Saturday, March 17, 2012

5-pack minis from H&M. Part I


Hello everyone!


Today I want to show you something new, cheap and cruelty free!   :-)


It is a 5-pack set of mini nail polishes from H&M. There is no name written on the box, and no information about it on hm.com, but on the receipt it says "EVERYDAY SEASONAL", but I do not know if that is a name or what. The polishes are simply called: Red, Beige, Blue, Bronze and Pink. I bought the set about two weeks ago, and it is still available in the store.

Because of many photos, I chose to divide it up. So this is part I. First I will show you what the set looks like, and then we will look at Blue, Red and then Pink with some holo layering. And in part II, hopefully soon, you can see Bronze and Beige with flakie- layering.





5-pack minis from H&M, spring 2012








PART I: BLUE,  RED and PINK


BLUE: 2 coats + topcoat:


This is my favorite of the set. It is a kind of prussian blue, or ultramarine with some drops of black mixed in. I think it even beats my very old Christian Dior Cobalt 489...

Therefor I am willing to try to teach myself to get the right amount of polish on the nail and to work fast to get it evenly. You have to be careful so that an extra drop does not land on your nail. And sometimes I was too careful wiping off the brush shaft first, only to get too little polish on the nail. And then getting too much when trying to save the mani.


I got some bubbles. Probably because the coats got to thick, and also the topcoat got too thick on some of the nails.


RED: 1 coat, no topcoat, no clean up:

Before making dinner- photo:





Fantastic red color. Easy to apply. To my surprise, it is a "1 1/5"- coater. I had planned to put one more coat on the pinky (on the rest of the hand one is enough in my opinion), then topcoat, and then take some photos. But first, I had to make dinner... and ruined it:




(I need a fast drying topcoat). I got compliments wearing this polish. It looks even better in real life than in my photos. Removing the red polish caused staining of my skin, but nothing like Chanel Rouge Noir. Just make sure to protect your skin before you remove the polish.


PINK:  The reason why I bought this set, is that I fell for the pink shimmer in this pastel pink creme.



But I was very disappointed when I saw that the bottle had been opened, or not properly closed before leaving the factory. It was the first bottle (from the set) I tried, and unlike all my other H&M- polishes (except for the extremely sheer "Pink Mist"), I did not like the formula. The formula was a bit thick, and I struggled to make an evenly coat. This is what it looked like:


And the pink shimmer was not visible on the nail!!! But it felt good to wear a neutral color for a change. So I wore it for one day.

After having tried all the other ones in the set, I wanted to give it another chance. Still no pink shimmer... This is 2 coats+ topcoat:

So I put on a coat of holographic nail polish, to make it a bit more interesting. (Sorry, but I can not remember if I put a regular topcoat on top of that.)

Here is "Glitter Gal 3D/Holographic 707H Silver" layered over "Pink":






























This holographic polish is very sheer, so it is possible to use it to make a holographic effect of other nail polishes. But the holographic effect is not as strong as the other holos I have. I first saw it on Nailderellas blog, and she really made me want to try it. You can see 707H Silver over many different colors in Nailderellas post Want a rainbow on your nails? The holo can be bought online at Llarowe or Harlow & Co.

According to Harlow & Co; "Glitter Gal polishes are "3-Free" and never tested on animals.". H&M nail polishes are also not tested on animals.

Here is the list of ingredients for this H&M set:
I can't see Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, or Toluene among the ingredients.






So, this was the end of part I, showing Blue, Red and Pink. In the next blog post (Part II) we will start looking at Beige, and layer it with a flakie. A beautiful combination you can look forward to.



Lani



2 comments:

  1. I always wonder if H&M nail polishes are 3 free as well

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    Replies
    1. I do not know,(I could not find H&M on any 3- free list), but I can not find those 3 ingredients (Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, and Toluene)on the ingredients list. So it looks like H&M is 3 free.

      I will edit in a photo of the ingredients list for this set above now, so that you can read it too.

      Lani

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