I don't discuss nails much here, because I'm something of a nail-art-noob. However, in the last few months I've been trying to perfect my basic manicure routine and if I do say so myself, it's pretty good these days.
I take all my nail polish off with whatever remover I have to hand. I then shape my nails (by shape, I mean smooth out) with the Stylefile, which is my favourite nail file, the curved shape makes it so easy to make all your nails look the same.
I then coat my cuticles in the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover, which is like a cuticle removing gift from God. I give it a few seconds and then use the red end on the weird stick to basically take off my cuticles which pretty much dissolve. I use a cotton pad to remove any residue, and wash my hands before moving on!
The base coat I'm in love with right now is the Essie Grow Stronger Base Coat, which has made a massive difference to the strength and overall quality of my nails. They're smoother and they snap less! It also makes a great base for colour, really bonds all the layers together and helps chipping. I then go in with two coats of whatever colour I'm using (pictured is Essie Tart Deco). I like to keep a tiny gap between the polish and cuticle, it just looks neater that way, and once that is mostly dry, it's topcoat time. I've tried a lot of topcoats including the wildly hyped Seche Vite, but by far my favourite is Sally Hansen Mega Shine Topcoat. The glossiest topcoat I've ever used and it dries just as fast, if not faster than Seche Vite.
How do you do your nails?
