Go With the Flow

I was recently the lucky recipient of these lovely Zoya polishes – pink Kristie, blue Maren, turquoise Harbor, and purple Jessica – thanks to the kind folks at Nail Polish Canada.  I swatched them all, of course – see my previous post for those details – but I also wanted to do a bit of nail art with my new, candy-coloured polishes.

Problem: I’m SO out of practice these days, both in terms of nail art ability and actual nail care, that a good mani for me is one in which my nails are not encrusted with a solid quarter-inch of gardening grit.  I figured at best I’d come up with something ultra easy, like a simple dotticure.

Instead I decided to shoot for the moon and do a water marble manicure, perhaps THE most difficult nail art technique, one that requires you to float polish on the surface of water.  Because that just sounds SUPER easy (spoiler alert: it’s usually not, and it’s always hella messy!)

Except….this time, with these polishes, it wasn’t.  Even after my extended absence from the nail art realm.  I think it’s because these four lacquers – rich cremes, all – are brand new, and at the peak of their polish power, having not picked up months’ and years’ worth of oil and grime.  All four are of a completely identical consistency as well, making it ultra easy to float the polish on the surface of water AND toothpick-out a swirled design.  TL;DR?  These Zoya polishes make water marbling EASY, even for the woefully out of practice.

Speaking of, I realize that without photos of the water marbling process, this must all sound like utter gibberish.  So might anyone be interested in a little tutorial?  Because I’d like to give this technique another try, see if I could come up with a slightly more consistent design finger-to-finger (much as I like the every-digit-for-itself approach.) 😉  Please do come back soon to see how I work out with that!

Splash Into Summer With Zoya

Throughout this pandemic period, I have been losing things – sunglasses, car keys, paperwork, and, if the above is any indication, occasionally my own dang marbles.

Perhaps the thing that’s irked me the most about all of this forgetfulness is that I seem to have lost the ability to paint my nails!  Pandemic concerns aside, I’ve been busy for pretty well half a year now settling us into our new home, and I’m finding the property – a single family home with a lot of landscaping – to be quite demanding of my time.  As such, I’ve barely done a lick of nail art, and the thought of giving myself a manicure just for fun has been incomprehensible (mostly because for the majority of the spring and summer, I’ve been sporting a gungy gardening mani – cracked, breaking and caked in a whole lotta dirt.)  I am woefully out of practice, and boy howdy, do my nails look it, too.

So I was thrilled when Nail Polish Canada recently asked me to use and review one of Zoya‘s new six-piece summer collections.  Gave me a wonderful excuse to get back to the nail art and blogging that I love so very much, and the even better excuse to get my nails in shape and give myself a number of pretty manicures.  So thank you for the timely reminder to do something nice for myself – and my nails – Nail Polish Canada and Zoya!

Zoya is a long-standing polish manufacturer whose name, in my experience, is synonymous with quality, consistency and a leading edge approach to animal and human welfare.  Their polishes are Big 10-free (that would be free of all of those toxic ingredients you can hardly pronounce), cruelty-free and VEGAN, which delights Mr. Finger Candy, who is vegetarian but leaning vegan, to no end.

Moreover, Zoya’s polishes are uniformly great, with a nice self-leveling formulation that you will fall in love with if you’re not great at painting your nails, or if you, like me, have nearly completely forgotten how!  I’ve yet to use one that hasn’t applied well and worn like the dickens.  Zoya’s creme polishes also come in about a bajillion beautiful colours, making them perfect for nail art.

This is Zoya’s six-piece summer Splash collection.  I had my choice of two Splash collections, and I chose B because of its lush, vibrant cremes, and those two perfect beachy shimmers.  Let’s jump in the pool and take a closer look at these lovely polishes, shall we?

First up is Barbie pink Kristie, the perfect summertime hue.  This would look fantastic on toes dangling off the edge of a diving board.

Next we have the first of two shimmers in the collection, Fisher.  This is a lovely Cinderella blue shot through with silvery-purple microshimmer.  I used a top coat with Fisher and the other shimmer because they were both just the tiniest bit dull, and I wanted to bring out every ounce of that beautiful shine.  This colour reminds me of beach glass.

