You want to look for stuff that's "Big 3 Free" - free of Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde and Toluene.

There's a list of polishes here.
http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/0...l#.T0RUxvGPXd4

And here.
http://www.inspirationail.com/3-free-varnish/

Oh yeah, you can order Zoya online and from what I've seen the polishes are beautiful and high quality. They're 3 free - I haven't taken the initiative to look through and pick out colors yet (since I'm working off a gift card that I've earmarked for nail polish) but I intend to.

Stay away from Seche Vite as a topcoat. It's LOADED with one of them, I forget which, but might have all three. I'm pretty sure my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat is 3 free. A good topcoat helps keep manicures from chipping, too.

The China Glaze polishes with the black labels (on the bottom) are 3 free - I like that brand a lot but don't get the wear out of them like I do OPI or Nicole by OPI.

If I'm getting something besides a drugstore brand or boring color of OPI I can usually find it (well, not the HTF ones necessarily) for about $3-5 a piece on the Awazon. OPI, China Glaze... I've ordered a few off of there and haven't had a problem - they always mail wrapped in bubble wrap in a bubble wrap envelope so it fits in my mailbox which I appreciate as the post office sucks about delivering packages that don't fit.

Ya, Toluene :(

I still use it but not every day - mostly when I have a glittery or shimmery polish that's rough and I want to smooth it out. For cremes I use insta-dri but it tends to crack on me (is that weird? It only happens with this topcoat but I can NOT wait for non-almost instant topcoats to dry).

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2012/0...l#.T0RZ0E4gcVg

I found swatches of the Hunger Games nail polish! So far I like Fast Track, Harvest Moon, and Riveting the best. I'm not sure if I'm so keen on Luxe and Lush anymore.

You just made this so easy for me with those lists! My reasons for avoiding that stuff is that it stains my nails a horrible yellow that looks like a smoke, and it dries out the surrounding skin and I get more hangnails and my cuticles look unattractive.

I'm quite familiar with Butter as I've had them do my nails at the Seattle airport many times, they are just around the corner from the Alaska Airlines Boardroom and most of my flights. It looks like there are a few places nearby (within 100 miles in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane) that carries Butter. There's a Nordstrom and an Ulta in Spokane, and also two surprising retailers: Northern Quest Casino and Mel's Nursery.

Butter's Powder Finish Foot Creme is one of my favorite products, I've given money to people with layovers to get more.


Not as fancy as that with the ribbons, mine just have patterned cuffs, but you've got the idea.

I decided to get the entire Holland collection from OPI. It's ridiculously gorgeous, and I'm kind of obsessed.

China Glaze has a magnetic nail polish collection: http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2012/...ollection.html
Not sure if want.

Nutra Nail now has a gel manicure kit for at-home use that doesn't require a UV light. Not a huge selection of colors, mostly pinks and reds. But at under $15, I'd be willing to try it. There are even coupons on the Nutra Nail website.

Has anyone ever heard of Piggy Paint nail polish? I stumbled across it yesterday and then visited the website.

From the website:
"Piggy Paint is specially formulated from God’s natural ingredients and dries to a hard, durable finish. There are no toxic chemicals; it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone."

Obviously, they are marketing to kids/moms, but I think I want to order some.

I think for me, things like that depend on durability. If they're marketed to kids, it's possible that they're made to be removed pretty easily--with my line of work I can't afford to have a manicure bust out on me after day 2 or 3. That's why I end up doing gel and UV manicures.

Edit: I was confusing Piggy Paints and Piggy Polish, which is sold at ULTA and marketed as specially formulated for toes.

I'm such a Seche Vita addict :( Nothing else keeps my manicure chip free for up to two weeks - not to mention the shine it gives! People have often mistaken it for shellac. :D lol An alternative to Seche is Essie's Good To Go. I think it last just as long, but it doesn't have the same amount of shine though.

I recently discovered Zoya (I am a DEVOTED China Glaze girl) and I'm really loving the bottles I've purchased so far!

I organized my nail polish box today and took "inventory" since I've come close to buying a lot of dupes lately.

I need to lay off the polish buying.

Honeykiss, I LOVE Zoya. Have you gotten anything from their new beach and surf collection?

I love the colors from Essie's new summer collection! I bought Off the Shoulder and Mojito Madness. They are so cute and perfect for summer!

I LOVE Mojito Madness! I got it on Friday and am so glad I treated myself to a "Live-in's in Vegas without me, we had layoffs at work this week" pick-me-up.

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339207501

And then I did this:

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339354555

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339354572

Oh my gawd. That is GORGEOUS. I'm so jealous of your skills. I just did a mani with Mojito Madness with silver glitter on my ring fingers. I can't quite get the hang of ombre manis. I found a couple tutorials on Pinterest but I haven't been brave enough to try it on myself. Any tips for me?