So you can just imagine how delighted I was to hear about Sweet Contemplation Accessories!

Image credit to Sweet Contemplation Accessories

Designed and hand-crafted by Australia-based blogger Christine Wang (who happens to be a friend of mine), each piece of jewelry from Sweet Contemplation Accessories is made with love and an eye for the tiniest details that make each piece so special; in line with Tine’s vision of designing jewelry for the modern woman who encompasses femininity, strength, charm, style and grace (just to name a few). All the designs from Sweet Contemplation Accessories are so wearable, I’d reckon that you could take any piece from day to night with ease!

I heart the little extra touches that Tine adds to the packaging. Like the little robin-blue (some would say Tiffany blue!) and black handmade boxes all tied up with black ribbon. Simply tres chic! And stamping the Sweet Contemplation logo on the inside of the box cover. Finally, inside the box, carefully tucked away in a layer of robin-blue tissue paper is a little velvet pouch containing your treasure!

Personally, I was immediately smitten with these two gorgeous designs which I picked up recently – Call Me Old Fashioned (AUD 30.00) and Byzantium (AUD 30.00) – and I already know how I want to wear them and which clothes they’ll match in my wardrobe, which is just about everything!

Image credit to Sweet Contemplation Accessories

Shipping is free anywhere within Australia and international shipping is charged at a flat rate of AUD 10.00 (or free if you purchase above AUD 100.00), no matter where you are in the world. In case you were wondering about the efficiency of the Australian Post and the local mailman, I’d say it’s pretty good, considering that the package arrived in good condition and relatively fast too, within 1 week from the date Tine shipped it off till I received my goodies.

Once you’ve been converted into a Sweet Contemplation Accessories fan, it can be pretty hard to resist treating yourself to just one more piece of pretty jewelry. *wink*

Read other blogger reviews here :
Beautifully Glossy
Beetrice
Connie
Elle
Giddy Tiger
Indulgent Reviews
Nikki
Paris B
Ponikuta
Pretty Beautiful
Sesame

And I never thought the day would come when I would actually find a local blogshop that I would repeatedly patronize!

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It’s called Cocktails & Martinis (don’t you just love the elegant sounding name?) and I think I first discovered Cocktails through a link on Frocking Around. I liked what I saw so much that I put myself on the email subscriber list straightaway so that I wouldn’t miss out on the latest offerings. (Good for my ongoing retail therapy but not so good for my pocket! LOL.)

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What I like most about Cocktails is the selection of clothes. If I were to open a boutique of my own, these are exactly the styles and fashions that I would pick, which explains why I keep on coming back for more, over and over again. If I were to describe the style of Cocktails I would say : elegant, timeless, flattering, feminine and tasteful.

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It’s all fine and dandy to have a great selection of clothes, lots of blogshops have that too. With Cocktails, what you see is what you get. The photographs are accurate representations of the real item itself, if anything, when I get my hands on the real thing itself I find the quality to be as good as, if not better than the pictures and the details.

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When you’re an independent blogshop, it’s important that you can offer your shoppers with quick and good service too. This improves the chances of satisfied customers and repeat sales, especially since it’s all about trust in the world of online shopping. I’ve had nothing but prompt and efficient service when dealing with Cocktails, thus my number of repeat purchases!

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There is also a Cocktails Sales blogshop where you just might be able to pick up a bargain or two that was originally featured on the main site.

Oh, and the pictures you see in this post are pictures of clothes I’ve been tempted into buying from Cocktails.

Cocktails & Martinis
Email : kayc[dot]cocktails[at]gmail[dot]com

All images used in this blogpost are taken from the Cocktails & Martinis blogshop.

For folk who are familiar with Food Foundry in Section 17 PJ, you’ll be happy to know that Huckleberry is opened and run by the same folk, so you can expect the same standards to apply at both eating outlets. I’d heard of Food Foundry before, but never managed to find the time nor an occasion to check it out but I think I’d want to after sampling the light finger foods and desserts at Huckleberry.

Huckleberry is tucked away into a nook at the back of Times Bookstore in Bangsar Shopping Centre (BSC). (As such, I had a moment of confusion when I arrived and checked BSC’s tenant list only to find no Huckleberry there. Luckily, a quick call to Paris B sorted things out. Phew!) The area itself is not very large, but the tables, chairs and comfy sofas have been neatly arranged to maximize space constraints without feeling cramped. I can imagine chilling at Huckleberry with some coffee and cake whilst browsing books from Times on lazy afternoons.

