Showing posts with label ♪ KIKO. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ♪ KIKO. Show all posts

Thursday, January 20, 2011

My nail care routine + other products review {bare nails ahead!}


On my youtube channel they requested my nail care routine so here it is.
I'm also going to talk about some products that I wanted to review for a long time.
This is just my personal opinion and experience.

In addiction to these products I also use lemon juice to make my nails stronger and whiter and olive oil to moisturize them. If you haven't already, try these natural tricks they work well.

This are my bare nails at the moment.
I'm quite a lazy person so I don't do these steps everytime, more or less once a week.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★

The first step is to remove all of the old polish. I use a cheap nail polish remover with acetone. I know acetone isn't good for your nails but the ones without acetone are more expensive and it takes an hour to remove the polish from one nail (I don't have a lot of patience!).

★★★★★★★★★★★★★


To remove my cuticles I use Nfu-Oh Cuticle Remover. It's an amazing product that will totally change the look of your nails.
All you have to do is apply the product on your cuticles, let it penetrate a few minutes and then remove the excess with an orange wood stick, then push back the cuticles.
It has a brush like a normal polish so it's really easy to use.

The bottle is 17 ml / 0.6 fl. oz. and it costs $11.50, you can buy it on-line at fabuloustreet.com.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


My next step is to moisturize my nails and cuticles.
Like I said before I lack patience, so I want a product that penetrate quickly and doesn't leave a lot of residues.

My favourite choice is Kaloderma with vegetal butter, shea butter and avocado oil.
It penetrates quickly, it's non-greasy and it has a wonderful smell. It's also very cheap.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


I read a lot about Essence SOS nail care balm so I was curious and bought it.
I love the packaging and the smell of this butter.

I didn't use this long enough to see long-term results.
It contains shea butter, almond oil and panthenol and it's supposed to help dry cuticles and brittle nails.

When I tried it on my nails I was a bit disappointed because it takes a while to absorb and leave a bit of residues, It's not greasy tought.
I use this butter when I don't wear nail polish to nourish them and it's perfect for that.

The jar is 7g / 0.24 oz. for around €3 (I don't remeber the exact price).


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


Before wearing nail polish I always apply a base coat, even if the polish is a light color.

I use KIKO strong&shiny no.05 and I am satisfied with it.
It dries quickly and leave the nails very shiny.
The only downside is that it has a strong chemical smell unlike other KIKO polishes.

The bottle is 11ml / 0.37 fl. oz. and it's €4,50.

★★★★★★★★★★★★★


After polishing my nails, when they are perfectly dry, I apply AVON fresh aloe cuticle gel.

This gel is very fresh and has a nice subtle smell but it doesn't do much, that's my impression.
I don't think I'm going to buy it again.

The tube is 15ml and I think is around €5.50 (again, I don't remember the right price, sorry!).


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


Once in a while, for a shock therapy, I use Glysolid hand cream.

It contains a lot of glycerin and its prefect for dry skin and cuticles.
Since this is super-greasy, after apply it I wear cotton gloves.

I use it a lot on my elbows, knees and heels too.

A jar is 200ml, I don't know the price because my mom buy it but it's definitely cheap.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


This is a product that I use very rarely.

It's a cuticle scrub, in fact it contains small spheres that melt while you massage it on your nails.
I really like the smell but I don't see many difference between using it or not, also since I started using Nfu Oh Cuticle Remover this was totally abandoned.

The bottle is 12ml and the price should be a little below €6.


★★★★★★★★★★★★★


This was my first cuticle remover. I never used one before so I was a bit perplexed when I tried it because I wasn't sure if it was working or not.

There was absolutely no difference before or after using, it was like putting fresh water on my nails.

The bottle is 12ml, I bought it for €4 but it wasn't at full price.


Hope this post was helpful to you and if you have any question you can leave me a comment anytime!!

Saturday, December 4, 2010

Haul: Essence, Catrice, Sinful Colors and KIKO


Like I promised yesterday here are the pics of my latest haul.

KIKO Gold Christmas Limited Edition


No.306 - No.307

The Christmas limited edition polish this year didn't seem very exciting to my eyes.
KIKO released a mat nail laquer in black (first mat nail polish for KIKO) and three polish with a nail art brush in gold, silver and amethyst.


