REVIEW: Pony Effect Spray Paint Nail Lacquer

Nail polish used to be my thing, though I was never really good at using it, especially when it came to applying it with my left hand. I was also never good at keeping my nails unscratched, so they always looked ugly within a few days. Sometime last year, I started getting gel nails done, and I was so pleased at how pretty they were and how long-lasting they were compared to my own polish-painted nails! This eventually became my monthly hobby, and I would come up with different patterns and ideas for the lady to copy. Soft gel nails usually only last 2-3 weeks, but hard gel nails can usually last 4-6 weeks (of course by 6 weeks, the nails would've grown out too much and would look very ugly). Recently, I've been in hospital, and my nails had grown out so much that I had to get them cut by myself at the hospital. Eventually, two of them fell off by themselves, and that's when I noticed how soft and thin my nails had become - they were like paper! I knew I had to get all the gels removed, and take a break from gel nails.

This was when I came across these spray paint nail polishes! I originally only wanted to order the silver and blue, but then I realised they came in a set, and I could not purchase them separately. I ordered these from www.minikmall.com for HK$328 (US$41.60) for 5 cans, each can costs HK$65.60 (US$8.30). This set took around 2-3 weeks to arrive, because they said that spray cans could not be shipped by airmail, and needed to be shipped to HK via surface mail.

Pony Effect Spray Paint Lacquer Set (HK$328/US$42)

Colours:

#Secret Code (gold/yellow)

#PingPong Game (green)

#Chic Chico (blue)

#Go Play (purple)

#City Roller Coaster (silver)

The set also includes some stickers for you to decorate your nails with.

How To Use:

1. Apply base coat onto nails.

2. Give the bottle a good shake, and hold around 10-15cm away from your finger.

3. Spray onto your finger nail in a downward motion (towards fingertip). Repeat if necessary.

4. Apply top coat onto nails.

5. Wash away the nail lacquer on the skin with water.

To remove the lacquer from your nails, use your usual nail polish remover.

The Packaging:

They all come in a reflective gold cardboard box with a colour label on the top.

The cans look like this - not girly and pretty as such, and you can only see the colours from the front, but if I were to put these into a box, I would've hoped to see which colours I would be taking out on the lid, instead of having to guess the colour of each.

Here is a swatch of the five colours under natural lighting.

All the colours turned out pretty okay, except for the green. Even after a few sprays, the green still appeared to be thin, uneven, and cheap. The silver, blue, and the purple looked pretty good, though the gold was a bit too yellow for my liking. I actually quite liked the silver, as it's quite bold in colour, and it's unlike the colour of other silver nail polishes. I didn't add a top coating to these, as I wasn't planning to have multi-colour fingers. With the exception of the silver, all the other colours washed off pretty easily. I had to use my nails to scratch away the silver, as it wasn't as easy to wash off.

The next day, I decided to make my nails silver and blue. I added the base coat from Missha, the paint lacquer, and the top coat from Missha. The top coat actually makes the nails appear to be more glossy rather than matte. When I tried to wash off the excess paint on my skin, the blue on the nails washed off too (I didn't even rub it with my fingers). Most of the silver remained on my nails, but a little bit chipped off too.

The Verdict:

The idea behind these paint sprays are amazing, but only if the colours had stayed ON my nails instead of having being washed off so easily under water. I wonder what would happen if I washed my hands with soap and water! I also ended up having a blue sink, and I had to rub the blue off (I started off using nail polish remover, but it took too long and I had to literally scrub my sink, and then I started using my Young Living Thieves Household Cleaner, and it got the job done within a few seconds! These were fun to play with and easy to use (even with my left hand), but I would definitely not repurchase again! Will try again using a different brand of base coat and top coat, but I doubt it would make a difference!

