Easy Nails - Fast & Fruity Nail Polish Remover

I posted about a year ago about these remover pots after only trying them out a few times and mentioned that I couldn't get my hands on them easily as we didn't have many Home Bargains store, and certainly none I could get to. 

 

Since then I have used the ones I had loads and been keen to track more down before my supply ran out.  Luckily I've also acquired the use of a car in that time meaning that Home Bargains is now within reach, so a few days ago I headed over to see if they still stocked the little pots of wonder...

 

 

They do!  So I cleared them out of their current stock meaning I shouldn't have to make the journey back in again for quite a while.

 

I'm not sure what they put in this little pot because for an acetone free remover it really does the job well!  Not only do they remove regular nail varnish super fast I also find them great for glitter polishes, which are notoriously hard to remove. 

 

I'm not sure whether it's the solution in the pot, the sponge or the combination of both but they work incredibly well, as well as being really handy to transport if you're going away somewhere or want to keep a remover in your handbag or desk drawer (no, just me who does that?).

 

Another benefit is that they smell pretty good too, there's no horrendously strong chemically smell just a sort of synthetic fruit fragrance which I find quite pleasant and they seem to be kind to my nails too, they never look dry or flaky after using this remover despite how quickly it removes my polish.

 

So, all in, for only 85p each, I LOVE these little pots of wonder, if you're in the market for a new remover or want something to rival the hideously expensive Bourjois version of a remover pot then look no further, Home Bargains might have a store near you!

Superdrug Conditioning Cuticle Oil Pen with Vitamin E

I added this to my recent Superdrug order of In Vogue Feather Effect polishes (which you can see here) on a whim.  While I was Googling for more info on the polish I found various links to a budget beauty item which had been recommended in Vogue.  I figured that at £2.99 for 7ml of cuticle oil and a nifty little applicator it wouldn't do any harm to try it out

 

 

The pen features a screw off lid, on the top of the lid is a textured hoof stick for using to push back your cuticles after you've applied the oil.

 

Once you screw off the lid you reveal the brush which is used to apply the oil to your nails.  A gentle squeeze of the tube fills up the brush and then it's just a case of brushing it around each nail bed and cuticle.  Once your done the lid screws back on to stop any messy escape of the oil.

 

The oil has a nice light texture to it and applies well with the little brush.  There is a soft, subtle scent to it which I can't quite place, maybe slightly almondy?  It's very inoffensive anyway.

 

Initial results seem good, the oil sinks in fast and isn't too greasy on my hands, time will tell whether it's a wonder product but for £2.99 it's a handy little item to have on my desk (I also have one beside my bed and I'm considering a third for my handbag) so I'm pretty pleased by my purchase.

Ask A British Nail Blogger - What is your nail care routine?

 

As part of the British Nail Bloggers group we've decided to start doing some specific posts on various subjects or particular questions, the first one is What is your nail care routine?

I'm a bit nervous about this post, mostly because I think it will show me up as a bit of a nail blogging fraud, my nail care routine is minimal to say the least, when I read other nail blogs I always feel a bit guilty about the amount of time and effort the girls put into their routine and keeping their nails looking good, I really do the bare minimum with mine.  It doesn't seem to do them too much harm.

 

I have very few rules when it come to looking after my nails but the ones I do have I stick to pretty religiously, they are;

• Jewels not tools, don't use your nails for picking, pulling or scrapping things.  If you treat your nails well then they'll look good, if you use them for all manner of tasks then they're bound to get weak and ragged.
• Wear rubber gloves when washing up, always!  Again, if you treat your hands and nails well it will show.
• Moisturise, moisturise, moisturise - hand cream, hand lotion, cuticle cream any or all of the above will keep your hands soft and well moisturised which leads to less dry, flaky skin and hangnails.

As I said my routine for my nails is to do as little as possible to them, although I paint them most nights I rarely file them and I don't often apply special treatments.  Much like the skin on my face I find the more I mess about with my hands and nails the more likely I am to develop problems.

When my nails get too long or one breaks I cut them all down as short as they will go and then give them a quick file until they are the same shape as the end of my finger.  I find that gives the most natural nail shape as my nails grow. 

 

I don't tend to file in between times unless it's to smooth off a ragged edge, as soon as I break one nail I cut them all down and start again, I know some people hate having nubbins (very short nails) but it's not something that bothers me and I quite like the change of length.

I do, as mentioned above, moisturise a fair amount using a variety of different products.  Every time I paint my nails I finish off (after they're touch dry) by rubbing my hands and nails with a good quality hand cream or treatment, usually LUSH's Lemon Flutter Cuticle Butter or The Body Shop's Hemp Moisture High Balm which you can see a full post about here.  Lemon Flutter is by far my favourite product for moisturising as it smells lovely and really does seem to do my nails good.

 

I do find it a bit greasy for during the day though so in my handbag and on my desk I keep tubes of Vaseline hand cream which I love the smell of.  This stuff keeps my hands soft without leaving them greasy.

