Pursuit of speed - quick dry nail polish (Part 3)

Good evening, dear colleagues! Today we continue to discuss quick dry nail polishes and I'm happy to present you two samples from "extremely quick" family: Maybelline Jade EXPRESS FINISH and NIVEA beauté Turbo colour. Both polishes claim to be dry at 40 and 45 sec, respectively!
So, let's test them!
Materials and Methods

Maybelline Express Finish (130 L Lacquer Peach Fantasy) and NiveaTurbo Color (05 Turbo Pastel)

Results

40 sec? 45? Are you kidding - 60 minimum and 2,5 min for 2 coats! Maybelline has an advantage because of  very broad and comfortable brush, which allows very even and smooth application. With Nivea I had to fight a bit, because it was very hard to achieve nice even surface even for the second coat. But actually, this would be true only for Lacquer edition, because normal Pearl Maybelline ( I have Express Finish Pearl as well in colour 120P Sweet Rose) despite the brush applies very streaky. I did not make any pictures of the Pearl because they were just ugly. Below are the pictures of nails with 2 polishes shown above:

Upper row: Maybelline Peach fantasy, lower row: Nivea Turbo pastel

Conclusion

I would give 7/10 for Maybelline and 6/10 for Nivea. Maybelline scores one point more because of the brush. Nivea lost one due to streaks and sheer light coverage.

Would I buy again? - probably no, because the colours are not exclusive and my expectations were not fulfilled. 

P.S. Maybelline polish has very beautiful soft rosé colour, but I have no idea why it is called Peach fantasy!

Pursuit of speed - quick dry nail polish (Part 2)

Dear colleagues, today we will follow the project on quick dry nail polishes and I'm happy to present you two other samples which I have in my nail polish collection.

Introduction
The conditions of the performed study are described in the previous publication (Part 1) and here we proceed directly to the subject

Materials and Methods
Two shades of Astor 60 Sec Ultra Diamant nail polish (unfortunately Astor web page does not provide sufficient information, but I can say that these polishes are available at dm and more info you can find here)

Astor 58 and 342 (from left to right)

I have currently shades 58 and 342 (unfortunately no fancy colour names) and I tested them both simultaneously, because they are more or less from the same metal-copper shiny group.
On the bottle is written following "High shine nail color with marine bio ceramic. Strengthens nail. Quick dry, only one coat".


Results
I have to state first that one coat was not enough for me - I like to have with shiny colours quite good coverage, that the nail could not be seen through the polish. So I had to apply 2 coats (again 60 sec after first coat, then second and 120 sec to dry both). I like a lot the colours and can confirm that one coat is really dry after 60 sec. However as the texture is slightly thick, I would say that 2 coats surface dried out in 180 sec and not in 120. Completely dry the nails become after 4-5 min, so even touching the nails with the tip of the file did not leave any scratch.
What I would wish for this polish - to have more wide brush, because with a thin brush it is quite challenging to apply polish evenly, especially on the large nails and did not make any lines while it is drying fast.

Nice even coverage and fast drying - well done, Astor!

Conclusion
I would recommend this polish and going to acquire more colours, but after I run out of these 2 bottles. Overall score - 8/10.

Would I buy again? - Yes, definitely.


Thank you for your attention and we see us in the next issues

Project Primer

Good afternoon, dear colleagues! Today we will focus our attention on such obvious thing as primer or foundation base. I made some photo documentation about my current primer and would like to share my data with scientific make-up community.

Introduction
The purpose of this work is to demonstrate additional (except fixing and priming) advantage of using the primer for the foundation (if any could be detected). I use since 1,5 month Clarins Instant Smooth Perfecting Touch base and think that it is a fairly good product. But what is the meaning of my personal opinion without solid evidence?!

Front and rear views of the jar (quite obvious, isn't it?)

