Dangerous toxins in Skin Food polishes

A kind friend just forwarded this piece of news to me and I thought I ought to share it with you all. =]

The Hong Kong government has recently discovered high levels of harmful chemicals benzene and toluene in some Asian nail polish brands and Skin Food is amongst one of them. Benzene is a known human carcinogen while toluene is one of the Big 3 toxic chemicals that a lot of the established brands have already taken out of their formulations.

Even though Skin Food is not readily available for sale in North America, it can indeed be purchased on eBay and other online retailers. I know a lot of ladies have bought these because of the adorable packaging and the wide range of colours that they provide (like myself) so I just thought this article might interest you. Please click here to view! =]

I guess Skin Food is not a good choice if you want to go Big 3 Free. I don't know what to do with mine yet but I'll definitely be putting them aside. =[

Edit: There are two images in the article, if you click on to the next one you will be able to find a table with all the problematic nail polishes along with the harmful toxins found in them. I hope this helps!

Revlon Top Speed Jaded

So these new Revlon Top Speeds have been popping up in stores in the past little while. I found Jaded in a rotating display with 20 or so other colours. Some of the shades appeared to be dupes of this year's scented Revlons but without the fragrance, so these would be perfect if you like the colours from that collection but not the scent. However, I believe these are Canadian exclusives....no?

Jaded seems to have some shimmer in the bottle, but on the nail it is barely visible. I was rather impressed with the application since I was able to obtain full coverage in only two coats. The formula is a little on the thick side but this seems to be the case for most fast dry nail polishes. I missed out on Revlon Minted when it came out, but I'm really happy to have picked this up since the two appear to be very similar from the comparison pictures that I've seen. =)

Check out this week's new nail blogs!

Here are some new blogs to check out for this week:

Another Nail Blog

Bitten Apple

Konad and Polish

Makeup and Entropy

Nails_r_us

SakuraBlossom

Please feel free to drop me a comment or email with a link to your nail polish blog. I'd love to feature you here on my site as well! =)

Joe Fresh Faded Violet

Joe Fresh Style is a Canadian brand that produces stylish and affordable fashion items and beauty products. Their creative director, Joseph Mimran, is also the man behind other successful labels such as Alfred Sung and Club Monaco.

Faded Violet is a lovely pastel purple creme that's opaque in two coats. Only two coats! Can you believe it?  I was so amazed by the application while swatching because I never expected the formula to be this good for a pastel. =O

 If you have not yet tried any of the Joe Fresh nail polishes, I would highly recommend you do. They're very affordable and are available in a wide range of unique colours. You can purchase them at all Real Canadian Superstores and Loblaws if you're on the east coast. =)

I recently visited their website and noticed that there are some new shades released for the Fall. I have already emailed them asking when they'll be available in stores so hopefully I'll get a reply soon. =) I will make sure to keep you guys posted so please stay tuned!

I can't wait to try some of these new shades especially the green and the blue. A matte topcoat will be released with this collection as well, I wonder if this means the matte trend will return for Fall 2010?

Edit: Joe Fresh mentioned on Twitter that the new collection will be shipping out in the next couple of weeks. Thank you so much Halifax for letting me know! :)

P.S. I posted larger pictures for this entry, please let me know if you ladies prefer this size more or the smaller ones. =)

Thanks for reading! xoxo

Nail Art Spam!!!

Just thought I ought to compile a list of all the nail art designs that I've done in the past for easier navigation. Enjoy!

Please click on the links below each picture to go to the actual posts! =)

Strawberry Nails- one of my all-time favourite nail art designs, it looks oh-so-cute yet it only requires a few simple steps to create! :D

Gothic Lolita Mani

Miga the Seabear Mani- she's one of the Vancouver 2010 Winter Olympics mascot just in case you were wondering! Sigh...how much I miss the Olympics! =(

Ice Cream Sundae Mani

Nautical themed mani...take #1

Nautical themed mani...take #2- I really like how the colours pop in this one!

Nautical themed mani...take #3

My very first gradient mani!- this was taken soon after I started blogging, I was out swatching in the sun everyday...see how tanned my fingers looked? =P

Pink and Silver Gradient

Summer Fruit Salad Mani

My very first Konadicure- I wanna redo this design cuz my nails were kinda funny looking back then. Lol!