 

 

Another product (or should I say tool?) which I use regularly are Cuticle nippers:

I find these great for tidying up little bits of dry skin around my nails to stop them catching of pulling.  I know a lot of people say you should never cut your cuticles or the skin around your nails but I find that as long as I am careful and don't go over the top it does my hands a lot more good than harm.

 

And that is pretty much it; treat your hands well, moisturise often and trim off any loose or dry skin to stop it pulling.  Not exactly the comprehensive routine of a nail guru but it seems to work for me!  I know I'm lucky in that I have pretty strong, well behaved nails which tend to grow fairly easily but I do thin that in part it's also down to me not messing about with them too much, sometimes in the nail world less does seem to be more (except where glitter is concerned then more is always more).

My Top Coat Heros

Choosing the right top coat can make a huge difference to how your nail painting experience goes.  Nobody wants to sit about for hours on end with wet nails trying to avoid chipping them only to put a huge obvious dent in one as soon as you feel brave enough to move.

 

For me, quick drying top coats totally changed how I felt about doing my nails.  There is no way I would change my polish as often as I do if I hadn't found a top coat (or three) which really make a difference to drying time while still giving my manicure great protection and an ultra shiny finish.

 

So, for today's post I thought I would introduce you to the top coats I use and love:

 

Sally Hansen Insta Dri Anti-Chip Top Coat

Kiko Gel Look Ultra Glossy Effect Top Coat

Boots No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat Touch dry in 60 seconds

 

The first quick drying top coat I found was Sally Hansen Insta Dri, I was amazed when I tried it as it actually did dry really fast!  Previously 'quick dry' top coats I had tried were never really up to much and certainly weren't touch dry within a few minutes.  With Insta Dri your manicure really is touch dry within a few minutes, it also leaves a lovely glossy shine on your nails.  I find the wear time with this top coat really good, although it is prone to tip wear at times, especially if you type a lot like I do.  I would say this is my favourite top coat although it's not my most used, simply because it can be quite costly if you go through as many bottle as I do!

 

The second top coat I tried was another I didn't really have high hopes for initially.  I first tried Boots No7 Stay Perfect Top Coat when I had a £5 voucher that needed using up and I had run out of nail colours to use it on.  With a voucher this top coat comes in at £2 which is a great price for a product which really does work.  The bottle says 'touch dry in 60 seconds' and it actually lives up to it's promise!  This is the top coat I use most often nowadays, simply because it's easy to get hold of, it's a great deal when the Boots vouchers are on and it really does work.  My nails dry fast, the polish lasts well and they look shiny and glossy just like you'd want.  Of the three this would be my top pick, for the money it just can't be beaten (although I wouldn't pay full price (£7) for it).

 

Finally, a recent edition to my collection, Kiko Gel Look Top Coat, this was sold to me as being the same finish as you'd get with a gel manicure cured under UV lights, never having had a gel manicure I can't really comment on how similar the finish is but what I can say is that this is another fast drying, ultra glossy look top coat which I really like.  The one issue I have had with it was that it tends to bubble slightly in the bottle meaning tiny bubbles can be carried onto your nails which then leave little holes and imperfections in the polish.  I've only had this issue when it's been a lot warmer, never at home in Scotland, so it's really only worth mentioning if you happen to live somewhere where heat may be an issue, not the UK then!  If you live in cooler climes then this one is definitely worth trying out.

 

I rarely experience shrinkage with any of these top coats, the worst offender is the Sally Hansen and even then it happens very, very rarely so it isn't something I would highlight as an issue at all with any of these top coats.  I also find they all work well over my stamping manicures and don't tend to drag the polish or smudge and smear my stampied images.  If I'm using them over stamping then I tend to apply a thicker layer and sort of float it over the whole nail rather than dragging the brush through the stamp too much, but even when I am less careful applying them I've never had much of an issue with them dragging or smearing my work.

 

With all of these top coats you can still dent or smear your polish, they aren't rock solid immediately but they dry fast enough that if you have to you can have 3 coats of polish and the top coat on and dry well within half an hour which for me is good enough.  I'm sure they are often dry sooner but 30 minutes is the minimum amount of time I tend to leave myself.

 

A good top coat will definitely make the difference but I still like to allow as long a time as possible to make sure my nails are properly set, for this reason I tend to paint my nails in the evening while watching TV so they get a good chance to set before I go to bed or have to go and do anything.

 

The major benefit for me with all these top coats is the shiny, glossy finish and the extended wear time of my polishes combined with knowing that if I did have to do my nails in a hurry I would have a good chance of getting out the door without them all being chipped within 5 minutes!

 

What top coats do you use?

Easy Nails Fast & Fruity Nail Polish Remover

A while back I reviewed Pretty Perfect Twist and Out Instant Nail Polish Remover which I had picked up in Savers.  A few days ago my friend sent me a little pot of a similar product to try.

