Nykaa Pastel Nail Enamels Hasta La Pista, Mint Meringue Review and Swatches

Nykaa Nail Enamels or their nail polish collection launched in November last year (I think). The only reason why the collection caught my eye is because of the abundance of pastel shades. It really reflects how the brand understands women & what they want. When Maybelline Colorshow range released I was happy that it has so many shades at an affordable price, but my heart always longs for pastel colors. Therefore I picked out polishes from the Pastel range of Nykaa Nail Enamels.

Review and Swatches : L'oreal Paris Color Riche Les Vernis Boudoir Rose (204) & Top Coats Collection Matte (915)

Ever since I got the Faces Candy Floss Matte Nail Polish, I’ve been in love with the idea of matte nail polishes. Candy Floss is a vibrant pink color & as much as I want to wear it all the time, its not always office appropriate. It was hard to find subtle colored matte nail polishes at an affordable price. I had heard of the Bourjois Matte Top Coat but it was pricey and I wasn’t sure it was good or just a gimmick so I was vary of spending as much on it. Then this year, L’Oreal launched the Color Riche Les Vernis Top Coats Collection which had a top coat called 915 Matte, and no one was more happier than me when it was launched! Luckily I was able to get it at a discount on Nykaa (there’s a sale here every month).

L'oreal Paris Color Riche Les Vernis Top Coats Collection Matte (915)

This top coat is in one word, superb, for a matte nail polish maniac like me. It transforms any nail polish to a beautiful matte finish. The texture is thick and it looks cloudy in the bottle. It is easy to apply when the polish is new, however with time the quantity of polish in the bottle reduces and it becomes slightly harder to apply coats quickly. 1-2 coats per nail are enough. It also acts like a proper top coat, my nail polish lasts longer and chips less frequently. I’m very delighted with this top coat! On the downside, it becomes a bit harder to take off your polish if you use the nail polish wipes.

Price: Rs. 299 (available on discount online)

Qty: 5ml

Availability: Nykaa | Amazon | Flipkart 

(7 shades)

 Matte top coat over Faces Frosty Ice Blue 

L'oreal Paris Color Riche Les Vernis Boudoir Rose 

Boudoir Rose is one of my favorite pink colors evaaaa. It is the most beautiful subdued darkened baby pink color which is suitable for our naturally tan Indian skintones. In simpler terms, it’s a nude pink color. It’s one of those must have pink shades, it goes with any colored outfit – gold, black, white, blue…I can go on & on. It requires two coats for opacity. On its own it looks lovely but I couldn’t resist adding the Matte top coat over it & I love the effect! On its own it lasts for 2-3 days on me without chipping, with the topcoat its good for 4-5 days.

Price: Rs. 250 (available on discount online)

Qty: 5ml

Availability: Nykaa | Flipkart | Jabong

(39 shades)

 Matte top coat over Bourdoir Rose

I love the look & sleek design of the L'oreal Paris Color Riche Nail Polishes but the packaging isn’t as sturdy as it looks. The cap always separates from the applicator and makes it difficult to hold & apply the color properly without streaks. That’s why I avoid buying from this range. Both polishes tend to try out if kept in one position for long periods so I make sure to change the way I store them (horizontal to vertical & vice versa) every 7-10 days.

Overall Verdict :

L'oreal Paris Color Riche Les Vernis Top Coats Collection Matte (915) : 4.5/5

L'oreal Paris Color Riche Vernis Boudoir Rose (204) : 4/5

I want to give them full marks but the price combined with the below average quality of packaging is holding me back! But I do recommend both the shades, I will definitely be repurchasing them. You should definitely check it out during sales, currently, they are on sale on some of the sites mentioned above.

