Cruelty-free: My Favourite Nail Polish Brands

My cruelty-free deadline has come and gone, and one of the products I have anguished over the most have been nail polishes. How can something comprised entirely of noxious chemicals possibly be cruelty-free?
My nail polish collection is... extensive. Sickeningly so. But, in my mind at least, calling it a hobby makes it acceptable, so let's leave it at that. I've given up OPI, Chanel, Rimmel, and China Glaze to name but a few, and while I haven't thrown out the existing offenders in my collection, I have stopped buying from these brands.

So, without any pomp or ceremony, here are my top ten cruelty-free nail polish brands (in no particular order) based on formula and colour range:

1. Zoya - Zoya polishes are hard to come by outside of America but their polishes have a great consistency and come in variety of colours and finishes.

2. Australis - Australia is an Australian makeup brand and although I haven't tried a great deal of their makeup, I rate their polishes - they're an affordable option and last up to a week on my nails without chipping.

3. Deborah Lippmann - Another American brand which can be difficult to find but these high end polishes are beautiful.

4. Nubar - A lesser known brand but equal to more popular brands in quality and formula.

5. Color Club - These polishes are really inexpensive, even taking into account the extra expense of purchasing them online. Hundreds of colours and the cream formulas perform very nicely indeed.

6. Models Own - I love these polishes - they're cheap and cheerful.

7. Lime Crime - Say what you will about Lime Crime (and there is plenty to say) I do like their nail polishes. Their polishes are very opaque.

8. Butter London - I love Butter London's approach to beauty - tongue-in-cheek and top quality. In my humble opinion, they do the best glitter polishes going.

9. Illamasqua - Beautiful, long-wearing, fun. These are certainly at the higher end of the price spectrum but the quality matches the price.

10. Nails Inc - Baker Street is one of my favourite colours of nail polish ever. I find some of their polishes give off quite a pungent odour, but if you can handle the smell, you cannot go past these polishes.

If you would like to go cruelty-free but struggling to figure out what's what, you can find a fairly comprehensive list of cruelty-free and vegan nail polish brands here.

Tropical Palm Nail Tutorial

Tropical palm print has reached saturation point, and being naturally suspicious of the longevity of such a huge trend (also, it just ain't my bag - I'm rely more of the teddy-girl-come-polshed-punk type myself), I decided the closest I would get to the tropic trend would be my nails.

What you'll need:

• White nail polish - I used OPI's Alpine Snow;
• Light green nail polish or striper;
• Medium green nail polish or striper;
• Dark green nail polish or striper;
• Yellow nail polish or striper; and
• Thin brush (if you don't own striper polishes)

Obviously, the first thing to do is apply two coats of your white base.

With the light green polish, paint a couple of leaves along the edges of the nail.

The next step is essentially the same - using the remaining green shades to create more leaves (some overlapping) in varying sizes and shapes.

Use the white polish and contrasting shades of green and yellow to create veining and dimension on the leaves - lines of lighter colours where the sun would hit the surface of the leaf and darker shades to create depth and shadow.

Easy. Just repeat nine times and you are the epitome of tropical chic or something.

Love & Loathe

Love and loathe are strong words, but let's indulge in a little hyperbole while I discuss something I like and something that has driven me to my wit's end. I had high hopes for both Smashbox's Santigolden Age palette in Apocolypse Now and Bobbi Brown's gel liner in Cobalt Ink, but which is the living end and which product's failure to perform was a personal insult?

The Love: Smashbox's recent release in collaboration with Santigold is a collection of brightly coloured Aztec-inspired palettes, pencils and lip glosses. I picked up the eyeshadow palette in Apocolyse Now because who needs another neutral palette, am I right? 

The shadows are incredibly pigmented, and although they are daring colours, they can be blended out to a sheer wash of shimmer. The black is particularly smooth and pigmented - easily the best black eyeshadow I've encountered. I was hesitant that the shimmery golden orange, despite its beauty, would be of little use to me, but it is perfect to add a little warmth to the outer v and, used lightly, is really more of a warm gold. My only gripe is that the pinky champagne shade which comprises the right snake eye is so small.

The Loathe: I was in need of a new navy gel eyeliner recently. Now, I could have gone to MAC - I have a few fluidlines and I like them - but I thought, "No, you can do better than MAC." Everyone is always banging on about Bobbi Brown's long wearing gel liner so I googled some swatches of Cobalt Ink and decided that was the one for me.

The colour is a beautiful rich matte navy. That's the only redeeming feature of this liner. It is so dry. So. Dry. It's impossible to get a smooth line. It is nigh on impossible to create a smooth, clean line and when I tried to go over the line to even it out it completely flaked off. I've tried different brushes, I tried warming up the product, I tried spraying my brush with a little Fix +; nothing. The catastrophic failure of this liner after the positive reviews I read is like a betrayal. It's maddening - is it just me, or is it truly woeful?

