Pure Ice Wild Thing

This summer it has not been easy to find even a minute of sunshine for photography. I'm seriously considering buying a light box even though I'm not an accomplished photographer at all. Until the sun shines again (or I cave in and get some indoor equipment) a notw from May will have to suffice to keep the blog alive.

This is Pure Ice Wild Thing. It really is a perfect polish for spring in the north, the color reminds me of budding birch leaves, so fresh and light. It's a light green creme, leaning a little yellow, keeping the lobster hands at bay. 

I have to excuse myself for the application and state of my cuticles, this is not my best manicure.  :-p

Application was no problem except for one single annoying bubble on my pointer nail. That was probably my fault and not the polish. It went on a bit thick but leveled out reasonable well at the second coat. This is 2 coats, usual base and top coat. I really liked it on my nails and with one little touch-up it stayed put for more than a week.

And at last, just to emphasize how my summer has been so far, I leave you with this picture (source unfortunately unknown, but I couldn't resist):

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.

Revlon Starry Pink

To avoid throwing this blog into another stupor, I will show you a manicure from March this year, Revlon Starry Pink. 

This is a sheer pink with silver glitter, both small round and large hexagons. Since the base is semi opaque, some of the glitters will look more white than silver on the nail, I really like that effect.

I got great wear out of this one, not a single ship after one week of heavy duty (ab)use. Three easy coats, no problems at all with application.  Seche Vite top coat as usual, and in spite of the glitter it felt smooth after only one coat of top coat.

For me, this was a bit of a htf and when I finally found the polish at an online store, at a whim I ordered another Revlon glitter polish as well. Popular, also a pink with glitter, I had never heard of it but it sure looked nice. I was quite surprised when I found out that they are completely dupes! 

Very well, I now have a back up of Starry Pink. Maybe it will show up in a giveaway eventually as I really have too many polishes to ever need a back up (in spite of what my crazy brain tells me every time I fall in love with a new polish).

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!

Happy New Year!

Even if my blog is quiet at the moment my polish habit is still going strong. The last few days I have been able to set aside some time just for me. I used the time to finally start my swatching project.

What you see is 308 "swatch sticks". They are from 3 Swedish brands, H&M, Depend and Isadora. Like flowers, right? :-)

Actually, the painting gave me some really nice surprises. Very many of the polishes showed great quality, good pigmentation and easy handled brushes. Sometimes I forget that all good polish doesn't come from the major salon brands we polish junkies often concentrate our interest to. 

Sometimes, happiness is close to home!

Please let me wish You All a fabulous 2012, shock full of nail polish and other nice things!

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