Materials and Methods 

My face at the morning without any make-up (usual day, normal level of impurities)

Clarins Instant Smooth

Camera for pictures before and after application of primer

Results 

After application of the primer - first thing observed is "Perfecting Touch", meaning that skin feels smooth and silky, I personally like this feeling a lot, but anyway it disappears after foundation is applied.

What we were interested here - if the primer helps to improve skin tone, makes some pore reduction and wrinkle filling.

Before and after

Please disregard that second picture (after the base) looks more awake and consider only the overall skin tone. What I could notice is that redness around the nose is reduced and skin looks more evenly coloured.

However, in order to confirm this conclusions some macro-images of the problematic areas were necessary.
I took the picture of the area close to my nostrils - because there I always have some redness and large pores and second one - zoom of the area on the forehead, where I have a lot of very small wrinkles because of mimic.

I could state then that pores look smaller after the base, as well as redness is reduced a little bit. On the forehead picture I outlined areas of special interest - wrinkles close to the middle area and red spot after having a blemish day.

Before and after -less red and less porous (if you love dermatology you can enlarge this pictures)

Before and after - more even colour, wrinkles are filled 

Conclusion

It was possible to demonstrate that primer can improve skin tone, fill small wrinkles and pores. Obvious advantage of the Clarins primer for this investigation is presented by firm solid-like texture (difficult to overdose) and economic considerations (pea size is enough to prime all face so 15 ml jar will be fine for 6 month).

Disclosure: no image processing with Photoshop or other software was performed on the pictures.

Thank you very much for your attention!

Would I buy again? No idea, it is the only base which I have used, so I have to try something else for comparison may be. Your advices on this subject are very welcome!

Pursuit of speed - quick dry nail polish (Part 1)

Dear colleagues, today we will discuss such a basic physics, namely the definition of speed. As my recent research showed, different people mean completely different thing when they call something "quick". My attention to this subject was captivated by nail polishes marked with "quick dry", "60 seconds dry" etc.
I agree, that 60 sec for a coat of nail polish to dry is actually a great speed and it is exactly what I wish for me.
Recently, I got several nail polishes belonging to "quick dry" category and was curious to test them.
So let's start talking research!

Introduction
The aim of this research was to test the quality of drying of several "quick" nail polishes in extreme conditions. This means that for the drying I could allow only the time defined by manufacturer and then either the second coat was applied or I started to perform some activities with nails (making pictures of my nails).

Materials and Methods
The subject of today's test is 60 Seconds Nail Polish from Rimmel in colour 210 Ethereal.

For the test I applied first a base polish (Look by Bipa, Hard Nails) and let it dry very well (over 5 min).
Secondly I applied a coat of the test polish and waited 60 seconds (simplicity is great for experiments!)
Then I performed the visual evaluation of the coat and concluded, that one coat is not enough - so the second coat was applied. I decided to wait 120 seconds after second layer because 2 coats should take at least double time to dry.
Afterwards I started to collect the data i.e. making pictures! 


Results
I have to say that observed colour of the polish was simply beautiful - great, touching pearl baby-pink. I made several images to capture this effect under different light intensities - day light, direct sun light and flash image. 
Below you can share my observations:

From left to right: soft day light, direct sun light, flash

I have to make a solid statement, that just one coat of this polish is not enough to provide a good coverage. After 2 coats, the coverage was sufficient, as demonstrated by next picture.
However, imaging procedure was actually almost the only thing which could be tolerated by this polish. Saying, that it can dry in 60 sec - it is really UNDERSTATEMENT! I have to point out that you need let at least as much time as for normal nail polishes.
I suppose, that it can be explained by texture of this Rimmel polish - it is not quite liquid in my opinion - so the layers applied are relatively thick and also it explains why you do not have much time to make some corrections with a brush. In detail - you try to make a thin coat, but is is still quite thick and the upper part of the layer dries fast, but the lower layers are still not dry at all.
As a result, after making some things (ordering things on the table and similar stuff - no dish washing or other "hard core" activities) I observed problems with nail coat, mainly imperfect surface and other disturbances.