I bought the black mat polish and the gold nail art polish. I didn't bought all the three colors because I already bought an Essence nail art pen in silver and the amethyst didn't seem very opaque to me so I skipped it.

The black mat polish is very beautiful, it take a while to dry but after that it's very pretty. I highly recommend it.

The gold one is pretty too. It's quite opaque. It isn't super precise but it works fine for me.


This polish are € 4,90 each.

Sinful Colors


No.833 Show Me The Way - No.806 Vacation Time - No.940 Rise and Shine

I also found a stand of Sinful Colors. There wasn't a lot of color chioce but it was enough to make it hard to choose which one buy. There were a lot of pink and red ones.
Both the green and turquoise are quite sheer but I think they can be good for layering.

This polish are € 4,90 each.

Catrice


No.110 Poison Me, Poison You! - No.240 Sold Out For Ever - No.150 Big Spender Wanted!

I read a lot about Catrice polish and I'm super happy to be able to have them.
I bought Sold Out For Ever because I heard a lot about it being similar to Chanel Jade. Poison Me, Poison You! was chosen by my sister and I have to say it's really misterious with a lot of magenta shimmer. Big Spender Wanted! is an antique pink with a metallic finish.

This polish are € 2,79 each.

Essence


colour&go No. 38 Choose Me! - No.25 Glisten Up! - No.39 Lime Up! - No.34 Walk Of Fame
METALLICS No.02 Copper Rulez!
multi dimension No.64 Trendsetter
nail art twins Thelma + Louise

Choose Me is definitely my favourite! As you probably already know is a dupe of ZOYA Charla and the other just cheaper!
Copper Rulez! is part of the METALLICS limited edition and is magnetic!! I didn't found out until I came home. WOW!!
The twins are amazing! I bought them as a present for my sister and since she love purple I choose Thelma & Louise, but I also love the blue ones, Bonnie & Clyde!

Colors&go are €1,99 each.
METALLICS are € 2,29 each.
multi dimension are € 1,99 each.
nail art twins are €1,29 each.


nail art painter No.03 Silver Surfer
nail art express dry drops
SOS nail care balm
nail art glitter (flowers, stars)
studio nails fashion sticker No.13 Unexpected!

I still haven't tried this but I'm really curious so I will let you know!

nail art painter are € 1,99 each.
nail art express dry drops € 2,49.
SOS nail care balm € 2,49.
nail art glitter are € 2,29 each.
nal fashion stickers are € 2,49 each.

Thursday, June 3, 2010

Swatch: KIKO No. 164

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Multi-sized gold glitter in a sheer gold base.


It look awesome over dark colors but I really don't like it over white.

Swatch: KIKO No. 159

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I think this is another color that is discontinued and it's such a shame.
I really love this color, it'a perfect baby blue creme. In real life is a little less bright.
This polish is a bit thick and after two coats there were some bald spots, but I didn't notice them in real life.

Swatch: KIKO No. 173

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I think this color isn't available anymore but it's not a very unique color so I'm sure there something VERY similar.
Light pink shimmer, I use this often for my french manicure.
I also like it alone, it makes my nails look more pretty.

Swatch: KIKO No. 251

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This is a very bright pink with a very subtle blue shimmer.
I don't like this color, it's too bright for me.

Swatch: KIKO No. 299

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This color is very beautiful! I have nothing similar.
It's a dark blue/green with a turquoise shimmer.


Sunday, May 30, 2010

Swatch: KIKO No. 298

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This color is very pretty. It's actually very sheer but it's perfect for layering.
Below you can see it above some black, blue and white.



KIKO 298 above a black creme, a blue shimmer and a white creme.

Saturday, May 29, 2010

NOTD: Pink & Orange French {three versions}


Another recent NotD.
I wore this for my mother's birthday last week.
I never tought that orange and pink could match this well but when I tried this I really liked it.
I liked it so much that I made two versions of this mani and also a pedi.
I took inspiration from this nail art I saw in a mag (don't remember which, sorry!).

In the first two pic is the "basic" version. I used KIKO no.280 and Miss Sporty no.140 for the french and topped everything with KIKO no.228, a silver glitter.


Here is the "bling" version with some stars and hexagonal silver glitter.


Here the whole look. For the pedi I just alternated pink and orange.

What do you think? Want to see more matching mani and pedi?