My search for a navy gel liner continues...

Now Playing: The Horrors - Luminous

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I never thought I would ever write such a thing but The Horrors have recorded a pop album. Luminous is just that - a sparking luminescent pop gem. When I listen to this album, I hear The Stones Roses. Incase you were wondering, that's a good thing.

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I eagerly await each Horrors release for the mere fact that they are a band who truly understand what it is to evolve. Remember Sheena is a Parasite? Remember when they had stage names like Faris Rotter and Spider Webb? I lie to think I wasn't the only one who found much of their debut nigh on unlistenable but it's so easy to forgive when each subsequent album has been  like golden light pressed into a compact disc. Chasing Shadows is the song you play on repeat when you're alone, it's grey and you're missing the one you love; and I physically cannot stop listening to Jealous Sun. It's a condition.

Sit in the sun, close your eyes and listen to this record.

Ombre Leopard Nail Art Tutorial

Leopard print is the nail enthusiast's bread and butter. It's my go to design when I'm pressed for time or just feeling lazy (which is the case more often than not). It's quick and requires little to no technical skills, and it can look chic or terrifically garish depending on your choice of polish and the size of the leopard spots.

What you'll need:

• Two shades of nail polish - one a few shades lighter than the other - I used a fuchsia (Australis' Bombshell) and a dark blue-based purple (Color Club's Disco Dress)
• Makeup sponge
• Aluminium foil
• Black nail art pen, striper polish or polish and thin brush

Obviously you need to start by painting your nails your base colour, which will be the lighter of the two polishes.

Place a few drops of your dark polish on a piece of aluminium foil (this will prevent the polish from drying up too quickly). Dip your sponge into the polish and dab off the excess polish before patting it onto the bottom half of your nails.

Repeat this step, but this time only on the bottom third of your nails to create a graduated ombre effect.

Finally, to create the leopard spots use your nail art pen, striper polish, or polish and thin brush (what-have-you) to draw wonky, disconnected circles, semi circles and spots of differing sizes all over your nail. There's really no method to it - the more hap-hazard the better - neatly disorganised is the goal, really.

And that's all there is to it. Plenty more obvious nail art tutorials in the pipe so enjoy!

Style Muses #2: Jehnny Beth (Savages)

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Jehnny Beth is a goddess. I know this because the first time I saw them play live at this year's Laneway Festival, grown men shouted this from the audience and they were right, she was a goddess standing centre stage, bathed in light with a compelling intensity filling her dark eyes. 

Savages is a post punk band from the UK creating music that is both sexy and menacing. There is something unsettling lurking amongst the beats, something that is visceral and raw yet also sophisticated.

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There is an empowered femininity in Beth's androgynous style. Her cropped hair and sharp tailoring are understated and chic - she exudes a coolness that appears to stem from an indifference towards the world at large. She looks like she would take you home, teach you everything there is to know about love and throw you out in the morning.

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Her style is so simple and yet she makes it her own. The masculinity of her tailored clothing is juxtaposed against feminine heels and jewellery, and while this may equate to "appropriate work attire" on other women, she somehow makes it edgy.
 

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When Savages perform, Beth's delivery and sharp, deliberate movements are reminiscent of a female Ian Curtis. She is so utterly watchable, mesmeric even.

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I feel as though there is so much I could say about Jehnny Beth that can only be expressed in the most primitive terms - she is the person you want to be; so cool without knowing, without trying, without even wanting to be cool. Ugh, I just want to be her, ok?

Harajuku Hauling: Goods exchanged for currency in Japan

I swear on all that is holy that this is my last Japan post - I'm just trying to ease the pain of withdrawals. I wasn't expecting to do much shopping on this trip - not because there wasn't anything worth buying, but because there were too many things to do infinitely more exciting than shopping. Of course, there were uber cool shops aplenty but they all seemed above me on the hipness scale that every single piece of clothing appeared as though it belonged nowhere else but on the svelte body of Shibuya's heppest cats (cool language alert). Naturally, I did manage to find ways to spend those tasty yen...

Before we left I read a few lists of the most highly recommended Japanese beauty products and landed in Osaka with quite a lengthy list. I didn't get to pick up everything I had on my list but I was mightily impressed with the products I did manage to find. Obviously, you can't go to Japan and not pick up a few sheet masks and these pomegranate and potato moisture masks were One product in particular was astounding: Cure's Natural Aqua Gel was on every list I looked at and every review I found praised this exfoliator as, hands down, the best exfoliating product going. I approached this with a healthy skepticism, partly because you should never buy into beauty hype and partly because it looks like hand sanitiser, but this is the only thing I've ever put on my face and thought "WOW!" Guys, you can literally see the dead skin being buffed away - it's amazing. I have take a solemn oath to never be without this exfoliator again.

