Nail Polish Review: Nicka K Sapphire Blue

Another nail polish from one of my favored cheap polish brands. It was only a buck at my local beauty supply store, and seemed gorgeous in the bottle. I was hopping that it would be something like the famous Essie Starry Starry Night nail polish.

3 coats later:

Thumbnail is scratched because it didn't dry even after 3 hours. 

Under bright light, it is more of a light blue. Shimmer could not be captured by the camera here.

Clearly it looked nothing like the bottle, because the blue wasn't a dark navy blue, even after 3 coats. However, the polish is still a gorgeous blue, and is very shimmery like the picture of the thumbnail, because of the dense blue microshimmers throughout. The main drawback is the extremely long dry time. Even after 3 hours, I could still scratch it or dent it by accident. Maybe I should have used a quick dry top coat. 

Overall, an amazing blue shimmer polish that is a great pop of color in this winter/spring weather. But use it only if you are patient enough to let it dry for 6 hours!

UPDATE: This chipped within 3 days! Definitely use a good anti-chip top coat for this one. 

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me. 

Sinful Colors Glass Pink and Nail Junkie Review

I've been really in to glittery nail polishes lately, and I found this nice glittery teal (Sinful Colors Nail Junkie) and a pale shimmery pink (Sinful Colors Glass Pink) at a Rite Aid for only $1.99 each.

Sinful Colors Nail Junkie

Under direct light, it looks blue, but in regular light it is a teal color, much like  Wet and Wild's Bijou Blue. 

 Although the end result was nice and sparkly, the formula was very difficult to work with, because it was gooey and sheer. I had to use several brush strokes to spread out a single clump of polish. This led to some unevenness on my thumbnail.

See how it clings to the side of the bottle? Gooey!

Two coats provided opacity, but under the light, it did not look like the color in the bottle. Furthermore, it began chipping a day after application, probably because it is gritty and I did not put on a top coat.

Edit: Apparently the gooeyness was because it was a bad bottle! The other bottles were more fluid.
Also the nail polish peeled off! It was like peeling off dried liquid glue. Not recommended! Perhaps a top coat would help?

Sinful Colors Glass Pink

This is a very clean color, very translucent. The formula was fluid and easy to put on, but 3 coats still caused VNL, which I don't mind at all. It has tiny micro glitter, making the nail polish extremely shimmery in the light.
Unfortunately, its shimmer is difficult to capture on camera.

Very translucent! 

Attempt to capture the shimmer in the polish. Notice especially the index and middle fingernails. 

With 3 coats and no base or top coat, this polish lasted about 4 days before chipping! So it has great staying power, unlike Nail Junkie.

Overall, I would recommend Nail Junkie only for single occasion wear, because it peels off so easily, and Glass Pink for daily wear if you want to just have a touch of shimmer on your nails.

This review represents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos taken by me.

Palty Jewelry Ash Hair Dye Review

Sorry I've been away for so long! I went on vacation and bought lots of beauty products, which I will review as I use them!

I have virgin brown-black Asian hair and decided to dye it a few days ago with this Japanese hair dye. It was in a cute pink box and had clear pictorial instructions, but of course, being able to understand a bit of the Japanese helped.

Virgin black hair! 

I squirted the tube of paste into the bottle of fluid and shook it. Then I applied using their given applicator. It was a very simple process. I waited 35 minutes, washed it out, and applied their leave-in hair conditioner, which left my hair very smooth.

After: why  is it brown?!

This would have been rated 10/10 for not damaging my hair and being easy to use if it weren't for the BROWN hair it gave me! It was supposed to have purple undertones, but all I saw was brown, and it wasn't even done evenly.

As you can see here, there is a patch of black at my roots.

After only a few days, the color has already gotten darker, but that may be because I'm not using shampoo for color treated hair.

Overall rating:
Ease of use: 10/10
Damage to hair: a tad drier
Availability: Most pharmacy stores in Flushing and Chinatown
Cost: Inexpensive considering it's from Japan.
Color compared to model's: 0/10 Nowhere near the colors on the box

Maybe it was just my hair, but when my friend used Macaron Beige, her hair turned out brown instead of blonde as on the box. So I'm not sure I would use Palty again.

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by the company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Sidenote: My Etsy store has been on hiatus, but I promise to bring new products soon! Please visit http://www.etsy.com/shop/Everlastinghail  Thank you!

Nicka K Pastel Blue Nail Polish

I've been trying to find a good pastel blue nail polish and saw this for a dollar. I've used Nicka K's glitter top coat before, which gave gorgeous results, so I decided, "Why not?"

Unlike the glitter top coat, this blue came out quite streaky. Only my pinky finger, which required one brush stroke to cover, came out nicely. The polish took a very long time to dry! Hours after application, I still managed to dig into the polish, causing that unsightly chunk in the photo and several scratches. By the next day, parts of the polish was already peeling off. Maybe this was a bad bottle?

The color on nail was definitely brighter than in the bottle.

Under dull yellow light. You can see the chunk on my middle finger.

Under bright white light. 

Overall, not recommended!


