REVIEW: Nubar Nu Nail strengthener

Nubar Nu Nail Strengthener

Nubar Nu Nail Strengthener (13.95 CND for 0.5 fl oz) is a growth strengthener treatment. The instructions on the box are put one coat of Nu Nails on clean nails, then reapply daily for one week without removing any of the treatment or cleaning nails, until the nails feel strong and healthy. After one week, you clean your nails and improvement should be visible, the packaging says. As your nail condition improves, the box advises that you apply every third day on nonpolished nails. For polished nails, you use Nu Nails as a base coat. I will follow this, so that it will be a true test. So far what Im seeing is that it goes on quite smoothly, and gives a healthy shine to your nails. It dries in about 1 min.

My lovely nails before.

My nails after about 3-4 weeks:

Did it help?

No! My nails were still very very weak and peeled like crazy, it was like any base coat on my nails. My nail length is from it growing naturally, it didnt help at all, if it had strengthed they would have been twice the length. I guess Im just gonna have to use it as a basecoat to finish it up, inless someone else wants to try if it works for them or whatever, I guess I could swap it :/

Product: 2/10

Value: 2/10

Ease of Use: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Overall: D

Have you tried this product, what did you think of it? Did you like it, have a different experiance then I did, let me know. I love having feedback on my posts.

Aryn

Review and Swatchs: China Glaze's Good Witch?

China Glaze's Good Witch? In cloudy light, with flash.

China Glaze's Good Witch?  ($8.00 CND for 0.5 fl oz) is a light pink color with pink and silver sparkles. It reminds me of bubblegum, and is supposed to repersent Glenda's dress from the wizard of oz. This color came out with both the 2001 collection and the 2009 collection of the Wizard of Ooh Ahz. Im not much into these kind of colors, but its pretty.

The formula is a very light consistancy and is quite thin. It was easier to apply then dorothy who?. It took two to three coats to make it show up like I wanted to. It dried fast.

The wear was horrible, it lasted two days and then chipped like crazy. I hate chipping nails, it makes me want to take them off, so this polish wouldnt last long for me. That was with basecoat, and a topcoat over top.

This color is easy to take off with remover, so Im glad about that if Im gonna have to take it off after two days >.<

Product: 5/10

Value: 5/10

Ease of Use: 3/5

Packaging: 5/5

Overall: D

Aryn

REQUESTED: swatch and review: China Glaze Dorothy Who?

China Glazes Dorothy who?

China Glazes Dorothy Who? ($8.00 for 0.5 fl oz.) is a blue and silver glitter in a blue jelly base. Its is extremly pretty and gets you lots of compliments. This polish came out with the wizard of ooh ahz collection and the returns collection. I've heard that this is hard to find and alot of people search for it, but I personally can get alot of them, maybe its just where I shop or the fact I live in Canada, who knows. This polish is for someone who wants make a statement with their nails, or for those who love sparkly nail polishes. This one gets peoples attention theres no doubt about it.

The application of this polish was not like other china glaze polishes, and I was a little dissapointed. The consistancy was just to thin and when you put it on it would run to the outside of your nail. Maybe I just got a little to much on the nail, but I did have some issues with that. Another issue is that this polish needs about three to four coats to cover so that your nail line doesnt show when you hold it up to the light. Personally that doesnt bother me so I only did two coats but others might have problems with that.

The wear is fine, I could last about 5 days on my real nails with topcoat and basecoat. I think the glitter helps it stay put as well. The polish is really really thin, and I didnt experiance any bubbling. I love this color. Its a glitter so its on the harder side to take off.

• Product: 8/10
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 4/5
• Packaging: 5/5
Overall: A



With flash



Without Flash



 

Are my pictures better, if so should I re-swatch some of my other nail polishes that I have done in the past? Please let me know I love feedback. Also its a celebration as my blog has been indexed and cached by google, I think thats pretty big seeing as Im getting lots more people now from google searches!