Liz Liza Mani

Lattice Mani- Now that I look at it, I think this design would've looked prettier with just the pearls instead of the silver sequins =o

Blue Leopard Print and French Tips

Cherries inspired mani

My Easter Mani

Minnie Mouse Mani- basically red french tips + white polka dots! Oh right, and I lined the tips with silver glitter too! =) Easiest nail design ever!

Lace Nails- still have to come up with a tutorial on this! I have all the lace cut up already so I just have to wait until the sun cooperates with me =p

Dolly Wink French Tips- really wanna try out some of the other nail art ideas on the website! Hmm..maybe after my finals when I have more time. =)

Tiffany & Co. inspired design

My super patriotic Olympic inspired mani =P

Hello Kitty Mani- I dropped my phone the other day and a whole row of the crystals fell off! FML! T_T The good thing is that I can have them replaced for free if I bring it back to the shop. Hurray for lifetime warranty! =D

What a long post eh? Are there any favourites from the bunch or any designs that you would like to try out? I'd love to know! =D

Thanks for visiting! xoxo

Something Blue- A Tiffany Inspired Manicure + Swatches

Here is picture of my Tiffany & Co. inspired manicure. Seriously, how can you not love Tiffany? ;) This design is really easy to create, I used China Glaze For Audrey for the base colour and Konad plate m71 for the lace pattern.

For comparison purposes, here are some swatches of nail polishes that are very similar in colour to the famous Tiffany Blue. Please note that the beautiful robin egg blue used by the company is protected as a trademark so there will not be any perfect dupes out there.

From left to right: China Glaze For Audrey, Chanel Nouvelle Vague, Essie Greenport, Essie Turquoise and Caicos

The polishes in direct sunlight.

Since the colour on the box is slightly washed out by the bright sunlight, here is another swatch taken indoors.
 

To conclude, I would say Nouvelle Vague is the best match aside from its semi-hidden diamond shimmer. However, dear fellow blogger Polish Hoarder discovered that there are actually several variations to Tiffany Blue on the different packagings. Please click here for a more detailed comparison post on her blog where she displays the matching polishes she found for this enchanted shade.

Have a fantastic Friday everyone and thank you so much for stopping by!

This week's new blogs + Muimui!

Here's a picture of Muimui enjoying her cake, I think this was taken when she was like...six weeks old? Sooo cute, omg! ^-^

Please take a lil time to visit all these wonderful new nail blogs! =)

Alice in Polishland

Ali's Nail News

Canadian Nail Fanatic

Jeweled Tips

Newbie Nails

nitty gritty nails.

Also, please feel free to leave me a comment or send an email to ilovenailpolish.321@gmail.com if you would like to be featured on my site as well! Thanks for stopping by everyone!

OPI Designer Series Japanese Releases

Special thanks to 2 ga jeh for getting these gorgeous holos for me!! ^-^

From left to right:

OPI DS Divine DS 005-JP

OPI DS Chiffon DS 008-JP

OPI DS Sapphire DS 010-JP

OPI DS Tapestry DS 012-JP

OPI DS Divine

OPI DS Chiffon

OPI DS Sapphire

OPI DS Tapestry

All of the polishes above was swatched with three thin coats. The application for these was rather patchy compared to the original non-Japanese Designer Series but honestly it wasn't that bad. =p

I don't own the original DS Sapphire nor DS Tapestry, but I do have the originals of DS Divine and DS Chiffon. (Please click here for the DS Divine comparisons. =D)

I compared both versions of my DS Chiffons and noticed that the two base colours are the same; however, the Japanese release has a less apparent holographic effect. Also, it appears to have a matter finish as well, which can definitely be fixed with top coat. I believe these are the main differences between the two versions for the other colours as well, not sure why OPI has to produce both of them. But hey, maybe the Japanese doesn't like holographic polishes?

Hehe, I guess these are perfect for people who enjoys the appearance of holos but doesn't like the full-on rainbow bling to them. ^-^

Anyway, have a wonderful day everyone!! xoxo

I ♥ Fireworks!

Just wanted to share some pictures I took of the fireworks from last night!

Last night was my first time photographing fireworks, so I had no clue what camera settings to use and all. I was experimenting with different apertures and shutter speeds so I'm just really glad a couple of them turned out okay cuz I had no idea what I was doing. Lol!