Top/Base Coats -Essie - Matte About You
PetitOwl 1/25/2013 11:22:00 PM
I like this polish because it allows me to wear all my other polishes two different ways without having to purchase the matte version of those colors. I did find that it darkens the color of whatever polish you are putting it over. I've heard of other matte topcoats doing the same thing, however. This is actually good with some colors where I find that the darker shade looks better on me and thus end up wearing it more often than I did before. I also don't find matte topcoats to be as protective against chipping as glossy topcoats. I solved this problem by applying a layer of glossy topcoat under the matte topcoat. I find the effect to be the same as having only the matte topcoat.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - Malaga Wine
PetitOwl 1/25/2013 11:12:00 PM
I like this color a lot. On me, it is an almost vampy dark red even under bright lighting. I like that it is not so dark that it looks black. The color flatters my skintone (Asian, medium-light skin), making my skin look pale and flawless. It has a very nice formula. Two coats are all that's necessary and streaking is never a problem. The only thing that I don't like is that it leaves my nails stained a bit orange after I take it off, as do all red polishes I own.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Top/Base Coats -OPI - Top Coat
PetitOwl 1/25/2013 11:03:00 PM
I did not like this top coat at all. I waited and waited and it did not dry. I finally went to sleep and woke up to find that my nails had gotten dented. I admit that all the fast drying top coats have gotten me spoiled, but this top coat didn't dry even after several hours. I thought this product was expensive since it's about the price of regular OPI polishes and performs so poorly that it is useless.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - Tickle my France-y
PetitOwl 1/25/2013 10:55:00 PM
The lighting really affects what this color looks like. It can look like a light mocha color, a cool toned dusty pink, or a brownish / grayish lilac. Surprisingly, the color always looks good with my skintone no matter the lighting. I own both Tickle My France-y and Dulce de Leche, and I find that TMF looks better on me than Dulce de Leche. The skin on my hands sometimes get reddish, and Dulce de Leche doesn't go well with that. I'm Asian with medium-light skin. As for the formula, I get satisfactory coverage with 2 coats. There is a bit of VNL if you look really hard, but it is not very obvious at all. I used TMF right after taking off some dark polish that left my nails a bit stained. Unfortunately, TMF is not completely opaque and some discoloration showed through. Thus I would recommend a white base coat if your nails are super stained. I had thought streaking would be a problem since the first coat looked really thin, but it wasn't. Both the color and the formula was quite good.
3 out of 3 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - Samoan Sand
PetitOwl 1/10/2013 9:44:00 PM
This is a slightly peachy beige color. I like the color most of the time, but in certain lighting, there is something about this color that makes my cuticles look really dark in an unhealthy way. I am Asian with medium-light skin (NC20-25), so if you're like me, I would advise you to try it before buying. Formula-wise, I found it to be quite streaky and thin. I don't like the look of VNL, so I ended up putting on at least 3 thick layers. On my right hand I think it took up to 6 layers because I am not as good at applying polish with my left hand, and it took that many layers to get rid of the streakiness. The only good thing is that there isn't that much tip wear with so many layers. I had this polish on for a whole week and had no problems with chipping or tip wear. Normally I get tip wear on day 3. The only reason I took it off was because my nails grew enough that there was a gap between my cuticles and where the polish started.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -China Glaze - Riveting
PetitOwl 10/14/2012 8:58:00 PM
I'm kind of conflicted on China Glaze Riveting. On one hand, it is a really pretty and unique orange. The golden flecks in it really make the polish glow, and I was pleasantly surprised by how it looked in different lightings (daytime and dusk). The application was a breeze. It took two coats for full coverage and dried quickly. On the other hand, it just didn't look good with my skin (asian, NC20). In its defense, orange doesn't normally look good on me. It made my hands look super pale, and the orange was garish and really reminded me of Halloween, which is probably the one time of the year that I will wear this polish. I feel like I would look silly wearing it during other times.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - I'm Not Really A Waitress
PetitOwl 10/14/2012 8:38:00 PM
I tried this nail polish since I'd heard that it was one of OPI's most popular colors, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a shimmery ruby red that reminds me of Christmas. It's not so dark that it's vampy but it is darker than bright fire engine red. At one coat, it covers the nails sufficiently but is a bit more pinkish, so I prefer it with two coats. I use seche vite top coat and do not have chipping issues except a bit of tip wear at day 4, which is about average for me. I'm Asian, NC20-25 depending on the season, and this color goes really well with my skintone. I do get lobster hands from the more orangey red polishes but not with this red.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -OPI - Dulce de Leche
