Well this IS a very girly topic isn’t it?!
I don’t wear much makeup – a bit of lippy is usually it.
Like most women, I have long been on a quest to find a lipstick (and also nail polish) with real staying power.
I hate it when your lippy wears off as soon as you have a cuppa or something to eat, and none of them seem to last past lunch time!
And don’t get me started on nails.
In addition to the fact that ordinary nail polish chips within a day or two – because, well, LIFE (not to mention all the hand washing we do in these Covid days); I have really awful nails.
I don’t bite them, I promise. It’s more to do with the fact that they are fan shaped (ie splay out at the top). They are thin. They are weak. They are thin. They are brittle. They peel and split.
Apart from brief forays into salon acrylic and gel nails, and Jamberry nail wraps, I gave up a long time ago and just kept my nails short and nude. Yawn.
But oh how I coveted pretty nails. Glossy nails. Colourful nails. Nails that actually had a couple of millimetres of white at the tip! Perfectly polished nails make you look so well groomed and ‘together’, I always think.
Alas we always want what we cannot have. Sigh.
UNTIL NOW.
I have found the Holy Grail in both lips and nails – ones that last 4 eva! (Well not quite but you know what I mean).
Lips 4 Eva
Buying lipstick is tough in these Covid times, as you can’t even swatch them on your wrist. There’s no real way to tell the precise colour or texture unless you actually buy that little sucker.
So on a recent trip to the chemist I bought a handful and one has come up TRUMPS.
Rimmel Provocalips.
I’m in looooooooove. You apply the glossy colour with a wand, and allow it to dry to a matte finish. Then apply a layer of the gloss with the wand at the other end.
Baby, do these lips last.
No kiss off. No coffee cup stains. Just long lasting lip colour. By the end of the day it’s still hanging in there! Not as intensely, but at least it doesn’t leave you with that horrible lip line that many supposed ‘long lasting’ lipsticks leave.
This pic was taken half way through a busy day. Since applying my lippy first thing, I’d presented two workshops, indulged in a hot chocolate, drank lots of water, and chatted to a heap of other business owners.
And this is what it looks like at the end of a day!
And now for the nails …
Nailed It!
When my daughter showed me her new home gel nail kit at Christmas time, I couldn’t wait to order my own.
I might have short, scrappy nails but still thought it’d be nice to have polish that lasted a good couple of weeks.
But there’s been another great benefit.
The gel has strengthened my paper thin nails and now I actually have nails to be proud of.
I still can’t grow them too long or they break (see below), but it’s a lot better than what I could manage on my own.
It’s not such a great look when I actually take the gel polish off and they seem weaker than before (is that even possible?!); but a new manicure soon fixes that.
As for my tootsies? They have lasted months!
My only concern is the UV light that is required to ‘cure’ the polish. Yes, the same UV light in tanning beds with all the associated risks. So I wear a pair of white gloves with the ends chopped off, to protect as much of my skin as possible while under the UV light. It’s not perfect but it’s something … and I don’t know how long I will continue with my nail obsession, it might be short-lived anyway.
But in the meantime? I’ve loving my lips and nails 4 eva!!!!
Have you found the Holy Grail – a lipstick that lasts? Or do you have any advice for the nail-challenged among us?!
