Just checkin'

...in. Yeah, let's have some re-instas, while we're waiting for the final results of the Swedish elections.

Smitten Polish A Wedding Dress That Isn't Bright Turquoise

OPI Black Spotted over Int'l Crime Caper

CND Vinylux Steel Gaze

Essence Blue Cara Ciao

H&M Jungle Me


And speaking of H&M, I don't know about you, but the new 5 ml bottle pisses me off. Yes, they lowered the price, but not as much as they lowered the contents. Pfft! Don't piss off lacquerheads, we're proud people.

Little neon studs for summer

I'm still alive! Yes, once again I feel compelled to let you know that by stating the obvious. 

Summer should mean lots of time to do one's nails, but, as it turns out, it's just too darn hot and humid. So I'm just gonna go ahead and leave these old sucktastic photos of manis with neon studs in 'em. 

Here in modest amounts on a nude - CND Vinylux Powder My Nose.

And here in random distributions over a hot pink - OPI Hey Baby.

Honestly, I've made better looking manicures with studs after these, but these were my first attempts. They're fairly easy to use, so I don't mind putting them on every now and then. Personally, I'm partial to the square studs, but the round ones are nice too.

These in particular are from Born Pretty Store, and were sent to me for review.

Underwater gold

First of all, I want to thank everyone who commented on my last post for all the heartwarming words! It, of course, helps a lot knowing that there is a bunch of people who reads and actually enjoys this blog. Sometimes us humans truly are our own worst enemies, and I'm definitely no exception - I can be downright cruel to myself. And as some of you pointed out: the lack of sun may have taken its toll, and though the winter has (so far) been shorter this year than the previous two, it still feels like it's been going on forever. Well, the sun is shining outside my window now, and I still have a few unpublished manicures to show, so let it happen!

Here's one I was much excited about, as it was gifted to me from one of my European friends: Essence Underwater, the newer version.

I think this was two coats. Coverage is great with this one! Really subtle shimmer specks that almost never shines through. Unfortunately. I love the idea and it looks fabulous in the bottle, but I wanted the bits and pieces to show more, though I like that they're sparse. Sparse particles in polishes are definitely underrated.

Then, I had a couple of beers and went all in, so to speak. I don't know...

Colors show up a little crazy here, some photos have been color corrected, perhaps too much. The Essie As Gold as it Gets half-moons are freehand. Yes, it's true! For alcohol induced nailart, it's rather OK, don't you think? Maybe I was walking the fine line between the typical self-esteem boost and total drunkenness. I also added one coat of the CND Sapphire Sparkle effect, which is of course fuckin' a, as I, which you know by now, love duochrome and blue and purple. I also love blue and gold together, not so much because I'm Swedish, but because it somehow makes me think of sinful Arabic nights. You know. One Thousand and One Nights.

So... Anyway. That's it for today.

Swedish word of the day:
februarisol -noun February sun
It's very nice, actually.

The Crimson Idol

Time for one of my favourite color combinations: blue and gold. Do you remember this post? Regardless, here's the beauty known as Idol, from the LA Girl Color Addict line.




Really low on sun that day, but I think it's still pretty apparent how lovely this shade is. Two coats of a formula that was a little bit too thick - I should have added a couple of drops of thinner, but I didn't. The creme base has the perfect dusty tint to it, and the gold shimmer is rather fine.

Yes, I love this color combination. After all, I'm Swedish. It's probably some kind of original sin, because I'm not a patriot per se. I dragged out a few shades like it:

To the left is Idol, in the middle is a gorgeous shade from the old NYX Girls line, called Wild (terrible photo here), and to the right is a franken I've made out of NYX Girls Ink Heart, Wet n Wild Craze Shield and a little bit of Color Club Enchanted Holiday. Yum.

But then I did the best layering ever. Or perhaps not, but it's very, very nice. I just put a thin coat of CND Crimson Sparkle on top.


Shot with my DSLR.

Shot with my compact camera.

Et voila! Lemming for Rescue Beauty Lounge Piú Mosso instantly killed!

