Happy Friday friends! Today I am linking up with Andrea for Friday Favorites and today's post is all about one of my favorite things to do... at home manicures.
Let's rewind a few years, shall we? Starting right out of college, in 2009, I used to get together with a group of close girlfriends every week to watch the Bachelor at one of our apartments and catch up on life. We all used to bring 2-3 nail polish colors with us and would paint our nails using each other's colors while we watched the show. As we started getting older, began advancing in our careers, getting married, moving for jobs, etc. our weekly Bachelor viewing parties started to drop off and we would watch from home and text each other throughout instead.
Fast forward a little to 2013 when Devin and I first got married. Back when we were living that Double Income No Kids life I used to go get my nails done with some of these same girlfriends every other week. I loved that time at the salon catching up with friends while we sipped on our free glass of wine.
Fast forward a few more years and we now have our beautiful daughter and I decided to cut work back to part time. Certain luxuries had to go, and my biweekly nail salon trips was one of the first to get cut. I still love taking the time every week or so to paint my own nails at home while I watch TV. Here's my nail painting routine and how I get perfect smudge-proof nails every time:
I always, always, always start with either OPI Base Coat or Essie base coat. Both of these brands are pretty interchangeable to me as they both work with about the same quality.
After my base coat I always do 2 coats of whichever color I choose. These are some of my all time favorites:
Essie Bobbing for Baubles, Essie Ballet Slippers, Essie Fiji, Essie Wild Nude, OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Japanese Rose Garden, and OPI Malaga Wine
Essie Bobbing for Baubles, Essie Ballet Slippers, Essie Fiji, Essie Wild Nude, OPI Alpine Snow, OPI Japanese Rose Garden, and OPI Malaga Wine
Then, the most important part, is the Essie gel setter top coat. This has completely changed how I do my nails! Not only does it dry significantly faster than regular polish, but once it dries, your nails are smudge proof. I HATE it when you think "my nails HAVE to be dry, I've been sitting here for 20 minutes" and then they smudge on something. The gel setter is crucial for no smudges. I also love how it stays shiny longer and I have noticed fewer chips with it as well.
As far as how I organize my nail polishes, I keep everything I need to paint my nails all in a little wicker basket that goes in our TV room. I have them locked away in a cabinet so Lily Grace can't get to them, and then I pull it out whenever I'm ready to paint. I keep my nail polish remover, cotton balls, q tips, nail polishes, toe separators, and a drying spray all in the basket. It just makes it easier to have everything all in one place and easy to pull out.
That's how I keep up with my at home manicures, what do you all do? Anything different? Do you all use the Essie gel setter as a top coat too? I'm telling you, it's THE BEST!! Have a great weekend everyone 😀
As far as how I organize my nail polishes, I keep everything I need to paint my nails all in a little wicker basket that goes in our TV room. I have them locked away in a cabinet so Lily Grace can't get to them, and then I pull it out whenever I'm ready to paint. I keep my nail polish remover, cotton balls, q tips, nail polishes, toe separators, and a drying spray all in the basket. It just makes it easier to have everything all in one place and easy to pull out.
That's how I keep up with my at home manicures, what do you all do? Anything different? Do you all use the Essie gel setter as a top coat too? I'm telling you, it's THE BEST!! Have a great weekend everyone 😀
I need to start using a base coat when I do my nails. I always skip that step. I use the Seche Vite top coat and have for years and it is definitely a holy grail product for me. The best!
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