Burt's Bees - Lemon Butter Cuticle Creme

Well... I really wanted to like this cuticle butter. But I'm not a fan at all. I tried it for a week and I'm just not that impressed. The one thing that made we want to buy it was that un-like Lush's Lemoney Flutter (which I love) it doesn't have any parabens in it. If your unsure of what parabens are I would highly recommend googling or youtubing "parabens." Basically they are preservatives added to cosmetics and a lot more things, and cancer studies have shown that some cancer patients have higher concentrations of parabens in them then other non-cancer patients. In some countries the use of them are banned but in Canada and the US they are still being used. As much as I can, I stay away from products with parabens in them because your skin easily absorbs the products you put on it.  I just figure there are so many products on the market these days, why pick ones with parabens in it when you have lots of options. ANYWAYS back to the lemon butter, I'm not a fan of the scent. It has lemon peel oil in it, but it basically smells like a citronella candle at a picnic. The consistency of it is very hard and waxy. It takes about 10 seconds of rubbing the top to get enough product on your finger for one cuticle. Once applied it absorbs fairly quickly into the skin but if its left on the nail it creates a very bad base for nail polish. I didn't notice a huge difference in my cuticles, not enough that I would put up with the bad smell or long application process. Bottom line - I'm still on the hunt for a "holy grail" cuticle moisturizer (paraben free of course). The retail price for this is $6 CND and it has .60 oz./ 17g of product in the tin. It's available almost anywhere, Walmart, Shoppers Drug Mart, and local grocery stores.

Chanel Summer 2011 Colletion- Mimosa

I'm so excited for Mimosa. I've been anticipating it for a long time. I had looked for it at a few Chanel counters and hadn't had any luck finding it, I finally found it in Surrey of all places. The collection had three limited edition nail polishes (Mimosa, Morning Rose, and Beige Petale). Mimosa is what I would call a bright banana yellow with a slight shimmer to it. In the bottle the shimmer is more noticeable, but on the nail its a very subtle. I always love the colours Chanel comes out with and this year Mimosa was the 'it' colour everyone had to have. But I'm always let down by Chanel's 'it' colours, they either chip easily or have a horrible application. For a polishes that have a price tag of approx. $30 CND you would expect them to be near flawless. I found it very thick and uneven, with three coats bare spots were still left behind. I've swatched it a few times since purchasing it last weekend and both times it left a horrible yellow residue around my cuticles that wouldn't go away. Nonetheless I'm going to give it another try this weekend. Chanel polishes can be bought at Chanel stores and counters, I've never tried ordering from them online so I can't say how easy it is. They are $25 - $30 CND and are 0.4 fl oz/13mL, in the Vancouver area select Bay stores have Chanel counters and Holt Renfrew has a Chanel counter.  This collection is limited edition and getting harder to find. I'm going to try to keep working with it cause its beautiful so some actual swatches will be posted soon!

- Leanne

American Apparel - Neon Violet (stunning)

So I've been on a kick trying out all these neons from AA newest collection. This is 'Neon Violet', I must say the names are very boring but the polishes themselves are stunning.  The swatches are very true to colour. Sometimes neons are hard to capture but this one was the easiest. Just like its green sister it has that neat satin finish. I think its great, when top coats are optional. Application was amazing, smooth and even. Because this was the darkest one of the bunch you can read the writing on the back the easiest, so I've included a picture. Note the formaldehyde in the ingredients and the warning box. If you want to more about these polishes (pricing, availability, ect.) check out my post about the entire Neons Collecton where I go into detail about the collection.

-Leanne

American Apparel - Neon Green (wow)

I just loooove these polishes. I have a few AA colours in my collection. But this whole collection are all my absolute favourites from the company.  When I bought this I did the 3/$18 CND deal they have (I bought the whole collection of 6 at $6 each), if you buy them individually they are $8 CND.  They are the average bottle size of .5 fl oz/15 mL size. I believe they are a cheaper if you are shopping in the USA (3/$15 USD or $6 USD each). The first post about these polishes just showed bottle pictures of the entire collection together and now I'm going to show you some swatches. This is 'Neon Green' (creative naming huh?) oh well, they are amazing! Can you say INSTANT TAN! The application was amazing, AA is known for their  'one-coat' polishes, but never have I seen neons opaque in one coat. The swatches are two coats (out of habit) and with NO TOP COAT! Neons usually have a very dull, flat, matte finished when dry, but this polish had a very unique finish to it. I liked it, so I skipped the top coat. The finish was not a shiny one but it wasn't the gross dull matte you would have expected. I would call it a satin finish.  Read my first post if you want to find out more about the whole collection. This Neon collection is Limited Edition, but still available online and in-stores in the Vancouver area.

-Leanne

American Apparel Summer Neons Collection

Now this is love... It's been a long time since I've obsessed over a collection. This is the entire Neons Collection from American Apparel.  It's a collection of 6 screaming neon polishes. These just yell 80s to me, the green and orange when put beside each other right away made me think Michelangleo from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. From left to right, Neon Coral, Neon Green, Neon Violet, Neon Red (a neon pink), Neon Yellow, and finally Neon Orange.  These beauties on American Apparel's Canadian store site retail for $7.50 CND (I'm not 100% positive but I believe in stores they are $8.00 CND) and if you buy three they are $18 CND (online and in-store, and you can mix and match). They also have a 7 pack online which also includes a top coat for $44.50 CND.  The application was completely flawless for all of them, they were opaque with one coat (I used two, just out of habit). The one thing I noticed was that on the AA website they list the ingredients as "3 Free" (so no  DBP, toluene and formaldehyde-free), but when you take a closer look at the neon collection they have formaldehyde listed on the back. So the website is deceptive, if you are worried about formaldehyde in polish, this collection is one to stay away from. They are made in the USA and they are cruelty free which is great. I had saw on more then a few other blogs about a month ago that these were in very limited quantities (2000 of each colour) but my AA store got them in stock about a month ago and last week they still had a full display (so there is still time to get you hands on these). The website also had them all still in stock, (http://store.americanapparel.ca), with orders over $75 you get free shipping and you don't need a coupon code. Throughout the week I'm going to have the swatches for all of these.  Click on the pictures to see all the colours closer!

-Leanne