Manicure Monday – 10/14/2019 – Red LED Gel Lamp

by

Red LED Gel Lamp

Red LED Gel Lamp

I ultimately bought this incredible red LED gel lamp (and a bunch of other stuff ?) from The NaiI Hub. It isn’t clear who the manufacturer of this lamp is; it lacks branding, and I’m not entirely sure if The Nail Hub is claiming this as one of their products. Either way, frankly, I don’t care because it is excellent. My experience has been nothing but positive since I started using it in July.

Curing My Gel Manicures

For years, I’ve been using Sensationail lamps to cure my gel manicures. They’re what I started with! Eventually, I added their newer model lamp to my nail tool collection. After a couple bad cures with good formulas, though, I started to wonder if it was time for a change. I suspect the LEDs weren’t getting enough power, and here could be plenty of reasons for this:

  • The micro USB cable I used to supply power to it could be bad.
  • The AC adapter could be bad.
  • The power relay in the lamp itself could be bad.

Rather than asking my husband to embark on an electronics teardown for diagnostic purposes, I decided to upgrade my lamp game. (I might still ask him for help with that, though – for science, for a backup, for a small travel lamp etc).

Why Red?

Read more

Laser Hair Removal

by

Laser Hair Removal - Lumenis LightSheer Diode Laser

“I really enjoy hair removal,” said no one – ever.

Two things:

  • Maybe some people derive questionable satisfaction from the process of certain hair removal processes (i.e., maybe its fun for some to look at the contents of a spent wax strip like it is a pore strip [which you don’t. freaking. need.]). But if that’s you, it isn’t because removing hair is fun, its because of the fascination.
  • Not here telling people they need to remove hair if they don’t want to. What you do isn’t my business. I, however, choose to because I feel more physically comfortable that way, all else be damned.

Moving On

A few years ago, I purchased a Silkn Flash n Go Freedom home-use IPL hair reduction light. After some consistent use on underarms and bikini for a while, although there was a reduction, I didn’t see the level of results I wanted as fast as I wanted. As a result, my adoption and consistency-of-use plummeted. I still have it, it still works. I’m toying with the idea of using it on my legs; shaving my legs doesn’t annoy me nearly as much as underarms and bikini, so if it doesn’t yield the results I hope for, it won’t be upsetting.

I spent over a year as a client of European Wax Center. I liked it at first, but ultimately broke up with EWC.

What I Got

For my birthday this year, I decided to treat myself to the real deal and get legit laser hair removal. At a med spa. By a professional. With badass professional equipment.

I opted for both underarms and brazilian treatment because I hate dealing with those the most. Legs aren’t as annoying.

Cost

I’m comfortable divulging and will if there is interest – but it varies so much depending on:

  • The market (area) you live in/COL
  • Spa (because overhead varies)
  • Market saturation
  • Number of Treatments*
  • Other Value-Adds

For me, buying a round of six treatments (which is the typically-stated average it takes to do the job) entitles me to endless touchups/revisits for the next two years. Six treatments was not enough to obliterate everything in my treatment areas, so – good thing my med-spa offers that program.

It’s also worth noting that most providers are calling this a laser hair reduction or permanent hair reduction now rather than removal. There is a chance that over time some growth could return, so it’s a legal/CYA thing.

What’s Laser Hair Removal Like?

Let’s break it down.

Read more

Chatter: Pro Only Product

by
ChatterPro Only Product

Time for a rant. If you happen to enjoy beauty and product and all that jazz, chances are you’ve encountered a pro only product of which you’re fond…even if that product really doesn’t require professional handling.

It’s frustrating to learn that the flavor of the day is only for sale at CosmoProf (hi, PolyGel when it first came out) or through the pro only product supply-chain and vendors (hi, OPI Gelcolor).

The Rub

In my case, I am most-often frustrated by the lack of availability of nail products. Although in many cases certain US states and certain countries mandate licensure to render services on clients, they don’t necessarily regulate the types of products that can be sold. The industry (in the US, anyway) is largely self-regulating regarding the sale of cosmetic products. This isn’t purely a bad thing; it can help service providers maintain business, for example. I can appreciate that to an extent. In other cases, it’s because the general public is … not bright. After all, the FDA just needed to remind people that drinking bleach is bad.

Read more

Manicure Monday – 8/12/2019 – Revel Nail Aurora + Bubbly & Catch-Up

by

Yeah, wow, hi. We’ll get into the hiatus in a sec, but first:

I tried an acrylic dip nail system! I suck at it but, third application in, am getting better. I’ve been waffling on waiting to talk about it until I am good at it for Insta-worthy pics but…since when do I care about being Insta-worthy?

