SKINFOOD Haul

Hi Guys,

I've been really excited for this post ever since last Friday, when I found a brand new store hiding in Stonestown Mall in San Francisco called SKINFOOD. Ok, that's how I see it typed out on their website (check it out here) but honestly, it's creeping me out typing that in all caps, so I'm just going to call it Skin Food, since the words are separate on their label. Doesn't "Skin Food" seem a lot friendlier than "SKINFOOD"? At any rate, from what I've gathered, Skin Food is a South Korean cosmetic and skincare company that is just beginning to launch in the US; they don't even have the Stonestown location listed on their website (for those of you in the San Francisco Bay Area, it's downstairs near Nordstrom!). Their philosophy is that food products can be beneficial for your skin and has cosmetic benefits. I'm not going to lie; I was mostly drawn in by the rows and rows of pretty nail polish. They had a bunch of really neat lines; one was all milky colors, another were super sparkly shades formulated specifically for pedicures, and another was a line of sheer jelly polishes. They also had a very extensive "core collection" of polishes with no specific twist.

I ended up getting several bottles of polish, and they gave me A BUNCH of little packets of samples of their skincare, so I am looking forward to trying their masks, scrubs, face cleansers, and body gels over the coming weeks.

My haul of 6 polishes and numerous samples

As you can see, I got six nail polishes from several of their lines. The "core" line seems to be called Nail Vita, and there were a variety of different finishes, although all three of the shades I got were frosts. According to the website, these have keratin and vitamins in them, and are meant to help rough, dry nails (sounds like mine)! They contain .44 ounces of polish, and were $3.00 each. These are the rectangular bottles with dark caps; the pale shade hiding in the back left is is a very pale pearly warm taupe frost which goes by the charming name of #VI403. The other two shades I got are the two on the right side in the same bottle. The pink-brown shade has multi-colored microshimmer in it in addition to the frost finish, and is #BR614. The dark gunmetal shade leans a bit blue, and has a frost finish. It is called #BR601.

The rectangular bottle with the tan cap is part of the Pedicure Sparkle line. This was $6.00, and has .44 ounces of product in it. This is formulated specifically to last longer on toes, according to the description in the store. On the website, it is described as having "sparkling diamond glow", and it says for a more vivid color, to apply a second coat after letting the first coat dry. I only have one coat on my pinkie finger in the following swatches, and it is opaque, but I did a manicure with this after I took off all the swatches, and the color does get just a bit more vivid with two coats. This shade is #1, which is described as gold on the website; it's a bit more coppery than true gold, falling somewhere between the two. A copper and gold alloy is called rose gold, so let's just call it that! I have never seen such a sparkly polish; it's a completely opaque micro-shimmer that almost looks like a foil. The glare off of it bothered my boyfriend while he was driving, it is that bright and sparkly. Also, I'd believe that this would last a loooong time on a pedicure; I've had it on my nails for three days with one little chip and absolutely no tip wear or anything. In fact, I might take it off even though I don't need to just to try out another color!

The two colors up front in the rounded bottles are the Fruit Drink Nail line, Skin Food's jelly shades. These contain .34 ounces of product and were $6.00 each. These aren't on the website at this time. They are a medium-sheer polish that builds to become almost opaque with two coats. They are very glossy and have a lot of depth to them. I have #3, which looks coral in the bottle. One coat is more peachy-orange on me, two coats begins to lean more pink. The second shade I bought is #8, which is a deep burgundy/purple. I love these on their own, but I can't wait to play around with jelly sandwiches, too!


I tried swatching some of the polishes for you after taking off a really sparkly manicure, before doing my "real" manicure... Um, yeah. I debated not posting these because my hands look awful, but I wanted you guys to be able to see how these perform on the nail. I need nail wheels! So, forgive my ripped up cuticles and all of the shimmer that's all over my hands. I think in my excitement, I must have done something different with my camera settings, too, because a lot of the pictures came out really badly. Anyway, apologies, but I figured this was better than nothing! All swatches are one coat (except for the jellies; I did one nail with one coat, another with two to show how you can build opacity and color) over base coat, with no top coat. From my little finger to my thumb are 1 coat of Pedicure Sparkle in #1, 1 coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #3, 2 coats of Fruit Drink Nail in #3, 2 coats of Fruit Drink Nail in #8, 1 coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #8. (P.S.: I can't figure out why this paragraph looks highlighted... Can anyone tell me how to fix this?) 

Here's another view of that same hand.

This is one coat of Fruit Drink Nail in #8:

These are one coat each of Nail Vita #VI403 on the left and Nail Vita #BR601on the right.

And this is one coat of Nail Vita #BR614: 

Here are the jellies and the pedicure sparkle in natural light!

And the other hand in natural light. Ugh, couldn't get a picture of all three nails in one shot... Should have just taken two pictures. On my thumb is one coat of Nail Vita #BR614

I'll have an upcoming post focusing on my Pedicure Sparkle manicure, but my overall first impressions of this line are great! Granted, I haven't tried any of their skincare or other cosmetics, but the customer service in the store was top notch; it's a tiny boutique, and I think all 4 of the sales associates working their approached me, asking me if I had any questions, and all were knowledgeable about their lines when I asked questions. Other than the jellies, these seem to all be 1 coaters, although a 2nd coat can neaten up the manicure. They're incredibly pigmented. The frosted shades did have some brush stroke issues, but far less than many shades I've encountered; there seems to be enough shimmer to help cover up brush strokes. So far, I am really excited with my purchase, and can't wait to get back down to Stonestown to try more from this brand.

Has anyone else tried Skin Food? Do you get really excited when you stumble upon a new brand with all sorts of things that intrigue you? I have dreams like this, so I was pretty giddy when I stepped across Skin Food's threshold...