How to: Prevent bubbling

I like bubbles in my glass, in my bath, but definitely not in my nail polish. Since I'm following these simple steps, I'm pretty much bubble-free:

Ditch the dirt

Always make sure your hands and nails are nice and clean. Sometimes oil or dirt will react badly with your nail polish and who doesn't like clean hands?!

Thick layers

The most common thing I always read about bubbling is: let your first coat dry before applying the second. Honestly? I don't have time for that! When you apply thin layers of polish, you should be fine. When your layers of polish are too thick, it can cause bubbling because it scoops up more air than it normally would. If you happen to have an old or poor quality nail polish that is too thick, simply add some thinner and you're good to go. Never ever use acetone or nail polish remover because you might as well throw it out straight away.

Stirred, not shaken

Shaking your nail polish isn't necessarily bad. In fact, all nail polish needs a good shake every now and then! But maybe not right before applying it. Whenever you shake your bottle of nail polish, air bubbles can get trapped in your polish. Instead of shaking, roll the bottle in your hands.

Environment

Painting your nails in a humid room, or during hot weather, can also cause bubbling. When it's hot, air particles spread out far and wide and are easier absorbed by your polish. Nail polish molecules expand as well, making it even easier to let those damn air bubbles in. Heat is a culprit, for sure.
Also, applying nail polish in an air conditioned room, or in front of fans etc, won't help much either.

 

ETA: Apparently I'm all kinds of wrong, oops? Read more below

Commenting system

As you might have noticed I have installed a new commenting system! It makes replying so much easier and I don't have to put up with weird anonymous comments anymore. If you don't have stuff like Twitter or Wordpress, you can simply log in with your name and email address. If you run into any kind of trouble, please let me know!

Can't find Lush Lemony Flutter?

The mystery of the missing cuticle cream

It's sold out everywhere. Out of stock. Gone. Well at least in The Netherlands. I nearly cried! I am of those persons that actually finishes an entire tub. Or three. But what's the deal? When will it be back? Well, it's not just 'sold out'. People have been informed by the Lush staff, that it might be unavailable for a while because the supplier of one of the ingredients has started to test on animals. Lush, a company that feels very strongly about being cruelty free, is now looking for a new supplier.
The ingredient we're talking about supposedly is Sodium Borat. Ultrabalm, their lipbalms and solid perfumes might be affected too.

I'm extremely pleased Lush takes this issue seriously and stopped selling one of their bestsellers - for the moment. I have to admit though: I am annoyed, an official statement would've been nice. At this point I don't even know if the Lemony Flutter I have been using all this time was cruelty free to begin with, because they pulled several batches from the stores. If more information pops up, I'll gladly let you know.

Source: Lush Forum

Who Nicole by OPI really should have teamed up with

Adam Lambert nail polish

What the Blieb?!

A few days ago I read about Nicole by OPI's newest collection inspired by Justin Bieber. While I'm all for collaborations, I nearly choked on my drink when I found out. Why? The kid doesn't even wear nail polish! If Nicole by OPI would've wanted to rock it with a hot male singer, that's current, talented AND infatuated with nail polish, Adam Lambert would've been an excellent pick. But of course I'm biased, being the fangirl that I am.

Why didn't anyone tell me about quick drying top coat?!

Don't mess with my nails!

Adam Lambert doesn't shy away from wearing make up and nail polish. He likes to wear dark colors and is often spotted wearing Black Onyx, Russian Navy and Yoga-ta Get This Blue by OPI. See why he and OPI should get it on? Adam tells us he likes to do his own nails and he prefers his nail polish to be chipped. Boys will be boys.. There was even a rumor - that was debunked quickly - that claimed Adam lashed out on a fan when he was waiting for his nail polish to dry, when somebody grabbed him and ruined his nails. Hilarious.

Shiiiiny

Two tough guys discussing nail polish

Dear Adam, if you don't want to be Nicole's nail polish muse, would you at least be mine?

Image credits: Robin Roemer & National Post

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Adam Lambert nail polish

Guiltfree Glam: B3F FTW!

"What is B3F?" is a question I find almost daily in my inbox, so for today I've got a little writeup on the matter. I always redirect everyone to this awesome post by All Lacquered Up, since I'm no chemist AT ALL, but the requests kept coming, so bear with me. I won't get into all the bad stuff certain ingredients can do, as I don't want to have people panicking!

B3F wha?

What are B3F or Big 3 Free nail polishes anyway? These are polishes that are free from Formaldehyde, DBP & Toluene. Formaldehyde in its pure form is a colorless gas. Formaldehyde is anti bacterial and acts as an anti dissolvant and improves adhesion. DBP or Dibutyl phthalate is used as a plasticizer which should keep surfaces smooth and unbreakable. Toluene is a substance that keeps your polish liquid.

Why?

Each of these ingredients have certain dangers attached to them. There is still debate over whether these are actually harmful: usually these ingredients only trip you up when you're exposed to huge amounts during a longer period of time or when they are being incinerated. However, long term consequences are still unknown and there are many people who suffer from allergic reactions from these substances. Formaldehyde is hardly used these days, except in hardeners/strengtheners. You might want to give those a body check. A product from Formaldehyde, called Formaldehyde Resin, is more often used nowadays, I'm not entirely sure about that one, but it's considered safe by the FDA. If you're allergic to Formaldehyde you might be allergic to the resin as well though.