Aryn

Review and Swatch: Claire's Mood Changing Polish in awesome/silly

Without flash in daylight (look at the chipping of this polish!)

Claire's Mood polish in awesome/silly ($5.75/$5.00 CND/US) is a bright pink that turns to light pink depending on your "mood". I dont believe your mood changes every time you wash your hands though, so I'm a little off put by that. Really how this nail polish changes is temp. If your hot the nail polish will go light pink, if your cold it will go darker pink. If you nail beds are warm but your free edge (on long nails) is exposed and colder, you will have this cool gradient/french tip affect. The price isnt worth it as I can get a china glaze nail polish at a wholesaler for that amount.

The appliation of this polish is horrible. I can put on china glaze polishes fine and they go on perfect. With this polish it needs about three+ coats to make it look alright. You have to be quick with this polish as it dries in a matter of seconds. But as you are applying it looks alright, intill it starts turning to the lighter color, then you realise there are so many bald spots... I had the worst time trying to apply this. It was gloopy and did not spread easily.

I had it on the first day and noticed a few chips but not to bad (nail polish doesnt like my nails all that much anyway), on the second day I couldnt believe it, parts had huge pieces off of it. As if it all lifted off my nail. I was not impressed by the third day (today), Im bout ready to take it off and just forget it. Its a nice concept and actually works but the application is horrible and so is the wear.

I do give props to this nail polish for the face that it will still work with a base coat, and many layers of topcoat. Long nails will generally like this alot for the gradient/french effect, but on short nails you wont have that pretty much at all. I would reccomend this to anyone with long nails, and has the paticence with application and chipping.

I have a few other of these colors to try out and review, hopefully not all of them are like this.

Claires please make your application better, or better yet china glaze come out with your own mood polishes!

• Product: 4/10
• Value: 4/10
• Ease of Use: 1/5
• Packaging: 4/5

Overall: D-

Cold water with flash

Mix of both hot and cold water, shows you the gradient effect it can have.

Daylight with flash

Hot water with flash

Aryn

Review and Swatch: China Glaze Turned up Turquoise (neon)

China Glaze's turned up turquoise (neon)

China Glaze turned up turquoise (neon) ($8.00 for 0.5 fl oz.) is a neon green (not even close to the pictures and swatchs), its much much darker then the photos and much brighter as its a neon. It is extremly hard to photograph as are most neons, I havent even seen one swatch that shows the color to be acurate. If you have this polish close to you and can see it in person, it is very close to the bottle color. This color dries matte, but with a hint of shine. It dries fast, and you can tell when it gets matte its dry.

This color isnt something I would wear by itself, it would have to have some kind of nail art along with it. But some may like this color enough to just wear it. Takes two coats to make it perfect, one coat was still just a little sheer for me.

It terms of wear on my nails (fake), with topcoat and basecoat it lasted about a week and a half. Being matte made it last that little extra time. The consistancy is thin enough to apply to your nails. I didnt experiance any bubbling with this and as I have said before I love China Glazes brushes, as they are just small enough. Makes my skin look fine, and I think it would look great on warm skin too.

• Product: 9/10
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 3/5
• Packaging: 5/5

Overall: A+

Stay beautiful,
Aryn

Contact: TotallyPolishedBeauty@yahoo.com

REVIEW and swatchs: China Glaze Exceptionally Gifted

China Glaze's Exceptionally Gifted (bottle view, less purple in rl life)

China Glaze Exceptionally Gifted Nail Polish ($8.00 CND for 0.5 fl oz (much less $ if at a wholesale place) is a barbie pink that first came out with the collection Exceptionally Gifted, which was meant for brides. Later it came out in the breat cancer collection, and the bottle has a red ribbon on it. Not sure if this is limited edition or not, if someone know please tell me so I can make aware of that. I personally can find this at the store where I go easily so that why I dont think it is hard to find. This color is very streaky, and you need about two coats to get it opaque. Dry time was fast.

