As soon as the new collection arrived we were selling Mad as a Hatter and Absolutely Alice like crazy.
At two separate points we have been sold out of the items as every distributor in town had run out of stock.
Both polishes are stunning and will be guaranteed to get you comments whenever you are out.
The Good: Gorgeous colors. So complex and beautiful to look at, they are both extremely unique as well. 
Absolutely Alice is a bright blue with little spots of gold in it.
Mad As A Hatter is a multi-color glitter. It’s probably the best multi-color ever released. At a glance it appears mostly silver, but really there is an array of other colors: green, pink, blue, orange, purple and gold.
So. Pretty.
Like all glitter/sparkle polish they are horrific to try and remove. The reason for this is that nail polish remover dissolves the liquid part of polish.
With a glitter polish, a large portion of it is solid little pieces that don’t dissolve. So you have to wait for the remover to work it’s way through the layers of glitter to actually dissolve that polish.
Add to that the fact that glitter polishes often take multiple layers to achieve full coverage and you have an undertaking that is more time consuming than applying the polish itself. Plus glitter ends up all over your hands.
Of course as an esthetician I would never, ever suggest you peel a polish off of your nails as it can weaken them and cause peeling…but for the most part these two tend to just lift straight up off the nail once they start chipping.
Which brings me to the next fault, these guys aren’t great at lasting. Even with top and base coats. While the first application will last a good long while, I’ve personally found that each time I use the bottle, the polish has thickened even more and the application lasts a shorter period of time, chipping within a day or two.
They work best and last longest as a toe polish as opposed to fingers. Absolutely Alice is pretty much opaque after two coats, Mad As a Hatter seemed to be three. Both dry very quickly, which explains why the polish in the bottle thickens up. Try to keep the amount of time the bottle is open to the absolute minimum.
You’ll need a nice thick top coat to get rid of any texture as well.
Overall, I’m so glad I own them and will probably buy another bottle or two before they’re gone forever. They make for perfect special occasion or party polish.
Have you used either of these polishes? What were your experiences?
I finally did it.
I branched out from standard OPI polishes and bought a Zoya Matte. In green.
It was a big day for me.
I followed all the rules, I used polish remover on the nail to remove any oils, let a base coat dry completely and did quick, thin coats of the polish.
The color I used was the Veruschka green. A deep, shimmering forest green that instantly got comments and envy from all those around me.
Then for experimenting sake I put a top coat on the nails of one hand. It deepened the color and brought out the absolute stunning complexity of the greens and sparkle. I’d be hard pressed to pick a preference. They are just different ways to wear the color.
The biggest complaint with the Mattes is that they don’t last nearly as long. This is not really the case in my experience. I’m 4 days in and, granted, the small amount of chipping that is happening is on the Top-Coat-Free hand (also my dominant hand) but the top coated hand is not far behind.
I love the soft, velvety look of the matte, but I can’t tell yet if it’s that or the actual green color I love more.
I would give this particular product a big thumbs up and suggest that if you haven’t tried Matte polishes yet, this is a great place to start.
For real.
On Tuesday January 19th, in the middle of the night, the office next to ours caught fire.The fluorescent lights sparked and lit the ceiling on fire.
We were so very lucky. Theirs was pretty much destroyed. What the fire didn’t get, the sprinklers and water made short work of.
We managed to get away with only smoke damage. I do apologize for any parcels that smell like campfire. Some of the packing material absorbed the smell, but we wanted to get the orders out as soon as possible and the products themselves are completely fine. Just the boxes have a faint scent. Anything that hadn’t been packed yet is having new materials used.
We clearly could not work in the building as the electricity had been cut and it was very hard to breathe. Amazingly enough we had been planning on moving the next week anyway, so we had a new location.
Pulling together as a team, we managed to pack and relocate within a day and a half. Internet and phones were installed the next day.
We are now nice and settled in our most beautiful and biggest space yet.
We do apologize for any inconvenience our two days of catch up may have caused. It put us behind a little bit.
We do want to thank everyone for their patience and support over the last week. It was very, very tiring.
I’ll try and post more pictures as they become available.
This is our stairway with mostly water damage. The inside was much worse but we only had camera phones and it was too dark.
Our new office! We have a cozy little office area and a nice big space for shipping.
We appreciate all of our customers so much, we will be sending out an email shortly with some great Fire Sale! discounts. So if you haven’t signed up for our newsletter, now would be a great time.