Swedish word of the day:
blåblodig -adjective blue blooded
I actually did have a noble ancestor back in the 16th century.

SFW! Butterflies

A nasty little post today, as my nails are nowhere pretty like this, but I still want to show them off - I am a sick person. A while back as I headed towards a longer series of work shifts, I did another one of my safe for work manicures. For that, I like the idea of stamping, because it just makes everything less boring. This time, I did little butterflies in two colors.



Yep, the butterfly on my index nail is kind of ...pale. The danger of being a sloppy stamper. Anyway, I used two H&M polishes that were pigmented enough, pretty average purple and fuchsia colors, then finished off with CND Crimson Sparkle. Actually the sparkle doesn't look very good at all on my stained, bare nails, but this is what it looked like so it's what you're getting. Rather cute shit, not very me at all, but fine for work.

I'd also like to point you to Just Nice Things today, as I'm featured for the 20 questions they do regularly every week. In case you get off on that sort of thing. Read it here!

Swedish word of the day:
fjäril -noun butterfly
I like them.

Luminous artichokes

Now it's finally time for an oldie but goodie that's been waiting way too long in my untrieds stash. Why? It's an old, oval Creative bottle - you know, from the days when CND was known by that name. I give you Okie Dokie Artichokey.




Three coats. These photos do not do this polish any justice. There's a pink or champagne flash that my camera turns golden instead - you'll just have to imagine that part. Also, it's a bit blurry, I know, but I was in a hurry!

Here's an additional photo:

So, green with champagne pink flash. Or perhaps the shimmer is really duochrome, shifting from the champagne to a green similar to the khaki sorta base color. I'm not sure.

The reason for it being on hold for so long, is that I absolutely hate the Creative formula. It never dries, and usually trying one turns out being a huge, disastrous mistake. This time was no exception. I'm glad you're not going to see my other hand - it was full of smudges and uneven pearliness - the finish is somewhere between a pearl and a... I don't know. I allowed huge timeframes for each coat to dry, but it doesn't help with these. Once you apply the next coat you can just wipe the entire work off of your nail in one sweep. However, I didn't care, because I absolutely adore the shade, and I have been tempted for a long while, but didn't have that kind of time on my hands.

I used to have a Depend polish in pretty much the exact same shade. It was back in 2004 (I remember this because I wore it when I first met my significant other), and Depend was still sporting round bottles, of the same kind those generic mini bottles you often see. They had their old, round logo with the drop in the middle. I adored it, and since it was a mini bottle, like all Depend polishes, I quickly ran out. I actually made an attempt a while ago to contact my Depend PR representative about it, asking if she knew the shade and if they could bring it back, since they usually bring back one older color in every collection. Sadly, no answer. I think I'll email her a link to this post - maybe she'll answer my desperate calls and try to have it rereleased with an improved formula.

Now this is starting to become like an awkward, obsessive dream ranting, so I'll stop now.

If you don't mind a terrible non-drying formula, you could possibly hunt this one down on ebay. That's what I did.

Swedish word of the day:
kronärtskocka -noun artichoke
Damn I love 'em.

OPI Serena Williams Glam Slam England - Your Royal Shine-Ness and Servin' Up Sparkle with comps

So I finally got around to swatch the last two polishes of the Glam Slam England set. First up is Your Royal Shine-Ness. Yet another silver foil was my first thought when I saw this collection this polish actually differ from my other silver foils. As you (hopefully, otherwise - click to enlarge the picture) can see in the comparison picture below, Your Royal Shine-Ness is darker and looks a little bit more "rough" - it's a blackened silver foil! The formula was great but I did three coats since I managed to scrape two nails before the second coat was dry.

From left to right: 1. Orly Dazzle, 2. Orly Shine, 3. ChG Cheers To You, 4. Zoya Trixie, 5. Creative Silver Anniversary, and no number OPI Your Royal Shine-Ness.

The last polish in the set, Servin' Up Sparkle, is a silver glitter with hexagonal shaped prismatic glitter. This is one coat over Your Royal Shine-Ness.

