L'Oréal Color Riche (mostly) - Burgundy Diva

Well, this polish actually has a history. Pause.

When I still pretended that I wasn't totally hooked on polish, I gave a bunch of polishes away to a dear friend. Fifteen. At least. Anyway, the true test of friendship is when you start asking to have your gifts returned to you, and your friend complies with a smile on her lips. I asked for them one by one. Yesterday, she asked: "Why don't I just bring them all?" Why indeed. Anyway, Burgundy Diva came home to mama again.

Reason I gave her away was that I thought this dark red didn't quite work on the nail, only in the bottle. So, first thing I did was give it some shine was put a bit of silver in it (Nails Inc. Cambridge Terrace). Turns out it wasn't dark red like I thought, but more purple/pinkish. Not my fave colors.

So, this won't last. And because I really like the flat, rounded brushes that come with the L'Oréal Color Riche polishes second only to OPI's ProWides), Burgundy Diva will probably have to make room for Contrary Polish' Anna Maria, who deserves better digs.

No book today, I told my own  sweet story, didn't I?

Fnug - A Lister

This is a soft, creamy pink apricot - a lot more subdued than it appears in my pictures. This is three coats and I can still see some nail line, but I don't apply more on principle! The brush was the teeniest, tiniest one I've had the (doubtful) pleasure of meeting yet. For my thumb nails, I had to do a double-dip!

PS. Jonas Hassen Khemiri is the only Swedish author today who can seriously compete internationally. He is pure genious. And he's MY friend on Facebook. Seriously, we're practically engaged. Not really though. Or at all. In fact, I suspect he has a whole other Facebook identity where he says super smart things to his real friends. And his girlfriend. I'll survive. I have all his novels, after all:)

This is my entry for Pink Thursday at Emma's:)

Contrary Polish - Anna Maria

I had huge expectations here. I'll just start by saying that. I love shimmers, and I love dark colors. Also, I read somewhere that Contrary Polish uses flat brushes, which I love too, and I've heard nothing but raves about the brand.

Well, the bad news: the brush was round. The formula was gloopy and tricky to apply. The finish was dull when the polish dried. The good news? Gorgeous color! The shimmer is not too shy! Covered in two coats! Before my next try with this, I'll use some thinner for the formula, and fix me up a nice flat OPI-brush and then I think polishing will be a breeze!

This is my entry for Green Wednesday at Karin's 

OPI - DS Indulgence

This is two coats of OPI's DS Indulgence, on top of three coats of the hideous Sprung from The Mariah Carey collection. Indulgence fixed everything - including my mood with a minimum of effort. A polish to come back to:)

I also tried Poshé for the first time, since Seche Vite shrinks all my polishes. Worked like a charm:)

Nail Art - KleanColor and Nails Inc.

This Sunday I'm joining LeLack's Nail Art Sunday for the first time! Hope this counts as nail art...

Anywhichway,tThis is my absolute first stab at nail art! Looking at others, I've always thought gradients and water-marbling look really cool. Then I saw a video on how to do water-marbling, and well... I don't have that kind of time. For this, I just used a regular kitchen sponge to dab it onto my tips:) Easy peasy! Dried real quick too, so I didn't even use a top coat.

I used KleanColor's Pastel Teal as a base and Nails Inc. Cambridge Terrace on top.

Ozotic - 502

I'm dying here. Really, I am. This is the most gorgeous multichrome I have ever worn (okay, I haven't worn that many, but STILL!). You can see it here on top of Contrary Color's Anna Maria. One coat, easy to paint even though I got a wonky brush that was kind of bent. My pictures show mainly the reddish color's but this baby goes all the way to snakish green and passes bronze on the way there!

KleanColor - Pastel Teal

This is my contribution to Lindas Blue Monday:)

Having only ever used the Chunky Holos from KleanColor before, I was expecting their wonky, bushy little brush and a chemical stink that brings the word brain damage to mind, but instead - a flat brush appeared, and the smell was absolutely bearable. The bristles on the brush were a bit too soft though and it kind of bent to the right. But still! Unfortunately, it took forever to dry, and the formula was too thick and not very easy to handle. On the other hand, it was almost opaque in one coat.

