Nail Care Series: Base Coats

Hello lovelies! Today I'm continuing with my nail care series and today I'll be talking about base coats.

When I first got into polish I thought the concept of using a base coat was ridiculous. I thought it was just a gimmick and that I didn't really need one. But now I know that that is NOT true and a base coat does make a difference to your manicure!

Some benefits of using a base coat are:

♥ They can prevent staining of your nails from various polish colours (usually reds or blue/greens). Some base coats are better at this than others.

♥ Provides a smooth surface for your coloured polish to adhere to. It can help with polishes that show every imperfection (ridges etc) in your nail to give a smooth and flawless surface.

♥ Some base coats are also treatments to help with nail problems such as weak, peeling, brittle nails.

♥ Base coats will prolong the life of your manicure and make it last longer.

Here are a few of my favourites, and popular base coats:

Duri Rejuvacote

Rejuvacote has become very popular among nail girls so you may have heard of it. It is my holy grail nail strengthener! I wish I had this when I had first removed my acrylic nails almost 1.5 years ago because most ladies who have tried this after removing acrylics have AMAZING results pretty fast, and I waited months and months for my damaged nails to grow out! Rejuvacote is marketed as a nail growth system for damaged nails but even if your nails aren't particularly "damaged", you should still give it a go if you're having trouble with your nails not growing fast. My nails started growing like weeds when I started using this! And my nails became so strong. I don't use it under every manicure now since my nails are quite strong and I don't need it as much but I do use it maybe once or twice a week. I always wear it when I'm wearing my nails naked too (so technically I never wear them naked lol).

I purchase my Rejuvacote from eBay. Aussie ladies, you can also purchase this at Messy Mansion and Drama Queen Nails.

Revlon ColorStay

Revlon's ColorStay base coat is probably my favourite 'regular' base coat. I bought this when it was 50% off at Chemist Warehouse and I probably would never have tried it otherwise, it's so expensive here (what isn't?!). The ColorStay base coat is really awesome. It dries really quickly which is a major factor for me - I hate when base coats take too long to dry!

When I've done other people's nails with this base coat (and Seche Vite top coat), the manicure has lasted over a week with NO sign of wear. CRAZY right?! :D

It does go very goopy after using about half of it, however, so you'll need some thinner for this one.

CND Stickey

CND's Stickey (yes that's how they spell it) is another good base coat. I haven't used it for at least 6 months so I don't exactly remember how it was.. I do remember that it dried very quickly, but it dries to a 'sticky' finish (hence the name), for your polish to adhere to which is a cool idea. I would repurchase this one when I run out of my other base coats. :)

I bought this from a beauty supply store in Sydney when I was on a holiday but you can find it on eBay.

OPI Nail Envy

Nail Envy by OPI is a very popular nail strengthener. I had two mini bottles of it and did find it really nice! They have a lot of different formulas of the Nail Envy, such as ones for brittle, weak, peeling nails etc. They also have a matte formula so you can wear that if you want to look like you're not wearing any polish (or maybe you can't, for school/work) but want to protect your nails.

Nail Envy is a bit expensive here unfortunately (as everything is - ugh!) so I probably won't be trying it again any time soon. If I did, I'd be buying it on eBay, lol.

PVA Glue

PVA glue is my current favourite base coat. You might be thinking what the heck.. is she a freak or something... (ok, you were probably already thinking that I'm a freak LOL) but do you remember in primary school when you'd put PVA glue (or Elmers glue in some places) on your hands and then peel it off when it dried..? Just me? Lol! Well, when Essence released their peel off base coat in the Ready for Boarding TE, some clever ladies figured out that the peel off base coat was actually just PVA glue disguised. ;) You can read more about that HERE on LabMuffin and HERE on PrettyPurplePolish.

I mostly use it under glitter manicures, but I found out that it actually works nicely under cremes too.

