Pretty & Polished - Petal Pusher

Pretty & Polished is one of my favorite nail polish brands for lots of reasons. One of those is the fact that they really care about their community and will occasionally have special polishes whose profits go straight to help out local charities or people in need. Keeping in mind with that, they wanted to do something special for October, being Breast Cancer Awareness month, that went beyond simply donating money to a charity. They wanted to do something to help out actual patients. One of their loyal fans suggested the marvelous idea of putting together a care package box to hand out to chemo and radiation patients. I for one, love this idea. Not a lot of people know that chemo can destroy your nails, they might not fall out but they can become extremely brittle, and your skin becomes severely dry and sensitive. I know this because of my mom, I've talked about her breast cancer journey before. She's always painting her nails now and using cuticle oil because it really helps them not look as bad. In short, it helps to feel just a little pretty and polished when dealing with cancer. It might seem trivial to some, but in my experience, it lifts morale. And so the idea for the Cancer Care Package was born.

Each box contains a couple of polishes, skin care items like nail butter, a gentle nail file or other manicure tool, among other things that have been donated by fans of the brand. They are working with The Little Red Door Cancer Service and the Oncology unit at Ball Memorial Hospital in Indiana to hand out boxes to women undergoing chemo and radiation therapy. I was very touched and completly surprised when I got my latest order and swatch mail from P&P to find another box inside, with my mom's name on it. I took a picture so you guys can see an example, before sealing it up and mailing it on to PR.

In order to fund the boxes Chelsea has created two special edition polishes, proceeds go directly towards making more boxes. I have one of those to show you today, my friend Monica of Monis Manis will have the other, I'll link to her post below as soon as it's ready.

Petal Pusher is a soft pink creme with blue shimmer. Swatch is 3 thin coats with Swift Sparkle topcoat. The polish is a bit sheer, but builds up nicely in 2-3 coats. I'm currently wearing 2 coats on my cindy hand but opted for 3 in my swatch hand to ensure a more even coverage. Formula for petal pusher is a wonderfully self leveling creme, not too thick or thin. Application is smooth and easy to control, with minimal clean up. It dries fast, about 5 minutes with the topcoat. This polish does not cause any staining on skin or nails.

I received Petal Pusher as a press sample, in exchange for swatches and an honest review. It's currently available at http://www.shopprettyandpolished.com, $8 for the 15 ml full size.  Each month, when you purchase from the Charity section of the store you'll earn a ticket. On the 1st of every month a winner will be selected to receive a mystery prize pack.
 
Some of the Cancer Care Packages will also be available for sale on the website for anyone who would like to purchase a box to send to someone they know who has gone or is going through chemo or radiation. Those will be slightly different and won't feature any donated items. The profits from these boxes will go directly back into the Cancer Care Package program. They will be limited in quantity.

If you'd like more information on the Pretty & Polished Cancer Care Program, click here. Every person that donates items for the boxes will get a coupon for a free nail polish ($8.50 value). You can find the address to send items to at the link above.

I'd like to end this already long post by reminding my female readers to check yourselves and get your mammograms. My mom had no lumps, bumps, or any physical sign of cancer. It was caught early on in her mammogram. We had no previous family history and she tested negative for the genetic markers. It can happen to anyone. I thank God everyday that she's still here with me.

To check out the other special polish, Walking With Warriors, a flaky thermal crelly, click here to see Monica's post.

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