If you want to find more about Young Living products, you can go here.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

OHSHEETMASK NOVEMBER BOX UNBOXING

I received a package yesterday from Oh Sheet Mask. An Instagram friend, Tahira, introduced me to the subscription service, because she instantly thought of me when she saw their Instagram Page. I hesitated at first whether to purchase the box or not, because the price is a bit hefty for 10 sheet masks - sheet masks are everywhere in Hong Kong, and they're selling for as cheap as US$0.13 per piece (and they're not bad either), so this box better be filled with some quality stuff!!

Oh Sheet Mask is a Masks Subscription Box, where they send you a handmade box filled with 10 sheet masks each month. They have a one-off service as well as a monthly service, and they are currently charging US$23 per box. They also have a Bag version, where they contain 5 sheet masks inside, and cost US$11. I only just realised yesterday after I received my package that Oh Sheet Mask is from Thailand (the return address is a Thailand address).

From their website (in italics):

Our 'Oh Sheet Gift Box' contains 10 gorgeous masks, enough to last you a whole month (and the perfect present), while our 'Bag of Sheet' contains 5 incredible masks, ideal for that occasional facial fix.

We're not gonna send you the usual well known generic brands that you can pick up cheaply in your home country or find in beauty sample boxes, just the newest, most innovative & high quality masks that are causing waves in Korea and beyond. From Bee Venom, Snail & Sheep Placenta to Cucumber, Collagen & Pearl, from Charm to Mingkou, your monthly goody box is bursting with blissfully comfortable, unique, facial heaven.

Every box and every bag is handmade by us, every sheet mask is personally chosen, tried, tested and loved by us, and every month we'll bring you beautiful skin, even if you do look a bit like a movie serial killer. (While the mask is on).

I actually did an unboxing video, but for some reason, YouTube wouldn't let me upload it - I tried uploading it 5 times, but failed, so here I am doing a blog post on it.

So I received a brown envelope package yesterday, and when I opened it up, I saw a beautiful looking handmade mint green box with lilac ribbons on it. Although it was bubble wrapped, there were still some dents in my box.

Inside the box:

There were 10 sheet masks inside the box, and I also received a free sample of a facial cleanser. There was also a product information card with the ingredients of the masks written on it. The only downside was that there were no pictures on the card, so it took a while for me to match each mask with its description.

1) Han Jia Hanbok Anti-Wrinkle Mushroom Mask

The packaging of this mask is cute, but what surprised me is the Simplified Chinese writing all over it. Everything on the back of the mask is in Chinese, including the description, instructions of use, and ingredients. What surprised me the most is to see that although the brand name is Korean, the mask is actually manufactured in CHINA!!!
First disappointment of the box.

2) YanChunTang - Skirts Gone Little Green Dress Firming Whitening Radiance Mask

Second disappointment of the box.
This mask is Made in China too, and it's not even owned by a Korean company!

3) East Skin - Blueberry Fruit Obsession Moisturising Mask

This mask says that it is "Formulated in Korea", but unfortunately, it is another Made in China mask. Continuous disappointment.

4) Ruth Years - Snail & Saffron Anti-Wrinkle Mask

I don't know what to say except that this is Made in China.

5) East Skin - Natural Lemon Nourishing Mask

This looks exactly like the masks from FoodHolic, and at first, I really thought they were from FoodHolic, but unfortunately I was wrong. On the back of the packaging, there's Thai written over it, and unfortunately, another Made in China product.

6) Charm - Gold Snail Essence Tender Moisturising Mask

Made in China again.

7) Wobechon - It's Real Jelly Honey Mask

This looks exactly like the masks from Innisfree, and even the series name is the same "It's Real", but if you see again, it's actually a different brand, and no surprise again, it's Made in China again!

8) Pibamy - Snail Extract Multi-Nutrient Mask

And again, it's Made in China.

9) Liceko - Hydrating Emergency Facial Paste Mask

Made in China.

10) Wobechon - No.1 Snail Power Mask

Made in China.

11) Cathy Doll Aura Whitening Serum & Foam Cleanser

This came free with the box, and surprisingly, this is the ONLY item inside the box which is MADE IN KOREA!!!


