Tag Archives: beauty spot

Nicole By Opi Diva Into The Pool nail polish review

Posted on July 15, 2011 | 8 comments

Believe it or not, I have been wearing nail polishes other than coral this summer. My next pick has instantly become one of my favourite polishes full stop, summer or otherwise – Nicole By OPI’s Diva Into The Pool.

Nothing’s as bad as a pun that doesn’t quite work right?! Even Diva In The Pool would make more sense. But don’t let that put you off. Anyone with a weakness for turquoises – see my responses to Zoya’s Charla and Essie’s Turquoise & Caicos to see which camp I’m in – will definitely want to dive headlong into this colour. It’s a shimmering tropical aqua, as cool and refreshing as dip in the water.

It’s a little green-leaning but has an immaculate crystal-clear finish, with a finely-milled glitter that’s similar to Zoya’s trademark foil effect. I was initially worried at the extremely sheer first coat, but you get a gorgeous wash of colour after just two coats, although you could go for three for extra opacity if you wish. The polish was a nice consistency, extremely easy to work with, and I have to say I prefer Nicole By OPI’s flatter brush to OPI proper’s fat one – I’d say it’s most similar to China Glaze’s brush, though Nicole’s seemed to fan out even more nicely.

As my first Nicole By Opi, I do have to rant about the bottle shape though. Whoever designed this is clearly not a person with a make-up stash! One bottle of polish taking up the space of two – madness! As anyone with nail polish bulging out of their drawers will tell you!

I just love how clear, clean and crystalline Diva Into The Pool looks – as beautiful as the tropical oceans you always see on holiday programmes and heavily-photoshopped brochures. It’s a glowing aqua that got me tons of compliments; you can see how exquisite that fine-shimmer finish is even in close-up.

Sparkling without being a show-off and in such a stunning shade of turquoise too… is it any wonder I was won over by Diva Into The Pool? And after these pictures, I fully expect you to be too!

Looks good with: summer, swimming pools, sunglasses
Drying time: 7 mins
Coats required: 2-3
Chips: 3 days

Nicole by OPI Diva Into The Pool nail polish, $75, selected Sasas

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OPI Suede Ink nail polish review

Posted on December 15, 2010 | 2 comments

So here’s the rub of falling in love with a nail polish (OPI’s Lincoln Park After Dark Suede for those who’ve forgotten) – you feel compelled to buy the whole damn collection!

As soon as I’d fallen for the rich velvety finish and gorgeous glitter effect of Lincoln Park After Dark Suede, I found myself in Cher2 snapping up the rest of the set quicker than the varnish dries in the first place!

If Lincoln Park After Dark was the awesome amethyst in Suede’s crown, than Ink is the sparkling sapphire. If as a child you wondered exactly what indigo was and why this strange colour that was neither blue nor purple somehow deserved a place in the rainbow over pink, Ink is your answer. The exact in-between of those two colours (in a way that doesn’t quite come across in photos, where it looks much more blue), it’s practically the living definition of the shade.

A cloudy steel blue mixed with a deep royal purple, it’s another sophisticated yet stunning addition to the Suede collection. The muted metallic matte effect combined with the shot of shimmer makes it glitter with a grown-up glamour. Although I didn’t fall as instantly in love with it as I did with Lincoln Park, the interesting indigo shade subtly sucked me in over a few days of wear.

The same pros (quick-drying, great consistency, easy application) and the same cons (chips quicker than a Primark teacup) are still evident and, in common with many blues and indeed many glitters, it took a bit more elbow grease to remove.

As a more unusual colour, Ink may be a little difficult to match with other colours but you get your just rewards when it hits direct light. This mysterious murky indigo suddenly transforms into a sparkling night sky studded with silver stars and the results are dazzling. Twinkle, twinkle, indeed!

Looks great with: muted shades, tweed, glamour
Drying time: <1 mins
Coats required: 1
Chips: 1 day

OPI Suede Ink, Fall 2009 Suede Collection, $70, Cher2

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Make-Up Miracles: Nail Tek Foundation II base coat review

Posted on November 25, 2010 | Leave a comment

Let’s get one thing straight – I am a total non-believer in nail polish upsells. Stuff to make it dry quicker, last longer, chip less, improve the finish – not interested. Why? Because I (naively) believe that given I’m buying supposed premium quality polish, the manufacturers should be trying to make the original product do all those things in the first place! However, there’s one concession I will make – base coat.

