Thursday, June 14, 2012

The Hello Goodbye Series: Cosmetics

We have been staying so busy these first couple weeks of summer!  The weather has been pretty fantastic, and the majority of the time we've been running around outside either at t-ball, at parks or in our own yard.  Bill and I are working on planning a few especially fun activities for the summer too.

While we were inside for a short stint earlier this week, I decided to pull out a 'surprise' for Lucky.  For background, you must know that Lucky loves having her nails painted.  I think it makes her feel like a princess:)!  After years of couponing, I had acquired quite the stash of nail polishes:



As with all things lately, I started questioning the safety of putting colored paint on our nails and keeping it there for awhile.  I've never been a fan of having ink of any kind on my kid's skin.  We use only washable markers and crayons, and wash hands after we're done.  We don't usually do the "faux kid tattoos" that take a week to wear off.  Avoiding ink on our skin is just one of those things that make sense to me.  Maybe it's because I remember my mom not liking it when on a rare occasion, I purposely wrote on my skin as a kid.  Regardless, I decided to look into more 'natural' nail polish options, and I stumbled upon the site: Hopscotch Kids.

Little Bo Peep

Hopscotch Kids sells non-toxic, kid safe nail polish created by a Mom in 2009 to avoid the harsh smells and toxins that are in most cosmetic products that are currently marketed to children.  The polish is water based and comes in many kid friendly colors.

Scotch Naturals is the 'adult' version of Hopscotch Kids.  They use the same non-toxic nail polish formula, but sell it in colors that are geared towards adults.

I had already made up my mind that I wanted to try the polish, but as you can imagine, it is a little pricey at $12 per bottle.  I was waiting for a rainy day excuse to place an order when I saw a 25% off sale they ran last week.  In order to get free shipping, I had Lucky pick out two colors of polish, I chose one color and we also ordered the soy based polish remover.  The order arrived quickly!



Lucky chose light pink (Teddy Bear, Teddy Bear) and light purple (Little Bo Peep), which look very much the same in this picture.  Originally, I thought about trying to convince Lucky to try one light and one dark color, but I could tell she felt strongly about these colors, and I honestly like lighter colors on little ones:).


I picked a darker color called, Bitter N Twisted.  

We had great fun trying out the new polish.  We didn't purchase the base or top coat (which the manufacturer recommends), but we were still happy with the polish results.  I was especially happy about the polish aroma.  It smells ever so subtly of chocolate!  And the polish remover is virtually odorless. 



(Charm insisted on trying it out too!  Sorry Bill:)!)


I would definitely buy this product line again, although I'm really loving my super simplified nail polish collection:



Goodbye old stinky polishes!!




Hello natural replacements that smell like chocolate:



I should also take this opportunity to say that along with nail polish, we've been trying out new shampoos, toothpastes, deodorants and sunscreens around here.  I've been using the Environmental Working Group's Cosmetic Database as a loose reference to guide our purchase decisions.  I say loose reference because there is quite a bit of controversy surrounding the organization and their political agenda.  I do like how they list the ingredients of products so I can compare options at home instead of in the store.  

Lately, we've been using Banana Boat's Natural Reflect sunscreen, which contains Zinc and Titanium, which are physical sun blockers.  It's not greasy either which is a big plus for me.  It does take a bit of time to rub it all in, however.  As for toiletries, we've been trying brands like Babyganics, California Baby, Burt's Bees and Tom's of Maine depending on pricing and coupons.  It's a big experiment around here, but we're having fun with it:).  

Has anyone else tried Hopscotch nail polishes?  Do you have specific brands you love when it comes to personal hygiene products?

P.S. You can click here for previous Hello-Goodbye Series posts!
P.P.S. I was not paid or perked at all for this nail polish review.  It was just a product that I wanted to try!

4 comments:

  1. I tried the Piggy Paint for Maya (she still sucks her fingers). That one feels kind of like wet mud when it goes on, but dried to look like a regular polish. We applied in the evening and the two fingers Maya sucks were completely gone by morning. In fact, it came off pretty easily if your hands were wet for too long. Great for removal, but hard to maintain, especially when trying to get the little ones to sit still during application and drying :) They were a bit cheaper and I did see trial packages recently at Wal-mart. Overall, I didn't really care for it (I actually returned what I bought).

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    1. I had to look up Piggy Paint, because I had not heard of that version. Thanks for the review...we won't be trying it either. Our hopscotch nail polish didn't last quite as long as regular nail polish, but long enough for our liking:). Hope you are enjoying the summer, Jen!

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  2. I havent used the nail polish, but have used burts bees sunscreen and it doesn't rub in at all. Unless it's been reformulated, I would go with a different brand.

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    1. Thanks for the tip! We continue to like Banana Boat's Natural Reflect. It's thick and takes a bit of rubbing to get in, but it's not greasy and it really feels like we're getting a good, protective layer with it.

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