compare it to other red shimmers I showed, it is not as brown as Illamasqua Viridian and not as bright and orange hinted as China Glace Red Stallion.

(and please excuse my even lesser skills in photography way back then. Hrrm, something has changed for the better at least.. )

It behaves beautifully too, almost opaque in one coat, I used two over usual Lumos base coat, Seche Vite as top coat. Unfortunately it chipped badly within a couple of hours. 

I will not put the blame for the chipping on A England without another go at it though, as my nails are in such a bad shape right now, weak and splitting as there were no tomorrow. 

I guess it is the Blog God punishing me for not updating and posting regularly :-p

Color Club Noveau Vintage

Maybe I'm back from my blog hiatus, we'll just have to see about that. A word to all the readers who are still here: awesome!!

Thank you, you rock!

Last weeks manicure was Color Club Noveau Vintage. I'm really not happy with this polish at all. It looks fab in the bottle, brown-green-copper multicromish, but on the nail, nope!

First of all, this is a streaky little s*b. The first coat left me with huge bald spots. I tried to work with it on the second coat but it was very thick, still with bald spots. What you see here is three painfully applied coats, plus my usual Lumos top coat. I'm still not very happy about it. Just to make things worse, this photo is taken on day 6, so there is a lot of wear and tear too.

Now the color needs to be talked about. So many blogs wrote this up as being the gem in the color club fall collection. When I got it in the mail, I was awed by the color too and I couldn't wait to try it on. 

Well, no cigar!

In the bottle, the color shifts from muddy brown to green to bronze. Just beautiful. On the nail however, in most lights it is just a dusty brown shimmer. It is not a bad color, appropriate for fall and sure it is pretty. But it is not what I expected at all.

If you look carefully at the photos, you will see what lured us into thinking this was a great color. There is sparks of red, green and gold in the thick, unyielding formula. There are all the parts of a great polish in the making present here. It just didn't happen!

Depend 251

This will be a short post, just to show you all that I'm still alive and kicking.

This weeks manicure is Depend 251. It is part of the Depend summer collection. The polish is light blue, bordering on grey. I believe it is much more blue than CG Sea Spray in the bottle, I would need to do a comparison to know for sure. It has a pretty heavy silver shimmer that shows up in the sun. In low light you might mistake it for a super shiny creme, but not quite.



The formula was thick and gloopy and I was worried after one coat. The first coat was very streaky and uneven, but the second coat actually leveled the problem. I love the end result (and I know there is some random debris stuck to my pinkie. You'll have to live with it.)

This is two rather thick and lumpy coats, base coat and top coat as usual. I like this even more IRL than in my pictures, It is well worth picking up if you live in my part of the world.



All in all, a buck well spent! See you later ladies.

China Glace I'm Not Bitter

Today is the national day of Sweden, our Independence Day if you like.
I, however, have chosen to celebrate another independence altogether. Today it is exactly one year since my ex husband left home. It has been a year that started of with a feeling of relief. That sense has grown into a calm happiness I really didn't think I deserved to feel. Life is treating me and my children very well.

I'm Not Bitter is a glamorous deep red shimmer. It is from the Voodoo That U Do collection that was released in 2005. This is old school China Glace, thin and precise and very pigmented. Just lovely to work with!



One coat would have been enough but I was not prepared for that and used two coats to make up for my mistakes. The two coats deepened the shimmer even more and I am very pleased with this polish. This is one of those rare polishes that looks even better in shade or low light than it does in the sun. I love it, and I'm Not Bitter!

Essie Nude Beach

I'm not really sure how to feel about this polish. I used it as my manicure the week before last, but I've been putting of writing about it because I have mixed feelings about this. I needed something very sheer and Nude Beach is all that. It has a nice white shimmer that comes out to play in the sun and then it is very pretty. But when you least expect it, the polish flashes a weird green flash. Suddenly, my nails looks suspiciously stained for a second, then it goes away and all I see is pretty, nude shimmer. This is a strange one indeed.

Here is Essie Nude beach, two coats over Nubar Foundation BC and with Essie Good to Go TC. Not expected, the polish bled a little on the top coat brush, lucky for me the color is almost non existent so no harm done. I still would have thought Essie polish should play nice with Essie top coat. As I said, this is a strange one.

Cult Nails My Kind of Cool Aid

A couple of months ago, Maria, nail addict and blogger behind the blog 3Daily decided to start her own nail polish brand. This is the first polish from Cult Nails. As a long time follower of course I had to order a bottle. I probably would have done so no matter what color she presented, it takes a lot of courage to follow your dream and I admire her.



Lucky for me, the color is absolutely gorgeous. It is a greyed out lavender with a discreet shimmer. In the bottle it looks like a silver shimmer but look closely on the nail and it is actually blue and pink! The shimmer is subtle, in inside lightning it looks like a very shiny lavender creme, outside it looks more grey and the shimmer is just barely noticeable.

Application gave me a little trouble. The polish is very thick and tended to stick to the brush in an awkward way. It is very well pigmented and after a few drops of polish thinner the second coat went on pretty smoothly. Showed is two coats over Nubar Foundation, Seche Vite on top.



Now, I have read good things about the lasting power of this polish and I aim to put it thoroughly through the test this coming week. I will work in tight rubber gloves all the coming week, with about 30 hand scrubbings a day. Any polish that lives through that is up there with the best of them. Ladies, I will keep you posted.



In the meantime, why don't you check out Cult Nails? I pre-ordered the other polishes as well and I look forward to them very much. Maria will ship internationally for a very reasonable fee and the shipping is lightning fast.

(this polish was bought and payed entirely by me and I am not affiliated in any way with Cult Nails. Actually, I don't think Maria knows I have a blog.)

Diamond Cosmetics Canyon Sunrise

This is last weeks manicure. I had to wait for five days until the sun showed up. Excuse the wear.

Anyway, this is a lovely color. It covers in one or two coats (I did two). I'm not impressed with the drying time, it took forever even with Seche Vite and I dinged my middle nail more than five hours after I painted it.

I must say I like it anyway. Nude, but with a twist!

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.

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.