Review: CND Vinylux Weekly Polish & Top Coat

Vinylux is a nail polish line by CND that claims to have a week long wear without the use of any UV lamps. According to the their website, "VINYLUX® Weekly Polish is a breakthrough polish that endures a week of fashion perfection...without a base coat! Exposure to natural light activates the patent-pending ProLight Technology™ to deliver week-long wear. While ordinary polishes break down over time, VINYLUX® Weekly Polish actually becomes more durable!"

 

This line has 99 shades and cost around $10-12 CAD each on different websites. This review is going to be on the weekly top coat and the nail polish in shade Masquerade #130.

 

 

CND Vinylux in Masquerade: It is a duo chrome shimmery burgundy shade with a very fitting name. It goes on sheer so it took me five coats to get a satisfying streak free look. The staying power of the polish is kind of questionable as it started chipping on the very first day of application.

So if you just want it just for this particular shade then I don't feel its worth the trouble because  Wet n Wild megalast nail polish in Under Your Spell and Calvin Klein splendid color in Opus are very close dupes.

 

CND Vinylux Weekly Top Coat: This product was a huge let down.  It has regular semi-thick consistency that most top coats have and dries up just fine. However, the issue is that instead of prolonging the wear of the polish, it makes it chip faster. I followed all the instructions and used it with the polish from the same line but it started chipping within hours of application.

 

 

The picture above was taken after about 20 hours of painting my nails. I usually paint my nails at night before going to bed, so this level of chipping within a few hours of being active is out of ordinary. Also, I did not do any scrubbing or dishes or anything rigorous that could have fastened the wear.

 

 

In the above picture, where the white arrow is pointed, you can see that the chipping is not restricted just to the tips but also at the base of the nail.

 

In addition to the chipping, the polish started to look dull and worn off after 3 days.

 

 

Since the top coat did not work with the vinylux polish so I decided to try it with other brands.

 

First polish that I tried was Loreal Paris nail polish in Color of Hope, and sadly there was quite a bit of chipping. All the pictures below were taken within 24 hours of application but at different times of the day.  

 

 

 

 

  Second polish that I tried was Maybelline Express Finish nail color in Berry Fancy, and unfortunately I got the same result.

 

 

 

A few other brands that I tried with this topcoat but did not take pictures of were: China Glaze, OPI, Rimmel and Julep. Unfortunately, none of them worked. So, I guess I will just stick to my tried and true Revlon Colorstay topcoat. So, for me personally, Vinylux line was a fail , and from all the reviews that I have seen, it either works great or just fails miserably, and I guess I fall into the latter category.

 

If you have any tips to make it work, please let me know because it is an expensive polish and I don't want it go waste.

 

Thank you so much for taking time to read this post. Hope you have a great day!

 

 

 

Products I Regret Buying: Eyeshadows

This post is all about the eyeshadows that I regret buying. But before I begin, I would like to clarify that even though these products did not work for me, I am not trashing them in any way. If you have any tips or tricks to make these work, please leave them in the comments below. Also, since its already clear that I don't like these products, so I am gonna keep it short and sweet :)

 

So, lets get started...

 

Yves Rocher Quad Eyeshadow in 06 Brun Incandescent: This sumptuous color quad comes in beautiful rose gold packaging with a nice mirror and an instructions card. However, it lacks pigmentation and especially the two mid-toned shades barely show up on my skin. Retails for $20 CAD but is always on sale for $10.                                     

 

 

 

 

Rimmel London Eyeshadow Quad in 002 Smoky Brun: I bought it because everyone on youtube raved about it. However, the two lighter shades of the quad are almost invisible on my lids so I don't use it.

 

 

Shade placement in the quad is as follows: left, right, bottom, top

 

Yves Rocher Duo Eyeshadow in 23 Mauve et Kaki: The olive green shade is really nice and smooth, however, the cool toned purple that makes 2/3 of the palette is chalky and doesn't apply evenly. Also, the silver glitter kind of dilutes the purple and makes it appear more silvery.

 

 

 

Jesse's Girl Mineralized Baked Powder Eyeshadow in Graphite Frost: Looks beautiful in the pan but doesn't show up on the skin at all.  

 

 

Laura Mercier Eye Color Duo in Violet: This is a discontinued product which can still be found on some online websites. The dark plum shade has no pigmentation whatsoever. The swatch below has been done with several swipes back and forth. So, I would not recommend buying it even if it is insanely discounted.

