Eggstra!

That headline has some serious boozy Suzi potential, but let's not mind that and take a quick look at my Easter manicures. Not the most creative stuff ever seen, but they were fun making, and even wearing - for several minutes!

This was the first one I made. Not very complicated at all, just colorful skittles with white crackle. Little colorful half-hatched eggs. Actually, I was going to do this one for Easter last year, but I was too lazy to redo my nails at all, and I just reused the idea this year instead. All polishes are from OPI, besides White Shatter, they are, from left to right, thumb to pinky: Suzi Says Feng Shui, Green-Wich Village, Need Sunglasses?, Flit a Bit, Kiss Me On My Tulips.

Cross-eyed eggs? Well, it was a good idea, but perhaps not very boldly executed. My fried (?) eggs were done with Essie Marshmallow and OPI Need Sunglasses?, the yellow spots with the largest dotting tool I own. They should have been bigger, but I wasn't feeling confident enough to paint round objects freehand.

Not that I really celebrate Easter - I'm not religious at all and I don't particularily care for big family gatherings, but on the other hand I'm a sucker for nice food and seasonal sweets. Most of all, I hardly ever miss an opportunity to do some seasonal nails!

Swedish word of the day:
påsk -noun Easter
Not my favourite holiday.

OPI Nicki Minaj quickie

Got some super sloppy OPI Nicki Minaj skittle swatches for ya. I applied these really quick on top of my existing manicure, while attending the press release for the Holland collection. It's dark in Stockholm now (as usual), so these photos are not great, but at least something.

All, except for Pink Friday, which I didn't bother with since it's just a basic bubblegum pink creme. Thumb to pinky: Fly, Metallic 4 Life, Save Me, Did it on Em, Super Bass Shatter (on top of something completely different). I have added topcoat here, as these poor skittles went through quite the journey on my way home.

Metallic 4 Life. Love this one. It really is very metal. \m/ I had suspicions it would be similar to Tinsel Town from China Glaze's christmas collection, but it really is much different, much blacker, with larger hex glitter particles than in the China Glaze.

Save Me. Holo hair! Personally I'm not a fan of bar glitter, but for those of you who are, I think this will be a hit. The holo bars are suspended in a clear base along with smaller silver glitter. It's on top of a bronze base that has nothing to do with this collection though. Also, it makes me think of this song - not one by Nicki Minaj.

Did it on Em. This was another thing I started to suspect as I was heading home. The bottle evidently is not an OPI one, so if you have that particular one, maybe you can pass on this. I won't vouch that they are 100 % identical though, as I do not have the actual OPI bottle, just my one swatched nail. The OPI might be a tiny tad more yellow, but not noticable.

On to the subject of Pink Friday. I have a blurry cell phone pic that I've decided not to post, mostly because it might lead to trouble. It shows that my initial suspicions about this color were true. It was supposed to be a holographic one, just as we could hint in the first batch of press images that started surfacing on the internet. A very nice one, I might add - strong, linear holo with a well pigmented base. Somewhere along the road, someone did something... And what we get instead is a standard, bubblegum pink creme, like in the newer press images. This annoys me to the extent that I didn't even pick up the bottle to look closer at it, even less paint one of my nails with it. It's a shame, whatever the reason is, and I'm sad to say that OPI will lose sales revenue without it.

I couldn't to get any decent detailed photos of Super Bass Shatter, but you can admire a tiny bit of it in the top photo. Last, I want to add that Fly is actually not as much a standard teal creme as one might believe. It's really bright. I mean really. Bright enough to be rather difficult to capture correctly on camera, but at the same time it's a deep shade of aqua teal. It's much deeper than the top photo shows. I think lovers of these colors will love Fly as well.

Swedish word of the day:
hast -noun haste, hurry
Sometimes that's the state.

Fish scale disaster and crackle win

The other day I got a brilliant idea for a manicure. Brilliant! However, not so much on the nails:

My brilliant idea was to create a fish scale looking manicure, with the luscious Kiko 270 I got from Roze recently - thanks to one of my Italian readers I now know to look on the Kiko website for the actual names of the polishes, and this one is called Paillette Acqua Sparkle. Anyway, I first did one coat of Essence Prism@tic White (yes, again! that's how much I liked it), then I did a gradient of three coats of the Kiko. You can see the result. Not too opaque. Of course it doesn't help that these glitters are semi-transparent, and because they're also iridescent, which I love, the camera can't catch them decently. Apparently my cameras work completely different frequencies than my eyes do.

Well, this couldn't stand... This aggression, maaan! (Extra points for anyone who catches the reference here.) So I brought out the white crackle, I mean, White Shatter, from OPI, that the Swedish distributor recently sent me for review. And suddenly: #WIN.



I figured out a way to get the iridescence and the teal flash of the Essence to stick somewhat to the camera lens, by shooting in dreary weather and using a different camera setting. How hot is that?!