Jessica is next on (the pool) deck with this deep, glossy raisin.  Tons of shine in this one, even without the benefit of topcoat.

Next up we have Maren, a gorgeous ocean blue that is the very definition of “Splash”!  I own a number of these cobalt blue polishes, but Maren stands apart from the others with its warm, barest-of-green-leaning hues.  Beautiful.

In the penultimate spot we have Corrina, the perfect shimmery shell pink.  This is such a flattering hue, and while I think it looks beautiful on my freckled Celtic hide, it would be absolutely gorgeous on people with darker skin tones.

Finally, we have the one true blue(-green) polish of the collection, Harbor.  Small word of warning, though, when it comes to Harbor, and indeed, nearly all turquoise or green-leaning hues – they will stain, so use a base coat.

TL;DR;JCOTP (too long; didn’t read; just checked out the photos): Zoya’s vegan, cruelty-free, non-toxic polishes are some of the best ones out there, and this Splash collection is a gorgeous slice of summery fun.  Get yours at Nail Polish Canada by clicking the embedded links above, and please come back later on this week when I’ll have some cute, Zoya-ful nail art to share with you.

Enter the Hand Sanitizer

“I’d like to thank the Wu-Tang Clan for this hand sanitizer” – truly, words I NEVER thought I’d utter in this lifetime.

But here we are, in the midst of a raging global pandemic – another state I never really thought I’d find myself in – and the Wu has stepped up in a major way, teaming up with Canadian home and body care company Jusu to produce Jusu x 36 Chambers, an all natural, plant-based, vegan hand sanitizer, the proceeds of which benefit three local Ottawa charities, The Ottawa Mission Foundation, the Ottawa Food Bank, and the Children’s Hospital of Eastern Ontario.  It’s good – if not slightly out of left field – work that has brought together the collaborative talents of some of my city’s most creative and civic-minded souls, and I’m unbelievably impressed by the hustle.  Ottawa done us real proud with this one.

Apart from what I hear was a pretty fantastic show at the Ottawa Blues Fest some years ago, I’ve no clue what the Wu’s connection is to my (typically) pretty boring and bureaucratic city.  I guess there’s something (or someone) here that speaks to them (though I will never stop questioning what might be attractive in this city of endless suburbs and RioCan strip malls to a bunch of badass New York rappers with names like RZA, Ghostface Killah and Ol’ Dirty Bastard.)

Right, so the hand sanitizer itself – it’s awesome, and I wish I had purchased more than two bottles.  Isopropyl alcohol is, of course, the main medicinal ingredient, so it’s going to disinfect your mitts just as well as any of the other ohol-based products on the market.  But after that initial blast of ALCOHOL!!!, 36 Chambers (in the spicy citrus, Chilling Chilling scent) mellows out into a mild, utterly dee-licious blend of aloe, cinnamon, citrus, eucalyptus and rosemary that will have you surreptitiously sniffing your hands like Mary Katherine Gallagher on a major bender.  Best of all, 36 Chambers is a light and easily absorbable liquid that leaves your formerly chapped and irritated hands soft and residue-free (“Ooh, baby, I like it raw” – so sayeth ODB.)

That way you can pull on your new Wu-Tang x Ottawa tee without getting it all gunged up! 😉

If you’re interested in nabbing your own bottle of 36 Chambers, hit up Jusulife.ca – for every bottle sold, one is donated to a local homeless shelter, where I’ve no doubt these kind of products are in great demand and use.  Because every stinkin’ little bit of thoughtfulness and protection protects us all, and if the Wu is doing their part, well, then so can we.  Good job, Ottawa.

Vengeance Will Be Mine!

And beautifully manicured nails will also be mine, thanks to a quartet of gorgeous lakur polishes from Londontown that arrived on my doorstep just in time for those first frosty Fall evenings.  I love these lakur polishes – they apply well, dry quickly and wear like the dickens, to say nothing of that megawatt, gel-like shine.  It’s the rare lacquer (and lakur) that handles nail art applications just as well as it does everyday wear.  And as always, these polishes are vegan-friendly and five (actually nine) free.

Londontown very kindly sent me these polishes – hues from Back With a Vengeance, their Fall 2018 collection – for my perusal and use, and so let’s do just that then, shall we?

First up, we have the showstopper of the Back With a Vengeance Collection, indigo blue creme Iconic.  I adore this colour; it’s so rich, vibrant and lush.  Also the exact hue of Dory the blue tang from the Finding Nemo movies. 😉  For this manicure I used two light coats of Iconic, though I probably could have gotten away with one.  It’s also worth noting that all four polishes brushed on smoothly, self-leveled nicely and stayed put – you don’t realize how important a feature that is in a nail polish until you’ve tried to clean up polish-saturated cuticles with a teeny little detail brush.  So three cheers for a polish that knows its place – on your nails and not your skin!

Londontown does pale purples very well, and grey-tinged Jane Austen is no exception.  By all rights, this creme polish should make you look like a cadaver, but somehow, it’s flattering, and so, so delicate.  I can almost picture Elizabeth Bennet wearing a devastatingly cleavage-y dress in this exact hue (rolling her eyes whilst being forced into an afternoon of needlepoint and pianoforte, but of course!)  For this manicure I used three coats of Jane Austen and, like all of the swatches shown here, I forwent the topcoat – no need when the base polish is this shiny and well behaved.

Next up we have the lone shimmer of the bunch, metallic Kissed by Rose Gold.  I really like these kinds of shimmers, the ones that look almost textured and a bit furry, but I think the name here might be a tad off – this polish is less rose gold and more rose platinum; as against my ultra pale skin tone, it definitely reads more silver than gold.  Here I’ve shown three light coats of Kissed by Rose Gold.

Saving the best for last, we have cherry red Vendetta!  This deep, almost blood red crimson creme is outstanding – a solid two-coater, and another one that really knew its place (vital when you’re dealing with stainy reds, which come to think of it, Vendetta was not.  Neither was Iconic, and typically nothing stains like a dark blue.  Huh.)  I just love a wickedly vampy red, and Vendetta is one of the better ones.

I’ve been so impressed with Londontown’s products, and here’s another handful of great polishes to join their already quite extensive lakur line – looking forward to seeing what they come out with next. 🙂  If you’d like to check out these polishes for yourself – heck, Londontown’s entire line of lacquers – you can find them here.  Happy polishing!

Take Me to Londontown

Here’s a bit of excitement in this nail blogger’s world – I was recently sent this lovely package of polishes and nail care items from Londontown, an American company with a mind for natural, botanical beauty.  Featuring a gorgeous collection of vegan, 5-free polishes (“5-free” meaning the formula is free from the five major toxins you’ll commonly find in nail polish – toluene, formaldehyde, DBF, camphor and formaldehyde resin, in case you were curious) and essential oil-infused nail care products, Londontown’s got the natural, ethically-minded mani for you.

And for me!  Times four, as I tested out a quartet of Londontown’s lakur polishes (including two new shades from their summer 2018 collection) and an assortment of wonderfully-scented nail care items.  Later on in the week I’ll have some nail art for you featuring these lovely polishes, but until then, let’s take a closer look at this unexpected manna from the manicure heavens. 🙂

Every good mani requires a healthy start and a strong finish, and Londontown has seen to that as well with their kur line of vegan, gluten-free and cruelty-free nail care products.  I haven’t had much of a chance to live with the nail hardener & base coat or the protective top coat (those will both see a lot more work when I begin putting these polishes through their nail art paces) but I’ve been using the heck out of the nourishing cuticle oil, because it’s light, non-greasy and it smells fan-freakin-tastic – like an herb garden, heavy on the flowering lavender and thyme, warm from the sun.  Infused with what Londontown calls their Florium Complex, a proprietary blend of extracts and oils and other good-for-your-nails stuff, I’d purchase this great cuticle oil in a heartbeat.

And now, on to the pretty colours!  Up first at bat we have Cheerio, a delicate, pale wash of a hue that provides tons of shine while enhancing your natural nail colour – it’s your nails, only tidier!  She don’t look like much, but these kinds of non-colour colours always prove themselves quite useful, in applications ranging from clean, chic manicures to glittery jelly sandwich nail art.  I used three coats of Cheerio for this manicure, and like all of the swatches shown here, it’s presented au naturel – no topcoat to mess up all that lovely natural gloss.