 

 

 

Pacifica Natural beauty Duo 2: The packaging is kinda flimsy and the clear plastic lid separates from the base sometimes, which resulted in the damage that you can see in the picture below. But the main issue is the quality of the shadows. The purple lacks pigmentation while the gold looks uneven when applied.

 

 

 

Maybelline Color Tattoo in Painted Purple: I have several other colors from this line and they all work well, however, this particular one lacks the color intensity and looks patchy on application.

 

 

 

So, these are the few eyeshadows that did not work for me. I will share the face products I regret buying in an upcoming post. Also, you can click on the "regrets" in the labels below to check out my past makeup, hair and skincare regrets.

 

Have you used any of these products? Did they work for you? Do you have any tips?

 

Thank you for taking time to read this post. Have a great day!

Products I Regret Buying: Makeup

I buy a lot more makeup products than skin care or hair care, therefore, I have a lot more regrets in this category than the other two. I have dry, sensitive and acne prone skin so I tend to go for makeup products that are geared towards that but still some just do not work out the way I expect them to. Therefore, the products that I regret may be holy grail for you guys so please do not get offended with my opinion. Also, I have tried each and every product multiple times before forming an opinion. 

L'Oreal Voluminous Power Collagen Waterproof Mascara in Blackest Black: I bought this mascara because I absolutely adore the Voluminous Million Lashes which comes in a similar tube but golden color. The problem with this mascara is that the brush is very oddly shaped and no matter how hard I try I always end up putting some on my eyelid. Also, it claims to have collagen for added volume, which I believe just adds up to the clumps resulting in spidery sparse lashes.

Almay One Coat Noursing Mascara Tripple Effect in Black: I was actually intending on buying Almay Get Up n Grow because of Emilynoel83's (my absolute favorite youtuber) recommendation but somehow I ended up getting this one. Firstly, I am not a huge fan of the wand as it doesn't coat the lashes uniformly. Secondly, the formula is super dry and it has been like that from the moment I took it out of the original packaging. It is so dry that hardly any product is transferred on to the lashes. I am not sure if I got a dud or the formula is meant to be like that. 

Milani HD Advanced Concealer in Medium: There was a lot of rave about this product when it was first launched because of its light texture and peachy undertones, and I love both of those aspects. However, the problem is that the formula is quite drying and I already have super dry under eye area so it settles into fine lines and accentuate them. Also, powder is a must for this concealer as it creases very easily, but that dries out the delicate under eye skin even more so I hardly use it. 

Covergirl & Olay Simply Ageless Eye Concealer in Light Medium: This concealer is meant for dry and aged skin so it has a swirl of eye cream along with the concealing product. Since I have super dry under eye area, I thought this would be the perfect product for me, but unfortunately it is not. It settles into every single crevice and line making the under eye area look awful . Also, no matter how I try to set it, it starts creasing within 15 minutes and the added setting powder just makes it look worse. So it is just collecting dust in my drawer. 

Skin Food Salmon Darkcircle Concealer in No.2 Salmon Beige: Until recently there weren't a lot of salmony or peachy toned under eye concealers in the drugstore, so, there was a great deal of buzz about this product. It comes in only two shades: No.1 & No.2.  The second shade is closer to my skin tone but still ends up looking ashy sometimes. Also, it just brightens the under eye area instead of covering the dark circles. And technically that is what salmon undertones are meant for and are supposed to be topped off with another concealer. But, firstly, this product is marketed as a concealer and not a brightener, which is somewhat deceiving. Secondly, the formula is drying and creases really badly so if another concealer is used on top, the under eye area looks very dehydrated with loads of makeup piled on. Therefore, I dread putting it under my eyes. 

Origins All and Nothing Powder: This powder comes in one universal shade, and that is what attracted me towards it. It is a sheer powder which goes on like nothing and  retails for $34.50 on origins website. I normally use translucent powder for setting my makeup so I thought this would be great for me. However, it turned out to be a complete waste of money because it doesn't even control oil for full 3 hours, given that I have dry skin. Also, I noticed that it oxidizes after a while, and I am sure that its this product that is causing the problem because this was the only new addition to my regular routine and everything went back to normal as soon as I stopped using it. 

