Product Review: ORLY Breathable Treatment + Color

Asalaamu alaikum!

So, I really love painting my nails. When I was in the military it felt like I could never really have them painted so once I got out, I kept my nails painted as much as possible. However, upon reverting to Islam, I had to stop painting them except for while on my period, which many sisters can relate to. However, a few companies have come out with halal (water permeable) nail polish! For them to be halal, they have to allow water to reach the nail/nail bed.

Here's a North American fatwa on nail polish: http://askamufti.com/question-details.aspx?qstID=4905

So, obviously, I was super excited. I've been waiting around to get some, because for a while no one was sure if it was really halal. However, several scholars have come forward and said that various brands are halal and many many bloggers and reviewers have tested the various brands.

When I was looking at brands, the first one that comes up (usually), is Tuesday in Love. However, from my understanding, these polishes are water permeable (a sister tested them and let me know), but they are also peel-off, which I've never been a fan of, not even when I was nine and peelable nail polish was (for some reason) all the rage.

The fatwa above gives information about O2M by Inglot. https://www.inglotusa.com/o2m They have a LOT of colors but base, color, and top coat all run $16-$17 a bottle. Another brand is Maya. https://maya-cosmetics.com/ This brand has less of a color range, but they all come with cute names, many of which can be related back to Islam, and they have a glitter top coat! However, their polish is about $14 a bottle. Both of these brands, however, have halal certifications.

ORLY just recently launched their breathable polish, and let me say I was very very excited when I heard about it! The polish itself is a combination of color and nail treatment, with vitamins and argon oil to help strengthen your nails and make them healthier (my nails are constantly breaking and I have bad ridges). Further, there is NO NEED for a base or top coat! This cuts painting time down significantly. However, ORLY has not yet received its halal certification, from my understanding (I'm in communication with someone at ORLY to see if we can get an update on this). But, since the polish is available at ulta, I went to the store and got some - for $9 a bottle! (Actually, ulta was running a sale when I got mine, BOGO 50% off!)

So, as you can see above (please excuse the coffee-stained counter!), the polish IS water permeable, to a great extent, actually! It looks like you may not even have to do the "rub for 10 seconds" step, but I was just following what Maya recommended for their products (keep in mind, theirs has base and top coat as well). This was actually the second test, as my original video wouldn't save for some weird reason. 

Now, on the product itself: 

I really love how this polish applied. The brush is wide and flat, which I prefer, because I can cover my entire nail in one or two swipes. (Last night when I painted mine, I just didn't care so honestly my nails are a mess right now.) It's quick drying. The polish itself feels different when you touch it after it's dried. I can't really explain it, but it just feels different from normal polish. 

Like I said, I was going to bed so I REALLY didn't care! lol

Colors I got: sparkly red, burgundy purple, magenta, light grey

The only real downside with this brand is they don't have a black polish, so I will have to purchase from a more expensive brand to get that. But so far I'm really liking the purply burgundy color they are calling "The Antidote" and it should match my new jilbab which I should be receiving soon and then reviewing, insha'Allah! 

So there you have it! AFFORDABLE halal nail polish, sold in a relatively wide-spread specialty make-up store in the US. Insha'Allah they receive their official certification soon, but for now I'm going to say, based on the fatwa given above and my test, that it's safe!

(UPDATE: I have been informed by Orly that they have received their UK certification!)

@RivkaZee Hi Rivka, we've had confirmation from our brand team that ORLY Breathable Colour is officially Halal certified x

— ORLY Beauty UK (@ORLYBeautyUK) October 21, 2016

Asalaamu alaikum w jazak'Allah kyr!

Sajida.

Product Review: Nabira Jilabib and Gloves!

Asalaamu alaikum! Today I am showing the review videos for my new jilabib from Nabira and also giving a little more insight, inshallah.

The first one I will do is the Jilbab Mina II:

This jilbab was fantastic over the cool weekend. I think the only time I didn't wear it was to sleep! It kept me comfortable while studying outside. As stated in the video, the color was not as expected. Here is their color scheme below:

So I was expecting the dark red toward the bottom left, but the color I received was actually more of a burgundy with brown. Here are the colors of the jilabib with my gloves I received for contrast, because I thought I ordered plum in those as well (but I may have ordered Raspberry...):

The left shows the colors in dim lighting, while the right is with flash. The right is closer to what the colors look like in daylight but if it is cloudy or dim they look darker. When I received the package, I thought i had received two black jilabib, that is how dark the fabric looked. 