And since we had some time to spare before the food tasting began, we had an impromptu photoshoot session for Kahani so that she could showcase the lovely cerulean blue dress she wore on Frocking Around.

Then it was on to the food, glorious food!

Here’s my iced cafe latte (MYR 6.00) before I mixed it all up. A decent enough, normal cup of latte that went well with the pastries and cakes that we had.

We started off with the savories. Here you can see 2 types of quiches and a cornish pastry. The spinach and beef bacon quiche (MYR 9.00) was less savory than the mushroom and onion quiche (MYR 9.00) (which I really liked!) but both were melt-in-your-mouth delicious, with just the right amount of flaky pastry the way I like it, which is that it doesn’t remind me of pie, where I have to go through layers of pastry that flakes to bits before you can get to the savory filling. But the standout would be the beef rendang cornish pastry (MYR 9.00), which had a solid meaty filling of rendang that reminded Paris B and me of serunding and would be excellent with nasi lemak.

We then moved on to the sweet stuff (but not exactly desserts yet), starting with the Banana Raisin Bread Pudding (MYR 9.00). Silly me forgot to take a picture of the pudding! I love a good bread pudding and the addition of bananas and raisins to traditional bread pudding was pretty inspired, if you ask me. Not overly sweet, but just nice. Made me wish for vanilla ice-cream to accompany it though.

From left to right, clockwise, you have the Guinness Chocolate Cake (MYR 9.00), Whooppie Pie (MYR 5.00), and Macarons in the flavors of Pineapple, Green Tea and Red Bean (MYR 2.50 each). I would have preferred a slightly stronger tasting Guinness Chocolate Cake and it also needed to be a little bit more moist but on the whole it was good. Same with the Whooppie Pie (could’ve been more moist) which reminded me a bit of Oreos and made me wish for vanilla ice-cream again. The macaroons were uber sweet but oh-so-tempting! The pineapple one reminded us all of traditional pineapple tarts but my absolute fave was the Green Tea one, because the taste balanced out the sweet macaroon shell.

We were by no means finished, because like a magician, Candy whipped out four varieties of cake for us to try! Clockwise from bottom center you have the Chocolate Cake, Hummingbird Cake and Carrot Almond Cake (MYR 9.00). The Chocolate Cake was just right, chocolate-y and moist and reminded me of brownies that would go absolutely perfectly with ice-cream (yes, I think I was craving for ice-cream that day. *wink*). The Hummingbird Cake was nutty and grainy, just the type for people who like “healthy tasting” cakes and got classified as “now-I-know-where-to-get-a-cake-for-my-godmother”. (The Huckleberry Cafe does take orders for whole cakes, but you’ll have to call them up 2 days in advance.) I had rather high expectations for the Carrot Almond Cake because I love carrot cakes in general and this was one of the good ones – not too sweet and light, but filled with lots of good, nutty ingredients. The only thing that threw me off a bit was that faint taste of cinnamon, which I’m not used to having in my carrot cake, and which I suspect may have to be an acquired taste for me at least.

If you have been counting, you would have noticed that I talked about tasting four varieties of cake but only pictured and described three above. Well, I had to save the best for last, right? Here is the highlight of the desserts…

Mille Crepe Cake (MYR 10.00)! Pictured above in Vanilla, it also comes in Strawberry and Chocolate flavors too. Even now, I can picture and taste the delicate crepe layers melting in my mouth with every bite. No wonder this is the best-selling cake at Food Foundry.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go and settle some dessert cravings from writing this post. Contact details of The Huckleberry Cafe are as pictured below.

The Huckleberry Cafe
@ Times Bookstore
Bangsar Shopping Centre
Tel : +60 3-2095 1606

Read other blogger reviews here :
Kahani (featuring the photoshoot session only)
nrewq
Paris B
Xin

I was sent a number of their best-selling soaps to try, all nicely packaged up in a cardboard box. I like that the packaging is reasonably eco-friendly with a minimum of plastic wrapping, unlike commercial soaps. The side of the box tells me that the soap is handcrafted from all natural ingredients in a cold process.

