Nail Care Routine.... This was/is a tough one for me. First, let my start off by saying I really have bad nail care, so feel free to take any "recommendations" with a grain of salt. :-P
I recently did a guest post for my high school friend, Victoria, over at
Minding Minnesota on caring for your nails and I am shamelessly going to cut and paste from that post here. (I know, I'm bad)
Here are my top 3 steps for nail care:
1. Good cuticles are the basis for good nails! Make sure to keep your cuticles moisturized during the winter months (and the summer if you have dry skin). I am lucky that I have fairly nice cuticles on my own without using cuticle oil on a regular basis (or at least that’s what my friends tell me lol) but cuticle oil / moisturizer is a good way to keep them hydrated. You can purchase cuticle oil anywhere, from the drugstore, to Walmart, to higher end stores like Ulta and Sephora. Additionally, a lot of indie polish makers make and sell cuticle oil / moisturizer as well! Bonus Tip: Don’t cut your cuticles! If they are getting long, gently push them back with an orange stick.
2. Protect your nails and you manis by wearing base and top coats! Have you ever had a mani that has completely stained your nails? Richly saturated colors can be notorious for never wanting to leave your nails, especially greens and blues, and one way to help protect your nails is with base coat. Base coat can also help if you have weak or brittle nails and are trying to grow them. My go-to base coat is OPI Nail Envy. Top coats can help to protect a mani, make it last longer, smooth out rough glitter looks and even improve drying time. I wear topcoat over ALL my manis; my go-to top coat is IMN Out The Door, similar quick drying top coats can be found at drugstores, beauty stores and online. Bonus Tip: If your quick drying topcoat is getting “stringy” try adding a thinning agent, such as Seche Restore to restore the consistency.
3. Choose your nail polish remover wisely! In my mind, there are two main types of nail polish remover, acetone and non-acetone. Each of those has “sub-categories” for example, 100% acetone or strengthening non-acetone remover. While acetone remover gets the polish off quickly it also can dry out your nails, cuticles and skin super-fast, and we know that this leads to cracked skin and brittle nails. My recommendation for removing your standard polish would be any non-acetone remover. You can purchase these pretty much anywhere. I personally, use a strengthening non-acetone remover on a regular basis and stick to acetone or 100% acetone to remove manis under certain circumstances, such as hard to get off polish like glitter, or even removal of gel/shellac manis. Bonus Tip: Try the “Foil Method” to remove particularly stubborn manis.
Basically, the above 3 steps are my "routine". Cuticle Care, Base/Top Coats and Strengthening Remover and just because I might as well, here are my naked nails!!!
Not exactly "healthy" nails, but I am really trying to improve my nail health and I can't wait to see what the other Twinsies have up their sleeves with regards to their own Nail Care Routines so I can get some tips!
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