I really love the color of this nail polish but the streakiness made me cring. You cant see it in ever light, but in some its horrible. You just want to take it off and put on something else. The first coat is very sheer, and a second coat I used to make it more opaque.

In terms of wear, this lasted about the same as all the other china glazes (about a week, with fake nails), including base coat and top coat. The consitancy of this polish is pretty thin, and I didnt experiance any bubbling. I love the small brushes on China Glaze nail polishes, and I gave this product the full points for packaging. I really like this color on my pale skin, not sure how well this would look on warm skin tones.

• Product: 8/10
• Value: 9/10
• Ease of Use: 3/5
• Packaging: 5/5

Overall: B+

All photos taking in daylight.

Stay Beautiful,
Aryn

Contact: TotallyPolishedBeauty@yahoo.com

REVIEW: Almay Smart Shade Foundation

Almay Smart shade Makeup in light

Almay Smart Shade Makeup ($20 CND for 1 fl oz.) is a breakthrough shade-sensing technology starts out white and adjusts to right. Finally a makeup that takes the guesswork out of finding your perfect shade - instantly adjusting to the color of your skin. Antioxidant blend of grape seed, ginseng, and Ginkgo biloba nurtures your skin. For a beautiful, natural finish every time. They also have a age one for older women.

It is a very light foundation that stays light and weightless on your face. It doesnt have very much coverage and I say your lucky to hide some of those post acne scars with it. Inless you have almost perfect skin, I would suggest that you find something else to use.

The wear isnt very much, I put it on about 8 in the morning and when I get home from school (about 4), its already sliding off my face (summer), or has faded (winter). I also use primer and powder to set it, just for the record. I found when I put it on, it clung to every dry spot it could find, even after lotion. So I would think exessive dryness on the face would be horrible to think about the results. Best leave this foundation to some of the oilyer skin types.

The consistency is a watery liquid foundation, not thick at all. I use my ecotools kabuki to apply this to try and get some coverage. It takes a few minutes for it to be fully dry on the skin, so you have some time to blend it. I find it takes time to blend it quite right, and its one of those foundations if its the slightest off color, and you dont blend it, you will see it in natural light. I found warm lights do like this, florencent and natual light make it look horrible.

It dries to a matte finish and looks very natural if done right. Its hard to get this though, they dont have much of a color range (light, light/medium, and medium), so darker skin tones might have some troubles with this. Almay didnt think very hard when creating this foundation as far as color range goes thats for sure. Even the light for me is to dark, I find in the winter I will look quite orange with this on and my neck doesnt ever match my face if I use this by itself. It also seemed to break me out even though it said it wouldnt clog pores and I dont have that sensitive skin that foundations normally do that.

The packaging is a ok design, where you squeese and some comes out. Now in theory this is good because your not sticking your fingers in right? Wrong, now all the foundation comes spilling out and you have absoultly no control. You end up using to much or wasting some every application.

Pretty pricey for a drugstore foundation, although pretty easy to find. You can buy at almost every drugstore. Sometimes there is deals on this, if you wish to try it I sugest buying it when there is a discount.

Overall I didnt really like this foundation, and barly reached for it. It does not photograph well as it has SPF 15 in it, making me look even more paler then I am. Who wants that? If you put to much on, it becomes cakey and orange which is not flattering for anybody. It clings to dry patches, and breaks me out. It doesnt give me good coverage and is gone before the end of the day. Wish it came with a pump for more control. As a higher end priced drugstore foundation I would expect a little more. Its more on the expensive side of the drugstore foundations and alot of people had high hopes.

• Product: 5/10
• Value: 1/5
• Ease of Use: 3/5
• Packaging: 3/5

Grade: C



The packaging



Not blended light color



Blended light color (looks a little orange in real life)

 I have alabaster or very very pale skin. The light shade was still to dark for me. :( I wanted to love this foundation but just couldnt, off to search for a different one.

Stay Beautiful,
Aryn

Contact info: TotallyPolishedBeauty@yahoo.com