PetitOwl 6/26/2012 9:13:00 PM
Dulce de Leche shows up as a pinkish brown color on my skin. I usually don't like nude polishes because I think mannequin hands look creepy, but this shade goes well with my skin and doesn't match it so that I end up with mannequin hands. I'm Asian with medium-light skin. I like it better with one coat since that's when it is more mauve. It starts to get more brown on the second coat. I also find that I can get more days without chips if I only use one coat. I did find the polish to be a bit thick and streaky when I first bought it. Now that I've thinned it out, I am able to apply only one coat without getting streaks. Update: I recently got Tickle My France-y and find that it looks more flattering on me than Dulce de Leche. Dulce de Leche looks best on me under fluorescent lighting but not so much under natural lighting.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Liquid -Revlon - Age Defying Makeup with Botafirm SPF 20 for Normal/Combination Skin
PetitOwl 6/19/2012 7:36:00 PM
I found this to be a light-medium coverage foundation. The shade I got was 04 nude beige, and I am somewhere between NC20 and NC25 depending on the season. I found the color in the bottle to be a lot darker and pinker than my actual skin color (I am Asian with light skin), but it still ended up working for me, maybe because the coverage was light. My skin can be flaky sometimes, but it doesn't seem to accentuate the flaky spots as much as other foundations I've tried. It also lasts all day without turning orange. I do not like the packaging as it is in a glass bottle and you kind of just pour it out onto your hand. There is a nutty smell that others have mentioned, but it is not strong and does not stay around.The finish is nice and makes my skin look better without seeming like I have a lot of makeup on.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Sally Hansen - Complete Salon Manicure- Gray by Gray
PetitOwl 6/19/2012 7:11:00 PM
This color is a medium dark blue with a grayish tinge. I really liked the color, and it was flattering with my Asian skin tone. The one thing I didn't like was that it chipped a bit on the 3rd day even though I had used top coat. Otherwise I would've rated it as a 5. I am used to tip wear but not chipping with most polishes.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Sally Hansen - Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear in Black Out
PetitOwl 6/19/2012 7:05:00 PM
This is a pigmented black polish. I didn't need more than 2 coats. I wore this with top coat and did not try it without top coat. I had it on for about 3 days before I took it off because I wanted to change colors.There was some tip wear, which I normally get with most polishes, but no chipping. The formula was easy to work with and wasn't too thick or runny.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Polishes -Sally Hansen - Xtreme Wear in Wet Cement
PetitOwl 5/26/2012 9:07:00 PM
I really like this color. It is an understate light gray. I used 2-3 coats to achieve opacity. It lasted quite a while (5 days) but I had top coat on. I usually feel like taking polish off after 3 days because the tip wear and nail growth looks too obvious to me. However, I was able to keep this polish on for more than 3 days because the color is light enough that the tip wear and nail growth don't look very obvious. The only thing I didn't like was that my nails look a tiny bit gray after removing the polish, so it might've stained my nails a little bit.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Cleansers -Clarins - Gentle Foaming Cleanser with Cottonseed for Normal or Combination Skin
PetitOwl 5/25/2012 10:34:00 PM
I really like this cleanser. It's not as drying as others I've used before such as neutrogena, but it also does not leave an oily feeling like cetaphil. It does foam up and a little bit goes a long way. I got this as a sample and have been using it for several weeks. I use this in the morning, so I don't know how well it removes makeup. I do feel like it has improved my skin and I am getting less breakouts.
1 out of 1 people found this review helpful. Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Treatments -Alpha Hydrox - 10% AHA Gel 
PetitOwl 5/25/2012 10:10:00 PM
This stuff burned my face really bad. I had a red, itchy, and flaky patch for months after using this for about a week or two. At first I wasn't sure this was the cause of the red flaky patch, so I tried it on my forehead a couple of weeks ago. It started itching, so I washed it off after an hour. My forehead is still a bit dry and flaky right now, just not severely since I didn't leave it on for very long. I no longer get acne where the flaky patch used to be, so it kind of worked to improve my skin. However, I don't think it was worth the months of flakiness. I would recommend testing it out on a small patch of skin several times before putting it all over your face. Also, 10% might be too strong for some people. Even though I don't have sensitive skin and was only using this product once every few days, my skin reacted really badly.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No
Top/Base Coats -Seche Vite - Dry Fast Top Coat
PetitOwl 5/5/2012 10:55:00 AM
I love that this dries my polish so quickly. I used to use other top coats and my nails would get messed up when I went to sleep even though I had already waited an hour for it to dry before going to sleep. It also makes my polishes even shinier. I once accidentally scraped a nail with a pair of scissors and it didn't damage the polish.
Was this review helpful to you? Yes No