Yves Rocher Soft Eye Makeup Remover with Chamomile: I really adore Yves Rocher products but this one just didn't work out for me. On the packaging it says "Gently removes eye makeup, soothing, refreshing & non-oily" and I do not agree with any of these. Firstly, it does not take off the makeup completely in a one or two swipes so you will have to rub it a couple of times which doesn't make it gentle. Secondly, it says soothing and it should be because of chamomile but it burns. Thirdly, it feels oily and makes the vision hazy due to the formation of film so it isn't non-oily and definitely not refreshing.

ELF Professional Eye Makeup Remover Pads: If you have read my past blog posts, then you know how much I love ELF. But this particular product just didn't work for me. The pads are extremely thin and not very saturated so it takes a lot of effort and rubbing to take the makeup off. Also, the pads dried off pretty quickly, but at the end of the day it costs just a $1 for 18 pads so you can't expect much. 

Have you tried any of these products? If yes, how did they work for you? If no, then do you have any recommendations?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for the second part. have a great day. 

Product I Regret Buying: Skin Care

This post is about skin care products I regret buying and even though these products didn't work out for my particular skin type, they may work amazingly for you. As for some background, I had combination skin for a most of my life but now I have dry, sensitive and acne prone skin. I always had some acne but recently I got an acne rash all over my face due to an allergic reaction which resulted in peeling and flaky skin. 

Lioele Night Spot Treatment: I have tried Mario Badescu Drying Lotion in the past and that one didn't do anything for my breakouts and I knew this product has the same basic idea but still thought of giving it a shot. I used it religiously every night for about 2-3 weeks and instead of drying out the acne, it dried off the surrounding skin resulting in huge dry patches and uneven skin tone. 

Clinique Acne Solutions Spot Treatment Gel: This product is meant to reduce redness and dry out the acne, but it actually makes them look bigger by pulling out the puss onto the surface resulting in huge white heads that are very nasty looking and  impossible to cover with makeup. Also, I absolutely dreaded putting this product on my face because it stings very badly. Even though the stinging goes away in a few minutes, but it is a nightmare if you have several acne all over the face. So, in short, it hurts and makes the acne look humongous and nasty.

                       
                       

Christopher's Beauty Facial Cream: As I said earlier, I have extremely sensitive and dry skin so I need super moisturizing night creams to make my skin look presentable in the morning. However, the problem is, that I am allergic to Stearate which narrows down my options to minimal. But I found that this cream not only has very simple and nourishing ingredients, but doesn't contain anything that I am allergic to. The color is definitely appalling but the actual product is really moisturizing, however, the scent is so  strong that it is just impossible to put it anywhere near your nose. And mind you I am not super sensitive to scents but this one is a different story. Also, the scent lingers for hours and hours. I regret  buying it because I can't use it on my face, but since it is very moisturizing so  I will probably use it on elbows or other dry areas of my body for the sake of finishing it up. 

Desert Essence Tea Tree Oil Skin Ointment: Tea tree oil is considered very effective for acne so I picked up this ointment as a night cream. Firstly, the product is super hard and solidified, so in order to cover just your chin, you will have to rub your finger in the tub at least 10 times. Secondly, after you put it on your face, it just does not sink into the skin at all for hours. Thirdly, I know it has tea tree oil in it, but it made my face feel so oily and dirty that I literally had to wipe it off with a tissue. So I do not like it for my face, but will probably use this one too on my elbows.

C+M Green Tea Whitening & Firming Eye Cream: I bought this cream because I have dark under eye circles and green tea is known to help reduce them. When I started using it, I absolutely loved the texture because it went on very smoothly and provided sufficient hydration. However, after a couple of hours it made my eyes sting and water very badly. And I guess that was probably because its so smooth and thin that it traveled to my eyes. I tried putting it as far from the rim of the eyes as possible, but nothing worked so I had to stop using it. Since I didn't use it enough for the above stated reason so I am not sure if it actually helps with the dark circles or not.

Oxy Maximum Action Spot Treatment: I always used Salicylic Acid as an acne treatment, but it never gave satisfactory result so I thought of trying benzoyl peroxide this time. I picked up the highest concentration i.e. 10% and it did absolutely nothing for me. I tried it several times as a night treatment and didn't notice any difference in the redness or the size of the acne. 

The Body Shop Aloe Protective Serum: I don't have any major issues with this product, however, the problem is that it doesn't provide any long term benefit to the skin. Also, it has a lot of junk in it. Even though The Body Shop claims to be a natural brand, but if you check the list of ingredients, it is full of chemicals and parabens. 

