British Nail Bloggers: Top and Base Coats

Hello!

Some members of the British Nail Blogger Facebook group are doing another group-post today, this time about base and topcoats. So here's my input!

Here are all the polishes I'm going to talk about...

Base Coat: I didn't always use a base coat when I first got into nail-art, I felt like it was an unnecessary step. But because of all the polish use, my nails aren't in great condition, they're a bit stained and they used to bend and break a lot. So I started using Nail Envy after I picked up a bottle cheaply on eBay. I like to think this has begun to really help get my nails back into a better condition, but as well as using Nail Envy, I've also tried to stop picking off my polish, and messing with my nails in general, and taking more care of my hands, so I reckon it's a combination of my own efforts and Nail Envy's powers that are keeping my nails nice and long (touch wood)

Topcoat: My favourite favourite topcoat is Insta-Dri by Sally Hansen. The one in the pic above is about my fifth or sixth bottle. It's only about £6 and easily available in Boots and Superdrug, which is great. And it makes my nails sooo smooth and shiny. And it dries in seconds! All amazing features.
However, I've recently bought myself a bottle of Poshe topcoat, after a recommendation from AJ of Nail Lacquer UK. Her nails always look super-shiny! This bottle literally only came today in the post, so I've not used it yet, but I will let you all know in future posts what I think of it!

I bought a bottle of Seche Vite a while back after seeing it mentioned a lot, and I loved the super shiny finish, but didn't like how it would shrink around the edge of each nail and ruin my manicure- it really frustrated me for the price I'd paid which is why I now stick to Insta Dri.

Also worth a mention but that I forgot to photograph is my recent discovery of Ciate's Speed Coat topcoat. I've only used it once bit I was really impressed with both the drying time and the shiny finish. I don't think I would buy it as I'm guessing it would be pricey, but I'm happy with the mini bottle I have from the advent calendar - it's much better than I expected!
On the right in the picture is the matte topcoat I have, from. Rimmel. To be honest, I rarely use it, but thought it should be allowed to feature in this post about base/topcoats! I much prefer my nails shiny rather than matte, but this topcoat has been really fab the times I have used it to matte-ify my manicures! 



So there we go! I'm also going to use this post to show off my latest feature in Look mag... only realised they'd used my nail-art again when I was flicking through the mag at work! I'm very happy to get my nails used again, but they do pick some random/old manicures... this one I submitted months and months ago, and was very basic compared to some other ones I've sent in! If you want to submit any manicures, the address for it is look.co.uk/nails and they use them on twitter as well as the magazine. 

My Stash! (Ask A British Nail Blogger)

 Ask A British Nail Blogger: How do you store your polish?

I thought I would take a few quick pictures to answer this question! Firstly, I don't have loaaads of polishes, although since I began this blog my collection has been expanding rapidly, with new bottles bought more or less every week. By following other blogs I'm constantly learning about new brands, tools or accessories that I should look out for, and I'm trying not to let myself spend too much. I don't like spending more than about £3 on one bottle of polish - I'm cheap! I like 3-for-2 deals where I can get more for my money, unless it's something really special (like my new Sally Hansen Big Money!!)

I used to keep all my polish and tools in one box. I then acquired some polishes from a friend, meaning one more box, which I also started to fill up. Soon I had three boxes full, and more.... here is my stash:

This is what you're seeing left to right...
1. My 'boxed' kits. I've had these bought for me as people know my love for nail stuff! I don't buy expensive brands for myself so it's nice to get them as gifts. There's the Bling It On Feather set by Nails Inc and the Ciate Caviar set, both from my boyfriend. At the back there's a Rio Nail Art kit I got for christmas with a few useful bits in depending on what I'm doing!
2. This is my toolbox(/old biscuit tin)! I decided at the beginning of the year that I needed a separate box just for tools and 'extras'. In here I'll find my brushes, nail art pens, studs, rhinestones, striping tape, glequins, sequins, loose glitter, stickers, sponges and nail files, scissors, clippers etc. At the top are my base/topcoats which also live in this box at the moment due to there being no room in the other 2 boxes. And now I always know where to find them!
3. The pink plastic box used to be my only box! I now use it as a box for my favourite/most-used polishes. In it at the moment are all my new Barry M gellys, my Sally Hansen's, Seventeen, a few Accessorize polishes, and quite a lot of my glitters.
4. This is my over-flow box, containing polishes I'm not currently obsessed with. They're all useful colours and I use them occasionally in different art, but don't use them regularly. I've used the lid as an over-flow in this pic, these are usually just piled on the top when the box is closed.

So that's about it! I don't sort by colour or brand (although I like keeping my Barry M's all together cos they look nice!) because I don't have the room, and I also have so many different brands it'd be difficult to use that to sort them by.

^ I keep the toolbox and the box with my 'most-used' polishes under the coffee table in our living room so they're always to hand. The over-flow box is hidden behind the sofa, and the kits are in the bookshelf. Our house isn't massive and I'm aware that my boyfriend doesn't want my nail stuff everywhere, so I try my best to keep it neat and tidied away!

There are definitely some polishes in the 'rarely used' box that are exactly that - but I daren't throw them away in case they might come in handy in the future! I am going to try to be ruthless though - I don't really have the space to expand to a fourth box!

Have a look how other British Nail Bloggers store their stash (probably a lot more organised and neater than mine...)

Ask a British Nail Blogger - Most Wanted Polish

I'm not really a massive fan of expensive brands of polish. I like any brand, as long as the colour is nice and the finish is good, and you can often get this from cheaper brands, such as Seventeen, Barry M & w7. So there's not a particular brand I would go for if I had unlimited money, I'd just go for fab colours!

However last week I saw the most gorgeous polish on one of the blogs I follow - Naily Perfect. Here is her swatch:

Look how shiny! I adore pink, and glitter, and Sally Hansen! I've never seen a polish quite like this before. Due to it being £7 on the Superdrug website I've sent a link to my boyfriend ....Easter Present?!

So this is definitely my most wanted polish - not that I've been lusting after it for years, neither is it out of my reach, but yeah - this is definitely the one I want at the moment. I don't usually spend more than £3 or £4 on one bottle so this one would be a nice treat.

Also I'd buy the full Sally Hansen Complete Manicure range if I could! However I do not need that many polishes..... but it'd be awesome to just have shelves upon shelves of polishes. Here's me (the short one) wistfully staring into the window of a shop in London: