How does halographic nailpolish work?

One day, I sat staring at my nails – wearing Gosh Halograpic, no further explanation needed I guess. And I was wondering how halographic is, well, halographic. I started thinking, and lo and behold, I actually remembered something from physics back in the good bad ol’ high school days. I so much regret not choosing geography in stead of “I might need it someday physics”. I really couldn’t care less how many laws Newton has. I really hope that the apple hit him on the head (no, the last one I’m kidding. Sort of).

Anyway, by choosing physics, I actually know how a halographic polish works. And, to explain it, let me introduce me my friend: Rainbow!

So, where’s the additional pot of gold to buy my very own unicorn? – Picture by Eric Rolph

Halographic polish has a lot in common. Both rely on the fraction (breaking) of the light to create the dazzling sparkling… rainbow? Typically, for a rainbow the optimum angle is 40-42 degrees.

The light hits the drop of rain, makes an angle of 40-42 degrees (of if you’re somewhat less lucky, an angle close to that 40-42 degree), and the light disperses. Blue breaks sharper than green, green breaks sharper than yellow, yellow breaks sharper than red and thus the colors are separated (white light contains all colors). This principle applies to both rainbows and halographic nailpolish.

Now, a halographic nailpolish doesn’t consist of raindrops. Enter another friend: Glitter! Instead of a raindrop that breaks the light, glitter can do it as well. Especially halographic “glitter” is ground into very fine particles, thus allowing to remove it quite easily. Educate yourself before you’re going to buy a particular halographic polish: Gosh is a crime to paint (although it gets repromoted!), but I’ve heard great stories of glitter gal.

If you still have questions, you can ask me below. I know, I wasn’t that good in physics, but I did get the principle (blame math for the rest). More info can also be found at your local physics teacher or wikipedia. Both love to dwell on stuff. Advantage of Wikipedia is that is doesn’t require making tests or sitting through a very boring class.

What do you think: halographic nailpolish, hot or not? Share in the comments!

Animal testing

Yes, it is time for another rant – I might as well rename the category “Thoughts about make up” to “Rants”. May the ranting odds be ever in your favor.

What recently caught my attention was that Avon, Mary Kay and Estee Lauder picked up animal testing. And it’s not because they are concerned for the safety of their consumers, but they are doing to be allowed to enter the chinese market. In other words: for cold, hard cash.

I find it quite shameful that cosmetic brands are ruining their good name and TORTURE animals just to earn more money. So, this means I will no longer buy MAC’s brush cleanser, because although it does it’s job well, I will not support animal testing for cosmetic purposes. Actually, I no longer want to be linked to any of these brands. I will not give any publicity to the brand that fall under Avon, Mary Kay or Estee Lauder.

I am proud to say that my make up is animal cruelty free. Spread the message, and be proud that you’re cruelty free also.

I do have to add a little sidenote. If you read between the lines, I’m against animal testing in the cosmetic brands. I am for testing on animals for medication. People who wear cosmetics can actively choose not to use cruelty cosmetics, or go without. People who take medication often have no choice then to take their medications. There are no cruelty free options. Quitting isn’t an option either. If there isn’t medication, a lot of people can’t work anymore. There’ll be a crisis what makes this current (euro-) crisis looks like a paradise. Trust me when I say that animal testing for medication (and thus medical research/science) is necessary. Oh wait. People test medication on other people (volunteers who’ll get paid) as well. So don’t say that the animals aren’t the only one who suffered. A very famous case is that of Jesse Gelsinger, an 18-year-old boy who wanted to contribute for a medication for OTCD (a disease from the liver) but ended up paying for it with his life.

Also, I would like to give out a shout-out to people who work with research animals. It takes a lot of courage, strength and love to work with animals. A very odd fact is that most people who take care of those animals, are vegetarian. They don’t want to let animals are hurt for their own benefit. Heck, those employees regret that animal testing is necessary. They are not sadist.

I do think that animal testing extremists (extra link) are sadists. They threathen people. Firebombing people. Personally, if it happens to me, I’ll sue the shit out of them. They are not animal lovers (remember that we humans are also animals – note the irony). Unless they stop, perhaps with the help of this british law regarding animal testing extremists, I don’t consider those extremist to be human. A human is somebody that can have a respectful discussion.

So, what can you do? Stop criticizing people who work with research animals – unless they work for cosmetic companies (and do it in a respectful, legal way!). Refuse to buy cosmetics from companies that conduct animal testing (there’s a list at the PETA website). Sign the petition/email on PETA to stop Avon, Mary Kay and Estee Lauder animal testing.

Oh, and while I’m all for freedom of speech, I will delete comments in which people are insulted or otherwise offended, treatments are made against people who acknowledge the necessity of animal testing or well, are ruthless. If you are against animal testing, present arguments instead of harsh language. Have a nice sunday.

What is your opinion about animal testing? Did you went over to PETA’s website and signed it?

Project 10 Pan Update May 18th

Yes, it is time for another 10 pan update! And, what did I finish this week?