You may also consider this post the first part of my reviews of the OPI Shatters that I know you've seen a million times already. I have given up on doing interesting and semi-fast swatches to put in one single post, so I'll try to spread them a little, preferably using them in some a little more innovative combinations. The White Shatter is very basic, cracks well and is no problem- It's ...white.

Also, for my own OCD peace of mind I had to go through what crackle polishes I actually have, and make a wheel. I thought it would be fun to show you. Before I show the wheel, I just have to show you this:

This is a black crackle polish from Kelier. It took forever to dry and crack, and when it finally did, this is what happened. Most just fall off. But it's a neat picture.

On to the actual wheel. Because some crackle polishes do not crack on plastic, I did one coat of Diamont before applying the crackles, then I topcoated them all as well. The Kelier is of course still disastrous. You may magnify this photo to get a detailed view - it's rather big.

1. Kelier Crack Polish in black
2. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Black Tag
3. OPI Black Shatter
4. China Glaze Crackle Glaze Cracked Concrete
5. OPI Silver Shatter
6. OPI White Shatter
7. China Glaze Crackle Glaze Lightning Bolt
8. OPI Navy Shatter
9. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Spraycan Blue
10. Depend Cracked Effect 5002
11. OPI Blue Shatter
12. OPI Turquoise Shatter
13. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Subway Green
14. IsaDora Graffiti Nails Yellow Crew
15. Depend Cracked Effect 5004
16. OPI Red Shatter
17. IsaDora Graffiti Nails All City Brown

I don't really like all of these, and most of all, for some reason I don't like shimmery crackles. They look too busy to my eyes. I could use another green crackle, a teal one and maybe, maybe a pink one, but after that, I think I'm done with these.

I know many of you are sick of crackles now, and in some aspects I am too. But I keep pushing myself to find them useful for slightly different combinations. Navy over white and turquoise over blue... I'm tired of those combinations. And you?

Swedish word of the day:
tvångssyndrom -noun obsessive compulsive disorder
I really shouldn't joke about this.

Revolutionaire Extraordinaire

Today Sweden celebrates the national day. However, Swedes are known for not celebrating much, compared to for example Norwegians and Americans, and for many it has become a day associated with racist claims and overall rather controversial debate. Many think of Swedes as stupid for not celebrating, and simultaneously you'll find a bulk of theories as to why. I'm not diving deeper into the matter though, and will leave it by stating that personally, I'm one of those who don't celebrate, as I think of nations as pointless administrative units, and rather think of my own identity in regional aspects, as well as being a human, sharing a planet with you all.

Therefore, I did not do a blue and yellow manicure today, but one in grey and red - I call it Revolutionaire Extraordinaire!

Or perhaps blood on asphalt? The red crackle is from Depend, and was done on top of Essie's Over the Top.

The formula of Over the Top was rather annoying, thin, runny and sheer, and when slapping on thicker coats due to impatience, of course it bubbled. Perhaps an early B3F formula? I did three coats and they weren't completely dry yet when applying the crackle, which made the manicure in total slighly bumpy. Doesn't matter though, I still love it.

I had no sunlight available, so I aimlessly played around with my camera instead, and then thought it would be rather fun to show you what my hand really looks like, in all of its crooked, chubby glory:

And not often seen: my thumb! The nail on the finger in question is very ridged, probably because of some old damage to the matrix, so I'm not terribly proud of it.

Swedish word of the day:
flagga -noun flag
I don't own any.

More Silver Shatter combinations

Since I love the new Silver Shatter from OPI, I had to try some more combinations. When Feline mentioned Silver Shatter and holo in the same sentence, I knew I had to try it! I thought that Silver Shatter would look good over a dark holo so I layered it over Revvvolution! This is the result:



I wish Revvvolution had a stronger holo effect... Nfu Oh 63 has a strong holo effect but something happened (or didn't happen) when I layered Silver Shatter over this pink holo - Silver Shatter barely crackled!? The effect was still pretty cool IMO:

I think Silver Shatter looks more grey than silver without topcoat so I wanted to see if I could enhance the "stone look" by layering it over a dark grey matte. This is Silver Shatter over Orly Iron Butterfly (I know the pictures are crappy but so was the weather):

I already knew I love the combination of Zoya Trixie (a great silver foil) and China Glaze Spellbound (a topcoat with silver and orange glitter) and wanted to see how Silver Shatter would look over this combination. Once again Silver Shatter didn't really crackle, don't ask me why. I think Trixie and Spellbound looks cooler without Silver Shatter (see ring finger in picture three).

Swedish word of the day:
molnigt -adjective cloudy
Not the best swatching weather!

OPI Silver Shatter

Finally some Silver Shatter! I know you'v been waiting for this one, and I'm sure you won't be disappointed.

First, here are Cammi's photos, over the same colors she swatched from the Pirates of the Caribbean collection.



Cammi loved this crackle lots and lots, and threatens to try it out in many more different combinations. We welcome this!

Yours truly decided to try it out over the entire collection on wheel before anything else, and this is what it looks like.