Bold Red - Revlon Parfumerie Perfume Scented Nail Enamel in China Flower Review,NOTD

Revlon released a range of perfumed polishes or "Parfumerie Scented Nail Enamel" as they put it. I was miffed at the high prices, especially after the release of Maybelline Color Show range and Faces Hi-Shine & Matte Nail Polish Ranges, but I still couldn't resist checking them out. To be honest, the shade range in India isn't impressive. I like bright colors but I take great care to pick out those that go with my skin and a lot of the colors in the Parfumerie Scented Nail Enamel range were either not suitable for my skin tone or they were already there in my vanity. Then I happened to see a bright red. Believe it or not, I did not have a red in my vanity then, just because it isn't a color you can wear casually. But it was the only color that stood out to me & its scent was amazing (the SA let me try it out!) so I had to pick it up.

Price: Rs.350 / $5.6

Qty: 11.7ml

Availability: Amazon | Flipkart | Nykaa 

Shades: African Tea Rose, Autumn Spice, Balsam Spice, Beachy, Bordeaux, China Flower, Fresh Linen, Ginger Melon, Lime Basil, Moonlight Woods, Orange Blossom, Powder Puff, Sunlit Grass, Surf Spray, Wintermint.

Spring-Summer Colors: Faces Lemon Fizz n Frosty Ice Blue Hi Shine Nail Enamels Review [Update]

I have a weakness for pastel yellows in any form. The first polish I purchased that was a bright pastel yellow was Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow. As I mentioned in that review, it became thick very soon. It was time to buy a replacement & one day I came across “Lemon Fizz” from the Faces Hi Shine range of nail enamels. A couple of months after that, I was on the hunt for a minty baby blue polish and ended up buying “Frosty Ice Blue” from the same range.

Lemon Fizz: It’s a yellow color, not very bright & not actually pastel, but indoors it looks like a much softer, tame yellow.
Available on Nykaa

Frosty Ice Blue: Its an aqua meets baby/ice blue color. Love the shade so much. I thought its similar to Colorbar Exclusive No.15, but its not.

Available on Amazon , Nykaa

 

The thing about pastel nail polishes is that they can be too pale & may require 3-4 coats. However, both Lemon Fizz & Frosty Ice Blue are nicely pigmented and do not require more than 1-2 coats. Also, the Hi Shine enamel range has soooo many colors. Both these polishes last for a good 4 days before there’s slight chipping on the tips. They can survive an entire week on my hands (I don’t do any kitchen work). The brush is nice to use.

However, these thicken up soon, too soon. I purchased Frosty Ice Blue in the last week of November (last year) and when I wanted to reuse it this month (March) it was quite thick making it hard to apply. I purchased Lemon Fizz in August last year & its thick now! For the price, I expect the nail polishes to not thicken up for at least a year. Some Maybelline Color Show polishes also tend to thicken up soon, but they are so cheap, no complaints there.

[Update]
Solution: keep them lying sideways for a couple of hours (even whole night if you wish), shake it and they gain their normal consistency back! Hurray!

A word from Faces :

High on shine and bang on trend, these elegant shades are always there by your side. Our high-quality formulas contain a blend of non-harmful plasticizers which modify the nail enamel film to be flexible, thus resisting chipping and cracking. It also provides proper hardness, gloss and adhesion to the nail. TOLUENE & DBP, Camphor and Formaldéhyde free. Perfect glide and full colour on application. Safe for your nails

Price: Rs. 229

Qty: 9ml

Availability: Amazon, Nykaa , ShoppersStop

You can see from the pics that the finish is glossy, and I agree with the long lasting claims. I have never experienced any reaction when I've worn these colors & I'm glad that the Faces Hi Shine range is free of harmful chemicals. Its also easy to apply and does give full color.

[Update]

Overall Verdict: 5/5  
 I love the pigmented color & the lasting power, plus they are free from harmful chemicals. The only other nail polishes that are similar to these cost a lot (Inglot, OPI etc. ) so these are absolutely worth it! Recommended, they have some lovely shades!