Anyway, I'm quite conservative when it comes to color choice, and when I saw this shade on my nails, I thought it looked neon, although I'm sure to most nailers, it just looks like a regular pastel. Since I heard about a snowstorm coming our way though, I'll give it the finger with this shade that screams of SPRINGTIME!!! Fuck off, winter - you are NOT welcome here!!!!

And if you want an insightful book on the whole copyright-debate, Remix by Lawrence Lessig is the one to go for. Interesting, relevant and focused on finding legal solutions that are geared for our time (and the future) instead of the past.

In daylight

In sunlight

Really good book!

In daylight

In shadow

Ozotic - 730

A favourite! I'd had my eye on The Australian brand Ozotic for quite some time before I managed to get my hands on this through Norway Nails! It did not let me down. I've never wore it on its own, but since I'm pressed for time most days, it's so nice to have a quick change ready in this lovely duochrome. I just put it on, on top of whatever I have on, and hey presto, I have a brand new mani, with a minimum of effort!

Very easy to apply, dries quickly. I don't even have to put SV on and watch it shrink away:)

NYX Girls - Fire Amber

Well, this is a polish I really, really like and that really tells you is that I'm actually a traditional kind of girl. This is definitely more red than amber, and it's dark, with a deep golden shimmer to it. Sexy. Today, I actually wore it to distract people from the hideous herpes sore below my nose. Seemed to work too:)

Below I'm wearing three coats, although I could've gotten away with two, I think. Easy to put on, fast to dry. I love this polish s much, I have procured an OPI-cap for it - I'm a sucker for that ProWide-brush! The cap that comes with the polish is a regular round one.

For work, I'm reading Hunger Games again. A perfect book if you want to get completely hooked!

PS. This little stunner is prone to staining though! Wear your very best base coat for protection. Essie's Nourish me didn't do the trick for me this time!

Daylight

Daylight

Evening, lamp light

Evening, lamp light

Direct sun light

Direct sun light

Cult Nails - Flushed

Like I said, I'm lazy. Since the two last Cult Nails polishes I tried were kind of sheer and I didn't want to risk another three-coat-episode - I took a short cut and used OPIs Anti-Bleak as under wear for Flushed. It worked GREAT! Ironically, Flushed actually didn't seem as sheer as the other two! Both coats were a joy to put on and both polishes levelled out really nicely at application.

What I quickly discovered though is that Flushed is a shade made for summer. The shy March sun we're having here does not do it justice, when it pleases to show itself at all, that is. On a hot summer night though, with a sly, lingering Nordic sun, this shade will be a flirty, dirty stunner.

I also filed ny squares down to ovals. Kind of a risk to take, but so far, I'm pretty okay with the results. It's also quite nice not to worry about cutting my kids bloody or slashing though my cornea when taking my contacts out.

One coat of Anti-bleak in the sun

One coat of Anti-bleak in plain daylight

Flushed in the sunlight - this image does not do the shimmer justice!

Flushed in plain daylight.

The amazing Cloud Atlas by David Mitchell, looking perfect with Flushed!

Kleancolor - Chunky Holo Scarlet

Well, I'm no expert on holographic polishes. In fact, I've never even worn one (choooock). Anywho - this is not holographic, more like....glittery!

I painted two coats on top of my Linda Johansen Brookside Moss and that resulted in something that looked like a black base with red/orange glitters in it. Okay, I guess. The drying time was pretty good. I didn't even use SV on it. The Kleancolor polishes are real stinkers though, and the brush is round, full and kind of bushy.

In daylight

With flash

In daylight

OPI - Yodel Me on My Cell

I've tried to like blues - really - I have! They look so pretty in the bottle and I'm not the type to give up. In the end, though, I always think my hands look kind of corpsy. At the moment, I've given blues a rest and am trying greens to see if that's the way to go.

Yodel Me on My Cell was an impulse purchase, and I got it in a regular store for an obscene amount of money. It was surprisingly sheer for an OPI and this is three coats if I remember correctly. For me - three coats are almost a deal-breaker - especially if I get a corpsy look, which I think I did this time too, unfortunately. In any case, I wanted to join in and be part of Blue Monday at Lindas Nailorama, and this was the only blue I had:)

The novel, On Chesil Beach by Ian McEwan, on the other hand is really good. There's no one like McEwan to tug at everything inside you. We meet a couple on their wedding night. It's the 60s. The young man has been dying to finally make love to the girl he loves, and the girl... well, she would much prefer to not have sex at all. Ever. Short and painful.