Review ~ Sally Hansen Treatment Polishes

To make up for my slack posting this week I thought I would put up an extra post that I had prepared over the last two weeks. I hope you all like it, as I thought I would try my hand at a review….. It is rather long. Sorry!

I thought I would do the review on the Sally Hansen polishes I’ve been trying out. Just in case anyone cares!!    O_o

I am not doing a review of coloured polishes, but of these three treatment polishes.

1} Sally Hansen Miracle Cure ~ For severe problem nails. Packaging claims polish will cure peeling nails with 50% stronger nails in 3 Days.

2} Sally Hansen Nailgrowth Miracle ~ Salon strength. Packing claims polish will cure soft nails, brittle nails, and help nails to grow 30% longer {tip length} in 5 days.

3} Sally Hansen Insta~Dri ~ Anti~chip top coat. Packing claims the polish will dry your colour polish in 30 seconds.


~*~ Polish 1 ~ Miracle Cure ~*~

Instructions:

Shake gently. Apply one thin coat to clean, dry, bare nails every other day. If wearing nail colour use as a base coat, then apply colour.

 

Product Details:

Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}




Review:

I used this polish as an undercoat and I left it on for around five days. Firstly, the polish went on really smoothly and dried quickly. It made a great base for my nail colour. I noticed that after a couple of days ~ whether it was strictly three I am not sure, my nails did feel stronger. I could not tell if the polish had ‘bonded’ the peeling layers on my thumb nails together {being covered with the pastel pink colour coat and all!} but when I took the polish off, I could only see a tiny bit of peeling on my right thumb and that was an improvement from before.

Conclusion:

I would not say that the polish cured my peeling problems in 3 days, but I did notice that my nails were stronger so it could be with extended use {more than once like I did!! ^^; }the polish could ‘cure’ your nail peeling problems. I for one am willing to give it another go.

And I will say that compared to other nail treatments for peeling I have tried at various times, this Sally Hansen one seems to be the most effective by far as in I can actually tell my nails are better and “see” the results!

Would I buy it?

Yes. I will keep using this, and if I run out, I will get more! I think that it is good value and saves you a trip to the salon to try and stop the dreaded continuous peeling effect.

Rating:

9/10 ~ it does not quite exactly manage to do what it says it does, but it did improve my nail health as far as I could tell without proper testing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These next polishes are featured in these pictures.
I used them as the base/top coats.



~*~ Polish 2 ~ Nailgrowth Miracle ~*~

Instructions:

Shake gently. Apply one coat to clean dry bare nails every other day. Wear as a base coat under your favourite Sally Hansen nail colour. Apply two coats of your favourite Sally Hansen nail colour and let dry. Apply one coat as a protective top coat. Use one thin coat as needed to refresh manicure. Remove with Sally Hansen Polish Remover.

Product Details:

Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}

Review:

I used this polish as an undercoat and I left it on for around two weeks. Firstly, the polish went on really smoothly and dried quickly. It made a great base for my nail colour ~ much the same as the Miracle Cure. My nail tip on my left ring finger measured 3mm when I first put the polish on and my thumb {which are my slowest growing nails as well as the only ones with peeling problems!} tip measure all of 2.5mm! Yes, I have really short nails which is why I decided to alternate the Miracle Cure with the Nailgrowth.

After two weeks of using the Nailgrowth as an undercoat on my nails I measured my thumb and ring finger again and both of them had only grown a little bit. The ring finger had grown 1mm from 3mm to 4mm and the thumb had only grown 1/2 a mm from 2.5 to 3mm

Conclusion:

This polish makes a great base coat with the added bonus of being a treatment at the same time. I would say, however, that the effectiveness of the treatment was lacking. I did not really see any growth. It took twice as long as the recommended treatment time {5 days} to get the 30% growth. So as a growth treatment, it is not as effective as it claims. It may not even help the nail to grow as I am pretty sure that is my nail’s normal growth rate!

Would I buy it?

