SNAPSHOTS: Hallowe'en and Movember

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies! You know what the worst thing is? Moving house. It is actually the worst thing. It is an all-engulfing maw into which my past week disappeared entirely. I actually don't even remember most of it. I have nubbins to show for it, though. Moving also destroyed my nails and cuticles-- ick.

But I made it through! And I have two manis to show you quick quick.

First up is my Hallowe'en mani. I apologize for the image quality; I used my iPad to take the photo in less-than-ideal light. I used white and black acrylic paint on a base of the franken I'd made a while ago. I happen to think my little Jolly Rogers are quite cute!

Second up is my Movember mani! I started with a patchwork base of Magia, Cosmic Fate, Eternal Beauty, and Kismet. The holo is evident in direct light and throws wonderful rainbows! I then used white and brown acrylic paint for the different moustaches. The middle finger is dedicated to Cmd. Hadfield. ;)

Polishes used:

Franken I'd made a while ago...

Color Club - Cosmic Fate, Eternal Beauty, Kismet

Jade - Magia

Duri - Rejuvacote (base coat)

la couleur couture - 2013 (top coat) (note: putting top coat on these holos doesn't kill the rainbow effect!)

Back atcha lovelies with more nail art soon! I have an idea for an autumnal mani (I say, as I look outside and everything is blanketed in snow...), plus it's Digit-al Dozen week next week! Hang tight, I promise to be more present! :)

xo,

J.

Breast Cancer Awareness

Nothing to Disclose

Hello lovelies!

October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. This weekend is also J for Jellies in our ABC Challenge. I decided to mix the two together. I present it here because I feel like it's an opportunity for me to address something that bugs me every time this month rolls around: pinkwashing.

"Jolène," you are saying, "what the heck is pinkwashing?" Well, it's the pernicious way in which many companies and organizations pretend to care about breast cancer and breast cancer awareness without, you know, actually doing anything useful about it. Here's a website for you, and it's just the tip of the iceberg. And here are two excerpts from the Advertisements section of the Breast Cancer Awareness article on Wikipedia:

Business marketing campaigns, particularly sales promotions for products that increase pollution or have been linked to the development of breast cancer, such as alcohol, high-fat foods, some pesticides, or the parabens and phthalates used by most cosmetic companies, have been condemned as pinkwashing (a portmanteau of pink ribbon and whitewash).^[25]Such promotions generally result in a token donation to a breast cancer-related charity by taking advantage of the consumers' fear of cancer and grief for people who have died to drive sales.^[9] 

and

Two significant campaigns against pink consumption are the National Breast Cancer Coalition's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign, and Breast Cancer Action's "Think Before You Pink" campaign. NBCC's "Not Just Ribbons" campaign sought to focus awareness efforts onto substantive issues such as genetic discrimination, access to cancer treatment, patient rights, and environmental breast cancer research.^[26] "Think Before You Pink" encouraged consumers to ask questions about pink products (e.g., to find out how much of a donation was being made).^[27]

A good example is antiperspirants. Companies continue to manufacture antiperspirants, whose active ingredient has been proven to increase the risk of breast cancer, all while pink-ribboning their overall product line to seem like they care. Here is an article a friend sent me on cause marketing (which covers breast cancer awareness as well as other causes). Stuff like that drives me insane. But I'll stop ranting now. I just firmly believe in conscious consumerism.

This skittlette was done using Flamingo Kisses on the thumb and index (three coat), as well as pinky (two coats). Two coats of She Walks in Beauty were then applied to the pinky. The middle and ring fingers are a pond manicure done using Vitral *** and Tempest, and took a good 5 coats to achieve the opacity you see here -- definitely not meant for that.

She Walks in Beauty is a pink and gold glitter, two colours that are totally unlike me, but I love the polish to bits. Vitral *** is too hot pink for me, but Flamingo Kisses (a polish created by Dandy Nails in memory of Sandy Hook) is beautiful, a cold pink with pink and purple flake shimmer. Really nice, and an easily smooth three coats.

Polishes used:

Dandy Nails - Flamingo Kisses (I do not believe this ever went to market; I won it in a contest)

A England - She Walks in Beauty

Colorama - Vitral ***

Cult Nails - Tempest

butter LONDON - Nail Foundation (base coat)

Rica - Glossy Glam (top coat)

medium detail brush

Sorry to ramble away on ya! But guess what tomorrow is: DIGIT-AL DOZEN DAYYYY!! Well, the first of five. I've got four of my five manis done, and photos taken and edited, but man oh man am I stumped for the last one. That's my project for today. ;)

xo,

J.

*** IMPORTANT NOTE: A good friend brought this to my attention. I can certify that all polishes used in this mani are, at the very least, 3-free. EXCEPT FOR VITRAL. Brazilian polishes are all switching over to 3-free formulae as far as I know, but I do not know the status of Colorama polishes. Please be aware that non-3-free polish has ingredients that are linked to cancer (I don't know about breast cancer, but cancer in general). While I promise I am not profiting off the back of breast cancer awareness, lest I appear hypocritical, I wanted you to know!

Adieu, Google Reader / Google Friend Connect

Everybody and their monkey's uncle knows about the imminent demise of Google Reader and, contrary to initial reports, I've heard that Google Friend Connect will be getting the boot, too. So sad!

If you use either of these platforms to follow my blog (bless your heart for following, I love you!) then consider this your friendly reminder to switch over to another reader platform ASAP!

I use Bloglovin' to follow all of the nail blogging lovelies out there and I adore the service. If you use Bloglovin' or are thinking of using it, here is the button to follow me:



There are of course other RSS readers out there; for the rest of my reading, I use Feedly. If you're jumping to another RSS reader, here is a Feedburner link to get your subscription to my feed all set up:

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Thanks so much for taking the time to read this! I'll be back with some adventuresome nail art in the near future (likely tomorrow afternoon)!


xo,

J.