The Body Shop Coconut Shimmer Body Lotion: This is shimmer body lotion and is good for only that purpose. It hardly  has any moisture so I use it only for a glowing shimmery skin during summer days. And for me, that is kind of a waste because  it doesn't have any real benefit and I get to use it only for a few weeks.

 

The Body Shop Wild Rose Hand Cream: I bought this hand cream because I heard a lot of good things about this line and I absolutely love roses. However, it was such a disappointment in terms of mositurization. No doubt, it smelled absolutely amazing but instead of hydrating my hands, it made them even more dry, which was very weird. Also, the dryness increased with the number of uses, so I returned it within three days of buying it.  

Have you tried any of these? If yes, how did they work for you? If no, do you have any recommendation of the ones that you use?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!

Products I Regret Buying: Hair Care

This is my first post of this kind and I hope I don't offend anyone since everyone has different liking and preferences. This post represents my personal experience with these products, if you love them, it is awesome but unfortunately they didn't work me. Just for reference, I have dark brown mid-length naturally curly fine hair, which can get frizzy at times. Sometimes they are really difficult to manage as they are frizzy but get weighed down really easily because they are fine. So, the products mentioned in this post didn't work for my hair type but they can definitely work for yours.

One n Only Argan Oil Smoothing Cream/ Styling Cream: This brand is available at Sally beauty supply and I received the sample sizes of smoothing cream and the styling cream when I bought their Argan oil, which works really well for me. However, recently I started noticing excessive hair fall but I wasn't able to put my finger on the culprit. My hair were literally falling out in huge chunks whenever I ran my fingers through. Few weeks ago, when I ran out of the smoothing cream I realized that the hair fall stopped completely suggesting that it was the cream behind the said condition of my hair. Even though I didn't buy it but I definitely regret using it.

Wella Professional Ocean Spritz: I have naturally curly/wavy hair so I usually do not use salt or any kind of texturizing sprays, and after using this one I am definitely not going to use any again. This spray literally made my hair feel very crunchy and dirty. It was just impossible to comb or even run my fingers through. Also, I tried it multiple times to see if I was doing something wrong. I tried it on wet hair, dry hair, freshly washed hair and also a day old hair but nothing worked. So I am definitely not going to use this spray or probably any salt spray again.

Garnier Fructis Style Curl Shaping Gel Spray: I have natural curls so I bought this spray to give them a more defined look, and since it is a gel spray so I expected it to be a little heavier but definitely not to the extent that it makes my hair look like third or fourth day dirty hair. Also, it made my hair feel hard and stiff, so I do regret buying it.

Schwarzkopf Got2b Dazzling Shine Hair Spray: I bought this hair spray to use as final touch up to add some extra shine. It has a very distinctive sweet smell, which is not bothersome to me as I am not very particular about smell of hair products unless it is super repelling. However, the problem is that even though it adds shine for the moment but that shine disappears within 10-15 minutes and your hair are back to where they were. So if you are like me, then under such scenario you will repeatedly keep spraying it and will end up with weighed down dirty looking hair, and that is why I really regret buying it.

Schwarzkopf Got2b Glossy Anti-frizz Shine Serum: I bought this serum because it claimed to get rid of the frizz along with providing shine and it does calm down the frizz and gives shine if you use enough product. However, it is very thick and heavy so it weighs down hair and the shine disappears after a while so I don't reach for it often. But the shine does stay longer with this product as compared to the shine spray.

Tresemme Fresh Start Dry Shampoo: I really love this brand in general but this dry shampoo really sucks. Dry shampoos are supposed to give you a day in between hair washes but this one takes away the possible in between hours too. Instead of making the hair look fresh, this dry shampoo makes them look a lot more oilier, weighed down and dirty. I tried using it a couple of times and got the same result without fail. Also, I tried rubbing it with my hands, with towel, with paper  but nothing at all worked.

Sunsilk Captivating Curls: I got this mousse in a set along with the shampoo and conditioner of the same line. It just didn't do anything for my hair. Even though I have naturally curly hair, I didn't see any more definition or texture than I usually have. So I regret buying it.

Have you tried any of these products? If yes, how did they work for you? If no, are you planning to try any?

Thank you for taking time to read this post, I hope you enjoyed it. Have a great day!