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!