Polishes -OPI - Wine Me & Dine Me
Nirhtuc 7/13/2010 11:51:00 PM
Application: On first coat, it's slightly streaky and smudges a little. The second coat applies better. Dries much faster than the Essie and other branded polishes I own. I applied one SV base coat, two coats of WMDM nail colour, and one coat of SV DryFast Topcoat. Durability: It's been three or four days so far and the polish has not budged or chipped at all. I've washed dishes without putting gloves on and typed quite a bit. The polish looks as shiny and even as it did when I first applied it. Colour: Would probably suit all skin-tones, but looks perfect on warmer and darker skin tones IMO. The colour looks equal parts blackened red/burgundy with hints of gold on me. Has a nice shimmer that looks fabulous in the sunlight too. In low light, it shows up as a bronzey colour that looks almost nude against my skintone. Would I buy it again? Probably not, since I've accumulated a mountain-heap of polishes and don't even wear them as often as I should! But it's currently one of my favourite polishes for the fall/winter season.
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Fragrances -The Body Shop - Love Etc
Nirhtuc 7/13/2010 11:29:00 PM
Generic, generic, generic! I regretfully bought this without sampling or even smelling it due to the generally positive reviews I've read about the product online. The lasting power is very good, but the fragrance has spicy and floral notes that I can't stand. My mother has used some air freshener as a deodorizer for the garbage bin in the kitchen... and this could be a dupe for that lovely aroma! :( Therefore, this is 2/3 old lady spicy perfume and 1/3 air freshener. All that's on my mind now is getting rid of this awfulness a.s.a.p! UPDATE (16/7/10): Okay, I guess I was way too harsh on the perfume (I based my judgements on how the perfume smelled when sprayed on a card after all heh). Although the gross spicy/air freshener smell persists for half an hour or so after application, the drydown is very very nice. It smells like vanilla ice-cream with raspberry swirl. Considering my penchant for gourmand/foody scents, this is a blessing! Due to this blessing in disguise, I will update my rating to 4 lipsticks! :O
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Fragrances -Victoria's Secret - Vanilla Lace EDT
Nirhtuc 6/4/2009 3:01:00 AM
Being a big vanilla fan, I decided to buy two 1oz bottles of Vanilla Lace from eBay (since it's not available where I live). I sprayed it on and it smelled of chemicals and alcohol straightaway. Then it got a bit strange... One of the most recent reviewers said that VS must have changed the formula of this perfume, and I agree. Most of the earlier reviewers said that they could not really smell the other notes in the perfume (amber, orchid, musk). Well, after spraying this on, it smelled like equal parts Dessert Beauty's Cupcake (i.e. typical vanilla/foody scent) and Jovan White Musk. Certainly not unpleasant, but a very discordant mix, in my opinion. The drydown let the vanilla note take over and this made me wish that it smelled more like THAT the whole way through! Maybe this smells different to everyone- my sister thinks it smells like cocoa butter and chocolate. I personally feel that the dominant white musk note sort of interfered with making this perfume a true vanilla. So the second time I wore the perfume, I layered it with a bit of Body Shop's Brazil Nut Body Whip and managed to quieten down the musk a little! Someone here said that people seem friendlier and warmer when she wore Vanilla Lace and this happened to me too! I probably will not repurchase since I'm going to try a custom-made (old-school!) Body Shop Vanilla-type perfume oil and I bought two bottles of Vanilla Lace anyway. All in all, a nice perfume, but the MUSK.... no no no! Pros: OK/good lasting power, nice vanilla note and drydown, makes people happy to smell it Cons: the (new?) formula (floral-foody clash), not all that cheap if it's not available where you live and you have to purchase online
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Polishes -Rimmel - Play Fast - Rave
Nirhtuc 3/14/2009 11:01:00 PM
I have just applied this colour and I'm puzzled. It looks like a deep berry/burgundy colour on others, but looks like a chocolatey, seal brown with a tinge of deep burgundy on me. I don't know if this is due to my applying two fairly thick coats of polish (with seche vite basecoat and top coat), or my NW45 complexion. Application was both easy and a little difficult. The pro-wide brush was fairly easy to use, but didn't provide good coverage for the left and right edges of the nail. Not enough product went on the nail if a thin coat was applied, so I had to apply the polish in thick coats. True to name, the polish did dry very fast- more than any other polish I have used so far. Will update on lasting power soon... Edit: Lasting power seems to be great. Very minimal chipping after five days of wear. I guess the photos I've seen were taken outside or under good lighting, because this looked like a GORGEOUS deep burgundy when I went outside - I do spend more time indoors, so I don't think I will be repurchasing this. I'm not crazy about having what seems like shiny nutella on my nails- but this really is a very nice colour- IF you go outside.
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Polishes -Urban Decay - Asphyxia
Nirhtuc 2/19/2009 3:49:00 AM
I am a great lover of duochrome lilac/violet colours. I bought this from eBay after seeing it on the internet, and I'm glad I did! Application was fine, and the brush was easy to use. It took a little longer than usual to dry, but this might be due to my applying a topcoat of Sally Hansen Maximum Growth a bit too thickly over this. Consequently, it streaked a little overnight. Lasting power was good- after five days, the polish chipped on only two of my fingernails. I LOVE the colour- it's more irridescent in the morning and afternoon, and looks more opaque (a monochrome lilac) in the evening. The funny thing is, I also purchased Bourjois Violet Exotic at the same time, and it's almost exactly the same colour! The only difference seems to be that the quality of Violet Exotic is noticeably better than Asphyxia, and Violet Exotic is also more sheer. Therefore, I might not repurchase Asphyxia if I can purchase Violet Exotic for the same price.
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Polishes -Essie - barbados blue
Nirhtuc 2/19/2009 3:36:00 AM
I saw this on the internet and loved how it looked on a lot of people. Someone commented here that it takes two to three coats to make the blue appear, and this is true. At two coats, the colour was more of a dull grey on me. Application was okay if slightly thick, and streaking is minimal. Staying power was average- I used a Maybelline base coat under this and the polish stayed without chipping for 3 days. This may be a good shade on people with other skin tones, but was not very flattering on my NW45 skin. A beautiful blue to be sure, but sadly not for me.
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