I wanted to start doing reviews on products i’ve tried, so here’s my first one! There are actually 3 product reviews I’m doing so hopefully this helps or informs anyone that happens to stop by and read what I have to say.
Up first…
Product: Beauty Secrets Hardener
Price: $2.99, $2.49 with Sally’s Club Card (I HIGHLY recommend getting a membership! Only $5 for the whole year and you save a LOT by buying with the club price)
Where to buy: Sally Beauty Supply
Description: “Beauty Secrets Nail Hardener an Thickener is a high gloss top coat that strengthens and thickens nails by cross coupling protein with your nail fibers.”
Thoughts: Instead of using this as a topcoat, I used it as a base coat. My nails have been VERY fragile, soft, and damaged due to having acrylic nails. I didn’t want to keep up with them and have been looking for a good nail base that won’t have my nail polish chip after a day or two (I’m an avid typer so my nails always chip super fast). The first nail polish base I was using was not working well (the review on it is after this) so I decided to give this a try after reading the reviews about it on the Sally Beauty Supply website. I used this under China Glaze’s Shower Together, which is a flat blue color, and I noticed that you could see little ridges and marks under the polish, probably from an uneven coat of the hardener. I assumed it wouldn’t matter since it’s clear, and liquidy, so as long as I covered the whole nail, I’d be ok. It wasn’t ok. I would suggest if you use this to make sure you evenly coat the whole nail, let it fully dry, and then put the polish over it. Besides that, I’ve noticed that my nails are actually harder, and my nail polish has not chipped at all, and I was only using it for a week. The little ridges and marks seen by me were starting to get annoying, so I changed my nail polish to China Glaze’s Raspberry Festival, which is a bright red with tiny red sparkles in it. I made sure to be careful to coat the hardener very evenly and let it dry, then put the polish on, and it looks way better than it did with the matte color.
Pros: Very affordable, can be used as a base OR topcoat, really does harden nails and stops peeling
Cons: Application needs to really be evenly coated, which is extra effort, but all worth it.
Overall: I would suggest it if you really want a good quality nail hardener for a good price. I’ll most likely buy it again in the future when I run out :)
Next:
Product: Seche Clear Crystal Clear Base Coat and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat
Price: Base: $6.99, $3.75 with SCC, Top: $7.99, $4.95 with SCC
Where to buy: Sally Beauty Supply
Description: “Seche Clear Base Coat provides stronger adhesion for longer lasting wear time.” & “Seche Dry Fast Top Coat provides a durable high gloss shine.”
Thoughts: I decided to do these two products together because as I was reviewing them, I used them at the same time. I believe that when products are of the same company, they should work better together. In this case, one works really well, and the other… not so much. I heard about the Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat from MissChievous in one of her nail polish hauls, and loved how shiny it made her nails look, almost like a gel topcoat. I decided to buy the Seche Clear base as well, believing that it would make my manicure last longer. I say that the topcoat does works REALLY well and does dry extremely fast! My nails would dry in less than 10 minutes, 15 tops. I love the high gloss and consistency of the formula. This is my new favorite topcoat, as I was using OPI’s topcoat before my sister took it haha. I just didn’t really like it as much as I like this one. As for the basecoat, it didn’t really make my nail polish last longer. I have only been using China Glaze lately (before, I was never really a nail polish fan but now I am thanks to watching plenty of YouTube videos ha), and when I used this coat, it would chip after 2 days. What a waste of a manicure… I hate it when my nail polish chips, and hate it that it happened sooner than I thought. When I switched to using the Beauty Secrets Hardener as my base, I noticed a HUGH difference and improvement. My nail polish didn’t chip at all and it had already been a week… I was itching to wear another color so I just redid it… but that shows that the Seche Clear doesn’t work as well as the Beauty Secrets base.
Pros: Basecoat: Not as strong of a smell as the topcoat. Topcoat: Dries fast, high gloss, long lasting.
Cons: Basecoat: Chips EXTREMELY easily. Does not last long at all! Topcoat: Nothing so far :]
Overall: I think that other people would also assume to buy the two as a pair, but I would stick to buying just the topcoat of this brand, and trying a different basecoat (like the Beauty Secrets one I reviewed above).
A few days ago my bestfriend, Chris, surprised me with my late birthday present… AND I LOVE IT SOOOOOOO MUCH!!! Thank you sis!! <3
Cute card<3
I can’t believe she remembered that I REALLY wanted this!! Pink & gold Hello Kitty face outline necklace
And she found another thing to go with it that’s just sooooooo me, hehe. Hawaiian Hello Kitty keycap. I love her tan and hibiscus flower LOL
Thank you again sooo much, if you’re reading this :)
Another thing I wanted to show… my most recent China Glaze Haul (I think from about 2 weeks ago?) JOANA this is all your fault! HAHA
From Left to Right: Make An Entrance, Avalanche, Shower Together
By the way, I absolutely HATE how Sally’s brought up the freaking price on their China Glaze nail polish! The regular price is $5.99, and $3.25 with the club card. Now with the club card its $4.49?!?!!? WHAT!! Ughhhhhh, why why why? The China Glaze Kicks collection is already out and I really wanted to purchase them through Sally since they’re having a buy 2 get 1 free sale… but Sally’s does lag on the collections, AND the price went up. Boo :( I guess I’ll just purchase them online…
Recent NCOTW (nail color [s] of the week:) From recent to least recent:
China Glaze Raspberry Festival (LE Summer Collection 2009)
(I should have China Glaze Shower Together here, but I forgot to take a picture!)
China Glaze Turned Up Turquoise (Neon)
China Glaze Orange Marmalade (LE Summer Collection 2009)
Annnnnnnnnd I finally received my business cards! I needed them to apply for a MAC Pro card, so hopefully I get that soon… i’m so behind on my collections but I do have a HUGE wishlist of what I want… yee!
Lastly, a picture of Selina and I at the Tarena Tahiti competition this past weekend. It was fun but SUCH A LONG one-day dance competition geez. I guess the pageant made it last longer than expected… and the fact that they couldn’t find the key to unlock the gym’s bleachers for like.. 3 hours ;p.
Us in our pageant outfits
& Us in our Ori costume... All natural sistas;)
Anywhoo… I have another busy weekend coming up filled with different things to celebrate… so I’ll update on that later… my stomach is super hungry and the BF is coming soon so… til next time my pretties!!
