the colour purple circus nails

It's circus nails time again! I did promise I would do that more often this year. Which, apart from the cleansing and giving away to charity, is the one personal goal of this year that I've actually managed to fulfill. So far. Other than that I'm more scatter-brained than focused 1,5 months into the new year. 

Which obviously is material for a whole other blogpost. But this one is about nails. And the colour purple. Which still is one of my least liked colours. But sometimes I feel like it despite that. So here is:

OPI Do you have this color in Stock-holm? (Obviously I had to get a bottle of that one.), Models Own Speckled egg Swan and OPI You're such a Budapest.

Technically perhaps not fully circus nails since I've done 3 colours instead of 5-10, but good enough fun for me. 

two green smoothies

I felt it was time for a really green smoothie. Or two.

Since I've never really warmed to the texture of cooked and prepared kale I thought it would be an excellent idea to use it in smoothies instead. So I bought a big bag and put in in the freezer. ANd for one smoothie I usually use one big leaf.

Green smoothie 1 is made of bananas, avocado (frozen avocado is THE new black!), kale and a big splosh of oat or almond milk.

Even greener smoothie 2 is made of bananas, avocado, baby spinach and a big splosh or oat or almond milk.

Both are definitely instant perk-me-ups! And I adore the colour green in a glass.

PS. Even if you don't really have to match your nailpolish with the smoothie for a great experience, it does add a bit of magic. OPI My Gecko Does Tricks was my green choice of polish du jour. DS

first circus nails 2016

True to my goal of 'more circus nails in 2016' these are my last of last year AND my first of this one. 

A bit colour subdued (and season befitting) but still quirky, professional but also out-of-the-box-free-thinking. Well that's at least the look I was aiming for.

From left to right:

Essie - In stitches

Essie - Sew psyched (yes, my mood of the year!)

Essie - Island hopping

Models OWN - Speckled own Swan

Essie - Bordeaux

Next time I'll browse the nail polish collection and create circus nails with polishes that have inspirational mood setting names. That should be fun.

happy new 2016

Looking forward to an exciting new year of personal and professional growth, inspiration and exploration, kindness and fun.

I don't do New Year's promises but I've made a list of 5 personal and 5 professional goals for growth in 2016. 

Also I will wear more circus nails, because life should be more quirky and less predictable.

Happy New Year, 

kind and caring

earthlings,

let's make 2016

a fantastic and compassionate year 

with less tears and more laughter!

autumn circus nails

It's been ages since I did the circus nails thing, so the other week it was about high time for an autumn version. 

From left to right:

Essie Snap happy

OPI The IT colour

Essie Chocolate cakes

Essie Vested invested

OPI Big apple red

Unfortunately most of the colours chipped after only a day (apart from the IT colour, it never chipped). Especially Chocolate cakes is of really poor quality, it has chipped pretty much instantly (yes nails are clean and I use a top coat). 

It's interesting how a brand like Essie (which I never buy anymore, due to their shady business with animal testing, only using up the rather *hrm* extensive collection I already have), known to be of good quality sometimes have specific colours that are of really poor quality. My experience has been the same with some of OPI's colours.

What's your favourite nailpolish brand? And why?

on the importance of colour coordinated shopping

My preferred things to souvenir-y shop these days seem to be

a) tea

b) nailpolish

And most of all, lovely tea in pretty tins make be really very happy. Did it in Berlin, now done it in Copenhagen.

This time I bought tea from the Danish tea merchant A.C Perch - adore the design of the tins! They come in many colours and I would have loved to have them all, but of course that would have been silly so I opted for the two must haves; pastel pink and green. Filled them with green rooibos pear ginger and rooibos rhubarb. Both very nice, if not as flavour packed as Løv tea. Lovely old tea shop, which also have a tea room that serves afternoon tea (next time).

The three OPI polishes are Suzi has a Swede tooth (pink), Berlin there done that (grey/beige, obviously I wanted to get this one in Berlin, but I didn't find it) and My gecko does tricks. The reason for splashing out on three bottles was that it was a 2 for 3 deal, with an additional discount for tourists. Ie impossible to say no to obviously,

The tiny, adorable cup with a wee dormouse is from Danish design house Bloomingville.

All items have been paw approved.

And I think circus nails in all three colours turned out rather nice in a fun yet polished (no pun intended) way.

summer nailpolish 2015

The bobbalooos made me do it. I had quite possibly though of buying ONE new bottle on our recent Åland trip. But when the bobs saw there was a mini collection available they screamed "BUY!". And as an unruly bunch of bobs on a boat is a bad idea I felt I had to comply.



I have to say though, that my sense of colour is better than theirs. Because the lovely green 'My dog sled is a hybrid'-big bottle colour far surpass the Hawaii collection. And if I'm not crazy about a majority of the colours in the package I from now on must say a firm NO to the buying of these miniature collections - love the idea of miniatures, but stuck together in a collection they sadly seem to be a very unsatisfying match.