The gloves I received are wonderful and very comfortable. The website says they are chiffon but I don't believe that - they are quite stretchy and I've never owned chiffon with stretch. They go up past my elbow on me, but I'm quite small, so I would assume on a "normal" sized person they would reach about mid-forearm.

Here is the Jilbab Jiza II:

The Jiza II is a 1/2 jilbab, you only get the top/khimar and no skirt or sarwal with it, though they do have Jiza II sarwal available.

The sleeves on this are kind of cotton/lycra and very long, with the intent that it be easy to wear with jacket or blazer for work. Here are some photos of Jiza II:

 

As you can see in the above pictures, the sleeves are quite long. Without a blazer or jacket, the fabric will flow down, creating a larger silhouette, more like what we are used to seeing in French Jilabib and Saudi/UAE style abayat.
The sleeves go just above the elbow on me, much like the gloves I received, so it's likely that the sleeves would be shorter on someone more "average" size.  It fit wonderfully under my blazer and was quite comfortable, with the fabric creating beautiful folds in the front. The only downside to this jilbab, for me, is really the lack of thumb holes! However, it got a little warmer today here, and I will say that the sleeves on this are warmer than the Mina II, so I've had to remove my blazer at school today and while outside because of the warmth of it. Additionally, this jilbab had a few loose strings, but that isn't really a problem to me (pretty used to that, thanks to military uniforms!).

Now, on to the technical stuff!

Nabira is a French brand, so you should plan to pay a little more in shipping. Shipping offered was in the mid-$20s, and you have two choices: 8-10 day shipping or 5 day shipping. 5 day shipping is only $2 more so I would highly encourage everyone go with it! They use a brand called DHL for their 5-day international shipping and the company is absolutely wonderful. I got email and text alerts saying when it shipped and one the day it was to arrive, letting me know. If you need to, you can call DHL and ask questions. They were wonderful when I asked how late I could expect my package as it said "end of day" (the answer to that is 8 pm).

Now when I first asked Nabira about colors they assured me colors would match (I was comparing the plum color from another listing to see if it would be the color of my Jiza II jilbab). However, they haven't replied yet when it comes to the dark red being a very different color. It's not that I dislike the color, but it is much more brown and darker than expected, and I'm honestly not a huge fan of brown though I do like the jilbab I ordered.

Finally, both of the jilabib I ordered have light microfiber fabric (other than the sleeves for the Jiza II). When you put it on, it can have a "crunchy" kind of sound when you move your head, but you get used to it after a bit. Only downside is if my Husband or the boyfriend are talking and not looking at me, and I'm not expecting them to talk, then I have to ask them to repeat themselves as turning my head covers their words with fabric sounds.

One last thing is that I would encourage girls to tie their jilbab TIGHT and/or use a bow knot, because otherwise the band will loosen significantly and this could end up happening multiple times during the day which can be extremely annoying.

Alrighty, thank you all for reading/watching and I really hope you enjoyed my review!

Asalaamu alaikum!
Sajida. <3

Product Review: Sadika Fashions Niqabs

Asalaamu alaikum, all! And Happy New Year/L'Shana Tovah!

Alhamdullilah I was able to go outside and do some video reviews today. The one I want to highlight right now is the review of my niqabs from Sadika Fashions. Sadika is a US brand, based out of Philadelphia, PA. The sisters who run this shop make the niqabs themselves, allahumma barik lahum. The two that I have are both good quality Saudi crepe and alhamdullilah very breathable. (Little anecdote, my friend Cas in Texas ordered some cheap niqabs online and almost passed out at work! Alhamdullilah she bought from Sadika Fashions three niqabs that night and hasn't had an issue since!)

So here is what I'm talking about with the eye holes on my new, more casual niqab:

As you can see, the side on the left is about an inch longer than the side on the right. Also, the string divider is very short.

I shortened the long side, matching it up and stitching over the previous stitches to keep it from being noticeable. I also used a seam ripper to open the headband and pull the string down to make it longer, stitched that back in, and realigned the string as it had a 1 cm diagonal shift. After these quick fixes (maybe 20 minutes), I was left with the above, which I am SUPER happy with! I think that it was just a fluke, not really anything to worry the sisters at Sadika about when I could fix it easily. Plus my first niqab from them had absolutely no issues.

Inshallah I will order from them again. Right now, I am waiting on a niqab from Austria so inshallah it arrives soon and I can review it for you lovelies!

Thanks for checking me out! Asalaamu alaikum! <3

Sajida.