Wednesday 19 February 2014

LA GIRL DIY NAIL KIT - FABULOUS

 When I saw these kits on Ozsale I knew I had to get them straight away! At only $4.00 for a box of four I knew it was a steal, and if they were duds I wouldn't be too upset about it. I ended up buying four different sets which I will review one by one in the coming weeks.


Each set comes with a set of instructions on how to do different nail art designs, a nail art brush and a set of nail stickers to help with chevron designs.

Unfortunately, the stickers were just TERRIBLE and a nightmare to use as they didn't stick properly and were just way too big to use, but in the scheme of things it wasn't such a big deal. I mean, for $4.00 how much can you ask for?


 The nail brush was also a bit of a miss. The hairs just weren't of a very good quality and made it practically impossible to do any sort of nail art work. I'm hoping that the rest of the brushes in the other boxes are a little better.

The polishes do not have any specific names or numbers assigned to them.

Fabulous has three creme finish polishes and one glitter base polish. All the colours are very easy to apply and are a little bit thicker in consistency in comparison to China Glaze or OPI but some of the nail brushes were a little uneven and made the application a little streaky, especially the nude colour.





Overall, this set is DEFINITELY worth it, I don't think you could find a cheaper set on the market that still delivers great pigmentation, durability and versatility. As a bonus, this polish is also thick enough to use in your nail stamping kits.

If you are lucky enough to have an LA Girl stockist near you definitely keep an eye out for these sets or sign up to Ozsale as they tend to become available a couple of times a year.

 This was the design I came up with using this set. Please excuse the black around my nails, the Chalkboard Manicure was EXTREMELY hard to get off! :)

 



Monday 17 February 2014

Ciate Chalkboard Manicure




Here's another collection that I bought from when I was in the Philippines last year and finally got the chance to use.

The Ciate Chalkboard Manicure set comes with four chalkboard pens, two paint pots Mattnificent (mattifying top coat) and Chalkboard Paint and one instruction booklet.


INSTRUCTIONAL BOOKLET



The instructional booklet contains How-To instructions in 17 languages and also a little inspirational doodle gallery which came in handy when trying to figure out designs for my nails.



PAINT POTS (FULL SIZE)





Mattnificent Matte Top Coat is not what I expected. It definitely does mattify your nail polish but I feel like your polish looks dry and just not nice at all.This formula also is quite streaky but dries very quickly. If I can fine tune my application technique it will definitely be a good addition to my kit as I don't really have many different finishes in my collection.

Chalkboard Paint is probably one of the hardest polishes to apply. It goes on really thick, dries quite streaky and it is quite hard to control the application on the nail, however, it does dry super quick.

After a couple of hours the polish also shrinks and starts to crack. It seems like a lot of these nail art sets that Ciate release tend to be something you would only use for a special occasion/one night, just like the Ciate Velvet Manicure Kits.

CHALKBOARD PENS

L-R: Teachers Pet; Recess; Satchel; Jump Rope

The Chalkboard Pens have good pigmentation and flow out the pens quite well unlike the Manicare pens that are available on the market. If these pens were made with a thinner tip they would be perfect as I found I couldn't really create the designs I wanted as the pen tips were just too thick.




The other thing that I noticed was that once the chalk dried the colours seemed to fade, lost their vibrancy and appeared patchy, especially the pink one (Jump Rope).

 I made quite a few mistakes due to the tip of the pens being too thick. In the instructions it says that if you make a mistake you can easily wipe it off with water. When I tried to take it off with water the chalk barely budged and it actually left a lot of residue on the nail as well as on the skin. It ended up being a lot messier than I thought and was quite frustrating.



Once I finished my nail art designs I applied the Mattnificent top coat and in the images below you can see the patchiness coming through on the designs. I actually preferred a glossy finish on the nails as I feel it looks more vibrant and punchy.

Right hand
Left hand side
 The end result of the manicures was really disappointing especially the patchiness of the chalk. I also feel like they need to reformulate the matte top coat and the chalkboard paint as the streaky finish really affects the final product. It would also be really good if they remade the chalk pens with a thin metal tip so that you can control the pens much better and create better nail art drawings.

Overall, I'd recommend you give this manicure set a miss unless you're really dying to have this in your collection. The better alternative would be the Revlon Chalkboard Range which has a better a consistency as well as a thin brush for the chalk paint which gives you better control and the ability to create more intricate nail art.

If you have this set, did you have the same experience as I did or did I just get a bad batch?

