Epicare, The Original Facial Hair Remover - A Review

Facial hair is such a hassle. Personally, I wax unwanted hairs on my face, but not before I have to wait for it to grow long enough to be able to wax! That stage can be incredibly awkward, and let's face it, embarrassing. When I was sent the Epicare Facial Hair Remover for review, I hoped that it would be the perfect buffer for that in-between phase.

The Epicare is a do-it-yourself manual threading device to remove unwanted facial hair. It's spring action removes unwanted hair from the roots (just like plucking) and does so without damaging the skin. Basically, you just have to bend the device (like the picture shows) and roll the ends gently with your fingertips. It's really that easy!

How did I get along with it? I actually quite like it! I found it to be really effective on the fine blond hair in between my eyebrow - Epicare removed it without a problem. Even my boyfriend gave it a go (twitter proof here)! I bravely tried it under my brows, but I wouldn't recommend it. The device isn't precise enough to make sure you don't take a chunk out of your brow hair at the same time. That isn't to say that with a bit of practice I might be able to!

I also tried this on my very fine chin hair - and by that I mean the duvet hair that every face has. This is where I thought it worked best - it removed hair I didn't even know I had! I had a harder time removing my upper lip hair. However, the little guide that comes with the Epicare gives you a tip to make this easier: just stretch your upper lip by pushing your tongue outward to maximize the effectiveness of the Epicare. While it did help, it wasn't able to catch every hair on my upper lip.

I really like the fact that this is very environment friendly - other than the packing the Epicare comes in, there's no waste other than your unwanted hair. It is super easy to maintain and clean - the instructions say to lightly tap the Epicare on a solid surface to get the hairs out of the spring and I found that to work well.

Practice really makes perfect with this tool - the more I used it, the better I was at removing hair. Still, this tool is quite hard to focus on one specific area - it's impossible to remove one hair! So I wouldn't suggest this tool if you barely have any facial hair - a tweezer would probably suit your needs better. But if like me, you're a waxing regular, and need something to tie you up in between waxing sessions, this is perfect. I'm hoping that with enough practice, I'll be able to ditch the waxing strips forever, and only use this eco-friendly little wonder!

For Canadian, the Epicare is conveniently available (in a variety of colors!) on the Nail Polish Canada website (link here), and for US based shoppers, the Epicare is available on their website, www.epicarehome.com.

* I have received this product for consideration by Nail Polish Canada, but my opinions are always my own. I am not being compensated for this review and I always strive to review products with honesty.

Snow themed mani with Essie's Bikini So Teeny

When nailpolishcanada.com first contacted me to participate in their Holiday Nail Art Challenge, I wasn't sure I'd be good enough for it. Me? Nail art? I can't say I know my way around that. But, I'm a pretty creative person, so I decided I'd give it a go anyway - worst that can happen is that I'll have fun with my nail polishes!

This week's theme was snow! So I put myself to the task and came up with this manicure!

I didn't want to create anything complicated (because I'm not that good!) but wanted something sparkly and layered.

For this manicure, I used the following products:

From left to right: Essie Bikini So Teeny, Orly Twilight, China Glaze White on White, Nicole by OPI It's All About the Glam, OPI Pirouette My Whistle, and Seche Vite Top Coat.

I started with two coats of Bikini So Teeny, which in itself is beautiful. Then I used Orly's Twilight just on the tip of my nails. I then dotted China Glaze's White on White as well as Nicole by OPI's It's All About Glam on my nails with a pencil (#klassy) as well as a mechanical pencil (#professional) to get the different sizes of "snowflakes". After this, I added OPI's Pirouette My Whistle on top of everything to create some dimension. A coat of Seche Vite to finish it off and VOILA!

I had so much fun doing this!

The Holiday Nail Art Challenge is live on nailpolishcanada.com and you can vote for your favorite snow manicure here. Of course, I'd really appreciate if you could vote for me!

For my all my American friends - Happy Thanksgiving! Our Canadian one has already passed, but yum, I could totally eat stuffing and sweet potatoes again! That's my kind of comfort food!

China Glaze Nail Appliqué in Shake Your Tail Feathers

When I was offered to review China Glaze's new Real Nail Polish Appliqués* by Nail Polish Canada, my trusty polish supplier, I jumped at the chance. What's not to love? No dry time, quickly done manicure, and funky designs. Did I mention no dry time?

Anyway, I chose the Shake Your Tail Feathers design since I loved the color and swirls.

Applying these is pretty simple once you get the hang of it. You simply peel off the sticker off the back of the "app" and place it on your nail, where your cuticle is, making sure the base is sticking and not to creating any ridges in the process. Then, you gently pull the "app" over the edge of the nail, gently filing off any excess. And voila!

Having never tried these before, I messed up a few nails. Honestly, it's not very obvious that the "app" wasn't applied properly because of the pattern in the design - it kindly hides any mistakes. However, since my nails are so wide AND curved, the "app" was not wide enough to cover my whole nail, specifically, the middle finger and ring finger. The advantage of this however is that people who naturally have very small nails, and don't really get to enjoy the fun of nail art because of their small nails, can definitely revel in these. I've seen them applied on small nails and it looked great! And a lot of them have great patterns that would look amazing on short nails!

I think I did make a mistake with these - I used Seche Vite as a top coat and I think it caused the edges to curl. Seche Vite is meant to help your polish dry and since this polish is already dry, I think it messed with it a little. So, I'd suggest NOT using Seche Vite as a top coat over it. However, I wore them for a few days anyway and had no problem with them falling off - the edges were a bit curled though.

Overall, I'd only suggest these if you don't have a wide nail plate like mine and if you like pattern or design on your nails. However, the fact that there is no dry time is awesome, and the application is very simple and easy! So go for it if this sounds like something you'd like, but do NOT use Seche Vite! Ha ha ha! The China Glaze Nail Appliqué are available on Nail Polish Canada.

* I have received these products for consideration but my opinions are always my own. I am not being compensated for this review and I always strive to review products with honesty.