Since I thought Servin' Up Sparkle looked so much like OPI Disco Ball Sparkle, a comparison was necessary!

From left to right: OPI Servin' Up Sparkle, OPI Disco Ball Sparkle, ChG Shooting Stars.

Although Servin' Up Sparkle and Disco Ball Sparkle are very much alike, they are not exact dupes. Disco Ball Sparkle has silver glitter and more prismatic hexagonal shaped glitter than SUS and Servin' Up Sparkle has both prismatic hexagonal shaped glitter and small prismatic glitter. Shooting Stars is much lighter than the other two and has less hexagonal prismatic glitter.

Over and out!

Swedish word of the day:
läggdags -adverb bedtime
Because it is!

Magic elves and flakies

Yet another day when I needed green for luck - I took my final test in psychiatry this morning. I believe I actually did OK, but the results are not in yet... So, I went through all my drawers last night to find a polish suitable for the occation, and after a failed attempt with Jordana's Green Glitz (sorry, no photos of that one), I finally swept my eyes over the top shelf, and saw my Color Club Enchanted Holiday pack. Hey, it's got an untried green! And it's gorgeous! I know that, since I, just like you, have already seen a million swatches. And yes, while you're now on to the summer colors, I have finally passed fall and entered holiday season! But honestly, this color is just as suitable for spring and summer. I give you Magic Elf.




Three not so thin coats of this beautiful golden green foil shimmer. A little sheer. But you already knew that too.

When I got home after finishing the test, I saw my bottle of Creative Limelight on the kitchen table. Of course I had an idea... But then I felt it wasn't sufficient, it kind of disappeared on top of Magic Elf, so I grabbed another flakie - The green and orange Astor 82 I got from my dear friend Lina a few months back.




How about that?

Despite all the wicked beauty I'm not totally in love with this manicure. Not to mention it hasn't dried yet, about three hours after application. But hey, I'm wearing a total of eight coats, including base and top coats, so I guess it's all my own fault.

What do you have to say about it?

Swedish word of the day:
älva -noun elf, fairy
I believe it's about the right time of year for them to come out...

Comparison week day 1 - Silver foil comparison

Welcome to comparison week! I (Cammi) have a lot of comparisons lined up so buckle up! Let's start comparison week with some silver foils...

From left to right (the first two pictures): (1) Orly Dazzle, (2) Orly Shine, (3) China Glaze Cheers to you, (4) Zoya Trixie, (5) Creative Silver Anniversary

Did you think twice before ordering Cheers to you because you already have so many silver foils? I didn't, but then again, I looooooove silver foils!

I will say that Cheers to you appears to be a little bit (barely noticeable) darker than the others but I could never tell them apart. Do I need all of these? No. Will I keep buying silver foils? Well... I can't promise anything... ;)

Swedish word of the day
liknande -adjective similar
These silver foils are.

My little collection of medium blue shimmers...

Oh yes, another comparison! You did not see that one coming, now admit it! Haha. Seriously, I will stop posting all these wheels soon, but I still have a few left I would like to show you. At first, I was going to post a wheel of green cremes that I happen to treasure more than any other, but when I had already written most of the post I decided to redo the whole thing at a later date... Instead, here is my posse of medium, sea, turquoise blue shimmers!


This is a color I think of as very summer, you know, like that glass of water you so desperately need when you've been too long in the sun, or, even more accurately, that quick cooling swim in the lake (yep, I am a lake person, not an ocean person!) that will restore your brain activity somewhat. Still a few months left until we get there, but I guess now is the time to start stocking up on these, although... Well... I don't need more of 'em. Just look further down...

All sorted by bottle color, and ready!


Tadaa!

L-R:
14. Nfu Oh 95
15. OPI Sonic Bloom
16. NYX South Sea
17. Misa Ben-Her
18. New York Summer Class Act
1. Color Club Emerald Dephts
2. Creative Hotski to Tchotchke
3. Orly It's Up to Blue
4. China Glaze Sexy in the City
5. OPI Sea? I Told You
6. OPI Teal the Cows Come Home

Out of these, my favourite is Sea? I Told You. It has the most interesting shimmer. But my very first big love within this color range was Sonic Bloom. Even the name is cool!