On first impressions I would say that this one is better than the Twist & Out one, the pot is slightly smaller which means that it's easier to reach right down to the bottom of the sponge and get your whole nail cleaned off.  The smell is pleasant too, there is a definite peachy scent after you have removed your polish which is nice, if a bit artificial.

Removal wise, this little pot made fast work of my polish and only took a few twists of each finger to completely remove all the polish - I had 4 or 5 coats on the day I tried it. 

Unfortunately, I think this little magic remover pot came from Home Bargains which we don't have very many of in Scotland so I may have to put an order in with my friend for a few more pots when this one dries up.  For 89p per pot it really is a great deal.

Stamping Plate Storage - Bundle Monster, Cheeky etc.

I have three full sets of Bundle Monster plates and I'm hoping to add the new Cheeky collection to them as soon as it's released so I have quite a few plates to store.  Initially I kept them in a little pot but now that the collection is mounting that was getting quite awkward and didn't give me a good view of all the plates and images I had.  So I started to look into solutions and that led me to order this little book from Amazon.

There was quite a bit of talk about using a business card holder to store plates and in the end I chose this one because of it's pocket size, 9cm by 6cm, which was slightly larger than some other card holders.  I'd measured my BM plates and they were around 5.5cm across which seemed to be the standard size of a pocket in most holders, this one's 6cm width meant that there would be a little bit of wiggle room for the plates, hopefully making them easier to get in and out.

On to the holder.  The cover is a little dull so I think I might personalise it somehow, ideally I would stamp on it so that it showed some of the images that were on the plates it was storing but I think that might be tricky as any polish would rub off pretty fast.

Inside the book has 60 little pockets, 3 to a page.  If you put the plates in back to back so one shows out each side you can store 120 plates.  The plastic sheets seem pretty tough and should stand up to having the metal plates stored inside them.

As you can see three plates fit neatly into each section.

And once both sides are filled up it's easy to flip through your whole collection, page by page.

There is plenty of room in the book and even now I have 3 full collections (71 plates) in there it doesn't make looking through the selection any more difficult.

The pockets are deep enough that the plates are well secured in them and although they move around a little they haven't yet fallen out when I have been using the holder.

The plates slide in and out easily whenever you want to take them out for a closer look or use them.

The one downside is that my (slightly larger, differently shaped) QA plates don't fit into the business card holder so I am still looking for a way to store them, if you have any suggestions I'd love to hear them.

However for Bundle Monster, and similarly sized, plates this is definitely a great, cost effective solution and makes flipping through your collection so much simpler.

The Body Shop - Hemp Moisture High Balm

I discovered this product recently when I saw it in a little basket on offer beside the till.  It was reduced to £1 so I thought I would pick it up and see what it was like.  I had a vague recollection of reading good things about using it as a cuticle moisturiser and, truth be told, I was hoping it might have a bit of a 'hempy' smell about it.  It doesn't, but it is fantastic as a cuticle moisturiser. 

In reality it smells of very little and once it warms in your hands it creates a thick, oily emulsion which is lovely to rub into your nails and cuticles.  It's definitely no good as a hand cream though, it leaves a greasy residue so it's a product suited to being used last thing at night, before bed, or when you aren't planning on doing much until you've had the chance to wash your hands.

Having used it for a couple of weeks I thought I would pop back in and grab another tin while it was reduced.  When I went back to the store I asked the sales assistant who told me that they had sold out and more annoyingly it had been reduced because it was discontinued.

I decided to try another branch on the off chance they still had some and I got lucky...

The sales assistant there said that it would keep unopened for up to 3 years so at the bargain price of £1 a tin I couldn't help but stock up, another 5 tins came home with me (so overall that's 6 tins for the price of 1!).  The balm is great rubbed into cuticles to keep them neat and moisturised and it's also apparently really good on dry skin and eczema.

So, if you happen to be in The Body Shop any time soon and you're looking for a budget buy that will sort out dry cuticles then definitely pick one up, unfortunately one the balm in the sale is gone it won't be coming back so grab it while you can!

Pretty Perfect Twist and Out Instant Nail Polish Remover

The name is a bit of the mouthful but this is a great little product.  I got it for the bargain price of 89p in Savers.  To all intents and purposes it is a much cheaper version of the Bourjois Magic Nail Polish Remover but at a fraction of the cost.

 

Basically this is a plastic pot filled with a piece of nail polish remover soaked sponge, to remove your polish you simply pop your finger into the hole in the middle of the sponge, twist a few times and then pull it out, free from polish.

Considering the price this is a pretty effective product, I removed my 4th of July manicure using it and although it didn't take off all the layer with one twist it didn't take very long at all and was pretty mess free.  Considering I had 3 coats of polish, a top coat, a coat of extra thick stamping polish and another 2 coats of top coat this little bargain made pretty quick work of removal.

I'm fairly certain this wouldn't work too well on hard to budge glitter polish but on regular creams it works like a dream and for 89p it definitely won't break the bank.