It does make a good undercoat, so if you are looking for something that dries quickly and goes on smoothly I would buy it. But if you are looking for a polish to use as an undercoat and a treatment at the same time I think that there could be other polishes out there that may perform better than this one. That being said, I do not know which ones they are! I would try something else before I came back to this one I think.

Rating:

3/10 ~ disappointing with the growth results, but a good undercoat nonetheless.



~*~ Polish 3 ~ Insta~Dri ~*~

Instructions:

After applying your favourite Sally Hansen Nail Colour, wait two minutes, then apply one coat of Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. Manicure will be dry to the touch in 30 seconds.

Product Details:

Costs around $8.00 from Woolworths {Australian supermarket}


Review:

I used this polish as the top coat as instructed over a Rimmel 60 seconds midnight blue and a Sally Hansen pink {I am sorry I do not have more details as these polishes belong to my sisters and I did not think to get the names, numbers, etc.}. I did the base with the Nailgrowth, put on one coat of each colour and waited a few minutes for the colour to dry. The Insta~Dri went on easily and did not smear the polish beneath it; like some top coat polishes will! It was nice and thick.

I waited two minutes like the instructions said and surprisingly my nails were touch dry. They were only tap dry though, not bump dry! I found that if I accidentally nudged them too hard, the polish would wrinkle/smudge. I found I had to wait at least another fifteen minutes before I could really use my fingers again ~ I certainly would not doing anything like doing up a zip before that. The final product, once properly dry, is really glossy and shiny. Not quite as shiny as a wet nail polish shine, but very close. It ended up very smooth and very nice.

Conclusion:

I would say that this polish, much like the other ones, comes close to what it claims to do, but does fail slightly. I would not say that it is touch dry in 30 seconds, because sometimes I wack my nails really hard! But perhaps if you are gentler you would be able to get away with it.

I do know that the three coats of polish I had on did dry a lot quicker than what they normally do, and were less inclined to smudge. That being the case, I was still happy with the results of applying the Insta~Dri to my nails in terms of dry ability.

For the top coat, anti~chip protection, I would say that it works quite well. I must admit I am brutal to my nails ~ between horses, hot glue guns and super glue, paint and all sorts of nail polish chipping activities, I was quite pleased that this manicure lasted as long as it did. Five days showed a little wear in the polish around the tip of the nail, and two weeks showed quite a lot of chipping, but it was still better than what my nails look like after two weeks without a top coat.

Would I buy it?

Yes, it is best top coat I have found so far.

Rating:

9/10 ~ I wish my nails really did dry as quickly as they were supposed to, but other then that I am very happy with this product. Money well spent!


xox,

b.

P.S. ~ Sorry about the length of the post, I hope it was worth reading that much text! ><

Takochu Amigurimi

I posted about amigurumi ~ the awesome new craft I discovered last week, and this week while I have not been feeling so great, I have been working with a takochu amigurumi pattern that you can find here ~ ♥  Takochu Amigurumi ♥

I had actually found a whole bunch of amigurumi patterns, but I decided to start with this one because it looked like the easiest to understand as well as complete!  =o=

 

~ ♥  In the middle of decorating my second Takochu   ♥ ~

 

 

~ ♥  Left to Right:  Big Bother Takochu ~ he’s not finished yet!!  Just an empty shell…  -__-   ♥ ~

 

Lilly Sister Takochu ~ she may have been born second, but she’s the only girl in the family so she gets a lot of petting from the boys

 

Sailor Boy Takochu ~ born first, he is the eldest {but not the biggest} and he is the clever adventurer of the family

 

Baby Takochu ~ he is the third born, but has not got any eyes yet as I don’t have any small enough!!

