Category

Beauty & Skin

January 4, 2011

Current Obsession – Nail Polish

Thanks Zoya for sparking me to become re-obsessed with nail polish – sheesh. 🙂

Part of my problem is I lean towards liking colors I don’t think are exactly … first-meeting-with-a-potential-client appropriate.

I knew I wasn’t going to be having meetings around the holidays though so I am actually wearing this color aqua at the moment. I’ll try and take a picture tomorrow before I remove it. One thing I didn’t like was that even being super careful and allowing for excessive dry time I ended up with some smudges. Nothing so bad I needed to redo it but not as good as the opaque white I wore the week before. Maybe I put it on too fast, I’m not sure. I plan on giving this aqua another go after my Thursday client meeting.

I don’t have a ton of in person meetings but a lot of my clients are fairly conservative and 40+ so they didn’t grow up with strange colors being appropriate on nails.

I remember wearing black nail polish back in 1993 and got crap for it from people I went to school with. I’d almost say that certain shades of black are more … socially acceptable now though?? Anyway – it’s leaning on the safe side that had kept me from using much nail polish in the last five-ten years (seriously.) That and the unnecessary chemicals that many of the polishes are starting to slowly remove due to demand. Plus typing used to mean that two days max and my nails looked like crap.

The teal has been going strong for about 4 days now and the opaque white (I don’t remember the name but it was also a sinful colors polish) died on day 7. Day 7 that one just started peeling off in blobs. I don’t think I’ve ever made it that long before without some tip chipping. I used the base coat, 2 coats, and then the base coat as the top coat simply because I didn’t seem to have a top coat polish here anymore.

Maybe that’s what I messed up on the aqua. I did base coat, 2 coats but no top coat (or base as top coat.)

In upcoming days I’ll be posting my research / wishlist for the sinful colors line and also sharing the massive number of spoons I’ve got from Zoya in the last couple of weeks.

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December 5, 2010

Free Zoya Nail Polish! (Hopefully)

Zoya Nail Polish Facebook Like Offer

Press our Like button!
Zoya Nail Polish
wants 20,000 Facebook fans!

20,000 Likes equals 3 Free Bottles of Zoya Nail Polish! MUST have 20,000 likes by 11:59 PM EST on January 3, 2011 (or before that date if 20,000 is reached). See their Facebook page for full details!

I was not paid to promote this but I do want free nail polish from them because it’s:
Vegan-friendly and completely free of formaldehyde, toluene, DBP, & camphor

The 3 colors I’ll get if they reach 20,000 likes:

Dominique Dulcinea
Loredana

And I may go ahead and buy one or two more (so hard to choose!):

TiffanyPoppySkyeKylie2

http://www.facebook.com/ZoyaNailPolish

November 3, 2010

Burt’s Bees VS. Wet N Wild Natural Blend LIP SHIMMERS

I previously talked about the WNW Natural Lip Shimmers here:
http://clothingcult.com/2010/08/12/wet-n-wild-natural-blend-lip-shimmer-review/

Now I have some photos so you can see these Lip Shimmers compared to the Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers. I also did the swatches on my arm in different lights since it can often be hard to tell what color something is online. Sorry that the first photo is a little blurry.

burt's bees lip shimmers champagne watermellon rhubarb coffee nutmeg caramel merlot

wet n wild natural blend lip shimmers frost tarte sugar maple nutmeg cocoa, and yes to carrots in c m blush

burts bees vs wet n wild lip shimmers swatches on my arm

Burt’s Bees VS. Wet N Wild Natural Blend LIP SHIMMERS bottom line:

As you can see, many of the colors are similar but only a few could be mistaken for one another. Wet N’ Wild’s “Frost” is almost indistinguishable from Burt’s Bees “Champagne” Lip Shimmer and both “Nutmeg” colors are pretty darn close.

As I mentioned in the previous post, the ingredient list is natural with no parabens, no synthetics etc. which is very surprising for a cheap drugstore brand that doesn’t usually focus on natural products.

And when I say cheap drugstore brand, I really do mean cheap. Burt’s Bees Lip Shimmers are $5 each whereas the Wet N Wild Natural Blend Lip Shimmers are only $2 each. You can typically find then at Walgreens but if you don’t see them in the stores you can still buy them online. Amazon.com carries them but at a much higher price so I would recommend Walgreens.com or Drugstore.com if you’re having trouble finding them locally.

UPDATE: If you prefer lip gloss in tubes, check out my post on the Burt’s Bees new Lip Gloss:
http://clothingcult.com/2013/03/13/burts-bees-new-lipgloss-tubes/

October 24, 2010

Is Breast Cancer Awareness Month just an excuse for “Pinkwashing”?

Pinkwashing (peenk+woshing) -noun
1. a term used to describe the activities of companies and groups that position themselves as leaders in the struggle to eradicate breast cancer while engaging in practices that may be contributing to rising rates of the disease.

The Story of Cosmetics

References:

Books about the dangers hidden in cosmetics:

October 12, 2010

Travel/Gym Makeup & Jewelry bags

Sadly, none of these is quite what I’m looking for. The closest one is the brush roll/bag from ulta in the bottom right corner but I have a phobia about carrying things with magnets (electronic gadgets like a phone … I just don’t want magnets near that type of thing.) This magnet problem is the same problem I’m having with most purses – most of those “snap” closures that go together so easily are magnets which I don’t want.

October 5, 2010

Shared Video : ToneItUp.com @ Marie Claire featuring natural beauty products

http://www.toneitup.com
http://www.marieclaire.com

Some of the products mentioned in this video:

I disagree with the bit at the end about sunscreen. Many American’s are stuck in an office not getting out in the sun to get enough natural Vitamin D. You don’t want to burn, that’s bad, so there is a time and place for sunscreen. But this obsessive “you must wear it daily” is harming people. I’ll do a separate post next summer about eco-friendly sunscreen for when you want to hit the beach or go for a long hike.

As always, check your choices against: http://www.cosmeticsdatabase.com/

Brands mentioned in this video:

  • John Masters Organics
  • Living Proof
  • TRESemme Naturals
  • Tarte
  • Stila (not natural or organic)
  • Urban Decay Vegan
  • Priti Nail Polish
  • SumBody
  • Korres
  • Lavera
  • Pacifica
  • Juice Beauty
  • It’s a 10