Cheap & Chic : Nail Polish Remover Wipes from eBay

Have you ever tried nail polish remover wipes/pads? They are awesome! A must-have for any girl, really. Its literally one swipe & whoosh, your nails are clean of any nail polish. They also contain oil so you can condition your nails while cleaning them. Its such a refreshing feeling, compared to using Nail Polish removing liquids, because even though they are acetone free, my nails feel dry after using them. I first heard about these from my sister, she had gotten a box of just for Rs.50. But those were not available anywhere so I searched online & I found wipes from Bare Essentials but I was not willing to pay Rs.140 for them when I knew that the real cost is much cheaper. So ultimately, I found a good deal on eBay and decided to go ahead with it. I’m very happy with my purchase, these nail polish remover wipes are cheap and effective!  They are very thin wipes/pads that remove + condition the nails. They leave your nails oily, but its okay, it can be washed off. I won't really call the effect of the oil conditioning though. One wipe/pad is good enough for 5 nails. The only time I faced a problem was when I was trying to remove glitter polishes, I needed one wipe/pad per nail in this case.

Product Name: Liboni Nail Polish Remover Pad

Price : Rs.155 for 3 boxes, number of wipes/pads in each box is not mentioned. They are available in a variety of flavors but you can't select the flavors, they are randomly given.

Its Acetone & Toluene free

The one reason you really need nail polish remover wipes is because they are a great quick fix and a great alternative to carrying a bottle of polish remover and cotton balls.

I definitely recommend all of you to try them out, they make life so simple!

Update : they are also available on Shop Clues

Nail Polish Crush ! ~ Rimmel Lively Lilac

So its official, I have a crush on this nail color. Its called “Lively Lilac” and its from the Rimmel I <3 Lasting Finish Range. I just can’t stop wearing it. It’s a lilac that doesn’t look dull, and unlike most pastels, it doesn’t make hands look tanned. Very “lively” indeed. Its brighter than it looks in the some of the pictures. With Lively Lilac, one coat is nice, but not enough. My nails need two coats for complete opacity. It is definitely streaky but you can even out the streakiness by layering. The polish looked nice and fresh for 5 days after which I removed it. It did fade from the tips but that’s something I experience with every polish, even the ones that claim to stay for 10 days! I was happy too see that except for tip fading, there weren’t any major problems in the wear, it didn’t chip or turn yellow-y(that happens when your fingers mix with turmeric). I don’t do any work in the kitchen with my hands though, I just wash them a lot. Now here’s the sad part: Firstly, it makes my nails orange, and secondly, I’ve had this polish for just a month and its already thickened up so much. It might have thickened up because I’ve used it every week, but still, this is not something that I expected after owning the polish for just one month.

Price: Rs.145 / $2.40

Qty: 8ml / .27 oz

If you're lazy about nail art, try Sally Hansen Fuzzy Coat Nail Polish in Fuzz-Sea for a quick and easy mani !

I wanted to try the Fuzzy Range of Sally Hansen since I first saw it on a blog a year ago. I am no good at nail art. I tried it just once in THIS post, and I found it tough. Luckily this range came to India last year. Fuzzy Range basically gives a textured look to the nails. I think its pretty unique, which is why it didn’t hurt that much when I shelled out over 500 Rs for this bottle. All polishes in the Fuzzy Range contain matte bar glitter in two colors, held by a clear base.

Company Claims (taken from US website):

The ultimate outfit for your nails! Sally Hansen continues to lead the nail category with new 3D, unique textures inspired by fashion. Fuzzy Coat transforms nails with a 3D textured, woven fiber effect.

• Unique fiber texture
• Creates a 3D look
• Multidimensional shades
• Dries quickly
• Available in eight shades: Wool Lite, Fuzz Fantasy, Fuzz-Sea, Peach Fuzz, All Yarned Up, Wool Knot, Tight Knit, Tweedy

Fuzz-Sea has turquoise and yellow matte bar glitter. In the bottle, the blue strips look more green. The brush is nice and you get quite a bit of those turquoise & yellow strips on the nails. It can be applied in the normal way, if you want to layer it to get more glitter than dab it over the initial layer. Fuzz-Sea gives a nice pop of color to the nails, it can be worn as it is or over any other color (except blue and yellow obviously!). Since its named ‘Fuzz-Sea’, the strips should have been in shades of blue, that would have been soo pretty.