The majority of the OPI top ten ones were lovely. The Bond girls and Copabacababies were pretty much 100% awful. Since OPI in general have great colours it's strange how they totally miss it when they put together the miniature collections. Which makes me think there might be an odd conspiracy here I'm unaware of.



Susy Shops & Island Hops - pale pale pink that doesn't cover well even after three coats.
This Color's Making Waves - metallic petrol green, metallic really isn't my thing.
Aloha from OPI - bright, neon orange, which isn't my thing either but it's a fun summer colour.
That's Hula-rious - pale pale icy green, quite nice with a tan and covers surprisingly well compared to its pale pink companion. I think it'll look especially great on the toe nails in sandals.
Lost My Bikini in Molokini - matte purple, for not being a fun of purple I have an oddly large collection of purple nailpolish bottles... This one is rather nice too. I don't enjoy matte polishes but as I most always use a top coat they get a glossy finish anyway.
Go With the Lava Flow - metallic orange, awful colour definitely my least favourite. What a waste of the fine colours orange.

What's your favourite nailpolish colour/s
this summer?

new favourite from organic löv tea

No you don't need nailpolish that matches the tea tin to enjoy this tea. Nor a tea colour matching cat. But it does lend an extra sparkle to the experience.

The organic almond rooibos tea from LÖV tea is wonderful. Like drinking an almond paste cake, but less sweet.

It's so good that even the most die hard rooibos hater (in this case M) finds it lovely to drink.



So great even cats (in this case the Prosit sisters) fight over it.



The colour matching one wins.

When I first visited the lovely new Kusmi tea shop in a posh Stockholm suburbia shopping centre, they were all out of this fantastic rooibos and I went for another Löv tea. Despite me knowing I don't enjoy white tea, because the blueberry coconut one smelled great.



Drinking it I was terribly disappointed because it didn't taste of anything. And I did follow the brewing instructions perfectly. But when it had gone cold, the flavours came through properly. So I'm thinking it would make a fine ice tea. Though not so fine warm.

Because surely the lack of flavour of tea couldn't have something to do with the not colour matching nailpolish?



What's your favourite tea right now?
Warm or iced?

microdots manicure

Say hello to one of the Christmas nail polishes from Models Own - Microdots. 

Combined with an old Opi Dulce de Leche I think the result is rather cute. 

A bit tricky to paint since there's a lot less dots than clear polish thus the Microdots layers are really thick. Even if you shake the bottle really well. And a close look at right hand's nails is not a pretty sight. Really.

But all and all, a cute new experience. That will get better with practise I'm sure.

fly alaric dotty nails

My intention today was to write a 2014 in 12 pictures post - just like I did in 2013 and in 2012 and in 2010 - but however lovely such a recollection is, where everything started and how the year ended, the highs, the lows, the growth and everything between, it is also a time consuming task. And right now, neither time nor energy is at its peak, so I will save that post for later. That worked in 2011, so it will certainly do well for 2014 I'm sure. The post will be written in January instead.



Today I give you a glimpse of a little nail-fun I had today - fly agaric nails. A simple and rather effective way to spruce up your nails. Dots are surprisingly often the answer to the "how do I make this more fun?" question.

The red-ish speckled pink base colour is one of the Models Own bottles I got a while back. It's scented and called Rhubarb & Custard - yes really, it does have a faint scent of rhubarb, at least before you put on the top coat - and then I used a dotting tool for the white dots (Mavala White). But of course, a wooden tooth pick works too. Just dot away!



It's tricky to get the dots perfect, especially on the right hand if you're right handed, but then again, a fly agaric's dots aren't perfect either, neither is life. I think it turned out quite sweet and fun. And as I don't have any patience with nail art, I just play with colours, I am pleased to report it was a quick job sealed with a top coat.

And if the notion of fly agaric nails sounds a bit frightening, just call them christmassy nails with snow flakes. Happy dotting!

christmassy nails

Remember the fantastic speckled egg nailpolish from Models Own I got for Easter? With one broken bottle. I've been meaning to replace that bottle ever since, but the expensive postage has been off-putting. But now I went for it and made sure they packed it extra well. In fact they packed it so well it was quite a job to unpack it. Many thumbs up for that! And of course no bottle was broken upon arrival.

The delivery was also, just like last time, super-quick. Picked up late evening in the UK, delivered by FedEx 2 pm the next day at my door. Haven't used any of them yet - because I've just painted my nails a bit glittery christmassy, so I might as well enjoy that for the rest of the week


Opi Do You Think I'm Tex-y? + Gettin' Miss Piggy With It and China Glaze Running in circles

Seems like I have to deny the "to be honest (really) I pretty much use the ones I already have rather than oogling and buying new ones" thing from only a few week backs - oh dear, seems like there's a little politician living inside me trying to show her face... - but apart from that slightly embarassing bit I enjoy the purchase very much. Hopefully they'll look nice worn too, it was a 6 bottles deal so I'm not at sure about all the colours.

