Battle of the top coats pt. 1!

deborah lippmann - Cuticle Protection & Repair Set is the perfect set for hydrating and maintaining cuticles in between salon appointments! Theyre small enough to pop in your purse and use on the go, or for longer travel they can also go on planes. deborah lippmann - Cuticle Remover - Exfoliating Cuticle Nail Treatment is gentle but gets the job done of helping to rid excess cuticles. It doesn’t sting or irritate my skin during or after use and my hands are always softer than before. The smell isn’t noticeable or crazy and it washes off leaving no residue easily. A star has been knocked off for price, as it is expensive but works well. deborah lippmann - Cuticle Oil Nail Cuticle Treatment is also a great addition to any at home mani collection. It smells heavily of coconut, almost like tanning lotion, so if that’s not your thing you will definitely not like this. Though a dry oil, it doesn’t sink in as quickly as you would expect so it truly is more of a treatment as it stays on really until you wash it off or it rubs off. This with some gloves is very moisturizing. Again a star has been knocked off for the price, the smell is also very strong.

If you do manicure frequently and found that your nails are becoming weak and brittle, it means your nails are damaged by nail polish. There is a layer of protective film on the surface of the nail. But if the way of manicure is improper or you apply nail polish too frequent, the efficacy of this protective film will be weakened, then the nail will be easier to get corroded. That’s why we should pay attention to nail care. Base coat is the best foundation for nail care. You may consider what is base coat and is it really necessary? Base coat for nail manicure can be regarded as primer for make up. Sometimes you may skip this step, but by taking this small but meaningful step, you’ll get stronger and longer-lasting manicure. With this extra layer between nail and polish, your manicure will be smoother, shiner and less easy to get chipped or cracked. Base coat can also protect your nails from getting stained by chemicals and dyes in polish. I recommend that all the girls who do manicure frequently and want to keep nails healthy and to get lasting manicure add a step of base coat before nail polish.  butter LONDON - Nail Foundation Priming Basecoat There is one base coat I like very much and want to share with you, that is Butter London Nail Foundation Priming Basecoat. It costs $18 a bottle. This base coat works well, and I quite like this brand in general.  Butter London is a professional nail brand which provides quality products for manicure enthusiasts. It believes a healthy manicure starts with healthy-looking nails. This base coat helps strengthen and smooth nails according to preventing nail staining and filling ridges in fingernails. I really like this base coat. It is a good coverage for nails and it dries quickly. By the way, its packaging is so cute!

Since salons are closed, I’ve been trying to perfect my at home manicure situation. Good products are half the battle, the other half is technique. deborah lippmann - All About That Base Correct and Conceal Base Coat gives my nails a smooth surface to work with, and gives whatever colour on top a true neutral surface to layer on top of. Because of this colour payoff is always true! It discourages chipping and keeps my nails from being stained or dried out. I love this brand because it’s 7 free (free of 7 common nail polish chemicals) and is cleaner than most polish brands out on the market. For technique, I paint three small strokes in a thin layer with only a small amount on the brush. I do this after i’ve filed and buffed my nails gently. Sometimes I have shaking hands, so I hold my breath when painting and hold the brush at the base! One key is having a small enough brush that is doesn’t go everywhere, and I love the size of this polish brush for my own nails. If you find it too big, go ahead and trim it to fit your needs and your nails! Good overhead lighting to see missed spots and patches as well as any debris caught in the polish is also key and very beneficial to perfecting the polish surface. I do one layer of base coat, two of colour, and one top coat. I chose a deborah lippmann - Glitter Nail Color as they’re some of my favorite polish formulations and don’t dry out of get chunky. When practicing painting nails, sheer polished and glitters are the most forgiving (versus opaque creme polish) as patches, bumps, and smudges are less noticeable . Any mistakes on my fingers I clean with acetone and an orange wood stick before moving on. Try not to use cotton as the fibers can get stuck in the polish! Make sure each nail is fully dry between each layer to avoid pilling of polish. If I mess up and it’s not recoverable, I take the polish off while it’s still wet and start over— it comes off the easiest this way! For beginners, liquid latex or the equivalent is amazing, you can put it around the perimeter of your nails on your skin to avoid having to clean up with acetone! deborah lippmann - Addicted to Speed Ultra Quick Dry Top Coat is an amazing top coat. Most of my smudges happen during the drying process, and this ensures my nails dry as quick as possible with a beautiful shine. Rather than a full hour, my nails take 20 minutes tops to dry with this top coat. I’ve rephrased this many times and will continue to do so! If a smudge does happen, I put oil on my nail like deborah lippmann - Cuticle Oil Nail Cuticle Treatment and smooth it out gently by tapping my nail on top with another finger (wait until it’s over half way dry to do this or you’ll end up with finger prints). The paint will last me about ten days before chipping. Happy painting! Finish with a hand creme to lock in moisture. Any questions, please leave in the comments!