Love Month. Day 10: Pretty Polished Tag.

Because I was a silly billy and ran out of time to put a proper post together for today, I have another tag post for you. This one is nail related though, so I'm sure lots of you will like it!

I promise that tomorrow's post will be a 'real' post, though. :)

I was tagged by the lovely Lindsay from Sparkly Tips (or Lindsay Does Nails on YouTube) to do the Pretty Polished tag! You can check out her video here.

I haven't found the time to put together a video so I thought I'd do the tag here on my blog instead.

1. When it comes to colours, are you conservative or hot mama?
I'd say I'm 'hot mama'. Ha! I like to wear a lot of crazy colours and glitters. But I do wear conservative colours every so often too if I'm feeling a bit bored of all the bright colours & glitter.

2. Are you a drugstore junkie or high end diva?
Probably somewhere in between. I do have quite a lot of drugstore polishes, but I really love middle of the range brands like OPI and China Glaze. The only 'high end' brand I think I own is Butter London.

3. What's your all-time favourite polish to date?
That is such a hard question to answer! I honestly don't think I can choose one! That's like asking me to choose my favourite child (I don't actually have any children but until I do someday, my polishes are my babies).

4. Whats the most you've ever paid for a polish? Least?
The most would probably be OPI The Man With the Golden Gun from the James Bond collection. I think it was $26 on eBay (though it was actually a Christmas present, so I don't know if that counts). I also paid $25 for a Butter London {yes they cost that much here}. The least was $0.10 for some semi-damaged polishes in the sale bin at Priceline once! Most were covered in other polishes which must have broken but let's be real, who is gonna pass up a polish for 10 cents?! Not me. No matter what the colour is. Can't pass up a bargain.

5. Would you consider yourself a pro painter, or an amateur?

I'm definitely not perfect, but I'm probably leaning more towards pro..? I don't want to seem like I'm bragging, because I don't mean to, but I think I'm pretty good at painting my nails after doing it almost every day for 2 years. I do still mess up sometimes though, don't get me wrong. Just the other day I flooded my cuticles SO bad. I wouldn't say I'm an amateur, though... I don't know! 

But, when it comes to nail art I would say I'm an amateur. Compared to some of the girls I follow on Instagram, anyway!

6. What is your biggest polish pet peeve?

I have quite a few to be honest... But I won't bore you with them all. The biggest one is the same as Lindsay's. When people don't clean up their cuticles. I can't stand seeing a pretty colour ALL OVER someone's fingers and all flooded into the cuticles. :( I know that it's not easy to paint your nails neatly when you're just starting though so I have a few tips for you.

• If you find yourself to be shaky when you try to paint, try resting both hands on the table. Have the hand you're painting flat on the table, and the hand that is holding the polish, rest that on the table too as you paint (I hope that makes sense). It helps me when my hands are being a bit shaky.

• Don't have too much polish on the brush. Wipe off one side a few times on the bottle neck before you start to paint. It's better to start with less polish and then dip back into the bottle if you need more.

• Don't start right at the cuticles, as you will be more likely to flood them. Leave a little gap between the polish and your cuticle. It looks much neater.

• Buy a cheap eyeliner brush (an angled eyeliner brush is best, but a small concealer brush will also work) and some pure acetone. Dip the brush in acetone and clean up the edges around your nail after painting. It'll make it look much nicer and you can correct any mistakes. :)

7. What's more important: top coat or base coat?

Another toughie. They're both so important but if I had to pick, I'd probably choose top coat. I could never do a manicure without a top coat, but if I absolutely had to, I could skip the base coat. I love a good fast drying top coat (I use the famous Seche Vite). I couldn't live without it!

I would recommend that you do use a base coat, though. They will protect your natural nails from staining, and can help your manicure last a lot longer. Some base coats can also strengthen your nails.

8. Nail art: love it or leave it?

Love it! I don't do nail art quite as often as I used to, but I love seeing other people's designs on Instagram/blogs. I do enjoy doing nail art on myself but it can be time consuming and frustrating at times.

9. If you could design a polish, what would you name it and what would it look like?

I already have designed a polish, with Glam Polish! It's called Neon Nubs. You can see my blog post on it here. It's a blue base with neon colour glitters.

If I could design another one, I'd probably make it a super chunky multi coloured glitter in a clear base, or a blue base with loads of different sizes of blue sparkly glitter. I'd name it Lissa's Loves. ;)

10. Share your tip for the perfect manicure.

Other than cleaning up the cuticles, I'd say just taking care of your nails and cuticles in general. Keeping your cuticles moisturised is extremely important and if you have nice cuticles, your nails will also benefit and look much nicer!

Hope you liked this post.

I tag ALL OF YOU to do this! If you do, please leave a comment & let me know that you did it so I can check it out.