Two things you can always rely on though -
1) There is always a bobbaloo that colour match,
2) there is always a feline inspector aka snooperviser nearby.

mac rebel nailpolish

Using nailpolish is a very regular thing for me since a few years. And since then my nailpolish wardrobe has grown - the pink office nailpolish shelf is a wee bit more filled than back in 2012... - but to be honest (really) I pretty much use the ones I already have rather than oogling and buying new ones.

Although, when you're looking for a quick and affordable treat with colour oomf a good nailpolish is the perfect thing. This is my first nailpolish from M.A.C - and possibly my only since the information I had that their products are not subject to animal testing seems to be so-so. How quickly things change... - and it's in a lovely unusual shade of winered meets purple. And its name is Rebel. Which of course is an awesome name. The quality seems good, too bad about the animal-testing-part. As that so very clearly is in no way necessary for any beauty-product to be subjected too.

What are your favourite vegan nailpolish of good quality?

a colourful thursday

A very green lunch at one of my favourite Stockholm restaurants.



I've been so busy eating and talking whenever I go there, so it wasn't until today I noticed the wonderful art on the wall. The fantastic artist's website here



It is the time of snazzy stockings and socks. Today I went stripey. And shoe per diem happy.



Stunning roses. Though doubtful they're organic and fairtrade ie no buy.



You can always rely on one of my favourite shops having a darlin' window display. And oh those shoes...





It was a day that called for a new nailpolish. I am not a fan of purple. But this one called my name - Do you have this color in Stock-holm? by OPI.

And as you can see, Little My approves of buy. She's positively purple of envy.

the shoes are keepers and other fine things du jour

A week later I've decided that the shoes I discarded as cheap bling looking and not at all for me are indeed rather fine anyway. Because a) in another light they're not as shiny metallic as I first thought b) they're not bling in a tacky, tasteless (animal printsy) i wanna grab a millionaire bling but more of a summer fun dash of a bling like c) look lovely with a tan d) just as comfortable, cute and kind looking as their red siblings e) little miss redhead agrees. Ie they're keepers. Inaugurated today and de-lovely.





A week later I also painted both toe- and fingernails in the same monochrome but perky colour (Essie Turquoise & Caicos) and left the house for the first time since the cold struck. Far from fully recovered, but still back on the life track one might say.



And it was for a dinner date and fika with my bestie fellow happy muse. Lovely dinner, lovely talking, lovely fika. Well hello there best soy latte in the whole wide world at favourite cafe it's been a very long time no see or drink!



The cooler weather, the being out in public again, the food, the coffee and most of all the company and the conversation left me really inspired and invigorated. A day of very fine things that made me most happy.

How was your day?

green and pink

The outcome of the elections to the European Parliament was of course in parts absolutely heartbreaking showing a scary, blatant lack of knowledge in history. But just as I've stopped reading the newpapers and watching the news in order to have good energy to do good deeds I choose to concentrate on the in parts amazing results.

Because a) the Swedish Green Party (Miljöpartiet) is now the second largest party as far as Sweden in EP (3 seats) is concerned. And b) the Swedish Feminist Party (F!) had a great result and will get one seat in the EP. Pretty mindblowing. I cheered a lot and cried a bit over those results. So there are indeed good forces out there too, wanting to create a more compassionate, kinder, greener, more sustainable and equal society. Well done you!

And today I sported a green and pink look, which of course wasn't very laboursome since pink and green is my favourite colour combo anyway. Just embracing my not so secret and not so inner colour nerd.



PS All of the + 50 % who didn't vote, whatever were you thinking?! DS
PPS You know that feminism is only common sense, that it's all about equal rights for all genders and a better, kinder society for everyone, right? Right. DS
PPS And both the German and the Dutch Animal Party got seats in the EP too. Just how wonderful is that! DS

speckled egg nailpolish

This spectacular nailpolish actually shows the power of social media. Albeit a more superficial part of it, but still. Hadn't I seen a fabulous snap of it on Instagram I would never (probably) have known there was such a grand thing a speckled egg nailpolish.

A UK brand not sold in Sweden (yet) called Models Own, very affordable prices though alas Boot's doesn't ship to Sweden. But the gal who sported the nailpolish on Instagram helped me find the Models Own webshop which does ship overseas. At a rather hefty price I might add. But if one order with other nailpolishtas the price gets reasonable of course.



The most fascinating thing about the order was that I placed it on Saturday evening and on Tuesday it arrived with FedEx already...! I am so impressed, that's much quicker than if you'd order something in Sweden to be shipped in Sweden... I'm so happy it actually arrived in time for Easter.



Less impressed with the unfortunate thing that one of the bottles was broken upon arrival. The package reaked of nailpolish and it was a nervous thing to open the parcel. But I'm grateful it was only one bottle which didn't make it. Hopefully that issue will be sorted asap.

It's a lovely polish irl too, the effect is quite magical I have to say. To actually have nails looking like tiny pastel speckled eggs, who knew that was even possible?



And needless to say, one can always rely on them bobbaloos to be colour matching to anything fine that arrives to this household.

Have a lovely lovely Easter one and all,
speckled egg nails or not!