Should I say that this box was a complete disappointment to me?! I wasn't expecting to receive 10 x MADE IN CHINA MASKS with such a high price tag to it!!! This was such a huge rip-off!!! I guess they weren't expecting their customers to be able to read Chinese, but I'm glad I could read it!! For the price of US$23, I was expecting higher quality masks from Korea, Japan, and Taiwan...but not China!!

And I quote from their website once again:
We're not gonna send you the usual well known generic brands that you can pick up cheaply in your home country or find in beauty sample boxes, just the newest, most innovative & high quality masks that are causing waves in Korea and beyond.

Yes, their brands are not the usual well known generic brands that we can pick up in our home country...because their brands are from China, and they are just dupes of what's already available in Korea. I must point out that even the people in China come to Hong Kong to shop for overseas brands (including Korea and Japan), and refuse to use their local brands or anything manufactured in their own country, because they know that their country is producing many fakes, and too many fakes.

I love skincare products and sheet masks - I use masks made from various countries, but sorry, China is not one of them. I have tried facial products from China before, and they smelled fine at first, but after I left them for about a year, they smelled so bad (see how perfume can cover the smell of the actual product?), but I have used body products which are made in China and they're fine, but I probably wouldn't use any of them for my face. I mean, if eggs (yes, eggs that look like eggs and taste like eggs, but if you hard-boil it, the yolk becomes a bouncy ball) can be fake, using corpse oil (yes, the oil left from a dead body) in food is fine, infant formulae which makes babies' heads disproportionally big, using rat meat instead of chicken/pork/beef in skewers (and so many more examples), I really don't trust their skincare products!! Don't get me wrong, I'm not anti-China in any way, but I just wasn't expecting MADE IN CHINA masks in my Masks Box!

I guess I just spent US$23 buying a handmade box, because the masks inside aren't even worth US$2! I will not be purchasing from Oh Sheet Mask again.


In case you guys want to know if something is MADE IN CHINA or not, but you cannot read what's written, look for this logo. All items with this logo mean that it is Made in China, but not all Made in China items have this logo, but it will be a good indicator for you guys if you guys can't read Chinese:

If I were to create my own sheet masks subscription box, I would NOT put cheap (i.e. Made in China) masks inside. On a side note, we avoid putting Made in China foods in our ABCDEat Boxes, and even if we do (our Chinese New Year Box is bound to contain them), we do pick the better ones (preferably manufactured by a non-China company) with a higher quality control.

p.s. If anyone still wants to try this box, feel free to buy the entire box from me. Please leave me a comment below or email me for details.

That's enough of negativeness for one day! The more I linger on this topic, the more I feel I've been ripped off, so that's it for today!


Thanks for reading, and have a nice day!

REVIEW: INTERCOS SMOOTH SENSITIVE REMOVAL CREAM

The Intercos Smooth Sensitive Removal Cream was featured in Memebox Superbox #24 Waxing.

When summer comes around the corner, every girl needs a proper waxing for her under-arms, legs, arms, and bikini-lines. With Intercos' sensational hair removal cream, waxing can become so much quicker and easier. There's no need for a razor blade or a painful waxing procedure anymore. Simply apply the removal cream and after 5-10 minutes, rinse off in a shower.

How to use:

Apply the removal cream on areas you wish to wax, wait for 5-10 minutes, and then just jump into the shower and rinse off.

Personal View:

The Removal Cream smells like those of Veet, but it's even worse!

The Removal Cream comes in a container where you have to use a spatula to scoop out the cream. Memebox only gave us a wooden spatula (like those in ice-blocks but bigger), so I'm not sure how well you can clean it and reuse it for the next time.

I realised that I needed to use quite a lot in order to cover up all the areas I had hair on, so that's 1/3 of the container gone!

