The Low Down: Martina's Nails Place

The 'Low Down' is basically a new series that we would like to jump start for 2013 on our blog where we visit various local business that operate within the beauty industry such as spas, hairdressers,etc and we give you our personal experience and feedback on the location.

We begin the series with Martina's Nails Place, the hip spot for trendy nail designs. I initially heard about the nail spa through Spa Week 2012 and I actually purchased a gift card for discounted services which were acrylic tips application and a pedicure. The nail shop is located at Shop #12 Princeville Plaza on Constant Spring Road and it's a small yet cozy setup. The owner Martina is a friendly and jovial person and so is the staff, but  her nail art skills are what draws many of her clientele to the business. Strewn across her Facebook page are pictures upon pictures of trendy nail art designs from polka dots to Pacman; no design is too technical or difficult for them. I put my stamp of approval on this place and if you've been let me know what you think, until then, take a look at the pictures of her work and price list below.

Price List

MANICURE................................$1,000.00

PEDICURE.................................$1,200.00

FRENCH TIPS...........................$2,200.00

REGULAR TIPS.........................$2,000.00

RE-POLISH.............................$500.00

SOAK OFF...........................$300.00

REFILL............................$1,000.00

She also does shellac and gel nails.

My Nails done by Martina

A look inside the store

Pedicure station

Until next time guys!
Debbie

Japonesque Professional Parian Spirit: Review & Demo

Hello friends! I have another product review for you as well as a little demo/how to on the Japonesque Professional Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner. I picked this up at Ulta simply because I was curious and wanted to try out a new brush cleaner. I'm very happy that I decided to get it, it works very well at cleaning, sanitizing and deodorizing my brushes, so I'm gonna give you the 411 on this product.

 

The brush cleaner cost USD$12.00 which is not bad seeing that you get 4.25 fluid ounces of product and some other brands of parian spirit can get pretty pricey. It's great for makeup artists on the go, the everyday girl who may not have time to always deep clean her brushes after every use, and it's excellent for travelling, as it takes the hassle out of cleaning your brushes when you're not at home. The spray nozzle makes it easy to apply the cleaner to the brushes and it has a pleasant orange scent which leaves your brushes smelling fresh. It dries very quickly (about 3 minutes) so you're ready to use your brush again almost immediately. I must note that you should still try to deep clean your makeup brushes at least once a week with soap and water since this is meant to be a quick fix for dirty brushes.

How To/Demo

Here's how well the brush cleaner works on my Real Techniques powder brush and Sigma concealer brush.

See all the makeup residue left behind?...yuck!

You will need paper towels or an actual towel, whatever you prefer and a hard surface.

For the powder brush, I lightly saturated it with the cleaner and began to swirl the brush in gentle circular motions and as you can see it works perfectly at removing powder residue from brushes.

Concealer brushes can be a little trickier to clean because liquid or cream based concealers can really stick to the bristles of your makeup brush, but with a little elbow grease it quickly dissolves the cream/liquid residue. I cleaned this brush using a zig zag motion and I applied a bit more pressure to get in between the bristles.

Now my brushes are clean, conditioned and sanitized and ready for use

I would definitely recommend this cleaner to any and everyone and I give it 2 thumbs up!

What do you think of the Japonesque Parian Spirit Brush Cleaner guys? or have you tried any other brush cleanser?
Debbie

Hotel Review: Secrets Resort - Wild Orchid

For our lifestyle section we have decided to add resort reviews, from a local perspective that is, because usually when you try to find reviews on hotels in Jamaica its normally from a tourist's point of view. I will start out by reviewing Secrets Resort in Montego Bay, St. James. My bf and I went to Secrets Wild Orchid in the summer of 2010 for 3 days and 2 nights and let me say it was AMAZING!!!

The resort was newly opened, so everything was brand new and modern looking. However, you could still see that minor things needed to be done around the resort. I will tell you about our experience based on different categories.

Service

The service at Secrets was absolutely remarkable from the moment we entered until we left. When we drove in there was valet parking which of course is a plus; after traveling for almost 3hrs from Kingston, the last thing we wanted to do was to drive around looking for a parking spot. As we entered the resort we were greeted with cold towels and a glass of champagne...so lovely :). The front desk agent that checked us in was also very pleasant, and she even sent us a complementary bouquet of flowers and a bottle of champagne (which is normally exclusive to honeymoon guests), so of course we loved that. The hotel staff in general were extremely helpful, we were treated like royalty; normally you would hear horror stories about staff only catering to tourists or if you tip in a foreign currency, but we never got that feeling.


Accommodations

The room was lovely, it was exactly as how it was described on the website. It's the perfect combination of modern and cozy. My favourite part of the room was the bedding, as the sheets were of high quality and extremely comfortable! The jacuzzi was also really good, however I think the layout of the bathroom could have been a little better.

Food
The food was a bit so-so. They have a wide variety of choices because there are several different restaurants on the property, but we thought the taste of the food could have been a little better. I remember going to the French restaurant and we ordered lamb, which was horrible! Their lunch buffet however was really good. Room service is also available and they come in a timely manner, which was good.

Beach

For me, the beach at any resort has to be top priority, because I am the ultimate beach bum. Secret's beach however was extremely disappointing. I thought that since it was in Mobay the beach would have been perfect, but it was far from that. I didn't like the sand and the water felt weird and it itched my skin. Also, it didn't look as amazing as they depicted it on the website. The pool was really nice though and towels were never in shortage!

Activities

They have the general activities that you would come expect from any all inclusive resort in Jamaica, nothing extra special. This is not a big deal for me because the resort is for couples and they focus a lot on providing a romantic setting and experience for their guests, which they have truly mastered.

Overall, I enjoyed my experience at Secrets and it was extremely romantic. I would recommend that persons stay on the Wild Orchid side of the resort, its a little more expensive, but I think its worth it. The downside to Secrets however is the price, it can be expensive, running around USD$500 per person per night. A tip however, to cut the cost is to ask for local rates, usually hotels have a special rate for locals. You should also try to go when its not tourist peak season, as the price is a lot less. The best time to go is between Mid-April to Mid- December. My bf and I went during the time of the Dudus Saga, so my bf says, we got the 'post Dudus discount'...lol, which was a good deal!

Rating: 4/5


Hope you enjoyed
Shannon