Buuut... I really don't need any more of these. Really.

Swedish word of the day:
kvällste -noun evening cup of tea
Because I just had one.

Heavy gunmetal is the law!

You know how you tend to collect certain colors... One of my favourites are the more or less typical gunmetal greys, that can, believe it or not, vary quite a lot in between! Just check out this little pile:

I'm afraid I may have gotten myself even more since I gathered this little union with the intent of doing a comparison...

I usually try to sort my comparison participants by bottle color.


The row above generated the wheel below.

L-R:
14. Creative Black Platinum
15. Yves Rocher Perle Grise
16. Depend 176
17. OPI Suzi Skis in the Pyrenees, Suede
18. ManGlaze Fuggen Ugly
1. Revlon Street Wear Vice
2. China Glaze Awaken
3. Zoya Freja
4. Creative Hyde in the Dark
5. Essie Over the Top

All are in two coats, except Vice, Freja and Over the Top, and they are all at three coats.

Quite the range, huh? Some may think the two at the right are maybe only borderlining gunmetal, but I think they could be tossed into this bunch without any embarassment on the author's behalf.

In my opinion, gunmetal colors beat the hell out of both black and vampies when it comes to being the ultimate metal nail polish shade. The way I have always perceived metal, is, it's the music of the working class kids, growing up with the need to make a statement- the way things were in the 80's, when politics made its entrance into the metal lyrical concept. The metal kids aren't tidy. They are not pretty, prim and proper. Whereas black is the tuxedo of nail polish, and the vampies are gothic, gunmetal is the ultimate color for the loud metal people.

And it just looks so damn good.



It just so happens, that I was born, raised, and still, or rather again, live in a town where metal has had a very big percentage, sort of being the trademark music style. Sure, it can be discussed whether "metal" is a proper way to describe certain bands hailing from here, but others are just plain kick ass awesome METAL. There. And, therefore, here are some random metal, and non-metal facts about Upplands Väsby.

1. Located 25 kilometers north of Stockholm City.

2. Population: 38 569.

3. Harbouring the entire production of chocolate company Marabou, which helps fragrance the area...

4. First put on the world map as the home of hair band Europe, founded here in 1978.

Europe during the golden ages, the Final Countdown era.

Barely diaper free guys of Europe, taking a walk in the local mall Väsby Centrum in 1983.

5. Also served as the founding town for classic doom metal heroes Candlemass, in 1984.

Candlemass bass player and main brain Leif Edling in the school yearbook of Hasselskolan, 1983, cut out of the photo portaying the staff.

6. Prior hometown for several musicians, such as Yngwie Malmsteen, National Folk Musician and nyckelharpist (keyed fiddle player) Åsa Jinder, and Tone Norum.

7. Has butt ugly architecture, but beautiful surroundings, set on Lake Mälaren, the third largest lake in Sweden.

8. The bakery at Centralvägen, was once appointed the third best pastry bakery in Sweden.

9. Home to third generation hair band H.E.A.T., who last year landed the 4th place in Melodifestivalen, the Swedish Eurovision Song Contest qualifying competition. They have since been the opening act for Alice Cooper and Toto.

10. Sweden's richest woman, Antonia Ax:son Johnson, lives here. She is also a member of the municipality executive board. The later also applies to the author of alizarine claws.

11. Near the shore of lake Mälaren, the castle ruin of Runsa can be found. It was built during the Migration period of Europe, roughly between the years 300 and 700.


Yeah, eleven is less predictable than ten!

Last, let me finish this epic weekend posting by forcing you to listen to some excellent music. This video could be the most ridiculous one in history, but the song is one of my favourites, possibly my very favourite, by Candlemass. Please note the prominent apperances of singer Messiah Marcolin, who is not only famous for his voice, but also for at one point actually crashing a stage floor.

Swedish word of the day:
förort -noun suburb
Because I live in one. But still not quite.