Conclusion
Despite my positive emotions towards the colour, the results of the experiments were negative. The polish can not be classified as "quick dry". Preventing the possible questions of the reviewers I say, that polish was not old (bought 2 weeks ago). I assign as much as 6 out of 10 points and express my disappointment.

Would I buy again? - Most probably NO, only if some very attractive colours will appear (I have some attraction towards Blue My Mind 810 and Green with envy 819 shades.


Thank you for your attention and we will continue the experiments on this subject.

Evaluation of MUFE HD powder: swatch test and use

Dear colleagues, the aim of the first paper presented there would be Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder. I bought at last congress I've visited in Spain (I really attended some talks and went for make-up shopping only at lunch breaks!)

So let's start talking research!

Background and Purpose
Previous experience in using face powders showed that combination of powder and foundation + concealer equals cakey and somehow overdone look. Therefore it was stated that face powders would be used by me only on "good skin days"without the foundation underneath. This approach of wearing foundation without setting it with a powder was proven as not sufficient for mixed skin type (which I have). In the afternoons I could clearly see the shiny parts on the nose, forehead and sometimes even on the cheeks.
Recently I found out about invisible transparent powders which are designed for setting the make-up without adding any color. So I got one!
The aim of this paper is to perform visual testing on MUFE HD Powder and evaluate the product in terms of use and effect.

Materials and Methods

1.Make Up For Ever HD Microfinish Powder
As claimed by official web-page "The HD Powder is a unique, extremely fine powder available in one universal shade to make the skin absolutely radiant. It sets the foundation and matifies the skin without changing its natural contours.Consisting of mineral silica powder, its talc-free formula is non-drying. Its universal translucent shade matches all skin tones. The HD Powder can be worn alone or applied over foundation. "
The powder consists of microparticles of silica powder (basically silicone dioxide) and can be considered as 100% mineral make-up.
2. My left hand (forearm)
3. Foundation (Clinique Perfectly Real 02)
4. Camera for proof pics (Nikon D40)

The research was designed in following way:
- present a pictures of  four areas on the arm with MUFE powder applied on the bare skin and over the foundation.
- estimate the effect after using the product above the foundation every day during the last week.

MUFE Powder after investigation (the amount needed is so small so I will use it for ages!)

Results

On the photo done in suboptimal conditions (bathroom light, no flash) only slight differences could be seen (more matte skin in part 2 compared to 1, and less shimmer in the part 4).

Pictures performed with flash or flash and micro mode shows the differences much more dramatically, however they do not represent the reality.

In summary, HD Microfinish powder really sets the foundation, but makes it a little bit (VERY, VERY SLIGHTLY) lighter. It is also possible to use it on the skin without foundation but this application I will consider only if I get ideal smooth and acne-free skin.

Flash mode ON

It is necessary to comment, that I did not blend the powder very well on purpose, in order to distinguish areas more clearly.

Flash + Micro

After wearing the HD powder during the last week, I can state that it keeps the skin matte and sets the make-up very good (at least better experience compared with conventional powders which I used before).

Discussion
The MUFE announces that the use of the HD Microfinish Powder helps in creating "soft focus" effect. I had to perform some additional literature investigation (Wiki) in order to find out what does it mean. So, basically, soft focus effect describes additional blurring of the image and retaining of the sharp edges. It makes the appearance of the skin more even and smooth simultaneously making small wrinkles and blemishes less visible.
In professional fashion photography it is done with special lenses or image post-processing. The subject of future investigation definitely would be making some face images with and without powder to see if the effect is there (I have resonable doubts...)

Conclusion
The HD Microfinish powder is a very high quality product which I would recommend for every day use.
It is a bit expensive, but quite economic in use. After the tests I would give the product 8,5 out of 10.

Would I buy it again? - Yes, but most probably in 2 years from now because I have the full jar!

THANK YOU very much for your attention and we meet in the future issues!