Vossity.com: Non-Toxic Beauty Products Online
As you know, my blog is beginning to focus more heavily on health and wellness - and mindfulness. Being mindful goes beyond the psychological process of paying attention to internal and external experiences - but also to consumption. This includes focusing on products that do more good than harm to your body.
What do you mean, you say? I would never put anything harmful in my body, you declare. Well, most of us - myself included - make that declaration until we discover that we’re inadvertently using products that contain harmful materials. The beauty industry is full of these types of products; while made to make us feel beautiful on the outside, they’re actually causing harm on the inside.
Over time, consumers are beginning to take matters into their own hands - moving some to start their own companies to bring safer alternatives to the masses. One such company is Vossity, a new Canadian online retailer founded by two women, Avalon Lukacs and Sanja Serwa, who both in their own journeys discovered the harmful effects of many chemicals currently found in most beauty products.
Determined to find alternative products that use more natural ingredients and/or less harmful chemicals, they founded Vossity to offer consumers trust-worthy beauty products from skincare and body care to makeup and nutrition. Everything is made is organic ingredients, free from harsh chemicals and cruelty free.
I decided to give their nail polish a try. After all, what could be more toxic than nail polish? Evidently not the ones they carry. The chemicals in standard nail polish includes formaldehyde - which for some strange reason, is banned in the EU but not in North America.
I took their Deco Miami line of nail polish for a spin. What’s immediately noticeable about this line is the size of the bottle. How often do you find yourself with bottles of old nail polish lying around that’s still 1/3 full? I’ll be the first to put my hand up. I think in all the years I’ve been wearing nail polish, I’ve maybe finished a bottle twice - and that’s being generous.
Deco Miami’s bottles are less than half the size of a standard bottle of polish which means you’ll likely waste less - so already this is better for the environment. This line is non toxic, with no camphor and no DBP - dibutyl phthalate, which has been linked to cancer in lab animals and to underdeveloped genitals and other fertility problems in newborn boys.
Despite these issues, the FDA doesn’t require that cosmetics be tested for long-term effects before being marketed - nor is it requiring that cosmetic companies stop using DBP. I never knew this before Vossity brought it to light - and it has definitely changed my perspective on the beauty industry.
Miami Dual Top/Base Coat $16.75
I want to start of by saying “YAS - FINALLY” ...someone has decided to provide a single bottle that serves a dual purpose. I mean, honestly, why make us buy two separate bottles of polish when all I really need is one? Not only that - this dual top and base coat achieves a layer of shine that even outperforms some of the top brands out there (yes, I’m looking at you OPI and Essie).
I’ll go so far as to say that it’s one of the best top and base coats on the market. The only drawback is its price. At $16.75, you’re nearly at the cost of two bottles of polish. So the argument is, would you pay nearly twice as much for a single bottle of (smaller) polish? The decision will be up to the consumer. If you’re looking for a non-toxic and superior product, then the answer would be yes.
From a performance perspective, it delivers a nice and thick consistency - unlike many watery brands out there. The result is a super high gloss finish and it dries in a flash. It does everything that you want a primer - and top coat - to do, and it is much safer than most brands out there. Brilliant, really. Now I’d like to see the cost get knocked down by a couple of dollars and you’ve got a runaway winner.
Miami Brickell Blue Nail Lacquer $16.75
Not to sound dramatic, but I think I may have found my favourite polish of the moment. This blue is a perfect shade. I love wearing dark polish most of the time but the dark blues in my collection are either still too sapphire or navy - and up to this point I hadn’t found that perfect midnight blue hue. Until this Brickell Blue colour.
I was a bit skeptical in the beginning because often I find the colors in the bottle don’t end up turning out the way you expect them to once applied to your nail bed. This one though, was dead on. Not only that, the consistency in the polish was perfect - not too runny nor goopy. I’ve often found in my polish that it starts getting thick (although I prefer the word, “goopy”) as soon as I start applying it, lending to visible strokes while it dries.
This one by Miami doesn’t do that at all. It gives you enough time to spread a single coat evenly across the nail bed like an expert. And the bonus? I only need one coat. The only drawback with this product is again the price - but given how beautifully it performs, it’s worth its weight in gold.
Do you have any experience in healthy beauty products? Let me know as I’m constantly on the hunt - so would love your suggestions in the comments below!