This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Facial Moisturizers: Bioglo & Clinique

With combination dry skin, so finding a good moisturizer has been difficult, especially because many leave me with dry patches.

I have been using Clinique Moisture Surge for a while, and have recently tried Bioglo Aquavit Water Essence Cream.

Bioglo is obviously smaller, but about half the price of the Clinique moisturizer.

Open containers sitting on their lids. 

They both a cool, gel-like texture that quickly absorbs into the skin, but are different colors. Clinique is pink and Bioglo is a blue-green. Both can be used as masks by simply slathering more on the face and then washing or wiping it off after five minutes.

For those who dislike fragrances, Bioglo is not recommended! It has a pleasant scent, that might be a little overwhelming at first, but it fades quickly.

As a test, I used each on separate occasions after washing my face with a facial cleanser after swimming. Since the chlorine had already dried out my face, I required a lot more moisturizer than usual.

Clinique Moisture Surge
Absorbed very quickly.
Used about a thumb-sized amount to get rid of all dry patches on my face.
T-zone became significantly oily after a few hours.
Caused itchiness on eyelids (inflicted with slight eczema)

Bioglo Aquavit
Cool to the touch, even after slathered on face; absorbed slightly less rapidly.
Used a little less than a thumb-sized amount
T-zone a tad oily after a few hours.
Caused itchiness on eyelids (inflicted with slight eczema)

Overall winner: Bioglo Aquavit Water Essence Cream

Despite it being better in all the aspects I mainly tested for, I would not recommend Bioglo to those with extremely sensitive skin for its strong scent. Since the moisturizers' effects are so similar, I would rather stick with the pricier Clinique, because I prefer my facial products unscented and widely available. 

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Nail Polish Review - Bijou Blue & Secret Admirer

I bought both at Rite Aid for under $2 each!
Wet 'n Wild Shine Nail Polish Bijou Blue - $0.99
This is a very nice teal color with a bit of shine. It requires at least two coats for opacity, but as you can see in my picture, there are still spots. So to be safe, put on three coats. It matches the color in the bottle exactly and looks super pretty! My only complaint is that it's clumpy.

See the translucent spots on the ring fingernail. 

You can see how it clumped a little, making the polish uneven.

Sinful Colors - Secret Admirer : $1.99

This is a beautiful black with tiny, silver sparkles. It truly glints in the sunlight, and because of how compacted the sparkles are, it looks like silver-black from afar. It was very easy to apply, but once again necessitates two coats for opacity. 

In extreme sunlight it looks more like gunmetal.

Overall, I favor Sinful Colors over Wet 'n Wild for ease of application, opacity, and smell. Plus it's cheap!

This review presents my honest opinion and was not endorsed by either company. All products were bought with my own money and all photos were taken by me.

Asmama Order Review

My order from Asmama, a Korean accessory store (asmama.com) , arrived a few days ago. It's entirely in Korean, and doesn't ship to the US, so I had to use Google translate and ask a friend with connections in Korean to order for me.

I ordered DBSK Hero's Crystal Cross earrings, DBSK Xiah's crown earrings, Cubic Star Earrings, and Crystal headbands.

Shipping options were EMS (extremely high prices!), air mail (1-2 weeks, 25,0000 won), ship mail (3-6 weeks, 15,000 won)
Insurance: 2,000 won
Tracking: 8,000 won

I used ship mail with insurance, and, disappointingly, it took 6 weeks.

DBSK Hero's Crystal Cross Earrings  
http://www.asmama.com/shop/goods/goods_view.php?&goodsno=2735&category=004004
8,000 won ~ $9

These are much bigger and heavier than I expected them to be! But they are very sparkly in the light and I was surprised that they came with 925 Sterling Silver hooks. Excellent for $9 earrings.

DBSK Xiah's Crown Earrings (w/ one-touch hook)
http://asmama.com/shop/goods/goods_view.php?&goodsno=3271&category=
9,000 won ~ $10

On the other hand, these were way smaller than I expected! And when the one-touch "hook" is opened, one side wiggles a lot, making it a bit difficult to clip into place. True to their description, these are platinum plated, because they have not caused an allergic reaction. They are very cute, especially how the black crystal shifts around as I walk. These would be perfect if not for the wobbly one-touch "hook."

Cubic Star Earrings
http://www.asmama.com/shop/goods/goods_view.php?&goodsno=4130&category=001001

3,500 won ~ $5

These crystal star earrings are plain and simple. Very sparkly.


Crystal Headbands in Black, Gray, Blue
http://www.asmama.com/shop/goods/goods_view.php?&goodsno=7971&category=001006
11,000 won ~ $11.5 each

These totally caught my eye on the site. All the bands are ribbon wrapped, comfortable to wear, and the beads are tightly wrapped around the headband. It's a pity I didn't get a gray one too, like my friend did, because the grey and black are really pretty. Blue, on the other hand, is AB, so it looks like plastic. Like all the other items, they are very sparkly! 

In total: 

Items: $55. 67

Shipping + Insurance: $17.65

Bank Transfer fee: $8.33

Although I really enjoy my items, shipping seems way too expensive for a few accessories. If I do order again, I would do it in a group to divide the bank transfer fee and shipping fee.