If I remember correctly, you only need to leave the Veet's foam on your body for 3-5 minutes before you can wash it off, but for the Intercos Removing Cream, you need to leave it on for 5-10 minutes before washing it off! Leaving it on for 10 minutes was really troublesome, because I didn't want my clothes to get dirty, so I ended up wearing a towel dress, and clipping up the bottom parts so that the towel wouldn't touch my legs (hubby laughed at me for doing this, because I was doing a hair treatment at the same time, and I looked super crazy with my hair up and dress up -.-). I was really happy to wash it off after 10 minutes, but I realised that it wasn't so easy to wash off with plain water - my legs still had that slippery unclean feeling after washing it with water, and that really bad smell was still there, so I was forced to take another shower with shower gel again! I also realised that the hair on my legs wouldn't wash off by itself, and actually required me to rub my legs with my hands (with some added pressure) to successfully get rid of the hair - super troublesome!

"With Intercos' sensational hair removal cream, waxing can become so much quicker and easier."

I think it's actually way more convenient if I just used a razor!!!

Final Verdict:

Too smelly

Too time consuming

Too troublesome

Not very effective

I would definitely not repurchase!!!

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

REVIEW: PUREDERM MIRACLE BODY SHAPING TREATMENT

The Purederm Miracle Body Shaping Treatment was featured in Memebox Special #27 Diet Box.

Purederm's Miracle Body Shaping Treatment is made from a patented complex, 'Bodyfit' which has proven to be highly effective in breaking down excess cellulites and preventing body fats form piling up. The caffeine components also work to remove puffiness along your body line, and the moisturising components such as olive oil and sweet almond oil help maintain body skin highly moist and supple.

How to use:

There are two parts to the Treatment.

Tear along the dotted line to separate the two parts.

Open up the CO2 patch.

You will see something like a Panadol body patch.

Open up the package with the Miracle Body Sculpting Gel, and pour generously over the CO2 patch. Make sure you pour it onto the side where it sticks to your body.

Peel off the sides of the patch.

Adhere the patch over your arms, thighs, back, tummy, or wherever you wish.

I put mine on my tummy.

Remove the patch after 20-30 minutes.

Personal Views:

It's quite an easy product to use, and it's not really that messy - at least my hands were clean afterwards! After putting it on my tummy for around 5 minutes, I could feel my tummy getting warm. The warmth wasn't overly hot or unbearable, but my tummy did feel slightly itchy, though that feeling did go away pretty quickly. I removed the patch after 30 minutes, and I saw that my tummy was quite red, though the redness did go away very quickly. There was a lot of essence left on my tummy which I had to wipe off with some tissue. I don't think I noticed any difference in size nor firmness after using the patch, but it was quite a fun thing to try out! I probably wouldn't repurchase though!

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

REVIEW: D'RAN WONDER SERUM & YUFIT EON WHEAT-GERM97 ESSENCE

The D'RAN Wonder Serum was featured in the Oriental Medicine Memebox, whereas the Yufit Eon Wheat-Germ 97 Essence was featured in the Brightening Skincare Memebox. In this post, I will just do a brief review of these two products, because I only used both of them once, and never will I use them again!

1) D'RAN Wonder Serum 30ml

Made from 20 different Korean medicinal herbs such as ginseng, black hoof mushrooms, licorice, portulaca, and ganoderma, the Wonder Serum delivers abundant nutrients and moisture deep into your skin to erase those years off your face, for a revitalised, glowing complexion.

I applied it onto my face, and my face felt slightly itchy afterwards. It wasn't unbearable, but it just didn't feel normal. I won't be using this anymore.

2) Yufit Eon Wheat-Germ97 Essence 

A whitening, anti-wrinkle, brightening, and moisturising facial essence all-in-one! This Eon Wheat-Germ97 Essence contains various naturally derived ingredients which all work to deliver abundant nutrition deep down into your skin, for an overall brighter, and healthier complexion. You'll feel how it literally feels in moisture from deep within your skin and balance out the uneven skin tone and texture with continuous application.

I applied it onto my face, and my face felt slightly itchy, then the itching gradually increased. My face also became slightly red, and the itching became unbearable. Despite this, my hands were not itchy after using this essence. I instantly had to go wash my face with soap and water, then I applied an aloe mask. My face was still itchy afterwards, and my eyes became slightly itchy too, so I had to take my anti-allergy medication! I will definitely never be using this again!!!