Revel Nail Aurora and Revel Nail BubblyRevel Nail Aurora & Revel Nail Bubbly

I’m not writing a review of Revel Nail Aurora and Revel Nail Bubbly dip powders in this post, but I’ll share a couple thoughts:

  • This picture does not capture color accurately. I am wearing both Revel Nail Aurora, which is a nice, light nude pink (it definitely looks pink in person) and Revel Nail Bubbly on top.
  • Although not evident in this picture, my application is fairly bulky. This is because:
    • This application is three dips instead of two because I wanted to use Revel Nail Bubbly on top for some shimmer.
    • I suck at finish filing acrylic. This led me to buy an e-file, which I am still getting the hang of, but it has changed my pedicure world dramatically.

OKAY.

I recently saw an Instagram post from a blogger who decided to face the music regarding her content and who ultimately discontinued her project. That was a bit eye-opening for me. I’m not there, but it’s undeniable to me that I bet Beauty Skeptic take a back seat to everything else. Better no content than half-assed content, right? I haven’t really been buying and trying much stuff, so its really been a drought of content inspiration here, BUT here’s what I’ve been up to:

Read more

Manicure Monday – 7/8/2019 – China Glaze Pink Plumeria

by

Last week, I got what ended up being a highly disappointing dip powder manicure at a salon (siiigh) for my birthday. It was super pretty but something about my nail tech’s application – or maybe the product itself – just didn’t jive; more on that another time. Frustrated, after I removed the (fun, pretty, summery) product, I opted to clothe my naked digits with a gel polish manicure. I knew I wanted pink but I didn’t want to go full neon and go for China Glaze Shocking Pink (wore it recently, is great, just not how I was feeling at the time).

Color Inspiration

So – I’m having a bit of a grapefruit moment. I can think of nothing but palomas even though I am a space cadet and keep forgetting to buy some damn grapefruit when I’m at the store.

Gorgeous, right? Check out Preppy Kitchen, John makes some cute and tasty looking stuff!

Anyway, China Glaze Pink Plumeria gives me grapefruit vibes something fierce – so its settled. I’ve featured it on the blog before, in a pedicure, but I wanted to give it another go in that format and with Sensationail Polish to Gel. I picked it up when I bought a bunch of bright colors earlier this year; when I was researching my tentative selections and saw swatches for Pink Plumeria, I required it.

Application

I’m going to go a bit out of order and talk about my pedicure first. Like most of the neon-adjacent pearls, Pink Plumeria is gorgeous but slightly annoying to apply. Unfortunately, we’re still waiting for China Glaze to update their traditional brushes to be more in line with modern brushes. That meant I had to redo a few toes more than once to get everything to lay right, not streak, etc. The color is so lovely that its worth it, though. On my toes, I did a standard application with Gelous Gel Coat base coat and Seche Vite Dry Fast Top Coat. They look great, just like the the first time I used it for a pedicure and snapped a photo:

China Glaze Pink Plumeria

Polish to Gel Application

On my fingers, I made a Polish to Gel cocktail. I played with the ratios a bit and ended up with probably 2-3 drops Pink Plumeria to 1 drop Polish to Gel, but it’s worth noting that the gel’s drop-size was larger due to the larger brush. Either way, it applied beautifully this way; I didn’t entirely expect this, but the gel really helps mitigate the quirks of the neon-pearl polish. It cured nicely in spite of my tampering.

And look at how magnificent it came out! I kinda think I want to just turn the entire bottle into a franken-gel. It was so much nicer to work with, and its beauty isn’t compromised at all in this format. It is fantastic on my skin tone (which is less obvious in the picture below; for some reason the polish presents accurately, but my skin did not) and even though its a bit bright, I don’t think it would be, “too much,” for most workplaces.

China Glaze Pink Plumeria with Sensationail Polish to GelChina Glaze Pink Plumeria & Sensationail Polish to Gel

What are you wearing this week?

Invisalign Update: I’m DONE!

by

Invisalign Update - More Refinement - Refinement Round Three - Third Invisalign Refinement

Over two years ago, I started down this journey to correct the alignment of what I scathingly lovingly called my creatively arranged teeth. You can check out the annals of this whole thing by visiting My Invisalign Journey page, which chronicles all my Invisalign posts.

The End

In early June, I completed my 85th and final tray! It was so exciting to go in and get my attachments off. That process, by the way, is completely painless. More weird than anything because its basically a dremel tool in your face. No anesthesia needed, no pain. At one point a single tooth felt VERY cold but that was it. It’s awesome to feel totally smooth surfaces again! I can now use stuff like Whitestrips without having to fight with them and turn them into origami to fit my teeth.

I don’t have before pictures of my teeth that I’m willing to share (because dear god do the clinical before photos look like nightmare fuel) BUT this post shares the changes of my initial course. To the not-paying-entirely-too-close-attention eye, my teeth don’t look too different from the end of that initial course. So if you want an idea of before, check out this post where I share my ClinCheck. As for after? So I don’t take a ton of pictures of my teeth (…because that is weird) or selfies in general (…because I don’t millennial, “properly.”) but hey, look:

For now, I’m wearing my 85th tray at night as a wannabe retainer while I wait for my retainer fabrication. I pick up my real retainers next week and can share more about them once I know more about them.

Read more