 

    

 

~ ♥  Sailor Boy has an anchor behind and three bubbles on his head and Lilly Sister has a hand sewn flower and curly hair with a bow  ♥ ~

 

 

 

~ ♥  Baby can not see  ;_;  and Big Brother is missing his stuffing, legs and snout!  =_=  ♥ ~

 

I am planning one more Takochu to finish off the family ~ okay, so as I type this I have already started him.  >w<  Big Brother can now see as well as having all his pieces sewn on.   Baby is still stuck for eyes, but hopefully I can buy some soon for him.  I did try felt eyes, but they looked silly so I did not stitch them on.

 

Next amigurumi?   Um….  Maybe a bunny or a snail.  I really can not decide as they are all soooo cute.  ^3^

 

xox,

b.

Outfit Twelve ~ Princessly Living

Or “Venture into Frills”.  So this is the Hime Gyaru flavoured outfit I promised earlier.   On that note, I apologise for the lack of updates.  I have reoccurring abdomen pains that bother me from time to time.  Unfortunately this week the pain has been more than just a little problematic!   I also finally figured out that the pain is multiplied a hundred times if I overdose on wheat….

I have only just developed this level of serious wheat intolerance  over the last five months or so, and at this stage it is really difficult to decipher at which point I have had too much.  Some things also appear to upset me more than others….   Bread, escargot scrolls from Baker’s Delight {*sad face*  They are sooo yummy!  T_T }, any pizza that is not thin crust, pizza pockets and too much cake seem to be the real culprits so far. 

Unfortunately, I assume that this list is only going to grow longer as time goes on.  Hopefully, it will not reach the stage where my favourite treats {chocolate ice cream  and peanut M&Ms} are involved!!   >o<  Okay, enough about my tummy troubles, I am sure you do not really want to know.  >.>’  

Here’s the outfit~

Please note that this is not correct Hime Gyaru as I do not have the right makeup ~ false eyelashes and circle lenses, and I am pretty sure my skirt should be poufy~er.  If I had a crinoline, or a petticoat or two {like I am hoping to get one day} that problem would be rectified, but I do not think that I would ever really wear false eyelashes or circle lenses.   I am not really comfortable with wearing that much artificial prettiness ~ I do not think it is the right look for me.  I do think that they look good one other girls though ~ so kawaii.  But then again, maybe I would like to try them out ~ just once!  Just to see what they would look like.

Oh, and further notes on Hime Gyaru style ~ I do not think I have the right colour scheme or shoes.  Or the right hair!  I did try a modest bouffant do, but I think that it kind of sunk, because you can not really see it in the photographs.  Although that could be the angle too…  ><

Too many photos again?  Tell me what you would like to see, more detail or different backgrounds, or more wacky poses with photo spam.….  Should I smile more?

I actually stopped and did this in the middle of the shoot…  >o<’

 

 

And that’s all I got….   =^.^=

 

Accessories  ~  Pearl Hair Band {Equip}   Earrings  {Equip}   Necklace {made by b dot depictions}

Twin Crown Broach {Diva}   Cuff  {Diva}  Bracelet {embellished by b dot depictions} 

Ring {made by b dot depictions}  Shoe Clips {random $2.00 shops}

Top ~ Best&Less  {you must be so sick of it now!  ><}   Vest  ~ I do not remember which shop…

Skirt  ~  Tightrope     Tights  ~  Valley Girl    Shoes  ~  Thrifted

Underskirt for extra pouf  ~  SES

 

“That’s all there is ~ there isn’t any more…..”

xox,

b.

 

P.S. ~ Whoever correctly guesses where the quote above comes from can send me a photo and I will photo spam it for them as a present.   >w< ~ <3

P.S. II ~  Apologies.  There was more after all…. u_u

Sickness *

 

Yes,  that is pretty much how I feel today.   I was feeling icky last night, and it got so bad that I was dreaming about feeling sick and throwing up! 

@_@     Ewwww…

I do not have much else to write about, but I will give a hint to a new project that is exciting me very much ~ Amigurumi. 

Look it up here ~

What are amigurumi?

What are amigurumi?

