Nail Art Collection: Twinsie Tuesday: Your Nail Care Routine

Hi everyone, happy Tuesday. Surprisingly this morning I've already been to the gym which really makes me feel accomplished. I even got out of bed during the five am hour which is very early. I decided yesterday that it is too hard to sit through 9 hours of work and then feel motivated to go to the gym, I'm just too tired mentally at that point. So yesterday I googled "how to motivate yourself to get out of bed early to go to the gym". Everything I opened gave examples of how to get out of bed at 7:30. Seriously? That's waking up early? I would really like to know who those people are because by 7:30 I'm at work.

Today for Twinsie Tuesday, the prompt was "your nail care routine". I thought this was pretty fun because I've never done a post like this. I've learned a lot about nail care since I started blogging. Pre-blogging I didn't do anything to take care of my hands or nails, my only hope was that my hands didn't crack and bleed in the winter, which they always did anyways.

First up is base and top coats. I wasn't sure what qualified as nail care so I just included whatever I thought was relevant. When I first started blogging I thought base coats were dumb and I didn't understand why people used them. Then, after blogging for several months, my nails were stained so bad that I couldn't have them bare because they looked so bad. That is the main reason I use base coats now, to prevent staining. I used OPI Natural Nail Base Coat and I never have problems with staining any more.

Topcoats are trickier. For nail art, I always use Seche Vite because it dries lightning fast, glossy, and doesn't smear nail art. The downside is that it chips like crazy on me. For manicures that I'm going to wear, I prefer Sally Hansen Insta-Dri because it holds up better, the one downside is that it does smear nail art. I have not found my holy grail topcoat yet :)

For products to maintain my nail shape, I used a file that I got at Sally's and never end up cutting with nail clippers. The file has a high or low (?) enough grit that I can file in one direction and take down the length pretty quickly. I have to file my nails every five days because they will look like talons. I swear I have some of the fastest growing nails on the planet. I use a buffing pad that I got from Sally's to smooth the nail after filing and I included a picture of my favorite clean up brush, which came in a set from Born Pretty Store.

For polish removal I use pure acetone on cotton balls in this little pump bottle, also from Sally's. For glitter, I use this pot of nail polish remover. It has little spikes on the inside which grip the glitter and pull it right off. I love it, it saves me from doing the foil method.

For moisture I have two favorite products which are Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil and Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. I mainly use the Essie because I think it works really well. I apply it before bed and if I don't, the next day my cuticles are instantly dry. I do want to try the new one from Nicole by OPI, it's like a pen type applicator, I just don't like the price of it :)

Hmmm, can you tell what lotion I like? I've always hated lotions since I was a kid. I can't stand that greasy feeling and I think OPI Avojuice is the closest I've found to not being greasy. I have another full bottle on my desk at work in coconut melon, and that's my favorite scent so far. I haven't tried most of the minis yet, just holly berry and that has almost a too strong of a smell. The only one I don't like so far is grapefruit but I did get it on clearance. The only other lotion I will use is Suave lotion with cocoa butter because it doesn't leave a greasy finish.