Inside the box, there were 3 different types of soap – No Fragrance, Lemongrass and Rose Geranium. I found the Lemongrass soap to have a stronger fragrance, so I passed it on to my guest reviewer to test out (to be reviewed in a separate blogpost). I personally tried the Rose Geranium soap, which had a sweet floral fragrance to it.

With my sensitive skin and skin problems (eczema), I was keeping my fingers crossed that I wouldn’t have any adverse reactions to the soap and thankfully, nothing happened. The first time I used the soap, I felt my skin was a little bit tighter (not dry though) than when I used my normal emulsion bodywashes but that feeling disappeared with subsequent use. The soap itself does a decent job of letting me feel that my skin is getting clean even though the soap doesn’t really lather up – those who like lots and lots of lather would be disappointed.

The rose geranium fragrance is pleasantly sweet but not overpowering. In fact, this left me just a little disappointed as I had expected the fragrance to linger just a little longer. However, the moment I finished my shower, that was it. No lingering scent in my bathroom and none on my skin too. Sigh!

I had no adverse reactions to the soap but it did not exceptionally help with my long-standing eczema problems either. I’d say this would be a nice to have soap that I reach for when I need a fragrance pick me up in the shower, but it’s not my everyday staple either.

A full-sized bar of Indochine Natural soap costs USD 6.00 and you can order Indochine Natural soaps online or check out a list of their local Malaysian retailers here.

Yes factors : Does not cause sensitive skin to over-react, nice soothing scent
No factors : Scent does not linger, not easily located

Read other blogger reviews here :
Paris B (bodywash from the same range)

Disclaimer : I was sent this product to try and review. Beyond the product itself, I have received no monetary incentive to review and the above blogpost represents my honest opinion of the product.

Description : Does your long, fine hair turn greasy quickly: become dull and flat – losing its shine and energy? To revive your hair’s shine, L’Oréal has created Nutri-Gloss Light shampoo with Pearl Protein+ Citrus. It helps free the hair fibres of deposits and removes impurities. After shampooing, hair feels beautifully cleansed, looks healthy and is light to the touch. Nourished and smoothed, the surface of the hair captures and better reflects the light for a mirror shine, cashmere touch… weightless feel!

Packaging : 200ml or 400ml

Recommended Retail Price : MYR 12.90 or MYR 22.90

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My review :

I seem to have been ‘infected’ by the SoLoverly gals what with my new found interest in shampoos, conditioners and hair masks. It must be the way they keep on talking about ‘happy, bouncy, shiny hair’. Whatever it is they’re using, I want that happy shiny hair too!

Anyways, my previous shampoo of choice (which is still in my growing shampoo arsenal) was Kerastase Dermo-Calm for sensitive scalps as recommended by my former stylist and I liked it well enough to use it on its own (little or no conditioner needed because it leaves my hair reasonably soft and tangle-free). As I’ve also found out by much trial and error, my scalp demands that I alternate my shampoo/conditioner combinations every few days or else it rebels like a teenager – in extremes of either dandruff that’s so bad you’d think it was snowing, or a sudden over-production of oil that leaves me looking like something the cat dragged in.

As luck would have it, I was going through an oily scalp phase where I’d wash my hair daily but still feel rather oily-ish by the end of the day. I was also dropping hair by the hand/strand-ful! Each time I ran my fingers through my hair I’d be sure to come away with a strand or two in between my fingers which is not something that happens often to me. My Kerastase Dermo-Calm held the fort capably when I had dry hair and mild dandruff, but it was no match against the oilies. I needed something stronger and clarifying (a term I learned from reading Kahani’s posts).

Since Kahani touted the clarifying properties of L’Oreal Nutri-Gloss Light Shampoo (hereinafter referred to as NG Light shampoo) as being able to strip away the grease yet gentle enough for everyday use, I grabbed me a bottle when I saw it on offer in Giant Hypermarket – retailing for MYR 9.99 (200ml) on offer. Reading beauty blogs are both good and bad for you, no?

Anyway, the million dollar question here is “Does NG Light shampoo do everything it promises to deliver?”

I’d say “Yes it does!”.