Next up we have Briolette, one of the summer 2018 additions to the lakur polish line.  Briolette (a briolette is apparently a type of gemstone cut, like an elongated pear) is a beautiful pale lilac creme dusted with purple shimmer.  The purple shimmer is not super apparent on the nail, but it does lend Briolette a lovely sort of corona that makes this polish look like it’s glowing from within.  This is two and a smidge coats (the smidge coat representing one obstinate nail on which I always experience polish drag, and it really is such a drag.) 😉

Next we have Opal, the second of the summer 2018 polishes.  True to its name, this pale grey creme shines with ultra fine purple, pink and blue shimmer.  Opal is just a beautiful, beautiful polish, and so flattering.  The shimmer is most apparent out in the sun, but in lower lighting, that added bit of visual interest makes this polish look like stucco or plaster or some other hideously expensive wall treatment.  It also applied really well, in two light coats.

Sparkle and shine!

Finally, we have my favourite of the four polishes, juicy, popsicle red Guilty Pleasure.  This is the perfect summertime colour – lush, bright and so, so shiny!  I’ve been wearing Guilty Pleasure for three days now – a total rarity for me, but I’m carrying out some renovations to my apartment; little time to switch out my manis when I’m wrist-deep in floor leveler – and even without a base coat or a top coat, it’s holding up admirably well, with just the barest bit of wear.  Very nice.

As stated off the top, and because we have to do these sorts of things now, lest the Internet police come for all that sweet, sweet bloggin’ money I keep hearing so much about, Londontown very kindly sent me these items, presumably for my review and enjoyment, although they made no requests that I do either (“WE DEMAND THAT YOU LOVE THESE POLISHES!”)  So nobody’s holding a nail file to my kidneys to get me to say that I really liked these polishes, and I wouldn’t hesitate to purchase more.  Looking forward to seeing what this quartet can do in the nail art arena very soon.

If you’d like more information on Londontown – their business practices, their backstory – or to peruse their large collection of lakur polishes and kur nail care products, click here and tell ’em Finger Candy sent you!

Twilight Bubbles: A Mini Lush Review

In yesterday’s bath-themed post I called this Twilight bath bomb from Lush Cosmetics the best one I’ve tried yet, a statement I continue to stand by today.  Twenty-four hours later my skin remains super soft and smooth, to say nothing of the herbal lavender scent that continues to sweetly perfume the air.  A lovely bath time treat. And an adorable one as well!  How cute is this little star-embossed guy?  Can’t go wrong with glittery pink galaxies.

Inside, the Twilight bath bomb is a beautiful mess of turquoise and purple, the overall bath art effect mimicking the sky at sundown.  So pretty, and I can’t deny how much fun it is to swirl the dissolving bomb around, creating all sorts of fun shapes and colours, like a fabulous, beauty-oriented bath toy.

Bonus: Twilight is not as highly pigmented as some of Lush’s other bath bombs.  This doesn’t diminish the effect in the least – I love the cotton candy-hued bubbles – but it DOES mean that Twilight won’t (temporarily) dye your tub (or skin) neon turquoise, a nice touch indeed.

The MOST fun to be had with a bath bomb, though – and particularly this one, with its ultra fluffy candy floss hues – is to smush the nearly-dissolved bomb in your hand once it’s cracked open.  It sounds odd, but it’s a particularly delightful sensation, and a bit of a naughty one at that – hastening a bath bomb’s demise seems like something you shouldn’t do, right, given its already pretty limited lifespan?  Nope, just me?  Alrighty then.

The Twilight bath bomb is part of Lush’s regular assortment of bath time goodies – no limited edition nonsense here.  Retailing for $6.55, it’s at the lower end of the bath bomb price scale, another nice touch, as $12 bombs aren’t always in the offering.  Lush, of course, has online and physical outposts all over the world, although I purchased mine here in Canada through Lush.ca.  Happy soaking!

