Alright, now, my nails have never been in great shape - the middle finger on my left hand is the worst - it peels all the time. The others occasionally peel. I use my hands a lot - I type, paint, cook and do dishes, so I usually keep my nails short and rounded (just my preference, squared suits a lot of people, but it's not for me)
I decided to start trying to take better care of my nails.
My previous routine was to file the tips when necessary, and then once every month or so, cut, file and buff. Nothing special, and it mostly worked.
I picked up Sally Hansen's Healthy Cuticles Now! cream. It's been less than a week, so nothing much to report. I also grabbed a cuticle pusher / trimmer thing.
Here is my little collection ... there isn't a huge range of colours. I tend not to follow many fashion trends, so you won't see a lot of the latest and greatest things.
For my manicures, I generally start with an idea, and if I don't have the colour I need or want, I'll see if I can find it somewhere - usually on sale - hah!
Click the photo to see notes on flickr.
Today's routine was: Remove last week's manicure and moisturize. Shower, then trim cuticles and apply cuticle cream. Then after I ate, I swiped my nails with remover just to get rid of any excess cream and oils, then started the nail polish application ...
Natural lighting:
With Flash:
I started with a basecoat of Revlon's Post Trauma Nail Treatment - this fills ridges and supposedly strengthens and restores nails. I figured I'd give it a shot, because of my usual problem nail. It dries quickly and has a matte finish. It would be nice to wear on it's own if you don't want it to look like you're wearing nail polish, but want that protection.
I used 2 coats of OPI's Skull and Glossbones, an off-white creme (sort of a grey-taupe shade). I wanted a pale, solid base on my nail, since I was planning on using a fairly sheer frost polish. I chose this shade, because it has similar tones to the next colour.
Then I applied 2 thin coats of Color Club's Boho Mojo, from their Back to Boho collection. I found the shimmers set for crazy cheap at Winners. I wish they had the cremes as well, but alas!
As I read in several other reviews, you get visible brushstrokes. I think because I started with an opaque basecoat, and only did a couple of thin layers, the brushstrokes aren't as bad.
Once that was all dry, I used a Claire's detail polish to draw two thin diagonal stripes on each nail. I grabbed this idea from my friend who did the same thing, but with a base of iridescent glitter.
I topped the whole thing off with Color Club's topcoat from the Back to Boho set. I usually use OPI's topcoat, but I wanted to try this one out. It's got a VERY strong smell. It's been a few hours, and I can still smell it.
However, this one dried a lot faster than the OPI.