Yawn. Not for me. So I decided to pass painting the Silver Shatter over my Pirates swatches and try it out over a couple colors that are more me.

First, over a darker grey creme, in this case Nubar's Stronghold.




Do you see that?!

Some more, just because I can:


This manicure rocks. (Please note intended pun!) Possibly the most metal manicure ever. I tried applying the crackle in various ways, like I've seen some of you creative gals do, and I love the randomness that gives. Standard straight cuticle to edge application on index, horizontal on middle, supposedly all random on the ring, and on the pinky nail I tried a swirling motion.

Next, over blue. This is over Pure Ice French Kiss.





I didn't like this combination as much as the previous, but I did manage some nice patterns with the brush. I'm especially pleased with the ring finger nail, which was done in a sort of braid pattern, as seen on someone else's blog - I don't remember from where, so if you know you did this, please take credit in the comments section. On the pinky I did a zigzag motion. Also pretty nice.

When trying to figure out what combinations to do, I actually consulted my spreadsheet of untried polishes, and even though I have about 400 registered, I couldn't think of many cominations I believed in. I didn't feel like trying it over a shimmer, nor a warm shade. Ridiculous, I know, but even though I really like the polish itself (just look at it!), I'm sensitive to chaotic combinations. What I do want to try it out over next, is a decent glitter. But putting this over a holo would feel like a waste - of both polishes. I'm just not that into competition.

Formula and application is great, and approved by both me and Cammi. Cammi especially pointed out that it doesn't seem to thicken up in the bottle neck as fast as some other crackle polishes do. Personally I experienced that it was a bit thicker after a few uses, and I had to close the bottle and shake in the middle of the manicure. However, I don't see this as a problem. I too love this one, over the right shade it's just spectacular!

Also, here's an alternate take on the bottle shot:

Swedish word of the day:
sten -noun rock
Finally possible to receate as a manicure!

In a revolutionary mood

You know, H&M only gets better and better, nail polish wise. They may sometimes be late, but a lot of the time, they're extremely fast and accurate when picking out nail trends. More on this some day soon, but for now, check out their latest release of a khaki green creme, Hunt Me Down.


Two coats, and the formula was fantastic. Extremely pigmented, this polish still wasn't thick, which has previously been characteristic for the H&M cremes. In the dim light I did this manicure in, the first coat looked great. So if you're better than me when it comes to painting, or if you sport nubs, you could get away with one coat only. I have nothing but praise for this one, it was love at first sight. Usually good looks doesn't necessarily mean great content, but this polish is like the love of your life - beautiful all the way to the core!

As I was wearing it, the thought crossed my mind: "Hmm... I wonder how this one compares to that khaki green Chanel...". Of course, I don't own it, so I'm in no position to provide you with a comparison, though, as I was scrolling through my twitter feed just hours later, I noticed that the fantastic Negellakkmani had the same idea - and had done it! Great minds do think alike.

However, I had another new polish that I wanted to try, and Hunt Me Down seemed to be the perfect base for it. Check out my camouflage nails with IsaDora's new All City Brown Graffiti Nails crackle polish.


I know many of you are extemely tired of all the crackles floating around at the moment, but a brown one - I just couldn't resist picking it up. I realised it would be very useful, and except for camo nails, also started imagining layering it over a different brown tone to mimic tree stems - or crackled poo, whatever floats your boat. If I had a grey crackle, I'd layer it on top of this to make it even more camouflage-y!

Certainly suits my extra revolutionary mind these days. Now the Arab world - tomorrow the western world.

Swedish word of the day:
frihet -noun freedom
We deserve it.

Serena Williams Glam Slam

Here's the lovely lady in all her polished glory:


And here is her own OPI lacquer, Simply Smash-ing.




These photos have been color corrected. My camera refuses to pick up some green tones, which irks me to death right now. But happily, you've already seen this one a million times - though pretty colors like this one can't be seen too many times! Golden chartreuse green foil in three coats. It's a bit on the sheer side, so it won't get completely opaque even at this point, but happily, polishes with this amount of reflective particles seem to hide that itteh bitteh visible nail line left.

Simply Smash-ing is sold only in a set (pun?) with the Black Shatter crackle polish, so of course I tried the combination out.


Nice indeed. I also attempted a third variation on this theme, though I can't really recommend it, even if it actually is slightly better in reality:

Since Simply Smash-ing is sheer, I tried it on top of the crackle as well. It looks... Erm... Well. Slightly disturbing.

I love, love, love Simply Smash-ing! It's a beautiful color, right up the Feline alley of spring green colors. Sparkly, vivid, fun. My only question is: why, WHY, OPI, what's up with all the hyphens lately? Hyphen this and hyphen that. Do you really think cosmetics consumers are so stupid that we won't get your tiresome puns if the hyphens weren't there? Yawn.

Swedish word of the day:
tennisboll -noun tennis ball
Quite obvious, huh?