Firstly, they weren’t kidding when they say it really cleans. This is the first shampoo I’ve used that cleans so well, you practically feel as though every strand of your hair is squeaky clean after and I achieved this feel without having to go a second round as I would normally do with any other shampoo to cleanse. It also adds a little bit of noticeable volume to my hair even though I don’t blow dry my hair because my roots are no longer weighed down and greasy. Nice!

I’m not sure how the matching conditioner works with this shampoo, but when paired up with my new favorite Clairol Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner, this combination leaves me with clean yet soft and tangle-free hair. And there’s one more thing that I haven’t mentioned yet. Shine! Yes, this shampoo gives me shiny hair and brings out the color of my previously done highlights in a way that even my L’Oreal Elseve Color shampoo didn’t. But that’s not the end of my raves yet. When I matched using NG Light shampoo with the hair mask from the same Nutri-Gloss range (again, thanks to the persuasive powers of Kahani’s reviews), I achieved close to 90% salon-like hair WITHOUT blow-drying! Just wash, mask, comb and air dry, which is my normal haircare routine anyway.

Yep, I am so converted to using the L’Oreal Nutri-Gloss range now. That’s the good stuff. Now, on to some not so good stuff.

I’m not one of those females who’s into scented stuff so the smell of this shampoo took some getting used to. This shampoo has a light and citrusy scent that should please citrus lovers well enough but got me wondering what it reminded me of until one day while rinsing off my hair in the shower I realized it smells like Sugus or Fruitella (a chewy, sticky sweet). That made me have second thoughts about the smell but for the sake of gorgeous locks, I shall persevere and er, try not to think about it too much. Heh. Do take a moment to check out the smell of the shampoo if scents bug you.

I also found that my hair did not take kindly to me using this shampoo everyday as I noticed my hair heading towards dry territory until I started using it exclusively with the Nutri-Gloss hair mask, which balances the shampoo to perfection. Double shampooing is a no-no for me too. So, I prefer not to use this daily despite the “light” claims and need to alternate it with my Kerastase DermoCalm every 2 – 3 days or so.

Since I’ve found the perfect balance of products to use to keep my hair happy and gorgeous, you can bet I won’t be straying from this for a long, long time. (Or at least until my scalp/hair rebels again.)

Yes factors : Cleans the oilies really well, shine intensifying properties
No factors : Can be a tad drying for daily use (depends on individual user), smell takes some getting used to

Read other blogger reviews here :
Kahani & Syen
Kahani (hair mask from the same range)
Paris B

Tagline : 100% mineral sunscreen cream provides non-irritating, broad spectrum UVA/UVB protection.

Description : Avène “White” suncare line offers 100% mineral, chemical filter-free sunscreen products to provide broad spectrum UVA and UVB protection without irritation. It is safe for even the most sensitive skin, including infants, babies, and post-procedure skin.

Packaging : 50ml / 1.69fl.oz

Recommended Retail Price : MYR 75.90

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My review :

I rarely use sunblock or sunscreen during normal working days as I barely see the sun, heading to work before dawn breaks and returning home well after the sun has set, resulting in me being able to easily maintain my originally fair (some say pale) skin color. However, as age is slowly but surely catching up with me (I thought I saw a dreaded freckle forming!), I decided that perhaps I should start to diligently apply myself to the area of sun care. I had a small sample-sized tube of Avène Very High Protection Cream SPF 50 (after this to be referred to as Avène SPF 50 cream) that came in the Avène sensitive skin starter pack I bought last year so I thought I’d give it a spin and see how it goes.

Being accustomed to using as little skincare as possible to not aggravate my hypersensitive skin, it was a little uncomfortable for me at first knowing and feeling an additional layer of cream on my skin on top of my moisturizer. That’s because I’m psychologically programmed to think that ‘less products used mean less irritation’ after numerous eczema flare-ups. Anyway, I persevered my way through the small sample-sized tube, which lasted me maybe 8 – 10 applications because I use very, very little at a time.

The Avène SPF 50 cream is lightly tinted and it blends in seamlessly on my skin without standing out. In fact, I would even say that it actually evens out my skin tone somewhat so that my patchy skin (due to eczema outbreaks) seems even and smooth and less red. So yes, I like this about Avène SPF 50 cream a lot as it reduces the need for me to use an additional concealer or foundation on top of sunscreen. Also, daily use of Avène SPF 50 cream (over 2 weeks) did not result in the dreaded red spots/patches that usually immediately appear the moment I use something that doesn’t suit my skin, so that was a super plus point in my books.