- Cotton Pads. Still have a loads of backups.
- Lush Stepping Stone. Seriously, I used it twice, because it was so brittle! Not worth the price, or a rebuy.
- Police perfume sample.

That’s it for this week, hope that next week will be better!

Orly Out Of This World

I know, I already posted about Orly Out Of This World, but I think it didn’t do justice to the polish. I fact, I thought that it was just a regular purple polish, while the thumb of the above link has some clear brown in it. So, I decided to do a re-run of this polish.

Actually, I found that the green can be seen. I have some problems capturing the duo-chrome colour:

Damn you camera! If only I had a Single-lens reflex (SLR) camera. What would I love to get one. Anyway, that is going te be a dream for now.

Oh, and the purple colour? This one below is much more colour-adequate.

Orly Out Of This World was a limited edition. If you’re feeling lucky, try eBay!

No buy (project 10 pan etc.) tips

Perhaps you are broke. Perhaps you have a stash that exceeds your closets. Perhaps you don’t use make up that much anymore. Or perhaps you’re sick of buying, buying, buying. Anyway, you want to have a no-buy. But how do you resist temptation?

* Avoid the shops
The first and the best rule that helped me, is to avoid shops. I unfortunately have the “luck” that I have to transfer at the city centre bus stop, so sometimes I used to pay the shops a small visit. And in my case, “small” meant around 50 euros lighter. Imagine doing that a few times a week, and you’ll know where your money goes. Nowadays, I ignore the siren’s call from the city centre and listen to my favourite songs while waiting.

* Project 10 Pan
The original project 10 pan is that you finish 10 items before you are allowed to buy ONE item new. You can even make it stricter by adding back ups/essentials to that rule. So, in order to buy that essential item, you must finish 10 items first.

* Imagine yourself in a hurry.
Imagine that you MUST have to catch the bus. Or that your mother is waiting and is very impatient. So don’t stop to look at the counters, but get just what you need. Exclude everything else; just keep your eyes on the prize product.

* Make a shopping list
Okay, so you need cotton pads, a new mascara (hygiene is very important!) and a new powder puff? Put them on the list and stick with it!

* Ignore the salesperson
They’re evil. They’re luring you. They’re the incarnation of the Sirens. They’re even not from this world. Ignore them. (BTW, can somebody help me with my somehow crazy obsession of Star Wars and Percy Jackson?)

* Sum up the negatives
So, somehow, you entered a store, forgot your 10 pan project, didn’t knew what was so important anymore to hurry yourself and you find yourself with a beauty item in your hands. Put it back. No, just lay it down. But what if you can’t lay it down so easily? Sum up the negative sides. For instance: “It has a hint of citrus, not an overpowering citrus smell (my favourite).“, “It will be number 432345342 in my collection of lipproducts“, “It is too pink” etc.

* Realize that there will always be a replacement.
Even limited edition products seem to come back (want an example? How about MAC, notorious for their repromotes) from time to time. And if your color doesn’t get repromoted, then there is always a dupe to find. There is no need to buy a limited edition.

* Drop some categories.
Why do you have a scented candle and oil to burn? Is one out of two not enough? Ditch the scrub if you have a very sensitive skin or hate the hassle underneath the shower. Screw the footcreams, unless it’s for athlete’s feet, you can get away with regular bodylotion or bodybutter.

* Do the time
So, you really want to have product X. Desperately. It will make your life so much better (or not?). Wait for 30 days, and then see if you remember it. It wasn’t life changing after all? PS. Don’t write it down. Let’s see if it helps.

I hope you get some use out of these tips. They work for me. Err… well, at least most of the time.

Cheers,
Nurchamiel

Marketing “green” products: What is wrong with people?

Quite recently I had a break down about the stupidity of today’s world. Perhaps some dutch readers have seen it on the Beautytreat.nl article on Stem Organics Exquisite Face Fluid. Although I’m for all natural products and my philosophy is “thing you can’t eat, shouldn’t be put on your body as well” (and quite failing at that – oops).

These days, I irritate myself hugely on the packaging of those natural products. And there are three main reasons for it:

1) They claim to not put in certain ingredients in their products. “Sulfate free, Paraben free, Silicone free, Can think of other ingredient free”. Why would you advertise with claims about ingredients that are not put into the actual product. It makes absolutely no sense. “Hey, there are no teeny-weeny robots in this scrub!” The only way this could be worse, is that there is a claim, claiming that ingredient X is not in the formula, only to discover the ingredient in the ingredientlist.

2) They play on the fear of people to generate sales. If, somehow, advertising with Some-ingredient-free, is completely logical (in which case, I’m missing the point), the advertising creates a mass hysteria about some ingredient. I think it is pretty logical to think: “Hey, ingredient X is claimed not to be in this product, so there must be something wrong with this ingredient.” Scare tactics anyone? I can name at least one beautyblogger who is against silicones and, during reviewing a product with silicones in it, she is completely biased while other bloggers rave about the product. How can I take her seriously? Add her position of a beautyblogger, and she might scare the hell out of young, unaware teenagers. To top it off, she claims to be a journalist – which should do a lot of research before totally burning a product or ingredient right into the ground. Yeah right.

