Tag Archives: 17

Nails of the week – magnetic blue

Posted in Beauty by
17 Magnetic Nail polish in blue - Dani Dutra

Click to enlarge

I got over my disillusion with the Saturday’s magnetic nail varnish and decided to give the 17 Magnetized Nail polish a go. I  bought a few as gifts to friends in Brazil, and I intended to give them all away, but when I cast my eyes on the blue one, I found it so beautiful that I couldn’t let go.

Its colour is a pretty indigo blue and it differs from the other magnetic polishes because the dark colour that ripples has a little tinge of purple. This is very subtle and only visible sometimes. Still, I really liked it.

The brush is of satisfactory width and the polish has a good consistency, but can get a bit thick; you do need a generous second coat for the effect to look good.  Application was alright, not as good as the Nails Inc one, but not as bad as the Saturdays varnish – this really sums up this nail polish; something between the Nails Inc and the Fashionista one (although quite a way away from it, as the quality is much better!)

As per durability, it is quite good; it doesn’t chip easily, and this is a very important point for me.

Overall, I am quite happy with this; priced at £5.99 and coming with its own magnet, I believe it’s a good deal. And it is available in blue, purple, green and gunmetal. Pretty!

Check all the “Nails of the week” posts and find out the star rating for this and other polishes.

Product review – 17 BB cream

Posted in Beauty, Make Up by

After hearing wonders about BB creams, I decided I needed to get hold of one. Who doesn’t want to sport skin as they promise? I mean, who wouldn’t kill  “to reveal the magic of flawless skin with this all-in-one foundation plus skincare wonder product”?

This cream claims to give full coverage which conceals imperfections and helps control oil;  even skins tone for a flawless finish and protect your skin with SPF 25 and hydrating formula. Great, eh? So I bought the 17 Blemish Balm, for a reasonable £5.99, on offer (normal price £6.99) from Boots.  I originally wanted the Garnier one, but the branch I visited didn’t stock it, so I decided to give this one a go.

It is worth pointing out that I have sensitive combination skin, with a sometimes oily t-zone and the eventual drier patches. I suffered from severe acne in the past and although it’s all  gone, I have breakouts from time to time. I don’t have an uneven skin tone, but have some mild acne scars on my cheeks, slightly enlarged pores (not too bad) and occasionally, some redness from irritation.

Bearing that in mind, this is my opinion and experience with the product:

The first thing I noticed was the colours limitation: two to be precise –  light and medium. Now, what do darker skins do? Not sure. I went for medium, as I have olive skin. The colour is not a good match for me, as it is medium for pink based skin tones. As I have yellow tones in my skin, none of the colours are ideal.

Second, I thought about posting a picture and decided against; there was no difference, it feels like a thin tinted moisturiser, it hid some minor blemishes, but didn’t offer good coverage. Needless to say, I am mortified to be photographed without make up, *twice* would be an insult.

Having said that, some reviews mentioned it could be ok to use as a primer, but  I don’t think it particularly fixes make up – I tried and it didn’t do it for me.

However, the absolute killer was the way the product made my skin feel very greasy, clogged, as if it couldn’t breathe. Minutes after applying, I felt I should wash my face. I had some break outs, and I am not, in any way, blaming the product for them, but now I haven’t used the product for a week or so, they have cleared – just saying.

I must mention, as explained above, that I don’t have flawless skin (if I had, I probably wouldn’t feel so tempted to buy the product in the first place), but my current foundation, which has a medium/sheer coverage, mixed with a little moisturiser offers much better coverage – without the greasy feeling.

Concluding, I can’t really see any of its magic, I didn’t like it, I wouldn’t buy it again or recommend and this is not really for me.

I do hope others had a better experience with this! Have you tried this or another BB brand? What did you think?

Nails of the week – magnetic red

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Magnetic metallic red nailsI fell in love with magnetic polishes after trying the Nails Inc. version, and as it is so pretty and an easy way to achieve a different effect on your nails, I decided to try other brands, and see how they fare.

This week, I am wearing the Saturdays Magnetism Nail Lacquer by Fashionista: Rochelle, stocked by Superdrug.  This is the only brand I could find that offers a red hue, and I could not wait to try it.