Unfortunately, the things I don’t like about Avène SPF 50 cream outweigh the plus points for me.

Firstly, there is this faint metallic-like smell that I keep on smelling whenever I have Avène SPF 50 cream on. It’s not super strong like say, Coppertone or Banana Boat sunblocks, but it is there all the same and that bugs me until I get to wash my face at night. Secondly, I’m not really an oily-skinned person but I felt that using Avène SPF 50 cream turned me into an oil slick. After about 3 hours, I swear I could feel a layer of oil film on my nose that I needed to blot. This feeling happened every single time I used Avène SPF 50 cream and again, it bugs me big time.

I toted along Avène SPF 50 cream on a quickie trip to Singapore with the girls simply because I needed a sunblock/sunscreen to use and it was sitting on my dresser and it was a handy travel size. I had it on while we were out and about under the scorching hot Singapore sun (walking the streets at midday with no umbrella is no joke!) and it really does do the job – I didn’t feel my skin burning up and I didn’t turn a shade darker when the trip was over. Unfortunately, I could still smell that metallic-like smell and needing to wash my face to get rid of the oily feel was not what I was looking for in a sunblock/sunscreen.

Compared to other sunblocks/sunscreens available in your local drugstore, I’d say that the pricing for Avène SPF 50 cream is not exactly friendly for those on a budget but I would be willing to pay for something that actually suits my sensitive skin. When pressed for other alternatives, I’d come back to Avène SPF 50 cream because I know it doesn’t affect my skin and try to close my eyes to its shortcomings. But the search for a daily use sunblock/sunscreen continues for me.

Yes factors : High SPF ratio, doesn’t break me out, light tint evens out appearance of skin tone
No factors : Faint metallic-like smell, makes my skin oily, a bit pricey for drugstore brands

It’s a lip gloss that is activated by your body heat and changes color according to your mood. Supposedly it will tell if your current mood is Totally Zen or Slightly Smitten or Feeling Frisky or having Dirty Thoughts or Hot & Bothered or Basking In The Afterglow by changing color from clear white to various shades of pink/fuschia/red.

Mmhmm, the names for the various shades/stages are rather *ahem* suggestive. I have a feeling that this would be a nice lipgloss to fool around with under the right circumstances with the right guy. Hehe.

I don’t think we get Too Faced Cosmetics in Malaysia, so if ever I want to get my paws on this I’ll have to look online or elsewhere. Boo.

Too Faced Cosmetics Mood Swing Lip Gloss retails for USD 18.50 online here.

Tagline / Description : I’m deliciously hydrating. Give your dry hair a drink with my moisturizing conditioner. I say you can never get too much of a good thing. So say “hello” to a deep dousing of lush hydration with my rich formula fused with moisturizers, orchids & coconut milk. Drink up and replenish your hair’s much needed moisture. It’s time to be reunited with manageable, silky, smooth hair.

Packaging : 160ml or 300ml

Recommended Retail Price : MYR 9.90 (160ml) or MYR 16.90 (300ml)

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My review :

Hello Hydration indeed! This Clairol conditioner has got to be my new Holy Grail (HG) conditioner for hair and it was a rather surprising find at that.

I’d finished up my trusty L’Oreal Elseve Smooth-Intense conditioner last week and was in the market for a replacement conditioner. Not that L’Oreal didn’t work well for my hair. It was doing fine, but it tended to make my hair feel just a bit limp and heavy around the 3rd wash. So I made myself what I like to call a Real Deal. I’d pick up a new conditioner but if it didn’t work out I’d go back to my L’Oreal and promise not to stray. Well, at least not until that bottle ran out! Heh.

Now the problem with reading many beauty blogs is that I end up with a very long list of “maybe” products. As in, ‘Maybe I should try this since it worked so well for so-and-so’. So off I went to the nearest pharmacy on a mission. How then did I end up with this conditioner? I blame it on reading way too many of the SoLoverly gals’ posts on shampoos and conditioners and hair masks. Did you know that I’ve never used a hair mask before? Shock, gasp, horror. Such ill-treatment I’ve given my locks but yet they don’t give me much problems. Fingers crossed that is.

