Yea for Scandinavia! Or...

It just got spring-y slash summer-y here in the Stockholm area. Of course it happened while I was completely dead from my tonsillitis and had to stay in bed, but even though yesterday was a bit cooler than the day before, I got my flipflops out of the closet and redid my pedi, went down to the local supermarket, flashing my toes! It was great fun. Now us Scandinavians just have to squeeze every little bit out of summer, because in three months it will be cold again, and the use of flipflops will only render terrible colds. Or perhaps tonsillitis.

So, I was aiming to show you Scandinavia's finest today, and one of the tasks I took upon myself was to do a wear test with the "Lacka Kit" (Paint Kit) Depend sent me a couple of weeks ago.

But seriously, it's just no use. Look at the photo below:

Why would I do a wear test of manicure products when they can't even provide a decent manicure to begin with?

And I was really nice to these products, I had so much drying time between coating it would almost have disqualified this contestant anyway. One thin coat of the Depend Protective Base Lacquer. Ten minutes drying time. One thin coat of one of Depend's own color polishes, number 176, which was released only this fall, so the formula should be modern and all. Drying time: another ten minutes, at least. Then, a second coat of color polish. Drying time: infinity. Probably an hour, while I was editing photos on the computer. Manicure was still flawless. Last, I put on the Depend Quick & Shine topcoat. I was walking around silly with my fingers sprawling like we usually do the first few minutes. Then I did what I always do after finishing a manicure and running around like a crazy chicken in the evening: I went to bed. With my fingers carefully bent away from the sheets, just to be extra cautios.

In the morning my left hand looked like that. My right hand you don't even want to see. It was horribly smudged already before I went to bed. The little things I did as my evening routine, I can usually do with all the products I normally use, without this happening. Most of the time, I alter between Nubar products, and Nail Tek Citra 1 or 2 with Poshe topcoat. It works. These Depend products don't.

Maybe this manicure could last a long time, but seriously, I'm not that eager to find out. I think this is sad, since the nail care market tends to be a bit monopolized over here, and Scandinavians do not have a lot to choose from at decent prices, like those of you who live cross the pond. So, Depend peeps, if you're reading this, there is plenty of room for improvement! Please make that improvement for us in the Scandinavian market!

Also, the outcome was kind of sad, because the color is so beautiful! A blue leaning gunmetal shimmer. You know I love those. Had I used my normal routine, I'm positive I would have gotten a couple of days good wear out of this beauty.


Anyway, it is still pretty outside! Some of you have probably had some heat for a while now, but spring has been unusually late this year for us poor, eaten-by-the-darkness Scandinavians. But look at how pretty the cherry tree is blossoming out in my backyard:

And just because I could, I took my camera for a little test drive. Since my white balance posts, I know that many of you have the same model I do, and it is really a wide range camera, as you get to shoot macro from only one centimeter away from the objects, as well as use the 10x optical zoom option. Very versatile, indeed!

This is the photo I got with 10x optical zoom, at a distance of approximately ten meters, which according to google is about 33 feet.

Pretty neat.

Swedish word of the day:
körsbär -noun cherry
Because I love them and they're in style at the moment! :D