***Please keep in mind that I usually only wear my manicures for 24 hours, so I can't really vouch for the staying power of most base coats.***

Hope this helps any of you who may be looking for a new base coat or strengthener to protect your lovely nails! :)

Remember: base coats aren't optional. ;)

*******

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Nail Care Series: Cuticle Care

Hey ladies! Happy May! :) Today I'm going to be starting a series on nail care. I'm super interested in nail care. I can't resist trying new products even if I already have some that I like and I am sooo interested to see what others do to take care of their nails. When I see a "nail care routine" video pop up on my YouTube subscriptions, or a post on my blog reader, I'm like "WOOHOO!". I just love hearing and reading about nail care!
I'm aiming to have a nail care post every Wednesday starting today but some weeks I may not have one. Once the nail care series is over, though, I'd still like to do informational posts like this! If you have any requests for these informational posts whatsoever feel free to leave a comment or email me. :)

This post is going to be very wordy, sorry if you don't like that! I don't think I've ever actually gone in depth and reviewed any of my favourite products, though so I thought it might be helpful for those who are looking to try some new products.

To start off the series I'm going to talk about cuticle care. Cuticle care is a super important part of nail care, if not the most important. It's where your nail grows from! Cuticles are also essential to having nice looking nails. You can have perfectly painted nails, but if you're cuticles are dry, crusty, cracked, sad and damaged it will ruin the whole manicure. :(

So the first and probably most important step to getting nice cuticles is to moisturise. There are many different types of products out there that you can use to moisturise your cuticles. There are oils, creams, balms, and more.

Moisturising your cuticles regularly with a cuticle oil/cream/balm (whichever you choose) will make your cuticles look and feel a lot healthier. It won't make a dramatic difference after the first time you use an oil/cream/balm on them, but with continued use your cuticles can go from being cracked, red, and dry to moisturised, soft and smooth. :) I think it's important to get into the habit of moisturising your cuticles (and hands) regularly, at least once a day, but more frequently if your cuticles are in a bad state to begin with. There's no such thing as too much moisturising, ok? ;) Keeping your cuticles moisturised will also help promote stronger and healthier nails.

 I'll talk about a few of my favourite products for moisturising my cuticles. :)

Disclaimer: I'm not being paid or anything to say nice things about these products, I just love them and they work well for me. :)
And as I'm sure most of you know - I'm not a nail tech so I don't know if *everything* that I'm telling you is correct, or the "right" way, I'm just telling you what I personally do, and what works for me. I would say I have pretty healthy nails and this what I use on them.

Lemony Flutter

Lemony Flutter is by the fresh cosmetics brand, Lush. It's a thick consistency, and quite oily too. I like to use Lemony Flutter at night before I go to bed, because it is so oily. It's not a product I'd like to use on-the-go. I like to slather quite a bit on before bed, especially if my cuticles are feeling particularly dry and I wake up with super soft and moisturised cuticles. You can also use it on other dry parts of your body. I particularly like to use it on my heels and sometimes elbows. I also should comment on the scent.. I happen to love the scent. It has a pretty strong lemony scent and a lot of people don't like it for this reason which I can understand, it is very strong. So you should probably try to smell it and try it out in a Lush store before buying.

Lemony Flutter costs around $15, which may sound like a lot, but I just finished my first tub and it lasted me around 10 months (and that's also using it on other dry parts) which really is not bad for such a nice product. :) You can purchase it from your local Lush (use the store locator on the website to find your closest store) but if you don't have one near you, I believe you can also purchase it online from the Lush website.

Burts Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream

The name on this product can be quite deceptive. :P I definitely wouldn't call it a cream. It's more of a waxy type of consistency. It's not the most moisturising product out there, but I like it for on-the-go because it's not greasy and it absorbs quickly.

This product also has a lemony scent but not near as strong as Lemony Flutter. It will also last a long time like Lemony Flutter. I have had my current tin for over a year, and though I don't use it every day, I do use it pretty often. There's definitely more than half the product still left. I have a small tin that came in a gift set, too so if you get the bigger size it could last you even longer!

In Australia, the Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream costs around $15 for the 15g tin, but I think it depends on where you buy it. Burts Bees products are available at Priceline, David Jones, Myer, and Target. I would recommend buying it online from eBay or Amazon if possible, though, because you can get it a lot cheaper.