Amigurumi

(pronounced ah-me-goo-roo-me) is a craft from Japan that makes an excellent hobby or passion; you should be forewarned that making amigurumi is very addicting. Luckily, it is a relatively inexpensive craft that does not take much time to complete. In recent years, amigurumi have become increasingly popular and trendy, due to the handmade revolution.  {…}

Amigurumi utilizes crocheting in-the-round, meaning stitches are worked in a circle/spiral (and not joined) to build shapes. The result of crocheting in the round is sculptural yarn pieces that can then be stuffed, joined and embellished to form dolls. Most amigurumi utilize only a few basic concepts of crochet, and most use only the single crochet stitch (sc): increasing, decreasing, and slip stitch, are also vital things to know how to do before starting to crochet.

Although there are many different styles (usually influenced by the individual preferences of the crafter), amigurumi are usually characterized by their large heads and small limbs in proportion to their bodies. These seemingly bizarre proportions often give amigurumi a kawaii (“cute” in Japanese) appearance, and are a distinctive feature that is common to Japanese illustrations and amigurumi designs. Although there are so many inspirations for amigurumi, the most common themes that appear are animals/creatures, people, and food…

~*~ ♥ ~*~ ♥ ~*~   Read More   ~*~ ♥ ~*~ ♥ ~*~

 

It is going to be so much fun to try my hand at these, as I already have some really cute ideas swirling around in my head.  Amigurumi ~ here I come!

xox,

b.

Scrummyland Giveaway!

I am featuring my first giveaway ~ it’s not my giveaway so if you want to enter please go to Super Cute Kawaii! and comment there.  Best of luck everyone!  >w<

~*~ ♥ ~*~ ♥ ~*~

Mes amis! I returnez from my travellings and bring for you ze contest most marvelleux! Truly, Le Bun is ze best at finding for you ze kawaii prizes, non? Zis week, I speak to mes amis at Chicki and they give to me ze wonderful jewellery et accessories from ze Scrummyland range. Zut alors, but they look good enough for ze eating. But non, they are for the wearing and tres jolie they are too.

Ze grande prize is above with les cute necklaces, badges, stickers, mirror and hair flower.

Plus, deux runners-up will each be winning une kawaii parfait necklace.

Please to read on for ze full instructions on how to entrez. I wish you bonne chance! Au revoir mes cheres!

* * *

There are two ways to enter:

1. Visit the Scrummyland ranges at Chicki and Shana Logic then come back here and leave a comment telling us about your favourite Scrummyland item.

2. Join the Super Cute Kawaii Facebook page and post your favourite Scrummyland product on the Scrummyland discussion thread.

You’ll also get an extra entry if you post about the contest on Facebook, your blog, or Twitter. Just leave the link/s here or on Facebook.

Contest is open internationally and closes at 12pm BST on Monday 9th August. Winners will be picked randomly. One entry per person per site. Good luck!

~*~ ♥ ~*~ ♥ ~*~

Do not forget this giveaway is on Super Cute Kawaii!  & I hope you enjoy it.   I never win so I thought that I would share it and maybe one of you will be luckier than me!  

xox,

b.

Crafting Craziness <3

It began with the reading of blogs.  Sewing blogs got me pinning over fabulous 40s frocks, marvellous millinery, and stupendous shoes.   Then I found the cute blogs devoted to kawaii and kanji and crafts….

My foray into the world of frill {read as Hime Gyaru and sweet Lolita with a dash of Gal style thrown in} has resulted in a sensory overload.  Apparently there IS a thing as too much inspiration!

For the last two weeks I have been sitting at my computer absorbing all these really cool ideas, such as How to store lashes in a cake, or  How to make cute rose hair clips, or Purses covered in bows and lace and pearls, or Stud Earrings or….   ><

So much cuteness, so many cool ideas!!!    *meltdown*

Slowly but surely, some ideas started to reach to the top of the bubbling cauldron of my mind so that they could hop out and into my hands.  They took their own sweet time but they were worth waiting for.   