Fuzz Sea Over Lakme Color Crush 08

I first tried this over Lakme Color Crush 08, a pure white color. I LOVED the combo, I thought ‘it can’t get better than this!!!’ Then I tried it over Faces Candyfloss Matte, which is a bubblegum pink color and I was speechless! Ok, I’m being dramatic, what I meant to say is that the turquoise-pink-yellow combination is amazing and those three have actually been my colors this summer. Also, such textured effect nail polishes are great for people who aren’t at ease with nail art, everyone will certainly be in awe of your nails. I was asked so many times ‘How did you do it??’

Fuzz Sea Over Faces Candyfloss Matte

In India, The Fuzzy Range retails for Rs.540($5.29 in US) for 9.17ml. The quantity will last a lifetime, but its still on the pricier side. This is a one time release only, so if you really like it, grab it before it disappears.

We all need a little yellow sometimes! Sally Hansen Hard As Nails Xtreme Wear Nail Color in Mellow Yellow (360) Review and NOTD

Today I’ll be telling you about one of my all-time favourite nail colors, especially for summers, though I have worn it in winters as well. Ever since I saw a pastel yellow nail polish by Inglot, I was besotted! I knew I had to have that in my collection. But my vanity is a bit conscious; I wasn’t ready to spend Rs.600($10) on a nail polish, though in hindsight it seems more logical! I tried to find a budget friendly pastel yellow and after a lot of searching I found Sally Hansen Mellow Yellow (360) in their Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear range.

There are 45 colors in the Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear range.    

Mellow Yellow is a bright pastel yellow color! It is the prettiest, not-in-your-face kind of yellow I’ve come across. The best part is that its not overly expensive. I got it for Rs.250(~$4). If you love bright shades, you must try out a color like this, instantly cheers you up! I’m not a fan of the bright, proper yellow because it won’t suit my tanned arms, this relatively paler shade goes really well with my skin tone.

To Fulfill All Your Glitter Cravings - Maybelline Color Show Glitter Mania All that Glitters

Maybelline released the Color Show Glitter Mania range last week and you can read about the entire range here. I love glitter nail polishes and though summer isn’t the time when I sport them I couldn’t resist picking up a few of them. The colors are really nice and different from the other glitter nail polishes out there (at least in Mumbai) and all of them seemed to be packed with glitter! To top it off they come at a really economical price so there’s literally nothing to stop you from buying it, unless it’s not already available at your local Maybelline counter. One of the shades I purchased is ‘All that Glitters’ which is a lovely pale gold color.

Price: Rs.125
Available at Nykaa 

The Color Show Glitter Mania nail polishes have the same packaging as the plain Color Show range, except that the caps have ‘Glitter Mania’ written on one end. The wand fans out well didn’t give any problems during application. ‘All that Glitters’ is a lovely pale gold color. It is packed with gold and silver micro glitter and silver hexagonal (or circular?) glitter. All the glitter gives it a gritty texture and warrants the need of a top coat. Because it is so intensely packed with glitter, I’m confused as to whether the base color is primarily a pale shimmery gold or is just colorless with silver and gold glitter. Its not the same color as Bold Gold and will suit a wider variety of skin tones because of both silver and gold in it. Also, it doesn’t make my fingers look darker, which Bold Gold had a tendency of doing.

Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish in Coral Craze (211) - Review, Photos, NOTD, Price in India

Since summer is here its officially time to bring out your brights and put away your darks. Out go the midnight blues, plums and greys and in come the pinks, corals, pastels and neons. I’ve already blogged about my favourite bright pink nail polish for summer – TheFaces Matte Nail Enamel in Candyfloss(which I can’t get enough of BTW), but summers are kind of incomplete sans corals, right? I’ve had Maybelline Color Show nail polish in Coral Craze since January, when I did a Slassy.com haul, but I didn’t feel like wearing it till the sun started beating down upon us and announcing the arrival of summer. I swear, the heat this year is relentless, and there's nothing like bright and pretty makeup to change you mood instantly!

My Experience with Maybelline Color Show Nail Polish in Coral Craze:

Coral Craze is a creamy orangey-coral color which has a high shine that stayed till I removed it off on the third day. But it takes a lot of time to dry. There were a lot of cloth marks on my nails even 30min after putting the nail polish.

