CND Archives - StyleScoop | South African Life in Style blog, since 2008

Get Your Nail Polish To Last

Nails! The bane of my existence! I used to get my nails Shellac-ed all the time, which I loved because my nail colour would last for weeks, and my nails would look in pretty darn good shape. Nowadays, time seems like a luxury I just can’t afford. So for the past couple of weeks, I’ve been paying real close attention to the condition of my nails and it’s really paying off in terms of far prettier at-home-nail-jobs, healthier nails and longer lasting polish. Best part, it isn’t as hard as you think! You will need to invest in a few essential tools to prep your nails for the perfect paint job. Before you apply your nail colour, spend a little time getting your nails in tip top shape. Make sure your nails are completely clean and free of any oils. Even if you’ve just removed your previous colour, use a little nail scrubbing brush to scrub off any excess oils. Next, dry your nails completely. Shape your nails using a nail file, going in one direction rather than sawing back and forth. Gals, you get nail files and then you get nail files! Those cheapies you find in the supermarket…

View Post

June 2, 2015

4 Comments

Share:

Beauty

Happy Feet {beauty feature}

You’ve been hiding them all winter long, and now that summer is here, it’s time to bring your footsies out of hibernation and give them some extra love. Why? Because they work like dogs for you and besides that, there is no point splurging on sexy summer sandals if your feet don’t look the part. Here are some foot happy products I am loving at the moment… CND Cucumber Heel Therapy I am obsessed with this foot cream! It’s the most amazing treatment cream to sort out those cracked heels and dry feet. In fact, it’s so amazing, it works equally well to sort out any dry patches on hands, knees and elbows too! It smells like real cucumbers and leaves your feet feeling baby soft almost immediately. I had a bit of dryness on my heels (thank you winter!) and this cream got them soft after just a few days. That’s how good it is! CND Cucumber Heel Therapy contains cucumber, chamomilla recutita, aloe barbdensis leaf juice, panthenol (pro vitamin B5) , allantoin and urea. To find out more about the benefits of these individual ingredients, check out the feature post I wrote a while back on this must have foot cream. Price: R223 for 75g Available…

View Post

December 18, 2013

2 Comments

Share:

Beauty

CND Cucumber Heel Therapy

I recently noticed that my heels were looking a little sad and depressed. Granted, with my feet being cooped up in boots for the past couple of months, it didn’t bother me all that much. But now that they will be exposed in summer sandals (yay), it’s about time I gave them some TLC. And I’ll let you gals in on a little secret to fabulous feet… CND Cucumber Heel therapy is an amazing, deep moisturizing “foot” treatment. I say “foot” treatment like that because although it’s made with feet in mind, you can pretty much use it on any area of the body that is really dry – like hands, elbows, knees etc. My heels weren’t like crazy cracked, but they had started to crack a bit, especially on the one foot. CND Cucumber Heel Therapy sorted them in less than a week! Now, I use this product on my feet every night after my evening bath and I have happy feet all day long! I love the smell, the luxurious texture and how friggin amazing it is! Besides the obvious, cucumber; which is known for it’s soothing, moisturizing and anti-inflammatory properties, this product also contains a bunch of other ingredients that work wonders on your feet; Chamomilla Recutita is a natural botanical agent that soothes…

View Post

November 12, 2013

Vinylux Nail Polish – Review

A little while ago I told you guys about VINYLUX – The seven day wear nail polish. Well, I’ve had a chance to test it out, and let me just say that I am in LOVE with this nailpolish! It has amazing wear and yes, I managed to get seven days wear out of it! Although it wasn’t perfect, I had a few little chips on the edges! I’m pretty hard on my nails (banging away at my keyboard 24/7) so I was quite impressed that it lasted as well as it did. The colour stayed almost as vibrant as day one with no fade! But, best of all, despite VINYLUX requiring no base coat, when I removed it there was ZERO yellowing on my nails – only a slight tinge of the nail colour, which I managed to remove after a second swipe of nail polish remover. The colour I tried out was called Blue Rapture – a lovely teal blue! For the Durban July, I painted my own nails with another VINYLUX shade called Midnight Swim. It was such a gorgeous, sparkling blue, but I found it a little difficult to apply nicely on my own nails. I couldn’t get…

View Post

July 9, 2013

4 Comments

Share:

Beauty

Nail Polish That Lasts For 7 Days?! VINYLUX Is Here!

I’m so amped to share this news with you! I’ve been holding onto it until the product arrived in South Africa, and so excited that VINYLUX – The seven day, flawless colour nail polish, is finally here! VINYLUX is a brand new range of nail polish from one of my favourite nail brands, CND (you know the geniuses behind the awesome Shellac). But, what makes it different is that it claims to last for up to seven days! VINYLUX is unlike any other self-application nail polish you’ve ever used. It’s new innovative system, that includes a self-adhering colour coat requires absolutely no base coat! It dries faster, it’s more durable and claims to ensure no chipping or scratching for at least one week! You need two thin layers of VINYLUX Weekly Colour Coat and one layer of VINYLUX Top Coat for 7 Days of non-chip, non-fade nails! The innovative, special formula Top Coat becomes more durable and powerful when exposed to natural light, which ensures that your nail colour stays as vibrant as the day you applied it! Ordinary nail polish takes between 15-20 minutes to dry! But who really has time for that? VINYLUX dries completely in eight and half minutes – flat! Now…