Frozen Over: A Mini Lush Review

I initially had no idea why this bath bomb from Lush Cosmetics was called a Frozen bath bomb.  Frozen in colour, yes, and theme – and no, it’s not just my Disney-fried brain making the connection here; in the description of this bath bomb on the Lush website, there’s all sorts of references to “Let(ting) It Go” and “enjoying the most magical soak in the kingdom” – but the scent?  I was expecting mint, or something sort of mentholated. This smells like citrus floor cleaner, at times bracing and not altogether natural.

So I didn’t enjoy the scent all that much (I actually like very, very few of Lush’s scents) and my poor guy came dented and dinged all to hell and back (which has virtually no bearing on the bath bomb’s performance, although I like it when my pretty bath goodies are actually, you know, pretty) but once it hit the tub, it exceeded my admittedly rather low expectations.

What a stunner!  Erupting into a mass of pale, creamy bubbles, this Frozen bath bomb quickly cracked open, unleashing a torrent of dark turquoise water sprinkled with champagne-hued mica dust.  Once the big show was over and done, an act that took but a few minutes (a pretty average amount of time for a bath bomb to break down) this bomb split into two neat halves, the shimmery little islands spiraling off to different ends of the tub to float among the icy blue, glitter-dusted water.

So the water’s an icy blue and it’s called a Frozen bath bomb – is that all I got for ya?  Well, then, right as I was about to step into the tub, I noticed that the creamy white bubbles floating along the surface of the water had formed themselves into fine swirls around and in between the little trapped clusters of shimmery mica dust. The resulting look is fine skirls of snow drifting across a frozen pond, and it’s so beautiful!  A truly gorgeous effect, those bath time Frozen fjords.

Really one of those bath bombs where the payoff came long after the big show – glad I glanced down before destroying this lovely, unintentional bath art by sticking my foot through it!

Shame about the scent, though – if the smell of this bath bomb were a bit more in line with its otherwise fantastic themeing, it’d be a solid 10 of a bath product.  $8.95 at Lush.ca, and, as nearly always, vegan-friendly.

 

Intergalactic Planetary: A Mini Lush Review

Ahh, now this is more like it.  Some of you may remember that last week I attempted a design inspired by an Intergalactic bath bomb from Lush Cosmetics.  Through the ultimate confluence of poor polish choice, poor design choice and just plain old not paying attention, that manicure wound up looking a lot like a pair of turquoise, floral print board shorts, the kind you never see on real people out in the world, just faceless mannequins at the mall.

So I took another run at an Intergalactic-inspired mani, and this time I think things turned out much, much better, don’t you?  I particularly like my ring finger; it looks very much like the bath bomb I wound up dropping into my tub some hours later.

And how did the bath bomb perform?  Incredibly well, actually!  Fizzing neither too slowly, nor too quickly, it bobbed around for at least five minutes, shooting off the most gorgeous, mica-dusted rainbow bubbles with every swirl.  The effect was so cool, as were the cute little crackling noises it made as it released the popping candy at its core.  And unlike the similarly hued Experimenter bath bomb I tried last month, this one did not turn my bathwater putty brown – instead it was the most gorgeous shade of indigo blue, and glimmered gently with golden mica dust.

S is for Sandra!

Also, and I don’t mean to alarm you, but there appears to be a rainbow-vomiting eel in my bathtub.  Were it not for Lush’s firm and stated commitment to providing cruelty-free, vegan products, I wouldn’t put it past them to do precisely that – “Now with 100% more eel!”  Lush loves to sneak little bits and bobs into their products. Thankfully the only add-ons to this bath bomb were those sweet little bits of popping candy.

A small word about the Intergalactic’s smell.  If you’re a fan of earthy scents, this will probably be right up your alley.  Infused with peppermint, it tingles the nose (and the skin.)  That peppermint, though, in combination with the earthy note – patchouli, sandalwood, etc. – sends this one, for me at least, straight into old man, grandpa territory. The scent is also very strong and lingers on the skin (and the surface of the tub) for hours. Something to be aware of if you’re very sensitive to those sorts of smells (I don’t like them very much, but I can deal with it in a one-use product like this one.)

