Wednesday 24 July 2013

Hot hot hot hot hot

What else can I say?

After three years of living in cold, dreary London, or as I have been known to call it, Narnia (Cursed by the evil witch to suffer in an eternal Winter), I am in melting in a prolonged heat wave, and with the excessive humidity, I am not coping overly well.

I am enjoying the heat and the sunshine (not all the time, but I refuse to allow myself to complain about the weather - it just feels wrong), but it has posed some challenges for me on the beauty front. Well, more on the makeup front, really, because I can't bring myself to wear any. It's just too damn hot!

On the skincare front, I have all but given up on Boots Botanics. I liked it, but I think my skin started to react to it. The products would burn a little and my face would be red alot. I still have the cleanser and moisturisers, and still use them in-between everything else, but I now use a L'oreal cleanser, toner and micellar water as well. They are very calm and soothing to the skin. I have been using a sample of Clarins Hydraquench and it too is very gentle.

Due to the heat, I occasionally wipe my face with some toner just to take some of the sweat of in the middle of the day (tempted to put some in the fridge, to be honest) and I have been using as little cream as possible so I don't feel grimy, but have made an effort to use SPF when I go out, mostly.

I don't really know if what I am doing is right. What I do know is that since I started my routine, my face has looked and felt much better, especially since I adopted the face cloth (flannel) method. My skin is soft and smooth and the wrinkles less evident.

What used to happen to me in my teens is that I would start some kind of routine, and then stop after a short while. My skin would then instantly go very dry, so I figured it could not be good and stopped until now. Today, if I miss a day (naughty me) my skin is still fine.

Back on point. I am now loving cold showers for the first time, my hair feels like a blanket on my head  and my skin feels like a grimy oil slick every time I venture outside, so for the moment, makeup has become a no-no unless absolutely necessary.

I think I need new mascara.

P.S - Update: The nail polish I tested was not bad. The heat has made it very gloopy (I think it's the heat). There was some initial chipping but after that it lasted well. It goes everywhere when you try to remove it. I have since had a few biting episodes, so my nails are awful.

Monday 8 July 2013

Rimmel 60 Seconds Nail Polish - First Impressions


Today, I popped into Boots for my monthly beauty haul. One of the items purchased was the Rimmel 60 Seconds nail polish in Rapid Ruby 320. (£3.69)

The one-coat nail polish bottle is 8ml in size. According to packaging information, claims that the product dries in 60 seconds and makes your nails feels up to five times stronger, are based on the perceptions of 31 consumer panellists. The colour, which looks nothing like what is depicted on the Rimmel website, is reminiscent of Revlon's Vixen from back in the day when two coats are applied.

I am generally sceptical about claims that nail polish brands make. Things like "chip resistant" and "fast drying" mean nothing to me. I am not the greatest at makeup application in general and have limited coordination when it comes to painting my nails. I usually spend a disproportionate amount of time in this endeavour; trying to paint my nails and then trying not to use my hands so the varnish won't smudge. This is generally not a successful exercise, but I refuse to give up - I just like painted nails; what can I do.

When I got home, I proceeded to remove the shade I was wearing - 17 Lasting Fix in Midnight Sapphire - and apply the Rimmel polish. I was instantly impressed. The brush is wide and easy to use. The polish went on smoothly and easily, without much trouble - quite a big deal to me! More impressive still was before I knew it, my nails were dry. Not tacky, lulling you into a false sense of security dry; really 100%, smooth, you can use your hands and be safe dry. No bubbles, No smearing, no problems.



The nail polish is well pigmented and opaque so I only needed one coat. A second coat was added later, drying as quickly as the first and making the look darker.

Despite the impressive performance of the nail polish on first application, many polishes perform adequately on their first run, only to become gloopy and unmanageable far too quickly to be worthwhile. Or, they look nice for the first few hours, then start to chip or fade at the edges.

I wear my nail polish hard but usually take it off at the first sign of chipping or peeling. In the case of peeling, I try to resist, but struggle to stop myself from peeling it off - it feels so satisfying in the moment, but has destroyed my nails in the past (quite recently actually - had them nice and long, peeled polish off once or twice and had to cut them short because the nails themselves began flaking, splitting and doing other unspeakable things).

Essie nail polish has a tendency to start peeling off after a day or two on my nails, especially if I put two coats on. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but the nail polish peels off like a rubber skin.

For this test, I used neither base nor top coat. I will leave it on until I can't bare it anymore. We shall see how it lasts.