So there I was in my local Guardian, walking up and down the haircare aisle, trying to figure out which brand of conditioner I’d eventually settle on. The array of choices was slightly overwhelming, not to mention that I kept on remembering various different blogposts about different brands and treatments. I was actually holding on to another brand of conditioner when I saw Clairol Herbal Essences and my mind went, ‘Oh, Kahani raved about Long Term Relationship!’ Interest piqued, it wasn’t too long before I was sniffing away between Break’s Over (anti-breakage formula) and Hello Hydration (hydration/moisturizing formula). To tell the truth, I preferred the lavender smell of Break’s Over, but the knowledge that my poor hair needed hydration won out. (I also caved and got myself a tub of hair mask from Sunsilk but that’s another story for another day.) It was the pretty light blue color and the bottle shape that won me over. Honest!

After all that yarn-spinning above, how does Clairol Herbal Essences Hello Hydration conditioner (hereafter referred to as HH conditioner) fare in my opinion? Excellently well.

Firstly, the texture of HH conditioner is creamier and thicker than what I’m used to and you can really feel the difference when applying it. You only need to use a minimal amount of conditioner (unlike a previous experience I had with Pantene anti-hairfall conditioner where I had to use up to a tablespoonful of product before my hair felt sufficiently conditioned). The moment I started to rinse my hair, I had the thought that it felt exactly as if I’d just done a salon treatment from the way that my hair slipped through my fingers. As Kahani so eloquently puts it – ‘It feels like watered silk’. I even think that the HH conditioner could be used like a hair mask because of its slightly thicker texture.

Even though my hair isn’t all that long (currently it ends just slightly below my shoulder and it takes an awfully long time to grow out) already the ends are drying up and starting to misbehave when I let them be. So it was such a glorious feel to run my fingers through my hair and think, ‘Whee! So smooth!’ And now I have perfect tangle-free hair that is so soft to touch. Yes, I am definitely sold on this product and would repurchase in a heartbeat.

The only minor flaw in my happiness is that I’m not really a big fan of the scent. It’s supposed to be a combination of orchid and coconut milk and while it’s not exactly overpowering or anything, it’s just not me! Now if only they would tone down the scent just a little bit I’ll be a happy kitty. But I’m sure it’ll grow on me in time. I hope. Would it also be too much to ask for if I wanted it to make my hair super shiny as well?

Yes factors : Leaves hair soft, smooth and tangle-free, minimal amount of product needed each time, reasonably economical drugstore product
No factors : Scent may not be pleasing to all

Read other blogger reviews here :
Beetrice (Break’s Over – same brand, different range)
Kahani (Long Term Relationship – same brand, different range)
Pretty Beautiful (Long Term Relationship hair mask – same brand, different range)

Just a quick post to notify readers that Metrojaya is currently allowing shoppers to sign up for the MJ Privilege Card for free this weekend (24 – 25 April).

Yup, they’re handing out their department store loyalty card for free – no purchase required. Even better yet, you get a MYR 10 voucher to spend together with the card, so that’s essentially MYR 10 being given away by Metrojaya to every person who signs up for the card. Can you say score?

There is one thing though – it seems that the numbers of cards being given out are limited, so maybe that’s why this campaign isn’t being published or promoted because I didn’t see any flyers or banners. I found out by chance from a friendly cashier who told me when I made my purchase at Metrojaya MidValley just now.

So, if you’re not a MJ Privilege cardholder yet, now’s your chance to be one for free!

I don’t know about you, but I do love my manicures when I get them done for special occasions. The only thing that bugs me is that they only look good for say, the first 3 – 4 days. After that, hatch marks and wear start showing and eventually after a week the gloss and shine fades to a dull matte color. All that money for nothing!

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So naturally, my interest was really pricked when I read about the new CND Shellac Hybrid Nail Color that promises to look just as salon perfect after 14 days. Are they sure or not? Can the product live up to their claims? If the real thing is anything like the photos on All Lacquered Up, I’m definitely sold on this product!

The only thing is, I don’t know of any nail salon in Malaysia that carries CND products. Do you? Do share if you know cos I really want to try this out!