Shifty Pines

Just when I thought I was out... They pull me back in! Who am I kidding, I will never quit duochromes. If you liked Girly Bits Street Magic over Santorum yesterday, check out Shift Happens over Jessica Divine Pine.

Dude, so much fall in one manicure. Divine Pine is a blackened, warmer green, and Shift Happens is just... Magic. Some of these photos are a little blurry, but not even I care, because they are still awesome! One coat of the Girly Bits over the Jessica was all needed to achieve this look straight outta the taiga forests.

If this manicure doesn't make fall easier, I don't know what does.

You can find Girly Bits polishes here.

Shift Happens was sent to me by the manifacturer for reviewing purposes.

Divine Pine was purchased with own funds.

Swedish word of the day:
tall -noun pine
We've got them.

She's got it

Perhaps one of my weirdest posts ever, photographical wise. A mysterious polish that won't show its true self no matter the light - she needs to be thoroughly and completely presented. Helen from Just Nice Things and Scrangie made me take this shade out of the untrieds drawer, as they had a long and vivid discussion over twitter about the superiority of its color. How could I not try? Well, this is what I ended up with - just imagine it a little better in reality. Because of all the different looks, I will enclose pretty much exact lighting conditions. This is Venus Was Her Name by Jessica.

Evening sunlight on my balcony.

Daylight/sunlight in my bedroom.

Daylight/shade in my bedroom.

Daylight/shade in my bedroom.

Daylight/sunlight in my bedroom.

Daylight/sunlight in my bedroom.

Evening sunlight on my balcony.

Not sure here... But this photo was taken with my Canon DSLR, as were all last three photos.

Anyway. Three coats of this very different shade, constituted of a grainy charcoal grey base with magenta or purple shimmer. How cool is that? I'm not expecting to induce any lemmings here, as many before me have taken much better shots of this lady, but hey, of course I'm showing you anyway, just because I can.

Swedish word of the day:
konstig -adjective weird, strange
Hmm.

Golden brown shimmers... or?

Now that fall is here in the northern hemisphere, some of us feel like digging out our nice, golden, bronzy browns... But are they really that brown? Let's take a look at four of them I found in my stash.

For an eternity or two, I have been searching like a mad woman for a replacement for a shimmery, rich dark brown I used to own. It was a round H&M bottle from the late 90's, and its name was Rusty. I loved it, I used it a lot, and when half the content was gone, it became thick and gloopy and I... threw it away. You have heard the story before. Many of us did this before we knew better.

Since then I have been searching. The four polishes depicted above is some of those I tried filling that bronzy brown void with. Clockwise from bottom left, they are OPI Espresso Your Style!, China Glaze Side-Saddle, China Glaze Unplugged, and Jessica Hot Fudge.

It didn't take me long to see that Side-Saddle, which have mostly been referred to as brown, is actually very clearly purple. Somehow, it seems these kinds of colors play tricks on us. To show this, I shot a wheel photo at one coat only.

Left to right: China Glaze Unplugged, Jessica Hot Fudge, OPI Espresso Your Style! and China Glaze Side-Saddle. Arranged from less to more purple base.

See?

But, here they are fully opaque, in three coats.

Hmm... They look... brown. And the only one that really was all along, was Unplugged. I guess it's the yummy, golden shimmer that heats them up a notch.

Well, it doesn't keep me from liking this particular group of polishes, and especially this season of the year. They are so cozy... But none of these can replace my beloved old H&M.

Swedish word of the day:
brun -adjective brown
Today, Sweden kind of is.