I have an allergy to Penicillin (I will get a rash, feel nauseas, have diarrhoea when I take Penicillin), but I've never had any reactions to other fermented skincare products! I've heard many good reviews about the Wonder Serum, but it just wasn't for me, and neither was the Wheat-Germ Essence.


Bye bye Wonder Serum and Wheat-Germ97 Essence!!!

REVIEW: SKINAZ THE KISSABLE 24H LIP TATTOO

I received this product inside my Memebox Special #16 OMG Box, but since it was orange in colour, I originally thought of giving it away. I did, however, change my mind, because I need to start blogging about products again, and this would be a good place to start!

SKINAZ The Kissable 24H Lip Tattoo 13g

SKINAZ takes lip makeup to a whole new level with its Lip Tattoo! This'll be the ultimate no-makeup makeup since it actually works like an impermanent colour tattoo on your lips and does not smudge or gets erased for 24 hours long. Plus, it comes in five lusciously radiant colours: Lovely Pink, Sexy Red, Rising Sun, Sweet Wine, Kiss Orange

How to Use:

Apply the Lip Tattoo thickly over your lips and wait 10-15 minutes until it completely dries up.

 Then, remove the dried lip tattoo from one end to another.

Finish off by applying another layer of lip gloss or lip balm over the top.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS:

When I first applied it onto my lips, it left my lips feeling quite sticky. The colour was also very bright and bold! It dried up after 10 minutes, and I was able to peel it off quite easily. The colour left on my lips was still quite orange, but it was definitely not as sharp as before peeling it off! Surprisingly, it was not too drying on my lips! The colour was also very long-lasting, as it was not so easy to wash off with water. I also tried to wipe it off using the Chanel Eye & Lip Remover, but the colour had still not completely come off. I was able to wash it all off eventually after using my facial cleanser and Clarisonic Mia2. If I had received the Lovely Pink, I would probably use it more, but since I received the Kiss Orange, I would probably just put it away.

This definitely was a fun product to play around with, but it wasn't really that OMG to me.

Thank you for reading, and have a nice day!

WISHLIST: WISH BOX (NO. 21) X SKIN&LAB 2

I've been eyeing this box for quite a while now, and it has been sitting in my wish list all this time, but I still haven't purchased it yet.

This is the Wish Box (No. 21) X Skin&Lab 2 from Wishtrend.

This box contains:

1) SKIN&LAB A Plus Lifting 30ml

Effects: Anti-ageing, Collagen Synthesis, Elasticity Improvement, Skin Texture/Improvement, Wrinkle Improvement

2) SKIN&LAB B Plus Trouble-X 30ml

Effects: Acne Prevention, Irritation Alleviation, Moisturising, Revitalising, Sebum Control

3) SKIN&LAB C Plus Brightening 30ml

Effects: Anti-ageing, Antioxidant Recovery, Brightening, Melanin-Synthesis Control, Skin Tone Improvement

4) SKIN&LAB E Plus Moisturising 30ml

Effects: Deep Hydration, Nutrient Supply, Photo-Ageing Prevention, Revitalising, Strong Antioxidant

5) SKIN&LAB K Plus Red-X 30ml

Effects: Complexion Improvement, Minimising Dark Circle, Minimising Fatigue and Bruises, Reducing Redness, Soothing

6) SKIN&LAB Red Serum

This is truly a Vitamin Box, and it is selling for USD49.99. There is a shipping fee to the box, but if I purchase an item from the Free Shipping Zone, then I can get free shipping on my whole order!! Another great thing about Wishtrend!!!

The reason why I'm tempted to buy this box:

You can mix the different creams together according to your skin condition!

The reason why I still haven't purchased this box:

I'm not good with remembering which products to mix together to get a certain effect, and the price is slightly high (as compared to a Memebox).

What do you guys think? Do you guys think I should get it?

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