The best of 2012

This time of year calls for summaries. First, I'll summarize my favourite polishes worn in the past year - that I have [decent] photos of! I may have liked some that I never got around to photographing, but let's not dwell on that, and take a look at the twelve prettiest manicures I did in 2012.

Lilacquer Jimi Thing (over Color Club In the Limelight)

Color Club Port-Folio

Finger Paints Plum Startled

Happy Hands Motherboy (here sandwiched with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu!)

OPI On Her Majesty's Secret Service

Girly Bits Shift Happens (over Jessica Divine Pine)

Pahlish Still Alive

Darling Diva Polish Carrie (over China Glaze Reggae to Riches)

Rimmel Hard Edged

L'Oréal Rebel Blue

Revlon Smoldering

Skin Food Cucumber


I enjoyed wearing all of these. Now, let's move on to next year and see what that brings.

My hands - so happy

Okay, that is technically a lie, since my work requires vast amounts of hand sanitizer to be used (along with just as vast amounts of soap), but after a little TLC and above all a nice manicure, my hands actually are.

Sometimes my hands are happy in Happy Hands nail polish - I have shown you a Halloween themed Happy Hands shade already - and here are two manicures that made me look at my hands with love.

Afternoon Thunderstorms. This is two coats. Rich in black glitter, this grey also has the extra sprinkling of fine gold shimmer to make it a little more unique. Gives nails a very badass speckled look. Application was typical to dense glitters - you gotta pretend you're buttering a slice of bread. Coverage and drying time were both awesome.

Motherboy. Here in a sandwich with OPI Don't Touch My Tutu! Two coats of the OPI, one coat of Motherboy (which has a transparent base), and then another coat of the OPI. This is such a nice way to play it girly. When I first saw a picture of Motherboy, it was one of those times when my heart skipped a beat and my jaw dropped. Perhaps not the typical alizarine like colors, but this mix of glitters did something to me. Maybe it was the subconscious knowledge of endless sandwiching possibilities, maybe it was that I considered this glitter so uniquely refreshing, maybe I'm just getting soft and learning to embrace pastels. No matter what, this is a fun polish. My bottle of Motherboy was a little harder to apply, but not to the extent of bad results, obviously. I had to poke and move around the glitters a little, and sometimes they get stuck together since the base is just so packed with them. Any effort is worth it in this case though, I promise you that.

Happy Hands polishes are available on Etsy. Kristi, the proprietor, will restock, and relaunch her colors in new bottles, on Saturday (October 27th). They will be $10 each, but if you hurry, you have until then to get a bunch of her polishes in the old bottle for $8 each.

All products were purchased with own funds.

Swedish word of the day:
eftermiddag -noun afternoon
Sometimes come with thunderstorms.

H for Happy Halloween

H for Happy Hands and Z for Zombies. Enjoy.

This is two so called generous coats of Z for Zombie. Icky green with large red glitter shards, green hexes, and smaller copper bits. Once I saw this polish I could not resist it. A fugly type Halloween polish that really sends a hilarious, obviously gore-y message. A nail tech I know said "that's a damn ugly polish". Mission accomplished.

These glitters are sometimes best applied by putting a large dollop at the center of the nail and then spread it out as if you're buttering sandwiches. If you apply this polish, and ones similar to it, that way, it's no problem at all, but if you try to brush it on, it will be more of a hassle. Once you learn the correct application technique for each type of polish, it's no biggie.

For any of you ghoulish gals out there, Z for Zombies is available in the Happy Hands Etsy store, along with other Halloween themed polishes, as well as non-Halloween shades. Kristi, who is the maker of Happy Hands, is really very creative, so keep an eye on her stuff, now and in the future!

This product was purchased with own funds.

Swedish word of the day:
lycklig -adjective happy
Maybe painted nails make you that?