View Post

June 27, 2013

4 Comments

Share:

Beauty

Polka Dotty Shellac Nails

I had a really tough time choosing a new colour for my Shellac nails yesterday. I’d been dying to try something from their Spring 2013 Sweet Dreams Collection which has some beautiful pastel colours. But, it was so hard to pick just one! Being indecisive and greedy at the same time, I decided to have a little fun with my nails. The end result (thanks to the amazing Jo-D), was this fun, polka dotty nail art design. I love it! This is such a fun nail art design, and I’m really digging it! It makes me feel like a kid again. Best of all, (like a kid) I got my way, by getting to wear three of the new colours, all at the same time! To achieve this nail art design, here are the colours that were used: Thumb – Cake Pop *new Index Finger – Gotcha (an old favourite) Middle Finger – Azure Wish *new Ring Finger – Cream Pop (white) with polka dots using Blackpool Pinky – Limeade *new with a thin layer of Romantique The lime green on my pinky finger is quite a metallic shade and, on it’s own, it didn’t really compliment the pastel-pretty design. So, to mattify…

View Post

May 23, 2013

5 Comments

Share:

Beauty

We Review Brisa Lite – The New, Superior Gel System

I’ve been so excited to share this amazing new nail technology with you guys! I had it done on the 3rd May and only just removed it today! I’ve been so impressed with it, but wanted wait until I had it removed before I posted my review. You guys probably know how much I love my Shellac nails! I’m obsessed not only with the pretty colours, but the amazing durability, long lasting shine and of course, that I can keep my nails virtually chip-free for more than two weeks! When I was told that CND (the makers of Shellac) had a new Gel system for nails, I was keen to try it out. It’s called Brisa™ Lite and it is the result of the science behind two of CND’s products; Brisa™ (a permanent gel system) and the superior removablity of Shellac. Let me first start by saying, I hate having gel on my nails. While it looks good (in the beginning), it leaves my nails brittle and damaged. Every time I did it, I would regret it! The last time I ever used (and will probably ever use) traditional Gel on my nails, was on my wedding day, five years ago! Brisa™ Lite, unlike traditional…

View Post

May 22, 2013

1 Comment

Share:

Beauty

Products That Rocked 2012! Shellac

Once you’ve been Shellac-ed, there is just no going back! This amazing nail colour system has got to be one of my most fabulous finds this entire year! I was hooked on it from the very first application, which was grey shade called Asphalt. I have since enjoyed wearing a few different colour variations including; Gotcha, Rock Royalty and Cocoa as well as Tropix and Rubble that are not featured in the images below. My favourite shade has got to be Tropix for summer. I’m actually sporting it on my feet right now! Then, for an every day, every mood, every season kinda colour, Cocoa is my number one pick! This amazing nail colour system has not only ensured that my colour stays close to perfect for up to two weeks, but because it’s a pore-less system – meaning that oxygen can get through to your nail bed – the health of my nails has also been improved. I am quite hard on my poor nails and without Shellac, I could kiss growing them goodbye! To read my full review on how Shellac lasted, how it was applied and how it was removed, with before and after pictures check out this blog post. I can’t…

View Post

December 28, 2012

Shellac – The Best Nail System EVER! REVIEW

As you can tell by my title, I am absolutely LOVING Shellac! I was hooked after day one, but now that I’ve experienced the full benefit of Shellac, I’m even more convinced that this simply is the best nail system ever! If you haven’t heard about Shellac or don’t know what it is, then you should read my first blog post on it, then come back to this post as the “after” as it’s more of a follow up. How long it lasts Nail polish usually lasts 2 days, maximum 3 on my nails, but I managed 14 days of wear on my Shellac. In image 3 you can see how my Shellac looked after four days – still looks perfect! As I’ve mentioned before I’m seriously hard on my nails, banging away on my keyboard all day, opening parcels etc. I did manage to chip my thumb (image 1) around day 4 or 5, and while I could have had it fixed, I wanted to give you guys a proper review, so I left it. That’s as far as the chip got for the full 14 days that I wore this colour. How impressive is that?! It didn’t get…

View Post

February 8, 2012

10 Comments

Share:

Beauty

Fab Find Friday – Shellac

Yay, yay, it’s Friday! I’ve decided to bring back my Fab Find Friday features – and why not? We all need a little pampering preview before the weekend right? So stay tuned for these in upcoming weeks. This Friday, I wanted to tell you guys about Shellac – a fairly new (to South Africa at least) nail painting system that will blow you away! I’m absolutely hooked, and I only got Shellac-ed on Wednesday, so that already says a lot! As you probably know, I love nail colour – just like many of you I’m guessing. And just like everyone else, I hate it when my nails chip. Generally I can max out my nail polish for three days, but that’s seriously pushing it! I’m very hard on my nails; banging away on a keyboard all day, opening parcels etc. It’s not a pretty sight when my polish chips off and it certainly is’nt a good look for a gal that runs a beauty and fashion blog! Shellac is a product of CND who are an award winning brand the world over. In the 2011 Nails Readers Choice awards CND won 19 awards, 9 of which were first place and…

View Post

January 20, 2012

4 Comments

Share: