NAIL POLISH

When you go to the store to buy nail polish, one of the most important factors for what you purchase is the color. Is this the right shade? How will it look on my nails? Does it match my new outfit? But how often do you think about the ingredients that make up the liquid that you're putting on your nails? And how harmful are the chemicals that have been key components in those polishes?
Most beauty companies have changed the ingredients in the past few years to reduce the toxins commonly found in nail polish. But for years, nail polish contained three major chemicals that induced birth defects, allergies, and even cancer. So what exactly is in nail polish?
The three main chemicals in nail polish that were used for years are: Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde, and Toluene. Since 2006, many cosmetics laboratories and nail polish companies have removed these toxins from their products. Most of the nail polishes you'll buy off the shelf no longer contains these chemicals, but why were these chemicals removed? All three of them proved to be toxic to humans, especially newborn baby Dibutyl phthalate was first put into nail polish to prevent chips. It's a binder that makes the nail polish last longer. This ingredient was linked to underdeveloped genitals in baby boys, low sperm count, mutations, and cancer in lab animals. According to an article in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the problem with the chemical did not come from absorption through the nail or cuticle, but by inhaling it.
So even while you sit and delicately apply your nail polish the toxic chemicals that you inhaled could have caused a number of these devastating effects. Even for your pets. If animals could contract cancer from these chemicals, then so could your pets. When you polish your nails around them, they breathe the same air you are breathing.

Formaldehyde is a human carcinogen. In nail polish, a resin form of formaldehyde is used. Even though straight formaldehyde isn't used in nail polish, it is used in nail hardeners. Be sure to check all ingredients before purchasing your nail beauty products. Beautiful, manicured nails look great, but it's not worth developing cancer just to have professional looking nails. Most other allergic reactions to formaldehyde include red, swollen eyelids.
The next time you manicure your nails, take care to use nail polish, removers, and products that are chemical free. Beautiful nails are a great way to show off your hands, but it's not worth the side effects to be careless. When so many nail polish brands have removed these chemicals, there is no need to continue to purchase polishes that have not followed suit. Check your old bottles and discard the ones

that may be questionable. Always remember that your health is more important than vanity.

PERFUME

Perfumes are basically very complex mixtures of chemicals, designed to have pleasing scents, as well as to be stable over time and relatively nontoxic. Depending on the scent you want, you'll need to put different mixtures of chemicals into the pot.

Perfume design is traditionally not a very scientific process. Basically, people come up with an idea for a smell, and then they mix chemicals together which, from their own experience, might produce that smell. When they come up with a winning mixture that doesn't produce brain damage in rats (or other negative side effects in lab animals), they market it and sell for eighty bucks an ounce.Perfumes basically are three-part mixtures of chemicals. The first part, the fragrance, is the one that we usually think about. These are generally esters, aldehydes, or aromatic organic compounds that occur naturally in flowers, fruits, or other things that smell nice. The second part, the solvent, is used to dissolve all the fragrance, and evaporate slowly so that the perfume's scent is given off over a period of time, and not all at once. These are usually common solvents such as acetone or ethanol.

The third part consists of stabilizers and fillers, which are used to bulk up the fragrance and make sure that it doesn't degrade over time. Depending on the compounds being used, these will vary, although in some cases the solvent also acts as a reservative and filler. So, how can you make your own perfume? Well, I'm not going to tell you how to make fragrant chemicals. Doing organic chemistry is dangerous stuff, especially to try at home or if you're not all that experienced with it. There are, however, some ways that you can make perfumes without venturing into the lab.Aromatherapists believe that "essential oils" can restore good health - I don't believe this, but I do know that the oils often smell pretty good. Find a mix of these you like. Also, you might want to try using nearly pure ethanol (available at the drug store) to extract flower scents: Soak mashed flower petals in ethanol and see if you can't make your own essential oils. Will it work? I'm not sure - however, flower petals are cheap, as is ethanol. (A word of warning - although the ethanol you buy at the chemist's is very nearly pure, don't drink it! It contains stuff that will kill you!)

HOUSE PAINT (OIL-BASEB PAINT

What is it?
This type of paint is most often used to paint the outside of the house because it dries very hard and withstands harsh weather conditions for a long time. Sometimes people may use oil-based paint indoors in areas that have a lot of moisture such as in kitchens and bathrooms.
What's in it?
The solids in the oil-based paint are kept suspended by a number of chemicals that are organic solvents. The solvents commonly used in oil-based paints include mineral spirits (naphtha), toluene, xylene, and other petroleum distillate solvents. Oil-based paints are sometimes called Alkyd paints. "Alkyd" refers to the resin type that is used in the paint.

What health and safety precautions do you need to think about with oil base

d paint?
Oil-based paint contains organic solvents that can be irritating to eyes and skin, and can cause cracking of skin. Inhaling paint fumes can result in headaches, nausea, dizziness, and make you very tired (fatigued) if you breathe in the fumes for too long without good air circulation. Most of these symptoms will go away if you remove yourself from the area being painted in

to fresh air. Let an adult know if you continue not to feel well. If you are exposed to the chemicals in these types of products often you may experience other longer term problems such as kidney, liver or blood effects. Breathing in paint fumes from cans of spray paint on purpose is a very bad idea. It can lead to non-reversible brain damage and death even after the first time.

Before using these products, you need to be sure to always read the label to know how to properly use these products and for safety information. In the room that is being painted, open the windows and doors fully. Put a box fan in the window directing the air and fumes out of doors. Keep the fan on while painting and for about 48 hours thereafter. Keep small children away from the room where the painting is being done and away from the open cans of paint. Do not use paint that is labeled "for exterior use only" indoors. If the room you are painting does not have a window, consider using a latex paint.

CHOCOLATE

Chocolate
Beside diamond, chocolate are said to be a girl’s best friend. For me personally, I really love chocolate because it has the ‘melting’ effect once I put it on mouth. Recently I read an article on a newspaper that chocolate contain addictive ingredients. Therefore, I did some research on it and found out that it is quite appropriate to be posted as my chemistry assignment
Eating chocolate makes us feel good. But why does this exactly happen? Is it the taste? Is there

something inside the chocolate? Researchers are trying to answer all these questions.
This is what they do know: chocolate contains more than 500 natural chemical compounds, some of which have been categorized as mood-elevating and pleasure-inducing.
Following is a list of the compounds believed to have some effects on the brain.

Chocolate is one of nature's most concentrated sources of theobromine, a mild, natural stimulant and molecular "cousin" of caffeine. However, unlike its cousin, theobromine does not strongly stimulate the central nervous system, nor does it have the same "eye-opening" power.
Theobromine has also been shown to reduce coughing and has been used in "natural" cough medicine preparations as a cough suppressant. The level of theobromine found to be effective in clinical trials is roughly 5 times higher than what is found in a typical bar of dark chocolate. While safe for humans, other species, such as dogs, lack the specific enzyme that metabolizes theobromine so eating chocolate can cause them to become overstimulated.
Chocolate contains relatively small amounts of caffeine, about as much as a cup of decaffeinated coffee. A 1.5 ounce milk chocolate bar has 11 mg of caffeine, while a similar-sized dark chocolate bar has 27 mg of caffeine. In contrast, a 12-ounce mug of coffee has 200 mg.

COFFEE

On a cold December in Cameron Highland, I was sitting in Starbucks and was watching the rain pouring while sipping on my Caramel Cappuccino. As I look around me, I found out that the Starbuck was filled with Europeans and other foreigners. That was the time that I was so inquisitive and wanted to know why many people around the world are fans of coffee.


Coffees have a very aromatics fragrance. But did you know that all coffee is filled with chemicals?
Scientists have identified 1,000 different chemicals in a cup of coffee. But how many of th1,000 chemicals have been tested in animal cancer studies? Only 22 leaving 978 compounds in your morning java about which we know very little. And of those 22 that were tested, were any found to be carcinogens, or cancer-causing compounds? Seventeen of the 22 are, in fact, carcinogens.
Carcinogens are found in many foods--as are offsetting cancer-fighting chemicals--but in small quantities. If we wanted to avoid all carcinogens, we'd have to stop eating altogether. But there are 10 milligrams (mg) of known carcinogens in a single cup of coffee. To put that into perspective, 10 mg is probably more than all the synthetic pesticide residues you could get from eating non-organic food for an entire year. The level of acrylamide in a cup of coffee depends on how strong it is and how the beans are roasted. There is little difference between

concentrations in instant and ground coffee — both about 290 micrograms per kg — because the chemical is a product of the roasting of the beans rather than any subsequent processing.
The level of roasting makes a difference, however. Separate research has established that acrylamide levels peak in medium-roast coffee, are lower in the half-roast variety and drop off when beans become dark roast

Many scientists in Britain say that until the risk posed by acrylamide can be assessed with greater confidence it might make sense to consume as little as possible.
“There is no doubt it (acrylamide) has been identified as carcinogenic in animal models, so the best advice is precautionary, to minimise exposure,” said Professor Vyvyan Howard of the school of biological sciences at Ulster University.
Nevertheless, moderate coffee consumption is not considered a risk factor for cancer. And coffee is linked to the following benefits: It boosts endurance by delaying fatigue; it improves long-term memory; it may help prevent kidney stones; it relaxes lung spasms during an asthma episode; and, as you may have discovered, it stimulates your gastrointestinal tract.
In the meantime there are researches that are being done regarding the benefit and disadvantages of drinking coffee. The researches are focusing more on the caffeine content in coffee. Therefore coffee does has its advantage and well its disadvantage but it must be consume in moderation