Just as I believe it’s vital to begin your make-up routine with a good base, such is the case for nails. Why? Well, you wouldn’t start building a house on unsound foundations, right? I’ve explained most of the benefits of a face primer here and many of the same qualities apply for your base coat. Firstly, since you’re slathering your face/nails in chemicals, having a protective layer in-between seems wise. Admittedly, your protective layer is also made of chemicals, but hopefully chemicals designed with your health more in mind than just a rabid desire to look good.

Secondly, a good base provides a better surface for your cosmetics to sit on. This ensures better coverage, a more even finish and a greater longevity for your make-up. Think of your base as the greaseproof paper between baking tin and cake – yes, the cake will cook fine without it, but with minimum effort, the greaseproof paper not only soaks up the bad stuff, but leaves you with less washing-up and an even better cake at the end. Result!

So, dodgy baking analogies aside, what’s the best nail polish base coat? It has to be Nail Tek Foundation II.

Once again, the lovely people at Cher2 came up trumps, with one girl whisperingly recommending that it was better than any of the bases made by more famous nail varnish brands. Nail Tek Foundation II comes packed to the hilt with conditioners, strengtheners, micro-fibers and natural fillers, meaning it not only fills ridges and smoothes uneven surfaces but also repairs damage and strengthens the nail in the long-run. The final result – somehow, my nails are miraculously in better condition after weeks of ever-changing lacquer than they were before!

It also gives a lovely smooth base for your nail polish to glide onto and makes it a hell of a lot easier to remove, with even the strongest pigments and most steadfast glitters bidding farewell with barely a strain in sight.

Frankly, it would make my life a whole lot easier if every nail varnish company could employ the same formula as Nail Tek. The brush is so easy to use and so obviously just the right size and shape that you barely even notice you’re finished! A few quick and effortless swipes and you’re done – no mess, no fuss, perfect coverage. The end result is a translucent matte milky colour that dries in seconds and strangely, isn’t smooth to the touch but is the obvious secret weapon behind getting super-smooth nails.

Have I sung its praises enough yet?! If you use nail polish, or even if you just want healthier nails, Nail Tek Foundation II is a no-brainer. This secret weapon just had its cover blown!

Drying time: <1 min
Coats required: 1-2 (depending on the health of your nails)
Chips: doesn’t!

Nail Tek Foundation II ridge-filling nail strengthener, $80, Cher2

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OPI Suede Lincoln Park After Dark nail polish review

Posted on November 9, 2010 | Leave a comment

I’ve found ‘it’. The elusive colour you put on and know is you all over. Hello OPI Suede in Lincoln Park After Dark.

Given that I hunt down nail varnish colours from music videos and rogue snapshots from years gone by, you know I’m a picky one. But Lincoln Park In The Dark Suede was almost enough to turn me into a one-colour woman.

It’s from OPI’s range of nail lacquers with a matte finish that they’ve rebranded as ‘Suedes’ – which, let’s face it, is a much more appealing term than matte, which sounds like a dullard DIY word. Instead, suede conjures up images of rich velvety colours perfect for wintry walks in the park and the OPI range more than justifies such plush fantasies.

Lincoln Park After Dark in its normal maroon guise is the furthest you can get to black without being black. But in its Suede incarnation, it’s a luxurious muted plum, packed to the hilt with a dense silver glitter. And I know my hostile thoughts on glitter have been previously well-documented but this liberal scatter of silver turns the shade into an expensive metallic shimmer, stopping it becoming a flat energy-zapper, like many other mattes I’ve seen on the market. It’s also ridiculously versatile – like the village tart, it just goes with everything!

Unfortunately, OPI weren’t joking when they say in their literature that Suede ‘does not wear as long as original OPI lacquer’. Count yourself lucky if your talons last 24 hours. Given that I’m currently sans employment and my most strenuous activity is deciding which side of my bed to sleep on, this stuff really does chip without the slightest provocation! At least OPI’s fantastic self-levelling properties ensure you can tidy up the chips relatively unobtrusively, although it’s a near Sisyphean task keeping them pristine for any great period of time. OPI also sternly tell you not to use hand cream if you’re wearing Suede but since my hands are still ravaged by a year of dealing with snotty kids, adhesives and constant disinfecting, I couldn’t not use lotion and can’t say I noticed any ill effects.