I also took the opportunity to pick up some duty-free bits. I took a sample of Estee Lauder's Advanced Nigh Repair with me and the morning after I used it I knew I had to get me some of that magic oil for keeps. MAC's colourful Toyland display lured me over and I decided I needed Red Balloon because, strangely, I was without a fuchsia lipstick. I also replaced my old orange lipstick, which had been with me since my uni days, with Morange, a bright true orange.

Ever since Lisa Eldridge's blog post on Keira Knightley's red carpet look using Chanel's Illusion d'ombre in New Moon, I've been counting down the days tip the release of Chanel's summer collection and stalking countless makeup counters until I made that cream eyeshadow mine. It is beautiful - a glittery pinky brown with a lovely texture and long-lasting formula. Ugh, it's everything...

As Japan is the land of cool trainers, I couldn't leave without finding a fly pair of kicks of my very own. Unfortunately, my size 39 feet must be large and ungainly in Japan because I had to go to four different shops to find these purple-red ombre shoes in my size because 38 seemed to be the largest size everyone carried. But I think you'll agree these street creed machines were worth it.

The most exciting souvenir of the trip was a surprise gift from Buckle, who stood next to me while I admired this little beauty at Miu Miu in Osaka and led me, without my knowing, to the Miu Miu store in Shibuya to pick out a cat print pouch of my very own. 

Love is not a strong enough word to describe my feelings about this clutch. It fits exactly what I need and nothing I don't and I want to take it everywhere with me. Sometimes, I just take it out of it's box and stare at it.

Apart from little typical souvenirs and a Totoro pin for my leather jacket, that's everything. But then, that's more than enough, isn't it?

Japanese Whispers: Part 3 - Tokyo - Super Potato and Samurai Pizza Cats

We spent the entire last week of our holiday in Tokyo and packed it with more pop culture than the  Buzzfeed homepage. Buckle took some pretty spectacular shots of the Tokyo skyline from the giant ferris wheel in Daida,re we also saw an enormous Gundam statue and an exceptionally squeally crowd awaiting the arrival of the winners of Korean Idol. Of course, we had to bear witness to the K-pop power of Infinite (I can't help but raise my fist every time I say their name) performing their latest single - you could have bottled the oestrogen in the air and sold it to post-menapusal women.

It just so happened that the Sumo tournament was in it's final week while we were in Tokyo so we lined up early one morning to secure the cheapest, worst tickets in the whole stadium and watch fat, sweaty men grapple with each other for honour or something. I think I've found my sport. I don't mean to brag but I feel as though I've become somewhat knowledgable on the subject of sumo wrestling - I reckon I can strategise with the best of them. Plus, all that rampant testosterone really brought out a new side in Buckle.

If you're searching for the highest concentration of pop culture, sex shops and video games in Tokyo - the world, even - then Akihabara is the place to be. We spent a good 12 hours trawling through the streets, stopping at Super Potato to play vintage arcade games (Buckle opted for Street Fighter while I was all over Wonder Boy) and relive our furtive youth by browsing racks upon racks of old Nintendo and Sega games.

While in Akihabara I also took the opportunity to get my nails done at Ita Color Yellow, Tokyo's best nail salon specialising in anime and Japanese cartoon themed nail art. I knew exactly what I wanted on my nails...

Samurai Pizza Cats! Because it true what they say, "they've got more fur than any turtle ever had." Despite the language barrier (Buckle was not sticking around for 2 hours to act as translator) we got through it and the nail artist was the Michelangelo of nails.

I couldn't stop staring at my hands days afterwards.

Shibuya was without doubt the coolest place in Tokyo - Shibuya crossing was what I imagined the whole of Tokyo to be. Naturally, no trip to Japan would be complete without visiting a cat cafe; we stopped in at Happi Neko in Shibuya which was filled with lounges, armchairs, book and, of course, cats. I have to say that I was left a little disappointed with our visit; I left feeling as though we'd just payed $20 to be ignored by cats - I have a cat at home that ignores me for free. However, I couldn't fault the sheer adorableness of the cats and felt a little envious that I couldn't make a living out of people coming to feed me treats, wave feathers in my face and watch me nap.

On our last night in Japan we lined up with hundreds of others for Disney Sea, which is apparently infinitely superior to Tokyo Disneyland. I'm not a Disney buff in any sense of the word but the lights and whimsy drew me in like a Venus Fly Trap.

Mermaid's Lagoon particularly appealed to the five year-old mermaid inside of me.

I've been pining for Japan ever since we got back on Sunday - Australia is just not weird or polite enough for me anymore, but I soothe myself by remembering that London is a mere 4 months away.