Tag: nail polish

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Beauty

Nail Polish: Golden Rose Matte Velvet in 108.

golden rose matte velvet 108

I circled around this bottle at the GR counter like a hawk for some good five weeks. (See! I have restraint! OMG!) Finally, I caved and bought it, because the frosty bottle and the shade of blue were irresistible.

This is a matte polish with quite a bit of shimmer added to it. Over the years of polish addiction I realised that I’m not a huge fan of frosts/ shimmers/ glitters, but on the occasion I still enjoy them, and I don’t mind them in matte polish as much as I do in the regular one.

It’s hard to tell from the above photo, in which my camera decided to pick up all the shimmer in the world, but indeed it dries matte. The application is smooth, the brush is good. It was also very quick to dry – watch me do a little dance.

As with the other matte polishes I have so far tried, it was quick to chip as well. I think it lasted about two days on my nails.

matte polish

The matte finish is better visible in this photo. Also, I love the frosty glass bottle. Love.

Categories
Beauty

Nail Polish: Cairuo in 20.

cairuo mint

I snagged this as I was returning home from a disappointing meeting. I’m a grown-up, I need pick-me-ups to get through shitty days.

The colour is wonderful, but the quality is less so.

The brush is OK, and on the first three nails the formula feels OK too. It goes on thickly but smoothly. However somewhere around fourth nail it begins to streak and gloop and stick something fierce. My right hand looked beyond bad. It’s also a bit hard to control around the edges, so both the root area and the nail end were unevenly painted.

This polish is scented. It smells like any other polish during the application, but begins to smell like a cheapo imitation green tea when it starts to dry. When it dries completely, the scent becomes very faint, but can still be felt if you stick your fingers close to your nose.

No worries, though, you’ll have enough time to enjoy its scent, because it takes its jolly time to dry. So much time.

Also, this is three coats. I went with two originally, but it looked too uneven. so I put on another one in the morning. It chips off fast, and doesn’t do well with water at all.

cairuo mint 20

This is shade #20. Green tea is not the colour’s name, but the indicator of the scent.

I really want to love this because the colour is so good, but alas.

Categories
Beauty

Nail Polish: AVON Speed Dry+ in rebel rose.

avon rebel rose

I have a love/ hate relationship with AVON polishes, and this one is not an exception.

First of all, the colour is amazeballz. This is exactly the shade of hot pink/ fuchsia/ whatever that I love. It’s cool toned and therefore looks great against my skin.

The brush of this one is okay. The formula is great, application wise. If you’re in a hurry, even one layer is enough, although it’s a little bit see-through. It goes on smoothly, and requires minimal clean-up. Also, it dries in seconds.

However.

It chips in seconds as well.

OK, well maybe seconds is a slight exaggeration, but there hasn’t been a case where this polish would hold longer than 24 hours on my nails. Usually it’s far, far less.

Nevertheless, I have since then bought a couple other shades in this range, because you can’t beat that drying time. You just can’t. I’d recommend it for that alone.

AVON Speed Dry+ in rebel rose is a discontinued product, but I’m sure it can still crop up on the likes of Ebay. You can still find the range in AVON catalogues I believe. Give it a go next time you’re on the market for a new polish (which is any time, if you’re like me).

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Beauty

Nail Polish: Flormar’s Matte Grey.

flormar matte grey

Flormar is my favourite polish brand. This particular one is matte (my favourite effect) and grey (my favourite “colour” after black). It’s pushing all of my polish buttons, but no matter how much I try to love it, I fail.

The formula is OK. It goes on with a bit of streaking.

The brush is the standard Flormar one too. Not OMG impressive, but much better than, say, Oriflame’s. (Soon I’ll write a dissertation about Oriflame’s brushes.)

It is matte. Not the Manglaze matte, but not shiny either.

The colour is nice. Did I mention the colour is nice? Grey grey dark carbonish grey omg bring out the grey.

But the thing chips off in literally hours. Basecoat or no basecoat, one layer or two or three, it chips off. And all my love for matte and grey considered, I just CBA to paint my nails every single day.

I’m not sure if this is the predicament of matte polishes in general, or if it’s just Flormar’s formula. I read OPI mattes were pretty bad too, in terms of chipping, but I haven’t tested any, so I dunno.

Categories
Beauty

Golden Rose Selective Nail Lacquer in 75

golden rose selective 75

I fell in love with this nail polish the second I saw it. It’s this slightly greenish grey shade that I love.

Overall I’m very satisfied with the formula and durability of Golden Rose polishes, and this line — Selective — is thankfully not an exception. It went on smoothly and held well. No chipping at all, just gradual rub off of colour.

I’m really curious about other shades in the collection and might give them a try, but I’ve so many unopened polishes, I really shouldn’t buy any new ones any time soon.