It was quite hard to find, I visited three or four branches with no success. I decided to buy online, and was very happy to find out  Superdrug offers free delivery!

My relationship with the polish started badly, when I found out it doesn’t come with a magnet. Surely, if it is a magnetic polish, it needs a magnet, but for this one, you are expected to fork out an extra £3 on top of the £6 retail price to achieve the effect. Not impressed. If they had many different patterns, I would maybe consider buying one, but the only magnet on the site is the “wave pattern” – incidentally, the one all the other brands give with each bottle of their polish, so as I bought the Nails Inc. and the Boots 17 varnishes,  I just re-used one of the magnets on this polish.

Application wasn’t great. The polish is quite thick, so coverage is good. But you need a lot, I mean an *awful lot* of varnish on the second coat for the effect to work well.  I had to re-apply six of my ten nails, which never happened to me before, not even with white nail polish. If I didn’t lather it on, the waves were weak, either failing to appear, with gaps and irregular, just messy. I also noticed i had to move the magnet from side to side, so the effect would happen on the whole nail and not just the centre. Got there in the end, and I must confess I *love* the colour, and of course, the effect. It has average drying time, and it sets smooth and shiny.

And that is pretty much what I liked about his polish. It chips badly, and quickly. After two days, there were numerous chips on several nails. I had to remove and re-apply on FIVE nails, only three days after applying, as they were so bad I couldn’t bear looking at them. This never happened to me before, even with the cheapest of nail polishes.

Overall, I am quite disappointed, and I will not be buying any more Fashionista nail polishes in the future, Saturdays range or not. It seems that the celebrity endorsement is once again an excuse for a less than satisfactory product, and I am actually paying for the Saturday’s faces on the box. Nothing personal against them, but no thanks.

I am still to try to Boots 17 Magnetized Nail Polish, but a friend of mine who bought the green one told me it lasts well. Fingers crossed!

Nails of the week – magnetic

Nails in purple

In sunlight

*Lots* of excitement with this week’s nail polish. After battling with my common sense about paying £13 for a bottle of varnish, I made a trip to Nails Inc. and bought myself the Magnetic Effect Nail Polish in Houses of Parliament – a lovely purple with some grey undertones.

Had never used Nails Inc. before and I am very impressed and quite happy to have paid the steep £13 for the bottle. I also like that they name all their polishes after London streets or landmarks. Cute.

Although magnetic nail polishes are nothing new in the market, this seems to be causing a buzz at the moment. Nails Inc. have the magnetic polish in three colours (purple, gunmetal and gold), and the attendant recommended the purple or gunmetal, as the effect is more striking. Call me impressionable, but I instantly fell in love with it when I saw the attendant trying it on for me to see – nothing quite like seeing the pattern “magically” appear, in 10 seconds,transforming an ordinary colour into and exciting design.

Indoors

Application was easy; the polish is of a good consistency, the brush offers even application, and it dries quickly and thinly. I had the impression it would look quite thick or uneven, but it dries smooth and glossy. The bottle has two caps – one with the magnet on top and the second one with the brush. After a base coat, I applied a coat on all ten fingers, and the colour was a greyish purple. Then, for the second coat, you do finger by finger applying the polish and holding the magnet above the nail for 10-15 seconds, and voilá! I did touch the magnet on two nails, even though they have a clever little “stand” to aid you, so had to remove and re-apply, but you stop doing it once you get used to it.

The final result is exquisite; the wave-like pattern reacts to light very well, the shadowing shifting slightly when you move, it has great depth – it reminds me of an almost kaleidoscopic action. The purple that shows through is much nicer than what you see before , and the darker parts of the pattern are very close to black.

I am in love with this. I also found out that a more affordable version is available at Boots, on their 17 cosmetics range, and the price is £4.99 (usually £5.99) and it comes in four colours.

The effect is really unbelievable for the effort it takes (close to none) and it really looks like the nails have been done professionally. I think this is the beginning of a long attraction to magnetic nail varnishes!

I also succumbed to another super exciting shade when at the Nails Inc. shop, but, as usual, you will have to wait and see!