There are still plenty of pros. This is by far the quickest drying OPI polish I’ve come across, one coat provides excellent coverage and for once, I found the brush easy to work with, ensuring a solidly smooth finish (although it’s worth noticing that it can feel a little gritty to the touch, if that bothers you). And the colour really is beautiful – a grown-up metallic amethyst that’s totally striking without being attention-hogging. It also looks fantastic under different lighting (I’ve shown it with flash here to try and capture how under artificial light, it really looks like you’ve dipped your fingers into some mauve mercury) and, as I’ve mentioned, with any colour, any pattern, any time, anywhere.

The highest recommendation I can give to Lincoln Park After Dark Suede is that as soon as I’d applied it, I rushed out to buy the rest of the range. Apologies to your bank balance in advance… but one try and you may well find yourself doing the same!

Looks great with: possibly easier to say what it doesn’t look great with. In which case, let me know once you’ve found something!
Drying time: <1 min
Coats required: 1-2
Chips: 1 day

OPI Suede Lincoln Park After Dark nail polish, Fall 2009 Suede Collection, $70, Cher2

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Bliss Triple Oxygen Energising Cream moisturiser review

Posted on April 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

As regular readers may know, the day where wonderful PRs sent me a bag full of Bliss bounty was one of the happiest in my life. Having been testing the Triple Oxygen Energising Cream for a good month now, I feel it’s time to make it my very first Beauty Spot and I’m afraid it’s bad news for my loyal Aldi moisturiser.

It’s basically a tub of loveliness. It’s beautifully lightweight (especially advantageous in this muggy HK humidity) and gets absorbs by the skin so easily, it barely needs rubbing in. It smells gorgeous and fresh, without being either overpowering, artificial or medicinal. It comes with some clever-sounding science stuff about how the pairing of oxygen and vitamin C helps cell respiration, collagen synthesis and skin hydration.

But all this is relatively unimportant compared to the bare bones – this stuff works. Rather like the Triple Oxygen Mask (soon to be a Make-Up Miracle – you heard it here first, folks!), it genuinely makes your skin look wonderful. As in lighter, brighter, softer and glowing. Dull skin is banished with all the effectiveness of a fairy godmother; I didn’t actually believe moisturisers could work such relatively instant wonders. Given the recent stresses of my job, this cream is about the only thing saving me from looking like the sleep-deprived energy-depleted dead-girl-walking that I feel (although the matchsticks propping up my eyelids are a bit of a giveaway).

Triple O Cream (not to be confused with the burger joint of the same name) is designed for use both morning and evening, which has pros (no need to buy two creams) and cons (uses up faster). But so far, it looks like one tub might last for at least 6 months, even with such regular use, hence justifying the HKD $420 price tag. It looks like a case of having realised the grass is indeed greener, I’m not sure I could return to the cheaper though perfectly functional astro-turf on the other side (that’s the Aldi moisturiser btw, for those that aren’t fans of an extended metaphor).

So it’s buh-bye sallow stressed complexion, hello radiant revived skin. Not bad work for a thirty-second routine rub of Triple O cream, eh?

P.S. Still waiting on other nice HK PR-types to start sending me free make-up to review; I’m twiddling my thumbs at rachelmread@gmail.com

Edit: Sadly, my prediction of the tub lasting 6 months was a little optimistic. With twice-daily use, I managed to eke it out for about 4 months; the shape of the pot is a little misleading as it’s only a cylinder in the middle filled with the moisturiser, not the outer edges too.

Bliss Triple Oxygen +C Energising Cream, $420, available from Bliss Spa in the W Hotel, Kowloon and counters in FACES (Tsim Sha Tsui) and Lane Crawford (Times Square, Causeway Bay and Pacific Place, Admiralty)

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Introducing… Beauty Spot

Posted on April 23, 2010 | Leave a comment

Regular readers may be aware of my Make-Up Miracles series; the Holy Grail of beauty products, these are my desert island essentials, the ones I couldn’t live without or would sell members of my family for in order to stop them being discontinued (insert appropriately needy cliché here). However, being a girl, the quest for new products never ends and my make-up bags are busting at the seams with plenty of cosmetics that, whilst I wouldn’t sell an unloved cousin to keep them in production, I do like using. And there are plenty more that are just crap. So in order to review these, welcome to a new series: Beauty Spot.

This is intended to be a clever pun on beauty spot (as in Marilyn Monroe, Cindy Crawford sexy facial mole) and spotting (as in seeing, finding) something beauty-related. Basically, I’ve been writing far too long and feel the need to try and do something off my trusty rhetorical techniques list with every other utterance.

Stay tuned…

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