CND Solar Oil

Solar Oil is probably my #1 favourite cuticle oil. I know some people really do not like using oils but I do! I first tried Solar Oil in a mini bottle and I wasn't sure I liked it. I wasn't a fan of the scent at all (and it's still not my favourite scent)! To me, it sort of smells like licorice and I HATE licorice. But a lot of people say it smells like almond, so... But the scent aside, once I used up the whole mini bottle I missed it! It really is a nice cuticle oil. It absorbs quicker than other oils I've tried, but don't get me wrong, it is an oil so it will not absorb instantly and it just conditions really well. After purchasing a full size bottle of Solar Oil, I've filled my mini bottle with some and I keep it in my handbag. :) I don't really apply it when I'm busy and on-the-go but I will if I'm hanging out at someone's house, or at the movies, or something like that.

I also have tried the newer Limited Edition scent Solar Oil and I love it. It doesn't really even have that much of a scent, you have to really be trying to smell it to notice it. It's sort of a vanilla-y smell.

CND Solar Oil can be found in some nail supply stores, but is also available on eBay and Amazon for a better price than what you'd find it in store, in my opinion.

So those are some of my favourite cuticle moisturisers. There are many more out there, you just have to do your research to find the best one for you. :)

I'll mention hand creams in another post, but using a good hand cream (not necessarily an expensive one) will also help with the health of your nails and cuticles.

You'll also need to push your cuticles back, to loosen any cuticle that is attached to your nail bed. NEVER EVER cut your cuticles!!! Ok? Promise me you won't?! It's so bad for your cuticles. :( It can lead to infections and really disrupt your nail growth. Your cuticles will also grow back harder and thicker. I know that in some salons, the nail techs do cut cuticles. If you're in a salon and they want to cut your cuticles - either make sure to tell them that you DO NOT want your cuticles cut, only pushed back. And if they still want to do it... RUN! >.<

So, only ever push back your cuticles. If your skin is sticking to your nail plate and won't budge, you can try a cuticle remover/softener and then push them back with a cuticle pusher or orange wood stick. I like to use a rubber cuticle pusher. I wouldn't recommend using a metal cuticle pusher, you could damage your nail plate easily. You should be careful with any tools you're using on your nails and cuticles, though. You could even push back your cuticles in the shower when your skin will be soft, with your thumb nail. I do this pretty often. Just remember to always be gentle with your cuticles. :)

If you do have a hangnail or a dry piece of skin hanging off your cuticle, it is better to cut it off with a cuticle nipper than to pull it or something which would be really painful. This video by LoodieLoodieLoodie will show you how to properly trim a hangnail. Hangnails can be prevented by moisturising your cuticles regularly. :)

I use the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover about once every two weeks when my cuticles are starting to look a little icky, or when I just haven't done it in a while.

It's a clear gel and you just squeeze a bit on around your cuticles, and then leave it. Now, on the back of the bottle it says to only leave it sitting for 15 seconds before pushing back your cuticles and then wash it off. I actually leave it on for about 4-5 minutes. I'd suggest leaving it for the 15 seconds if you've never used it before, and see if it works. If it doesn't work so well, next time leave it for a little longer. Be really careful because I think it contains some ingredients that could harm your skin if left for too long. I don't find that it hurts my skin at all even leaving it on for such a long time, but it could be totally different for you so please be careful! I find that when I don't leave the cuticle remover on for very long, it doesn't pick up any of the dead skin that is sticking to my nail bed.

This product isn't available in stores in Australia (as far as I know - I've never seen it here) so you can check out eBay or Amazon.

Another cuticle remover that I've heard really great things about is the Blue Cross Cuticle Remover. This one also isn't available here, as far as I know, but again, you can try eBay or Amazon for it. :)

So, I hope this has helped you! Good on you if you read the whole thing. :D I'm sorry it got a bit long!
Please remember that you won't see results right away if your cuticles aren't in great shape, but in a couple of weeks after following these tips I've given you, you should have nicer looking and feeling cuticles. Your nails should also feel healthier in general.

Let me know what products you love. I love trying out new ones and I'd love to know what you find great.

Also, feel free to let me know if you have any questions about the products I mentioned or any recommendations for future posts like this one.

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