The finish is creamy and applies very smoothly. I wasn’t into the color at first, I felt it didn't suit my skin tone, but I’ve received lot of compliments while wearing it, so its begun to grow on me. I really like the shiny finish of Coral Craze because I don’t need to spend extra time to put on a topcoat.

I experienced tip fading on the third day, which is typical for a drugstore product. I love pairing this color against denims, especially light blue ones (like the one in the picture below), and if I ever buy a denim jacket, I’d wear Coral Craze on my nails to go with it.

Price: Rs.75

Qty: 6ml

Buy online from Nykaa. See my shopping experience with Nykaa HERE

Overall Verdict: 4/5

Like all Color Show nail polishes, Coral Craze is reasonably priced. It is a creamy coral color, applies nicely and has high shine. It stays for 3 days on my nails before fading at the tips. I think it’s a good color to try if you are on the hunt for a coral color (who isn’t?), its not exactly a unique color, but its price and quality make it stand out.  

Nails! ~Faces Matte Nail Enamel in Candyfloss Matte (155)- Review, photos

  Matte makeup is one of the trending looks for summer 2014. Well obviously no one wants to hang out on a summery day with a shiny face which can almost always be misconstrued as oiliness, its just plain unattractive! When your oily skinned like me, mastering the glowy look can get tricky during summers, so its best to give a miss to that trend and try out a much simpler one: the matte look. If your having trouble with the finer details, I suggest check this video by Michelle Phan where she goes matte, forehead to chin, along with a matte nail polish top coat too! That got me wondering, where in India can you find matte nail polishes within a budget? Not a lot of places! I have blogged MNY Color Show in Denim Dash, which is a matte nail polish and today I’m gonna blog about another – Faces Matte Nail Enamel in Candyfloss (155).

Price: Rs.229.

Qty: 9ml

What Faces-Canada says about it:

My take on Faces Candyfloss Matte nail Enamel:

Candyfloss Matte in actually a bright fuchsia color. The matte finish tones down the intensity of the color, making it more wearable. I think it’s an excellent color for summer. These colors make your fingers look darker, but the pop of color is absolutely worth it. I love pairing this with pale pastel blue(that’s the top in the picture). If you are wearing a single colored dress in say, white or black or pastel baby blue or maybe denims(another SS14 trend) this color will pull your look together!

Nails! ~ 3 Budget Friendly Glitter Nail Enamels for NYE !!!! ~

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Tis the season to wear glitter! December is everyone’s favourite month of the year isn’t it? Holidays, decorations, lights, pleasant weather… all things to enjoy. I like these vacations more than summer vacations because of the weather. At this time of the year, in Mumbai, its just starting to get cold, its quite lovely and I enjoy going out everyday. My skin is at its best, aka normal. In contrast, summers are hot and the sun is unforgiving. I sweat all the time within my house also. But summer has its benefits too, like bright colors!

 December has festivals and also signals the end of an year, which means parties and celebrations. What is your must-have accessory for celebrations? Mine is glitter. Glitter instantly adds more statement to your look, it is also absolutely fun to play around with.

There is probably no easier way to incorporate glitter in your look, than by adding it to your nails. Its simple and quickest to do(and its also a pain to remove, but there is an easy method).

I picked up 3 affordable glitter nail polishes that stood out for me this year. Of course there are more than just three released this year, but these ones are easily accessible and economical, compared to the rest. I’ve decided to do mini reviews and comparisons, just for you!

You can buy these online from Nykaa
See my shopping experience with Nykaa HERE

One notation to keep in mind: Ease of removal:- 1 indicates that the nail polish is easy to remove, like any other nail polish, 5 indicates its difficult to remove and requires the foil method.