Clockwise from top ~ Pearl necklace with the bow & heart locket added by me, Big black ribbon broach/hair bow crafted by me, silver bracelet with half~pearls set in by me, black double bow ribbon ring crafted by me.

 

The backs of the hair bow and ring.

I have also been inspired by this tutorial ~ Decoden Ear Bud Headphones ~ for decoing  my own not~so~crazy~but~still~cute{I think} ear bud headphones.

 

 

I ♥ them sooo much!  I think they turned out really well.  I now have diabolical plans for future projects which include doing up my iPod and speakers and my phone.  Although with my phone I am tempted to try a full on decoden just to see if I would like it all.  I mean, I love how it looks in photos, but I am just not sure that I could live with it all the time…..  ;_;

To be perfectly honest, decoden scares me a little bit ~ it’s just so….  so…..  so…..   over the top.   I love cute, pearls and sparkles….  But my philosophy has always been “Less is more”.    Which does beg the question, why am I so attracted to the uber sparkly crazy cute decoden style? 

But upon further reflection I wonder if I could do it, but do it with a b. flare…  That of course means the bows, pearls, and lace as normally found in decoden, but only in black, white and red.  Silver is also acceptable. 

So not totally decoden as I know it, but another creature altogether.  Much like my fashion style which seems to want to be hime gyaru flavoured one day {in black and white naturally} and 40s vintage the next.  {I will put up photos of the tribute outfit to hime gyaru soon.  I wore it tonight on a date with my gorgeous husband   -_^ ~ ♥  but so did not have the time to take any pictures.  I will repeat wear the outfit and get photos this time.}

It is kind of hard when my clothing style swings quite dramatically from chic and elegant to cute and frilly without much thought, but at least I have one thing about my style straight.  I like skirts and I like heels.  And I will always adore anything in black with bows, pearls and lace. 

Beyond that who knows where it is going to go!

xox,

b.

 

~*~  Tutorials/Inspiration found at  ~*~

♥  ~  http://violetlebeaux.com/tutorials/

♥ ~   http://lolita-charm.blogspot.com/

♥  ~  http://blog.tizzalicious.com/

♥   ~  http://hearty2.blogspot.com/

Outfit Eleven ~ Victorian Velvet

Okay, so there is not actually a scrap of velvet in this outfit…  I just liked the name!  >.<

I wore this outfit yesterday when I was on the scavenge for craft and sewing supplies and ended up with a stack of lace and jewellery making bits.  More on that later!   I felt it was very Goth/Victorian inspired, harking back to my Goth Lolita inspired days rather than the new found 40s gal I am slowly evolving into.

I will always have a passion for bows, lace and black ~ preferably altogether..…  ^_^  

                                  

     

Accessories  ~  Hair Bow {b dot depictions}   Earrings  {Equip}   

Necklace  {given to me by my Mom, pendant by me.}   

Bracelet   {given to me by my Mom ~ isn’t she lovely? And pearls added by me!}

Top  ~ Best&Less    Lace Vest  ~  JayJays   Pinstripe vest  ~  New Look {UK} 

Skirt  ~  thrifted     Boots  ~   Parklea Markets {Sydney}

Pretty tea cup ~ I am so obsessed with fine china and this one is just gorgeous.  I collect tea cups and teapots, but none of them are in a set.  They are separates that I have gathered together from thrift stores and random junk yards instead.  o____o   I figure that way I can use them everyday and if one breaks, buy another one!  

 

Disclaimer ~ this cup is not mine though, I just borrowed it for the shoot.  Then it did not turn up in any of the photos, so I added it in at the end!   It is a bit of camera~whoring I am afraid, but I needed a picture to show you all how great it was….  >w<

Then a well deserved break from all the crafty projects and photographs is an excuse for more camera~whoring.   Plus photo spam!  GIMP is great for photo shopping.

 

xox,

b.