Just a marketing tool?

I know a lot of people don't care at all, but better safe than sorry goes a long way. I know I don't want to to cause unnecessary harm to my health. Why risk it if there are plenty alternatives - especially when you're pregnant or breastfeeding! Maybe the fuzz is a little overblown and I do think a lot of brands are using this as a clever marketing tool, but it doesn't hurt to be careful.
A lot of older polishes are not B3F, but I can't wrap my head around the fact that companies still choose to produce nail polish the oblivious way. For example: Models Own polishes are still crammed with Toluene. Why?! I know producing non B3F polish is a lot cheaper than its healthy alternative, but the price of Models Own polishes ($8 each, where Nubar costs &7.49 & Zoya $7 each) hardly reflects that. It does take some companies a while to get their new formula to work, but practice makes perfect right?

Brands

You can check the labels to see whether your nail polish is B3F, but brands like Nubar, Zoya, SpaRitual, Orly, Chanel, RBL, Lippmann, Revlon, Del Sol (as pictured above), newer Misa, China Glaze and OPI are definitely B3F. However, some of these still contain Formaldehyde Resin.

I hope this was helpful and thanks so much for stopping by!
- With love, Michèle

Sources: Cosmeticsinfo.org, Wikipedia

Water Marble Magic

My first water marble

Hi guys! For today I've got something different from usual: a water marble. My first one actually! Well.. the first one I didn't immediately want to wipe off ;). It's still not how I wanted it to look, and it's nothing compared to others', but I wanted to share anyway! If you're not familiar with this technique: water marbling is putting drops of nail polish into water, creating patterns with a stick and dipping your finger in it. There are many tutorials on this crafty business but definitely get inspired by Colette from My Simple Little Pleasures, because she's got super duper water marble skills!

The polishes I used were Nox Twilight Beauty Crush - a very bright pink - and It's You! by Misa - a duochrome-y dark shade! Not all polishes will work for water marbling but the well pigmented ones are usually fine. There are several ways to avoid getting those dirty fingers, taping and vaseline for example. Vaseline (or unpetroleum jelly in my case) worked really well for me, you apply it on your skin and cuticles and after you're done, you can wipe the polish off - just like that! I got this tip from Michelle from The Lacquer Files, thanks girl!

I hope you enjoyed this post, thanks for stopping by!
- With love, Michèle

HALLOWEEN NAIL ART CLASS!

This past Monday I went to the most AMAZING Young Nails Halloween nail art class. Amanda Dodge taught and she really stepped up her game. It was even more amazing than I had expected! (Young Nails is always amazing) Whooo hoo! So this first set of nails here is completely inspired by Amanda. Thank you so much for your fabulous class and inspiration!

This is a 3d spider inspired by Amanda. I put a red rhinestone in his butt lol. All of the acrylic colors are from young nails.

These are 3d ghosts that I also learned at the young nails class.

This is just a little bit of everything. Love purple and black for Halloween and we had to add some of the fabulous dots.

These are nails that I did for a wedding. Very elegant with a little bling!

This is ribbon on the ring fingers.

This is opi gel polish in Louvre me Louvre me not. I added a 3d spider with bright yellow eyes. I just love Halloween nails. Definitely my favorite Holiday for nails.... until Christmas comes... and then Valentines. Oooh I just love them all :)

This is a sparkles nail product glitter. I added spooky spider webs and a 3d spider.

This is a color fade with 2 colors and then I added sparkles on top from sparklesnailproducts.com. The leaves are from kennickkreations.com.

Updated: OPI - Glam Slam Collection by Serena Williams

OPI News

The other day I was watching my timeline on Twitter and I noticed a tweet by OPI mentioning something quite interesting! Tennis superstar Serena Williams announced on The Oprah Winfrey Show that she will be working with OPI to release an entire nail polish collection.
The collection will be named the Glam Slam Collection and Serena mentioned on the show that the colors in this collection will represent tennis tournaments, like the U.S Open, French Open, Australian open and Wimbledon.

Serena Williams is actually training to be certified Nail Tech and she definitely shares the nail passion: "No one likes getting their nails done more than I do. As a matter of fact I go every 4 days to get a manicure and every 7 days for a pedicure.". I can't wait to see what Serena and OPI will come up with! Are you looking forward to this collection?

I've checked with OPI to see if there was more information available at this time but they replied to me saying not all materials are finalized at the moment, but once those are, they will get the info out stat!

EDIT: The release of this collection will start in january with 2 polishes, 2 in May, 2 in June and 2 in August. These releases are timed to her tournaments. There is a teeny tiny bit of information available: one of the first shades will be called: Simply Smashing, a bright green!

EDIT 2: Added some pictures of the first set that will be released. Simply Smashing and Black Shatter - a black crackling top coat!

Additional info source: Eva Chen Bannister - Beauty Director for Teen Vogue