Wednesday 12 February 2014

Essence Nail Polish - 132 Break Through & Gel Look Top Coat

Every time I go into Priceline the Essence range always seems to grab my attention as their range is super affordable and the colour range is fantastic. So, as a little treat for myself, I bought one Colour & Go polish in Break Through ($2.75AUD) and the XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat ($2.95AUD).


Break Through has really great pigmentation and dries really quickly. The most impressive thing about this polish is the applicator. Due to the shape of the brush, it makes the polish super easy to apply and really helps you control overflow while ensuring that the polish is applied to the nail rather than on the surrounding skin and cuticle. The Essence brush is amazing and I think that ALL polishes should have this brush shape.

The greatest brush applicator I have come across in any nail polish!
 The XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat is just as impressive as the Colour & Go. I love the look and finish of UV gel polish but I'm not a fan of how my nails end up once I take the gel polish off, so this product seemed like a pretty good compromise at a fraction of the price.

The top coat creates a nice sheen and really does look like a gel polish. The only down side is that if you shake it too much it creates bubbles in the finish as you can see in the image below. I found the best way to overcome that is to roll the bottle in between your hands rather than shaking it.


XXL Shine Gel Look Top Coat also helps the polish to stay on a lot longer and chip free. The picture below was taken after two weeks and as you can see the colour polish has barely worn away on the nail tips.


 To see how well the polish kept over two weeks I have placed them side by side in the image below.


 As these polishes are so cheap I wasn't expecting much from them but the quality of these polishes really blew me away with their durability, pigment and finish.

Essence nail polishes are '5 Free' of which there are only a small portion of in the very big range of brands available on the market. Being '5 free' means that these polishes are free of Formaldehyde, Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Toluene, Formaldehyde Resin and Camphor which can be harmful, especially for pregnant women.

The Essence range is also made in France, which is quite uncommon with cheaper brands as they tend to be made in China, which also gives them extra bonus points in my opinion.

With their cosmetic range ranging in price from $1.75AUD - $6.75AUD, Essence is definitely one to look out for as an inexpensive treat or addition to your collection.

Essence is available at Priceline, Target and online.

Sunday 9 February 2014

HFB - January 2014




CONTENTS:
      • 1x Cantik Swimwear Canitk Palms Notebook
      • 1x Pocket Manicure Kit
      • 1x Something In The Water Scarf
      • 1x Her Fashion Box Pebble Purse
      • 1 x Her Fashion Box Ripple Necklace
      • 1x Urban Rituelle Guava Lip Balm
      • 1x Babe Scrub Green Tea Scrub
      • 2x Green Smoothie Co Green Is Good Sachets
      • 3x J Bronze Samples
      • 1x Muesli For Me Sample
      • 1x Ulta3 Lipstick (free gift for completing the survey)

 

CANTIK SWIMWEAR PALMS NOTEBOOK ($19.95AUD VALUE)



POCKET MANICURE KIT ($7.95AUD VALUE)


 
    

 

SOMETHING IN THE WATER SCARF ($24.95AUD)



This little scarf can also be used as a sarong/wrap to wear whilst you're at the beach.

 

HER FASHION BOX PEBBLE PURSE ($7.95AUD)


 

HER FASHION BOX RIPPLE NECKLACE ($24.95AUD)






 

URBAN RITUELLE LIP BALM 'GUAVA' ($9.95AUD)


This lip balm comes in seven different flavours: Cherry, Coconut, Guava, Lime Splice, Mango, Milkshake and Passionfruit. I wish I had received a different flavour because out of all of these Guava is my least liked fruit.

The lip balm feels nice enough but I'm not a fan of balms that come in tubs as I find they're a little messy. I would definitely choose a stick over pot any day.

 

BABESCRUB 'GREEN TEA' SAMPLE ($21.95AUD)


 

GREEN SMOOTHIE CO SAMPLE X2 ($15.00AUD FOR 5X10G SACHETS)

 

 

J BRONZE SAMPLE SACHETS
(FACE TAN 30ML $24.95AUD; ILLUMINISER 100ML $24.95AUD)

 

 

MUESLI FOR ME 45G SAMPLE


 

ULTA3 LIPSTICK


I'm assuming I got this for filling out the survey as it wasn't listed in the HFB Magazine.
The first box for 2014 was jam packed with stuff but for me there weren't many items that I felt were amazing. The two outstanding items for me this month were the necklace and the notebook so I feel a little let down.

I ended up cancelling my Violetbox subscription as I felt that every month the items they sent were just not worth it and became a waste of money and now I'm starting to feel the same way about Her Fashion Box.

Here's hoping that the next box is better otherwise I may end up cancelling this one too.
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...