So here's a poem I wrote the other day:
I love painting my nails.
I love nail polish.
I hate waiting for the nail polish to dry.
I hate when you think the nail polish is dry, then you touch something and it smudges, and the world ends all my hard work is ruined.
Smudgy nail polish drives me effing mental. I thought I'd share what nail polish products I use to keep my nails healthy, and dry my at home manicures quickly.
My nail painting arsenal.
I always start my nail painting by rubbing some of Manicare's Cuticle Therapy into my nail beds. My cuticles and the skin around my nails gets quite dry, which causes wicks (which btw I totally just learnt the "proper" term for them is 'hangnail'....the more you know!) which are painful. So the cuticle therapy is like an oil that you massage into your nail bed, to keep your nails hydrated.
Once that's rubbed in all good and proper, I apply a base coat. I love Cutex's base coats because they dry relatively quickly. The one I'm using at the moment is their 2-in-1, with vitamins to also nourish the nail. (Not sure if that actually does anything or if that's just a marketing tool) By the time I've finished base-coating the last nail, the first nail I painted is dry.
Then I apply my nailpolish of choice!
So once I've finished painting my final nail, I go over the top of the colour with Sally Hansen's Insta-Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat. This is not an "instant dry" formula by any means, but it is fast.
It takes less than 5 minutes to completely dry my nails. If I'm experimenting with multiple colour layers or 'nail art' (I only put that in inverted commas because I'm not that great at it) I'll wait for the next layer to dry and then seal it all in with OPI's Top Coat.
And that's it!
What products do you use when painting your nails at home?
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