P.S. ~ I do plan to do a more detailed post about the craft ideas that have been floating around and finally getting made.  You will see more detail of the things I made that I was wearing that day.   ^^

How to ~ Html Direct Linking Tutorial

This is a “how to” on adding html to your signature so that when you comment you can leave a direct link to your blog!  No more copying and pasting URLs, other readers can click and go.

There are probably tech~savvy bloggers out there that do not need this tip; it’s pretty basic html so you can find it anywhere.  But I have noticed in trawling through comments on blogs I read, a lot of the commenters have blogs, but do not do a direct link.  Not that it’s all that big of a deal, but it does look slightly more serious when you have a link ~ like you mean business!

So my husband showed me the html you need to do a direct link a while ago, and I thought I’d share it with you.

xox,
b. of <a href="http://depictthis.blogspot.com">Depict This!</a>

 

It works like this:  

1}   Open Notepad or any basic text writer.  You are going to write you signature in there and save it, so when you need it on the bottom of a comment you can just copy and paste. 

2}   Write your signature in Notepad.  Mine is:  “xox,  b.”  then put “of” or whatever else you would like.   Do not forget to format  the text, spacing, etc how you would like it to appear.

3}   Then put in  <a href=“                  ”>               </a>

Now in the example above you can see the text http://depictthis.blogspot.com.   This is the URL of the website you want to link to.  Substitute it with your website URL and put it between the quotation marks.  Like so:

<a href=“www.exampleblog.com”>               </a>

4}   We are almost there!  For the last step you put the name of your website in.  This is the text that will actually be linked, so it is the place people can click on and be directed to your website.

<a href=“www.exampleblog.com”>Example Blog</a>

Now your signature should look like the one in purple, except with a different URL and name.  You will now be able to copy and paste this into anywhere that accepts basic html. 

I hope that this was helpful and easy to understand.  If you have any questions, or want to know other html tricks, just let me know.  :3

xox,

b.

Outfit Ten ~ So Me

Okay, I am going to apologize in advance ~ this outfit post is huge.  The main reason for that being that I actually took photos of my jacket look and the dress underneath.  Because I felt that both looks deserved equal attention, we have a really looong post I am afraid….  >>’

I wanted to get a lot of the details of my jacket because this is without a doubt my most favourite winter coat, maybe my favourite winter wardrobe item full stop!  The reason for that is that it is just so me.   I brought this jacket in Camden {London}, because when I saw it I could not take my eyes off it.  It was beautiful, it was lacy and so perfectly me. 

And when I tried it on, it slipped on like it was made for me…..  *happy sigh*  It makes me smile just thinking about it.  Of course, they wanted a lot for it ~ it is a beautifully tailored jacket; I have never brought high end clothing, but this coat feels so high end to me.  I do not recognise the brand though, Vila Clothes, so I do not know where the jacket came from.  I was just so glad I could bargain the sellers down from 90 pounds to 70!! 

It is without a doubt a ‘perfect purchase’.  You know, the ones you look at it and know that you will wear until the day you or it dies, and if you walk way you WILL regret it forever.

So, without further ado ~ Outfit Ten.  So Me!

       

 

I love the lacy detail of this coat!!  But now for the rest of the outfit.  You have already seen this dress, but I thought I would do a remix.  So here it is styled with different items.  The problem is it is not really a different styling as I still used the underskirt/cardigan/broach turned into a two fingered ring trick.  So it’s a sort of remix.  ><

 

 

 

Accessories  ~  Beanie   {JayJays}     Collar  {b dot depictions}  

Ring & Broach made into ring {Italy}

Dress  ~  SES         Cardigan  ~   Can not remember… It’s old though.       Skirt  ~  SES      

Shoes  ~  Hong Kong {the Ladies Markets}

Yes, my crochet collar has made another appearance.  I have worn it a lot this week.  I really like the touch of  difference it adds to my outfits.  I have also found that the crochet stitches have stretched a little and so it sits much better around my neck now.  :3

And yes, I was cold taking these photos at 5:30pm without nylons or tights on!  The things we fashionistas subject our bodies too…..

xox,

b.