3) They create/send false information into the world. When I browsed and scanned the “we avoid blablabla ingredients at all cost” page, I stumbled across the parabens paragraph. Because I reviewed parabens before, I knew that they are very safe and efficient. Do use a sunscreen. Anyway, the paragraph is making products with parabens sound as equal as drinking poison from a cup. Socrates style.

I mean, the product page is listed with all kind of sort “toxic”, “carcinogenic” ingredients. How do I know (unless I do extensive research – yeah, being lazy) that there isn’t false information as well? And therefore: how do I know that I can trust that company/website if they’re making false statements?

Yeah, I think that marketing and (niche) natural companies are going nuts. Hugely irritating. I think I’m going to opt for DIY, I’m tired of the nonsense they put on labels these days. (However, I still have a gazillion stuff to review, don’t worry. I’ll be fine, I guess. However, if you don’t hear from me for, let’s say, 2 months – I might have myself irritated to death.)

Blablabla, what do you think about claims made by the industry? Absolute nonsense (nonsense is an understatement, but I don’t want to offend people. Unless you make these type of claims), or could there be a truth hiding in it?

Project 10 Update May 11th

So, it is time for another update, colored by the “things that went rancid” products. Well, they make up most of the update. Well, anyway, here it goes.

- TBS Matte Eye Primer. Okay, so I have this one a while without opening it. I think that somebody opened it in the store and ruined it for me, because it should be ONE clear fluid. Not three.
- The two eyeliners (01 Black and 04 Glitter) I’m throwing away because they have been open for way to long (at least from December – not good!)
- The Anastasia clear brow gel went bad. Twice. This is the second time so I threw this one finally out. I don’t know how it happened. Anyway, this one is an excellent brow gel, but not green so I don’t rebuy it. I do count this one item as finished. I used it for a long, long while.
- Herome New Dehli. Great color, but hate the consistency. After about using 1/4 of the bottle, the polish becomes almost solid. Grrr. If I purchase a bottle, I want to at lease use half of it. Yes, it was that bad. Well, another one polish for the 5 polish challenge.

Except for the two eyeliners, I do count the remaining items as finished. I used them until I couldn’t use them anymore.

How did you this week?

Konad Holographic Glitter Topcoat

I already posted about a year ago a NOTD with the Konad holographic glitter topcoat. However, I think I failed to show the true nature of this beauty. So, I did it again, with Etos Black as base (again). Enjoy the pictures!

Here’s the topcoat in natural light. Does not justify the topcoat at all.

And with some light added. You can see the many colours of the glitter, but still, not much justice. So, I threw in a blurry pic…

Glitter galore! Much, much better than the previous photo’s!

Use it up quickly: Showergels

There’s a difference between soap and showergel. Texture. I guess. I haven’t found more differences.

Now, for the 10 panners out there, I wanted to write some tips and tricks to use up soap. I already shared a trick for soap, but today I want to add more.

Once upon a time, I had a teenyweeny bit left in a big bottle and one other bottle. Now, the big one is gone, the little one is almost gone. And I got (as a gift) another big one.

There are some more tips, and I would love to share them.
- Don’t become a germaphobe. No, all that washing, isn’t really good for you.
- Make sure you have a handcreme near by, because washing your hands strips them from their natural oils.
- Wash your hands before you cleanse your face. And every time after you went to the little room. Especially after you went to the little room.
- Don’t forget it. Put it near a sink, where you frequently wash your hands.

Do you have some tips? Share them in the comments so that other readers can benefit!

Colour me not

Cheesy title, as usual (what else is new?). Anyway, recently, on Queen’s Day (today is Remembrance day, tomorrow Liberation day) the whole The Netherlands (as I stubbornly refuse to call The Netherlands “Holland”, because that is equal to refer to all citizens of the USA as “Californians”) turned orange. Well, everybody but me, because I simply prefer not to dress myself in orange. I’m more a purple and green lover anyway.

Besides the fact that the Dutch have chosen a very horrible colour (orange – yuk, although tangerine is quite trendy this summer), I hate to do as I’m told – what the mass does. There’s a color for this day (today will probably be black – remembrance day), another color for tomorrow (my bet is on white). Been there, done that.

Even seasons are having their own colors: neons for summer, earth tones for autumn, white and black for winter, and pastels and other cheery colors in the spring.

Actually, I don’t care which day it is, or what season. I put on a colour because I like it, and not because I’m dictated to do so. It is even that bad that I don’t match my nail polish with my clothing. Currently, I’m wearing a white pearl polish (Herome Napoli, I guess), a purple shirt and jeans. Jep. Totally matching. Not.

Do you like to match the colors that you wear to the occasion? Or are you just like me and do what you like?