You can zoom the photos upto 60 times to see the nail polish more clearly. (you will end up seeing my dry cuticles as well, but that’s what happens when you continuously swatch nail polishes >.<)

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

Starting with the cheapest of the lot:

1.Maybelline Color Show Nail Enamel in Velvet Wine:-

Cost: Rs.75

Color: this is not a color I’d normally pick, but I was shopping online so you can understand. Velvet Wine seems like that “rani pink” which is over used by a lot of people and a color that I personally hate for nails but its actually a deep fuchsia color with silver and fuchsia shimmer. Two coats makes the color even more deep, leaning towards raspberry pink. The color is between deep fuchsia and raspberry. It’s the perfect color to wear with indian traditional wear, it will complement Indian attires and colors beautifully. I have used two coats for the swatches.

 I liked that the vibrancy and shineyness of the nail polish stayed the same for the entire time I wore it, even after 5 days of wearing it, it looked freshly put! I experienced tip fading only on the third day, and I wore it without a top coat. But it made the whites of my nails yellow, and it has a strong nail lacquer odour.

Nails! ~ NOTW | Maybelline Color Show Nail Enamel in Constant Candy, Bold Gold and Colorama Nail Polish in Astral| Christmassy Nail Art Attempt ~

*UPDATE: mybeautyexpress is now crazybeautyland.blogspot.com

The Maybelline Color Show bug has bitten me too, I WANT them. The tragedy is that they are not available anywhere near to me, and I don’t mind ordering them online but none of the online shops have all the shades I want. So I’ve resigned to the fact that I’ll have to buy shades individually, and not all at once. I asked my sister to buy me Constant Candy from her store, but she needed me to buy something more so that she could pay by her credit card (needs a bill above Rs.100). Now, I have a list of things I need from MNY, other than Color Show(CS) nail polishes but somehow I forgot all of that and asked my sister what all CS shades were available at her store, the bug I tell you. None of the other shades that I wanted were available, still it didn’t occur to me that I needed a new mascara and also a compact, I just told my sister to take CS Bold Gold even though its not on my list of wanted CS nail polishes. 

(L-R) Constant Candy, Bold Gold, Astral

After taking the nail polishes I started right away with this nail art I wanted to try. You can see the video here, I take absolutely no credit for the technique, it is just something I liked and I wanted to try out. The youtube user simplenailartdesigns is really amazing, I recently discovered her while browsing for simple nail art(duh!).

From the video (for which I have previously mentioned the link) I performed only the parts I felt were absolutely easy & I could do quickly. I tried this nail art twice with different nail polishes. The first time I tried it was on 15^th, the day I had to leave home and return to college hostel, I was upset about having to go back so soon and I figured any form of makeup would cheer me up.

Buy online from  Nykaa
See my shopping experience with and Nykaa HERE

The first time, with- MNY CS Constant Candy & Bold Gold

(L-R) Constant Candy, Bold Gold

Each costs Rs.75.

Few things I realised while doing this nail art:

•   Constant Candy is the worst nail polish I have worked with.
•  Bold Gold is AMAZING.
•  I don’t have a top coat.
•  I still have to take bath.

Nails! ~ Another Perfect Fall Color, feat. Colorbar Exclusive Nail Enamel in Dusky Mauve

What do they say about first impressions? Something like, it’s the last impression. I think the “love at first sight” is derived from that quote itself. You see that person, butterflies start flying in your stomach, your heart beats faster, your knees go weak, you become all smiley, your brain starts to exit your body… all this, only by laying your eyes on him/her once. Why am I talking about first impressions and love at first sight? Well, because I had a certain experience that refutes both of the above theories. Here’s why:

I brought Colorbar Dusky Mauve nail polish in June thinking that it would be kind of a dark nude suitable for work wear, I was doing internship then. But its not a nude, after I put it on my nails, because I was expecting a nude, I went “mud-brown, ughh” and stashed it away. Since it was fall, I decided to give this color another try because this fall is all about dark shades. And guess what, I LOVE it!! I realised that is a beautiful taupe with slight hints of mauve which are seen in certain lights only.

I didn’t realise it the first time I wore it, but its so pretty. It’s another perfect fall color; I’ve been wearing Dusky Mauve on my nails all week with different attempts at nail art, which I haven’t put up here, but all in good time ladies!