Visit www.spaboutique.ca for all of your favorite beauty brands! Want something we don’t carry? Send me an email and I’ll add it to our list of brands to look into.
Anti-aging is big business in cosmetics.
Most people learn their skin care and information from commercials on the tv and ads in the magazines. As a result most are skeptical about the claims they see.
Rightly so!
The ads are clearly edited and photoshoped and it’s highly unlikely Beyonce actually uses boxed hair dye. So thus far the visuals are all lies.
What about the claims?
They dazzle you with quick, fancy graphs and percentages that show cells plumping and wrinkles drastically reduced. However the fine print that appears for .3 second will clearly state “Results not typical” or “tested on 16 women”. For the most part what they are showing is that your skin is more moisturized when you, you guessed it, use a moisturizer.
So what results can you expect from an anti-aging moisturizer?
1-Have realistic expectations: No cream will stop wrinkles or get rid of them. No matter what they claim. They can only ever reduce the look and help to slow down the appearance of new ones.
2-They only work if you use them. I often get asked how frequently the product needs to be used. Skin is constantly assaulted by UV, pollution and the natural aging process. Usage of any product needs to be consistent if you want to protect it. the other issue is that repairative products need at least a full skin cell cycle to really make a change. Otherwise you’re asking dead skin cells to act younger. 6-8 weeks of consistent use gives the active ingredients time to nourish the new cells and improve them as they grow. There are no results over night.
3-What are they really doing? Mostly hydrating. This plumps the cells and reduces wrinkle depth. Certain ingredients are thought to increase collagen production over time. Some will also exfoliate which will further reduce the depth and will also brighten and even the tone.
They should also protect. Prevention is much easier than repair. SPF and occlusive barriers will protect against excessive damage and will hold in all that lovely moisture and nourishing ingredients.
4-Will a moisturizer be enough? You will see some improvement with simply using a well-formulated moisturizer. Whether you invest in other products is entirely up to your comfort level and the results you are seeing.
- A gentle cleanser and toner will be fine. Anything too aggressive will irritate the skin. Dry and sensitized skin will always look older.
- Exfoliating. This is just about as important at moisturizing. Removing the dead skin cells improves skin function, evens and brightens tone and ensure better product absorption. Retin-A and AHA products give the deepest and most even exfoliation are known to increase collagen over time as well.
- Serum: These deposit highly active ingredients deeply into the skin. They work best when used as short term treatments and are a great way to boost a focused routine, or address a separate skin issue.
- Eye Creams: These are best as prevention as well. There are many genetic factors to how our eyes age and many are very difficult to reverse once they occurred.
- Sunscreen: This is the single greatest step you can take to keep your skin looking it’s best. Sun damage is responsible for almost all of the aging (other than the natural process) that happens to the skin. Plus it takes at least a decade. Protection from the sun now will benefit your skin later on.
Some ingredients to look for:
There are really a fairly limited number of ingredients that actually work at making the skin appear healthier and younger. This is not a comprehensive list but it will give you a basic idea of some of the most available things to look for:
- Vitamins A, C, E- All three have anti-oxidant properties, however it’s never actually been proven that these can protect against some aspects of aging. The research is ongoing and looks promising. It certainly sounds fancy and that’s why so many cosmetics companies stress their important. They are thought to help slow free radical damage.
- AHA/Glycolic/Lactic/Salicylic Acid: Deeply exfoliating, these even and smooth out the skin and encourage collagen production which will improve tone. Salicylic is great for those that want anti-aging and have oilier skin.
- Retin-A: Still by far the most effective at home ingredient. It’s very aggressive and can cause some sensitivity
- Glycosaminoglycans: Complex proteins that are essential for healthy skin function. They include Hyaluronic Acid, Muccopolysaccharides and Natural Moisturizing Factor (NMF)
- Ceramides: naturally occuring fats in the skin, they help create a barrier to prevent moisture loss.
- Peptides: if formulated correctly (stable, accompanied by a carrier and actually able to make it through the skin without breaking down) they have tissue-healing benefits.
Different lines sometimes have their own patented technology as well.
Conclusion:
Cosmetics are not a replacement for medical treatment or surgery, they will not get rid of or stop your wrinkles. The best they can do is make your skin look as healthy and balanced as possible. You can easily reduce the look of lines and help to slow down future damage. Soft, bright, even skin tone can go very far and make skin look beautiful.
Have you found any products or ingredients to be more effective than others?