And while I had no problems with this colour-saturated bath bomb staining my hide turquoise blue, the water clinging to my skin when I got out of the tub – which also made its way onto the floor, and the lid of the toilet, and the edge of the tub – WAS turquoise blue.  There was also a good deal of gold mica glitter pooled in the bottom of the tub.  So for the sake of your skin and your acrylic surfaces, I’d dance around beneath the shower for a few moments post-bath, literally wash them blues (and golds) away.

Small issues of scent preference and turquoise-tinged water notwithstanding, the Intergalactic was an awesome bath bomb, and a fun, beautiful addition to my bath time routine.  I’m glad that it seems to have become part of Lush’s all-the-time, regular offerings.  You can nab one for yourself at your preferred Lush retailer; I purchased mine from Lush.ca.

Bath Time Experimentin’: A Mini Lush Review

Ooh, sounds dirty!  Or possibly like I’m trying to create cold fusion in my tub.  But actually, I’m testing out another fun, super colourful bath bomb from Lush, this time the vibrantly-hued (and popping candy-filled!) Experimenter.

The Experimenter, another vegan, baking soda-and-essential oils-infused bath ballistic (that’s what folks from the UK sometimes call bath bombs; badass, right?) is a relatively new addition to Lush’s line of bath bombs.  At $8.95 (Canadian) a piece, these single use bath bombs are one of Lush’s pricier products, although the expense is offset somewhat by the sheer size of these colourful buggers.  As in they’re gigantic, and weighty.  I actually wish there was a way to break this bomb in two without destroying the cool rainbow effect that results from the fuchsia, turquoise, white and gold bits blending together.

But as it went, this entire bomb hit the tub and began merrily zipping about, shooting off bubbly, mica-dusted rainbows with every zig and zag.  And it did that for a full seven minutes. When I finally said enough was enough and climbed into the tub, there was still a little chunk of pink and blue bomb crackling away contentedly behind me.  So I guess in this case size really does matter?

But before that, the Experimenter put on quite the impressive show, dancing merrily about my tub, swirling in and in and in on itself until the resulting bath art looked a lot like tubby time with Monet.

In terms of function separate and apart from its big, colourful show, the Experimenter does a terrific job.  My skin was nicely moisturized and so soft after my bath, with nary a hint of lingering greasiness.  In fact, while I was soaking and floating, I took the opportunity to see if, with the benefit of lots of slippery oils, I could wrench my wedding and engagement rings off my left hand, and I could!  And that’s something I haven’t been able to do in years (in case you’re wondering, there’s nothing funny going on here between Mr. Finger Candy and I.  Rather, I’d like to take advantage of my building’s indoor pool this summer, and I’d prefer it if I could NOT destroy two of my most cherished possessions with chlorine while I’m at it.)

Two small drawbacks to this bath bomb are its smell (an earthy, unidentifiably woodsy scent other users either love or hate; I was mostly indifferent towards it) and the colour of the resulting bathwater, a brackish, putty brown that looks like you’ve been mudding tiles instead of taking a bath.  It’s pretty unpleasant, even shimmering prettily with golden mica dust.

All told, though, this was a fun little bath time experiment (wah wah) that I could – and will! – justify again as a nice treat.  All in the name of scientific advancement, right?! 😉

Scratch So Good: A Mini Lush Review

Looks like a fungus, behaves like a peppermint-scented dream about warm, scratchy things. 🙂

This evening I’m bringing you another tiny review of a Lush product, this time Salt and Peppermint Bark, a solid, bar-form salt scrub scented with sweet peppermint.  A new release from their holiday line, Salt and Peppermint Bark is deliciously, delightfully scratchy – I have a small, perpetually itchy patch of skin on my knee that seems impervious to anti-itch products, and I could have gladly worried away the entire bar on that one spot alone.  Oh, it scratched so good!  But my arms and legs also demanded attention, and this salt scrub really proved its worth there, too, buffing, softening and lightly scenting my skin with sea salt, cocoa butter and crisp peppermint.

The one drawback I can see to this product is that if you go too hard on the scrub-a-dub-dub motion, the salt part of this particular peppermint bark will be right there to remind you to use a lighter touch next time. Buff carefully.

Available in stores and via Lush’s website (I’m providing you with the Canadian link) Salt and Peppermint Bark retails for $9.95 a bar and is, like so many of Lush’s products, vegan-friendly.