I will spare you a long-winded post detailing every product, instrument, and step I take in order to get my nails looking the way I love them. There are thousands of incredible and informative posts on that already and your good friend Google will lead you to them. The purpose of my little bit about nails is to show you what I use in hopes of inspiring you to try out these products or tools, or perhaps to get some feedback from our readers about what I should try!

Tools

First I remove my old manicure with an acetone based remover. Then I cut, file, and buff if I have to. After soaking my nails in some warm water with salt, lemon, and olive oil, I move on to removing my cuticles with Sally Hansen’s Instant Cuticle Remover. I typically use an orange stick to gently scrape away the cuticle. I cut out hangnails with clippers or the cuticle trimmer.

Once the cuticles are gone I go wash my hands. At this point I sometimes also use a body or facial scrub to further exfoliate my cuticle area. The one I am currently using is Charmine Rose.

 Once my hands are dry I apply Mavala Scientifique, my favourite but toxic nail hardener – I recommend you do your research about this product before you but it but it is my HG and has completely helped transform my nails. Once the Mavala is absorbed I apply NailTek Foundation II as my base coat – this stuff helps in preventing flaking and peeling. It also dries matte and a bit chalky, creating a sticky base for polish to adhere to.

I paint my nails using the “three stroke” method. Place brush near cuticle, push back closer to the cuticle without touching it to leave the gap, swipe down the center, then down each side. I usually do two coats, depending on the polish of course.

I am super impatient so I use a fast drying topcoat. I am currently using Seche Vite. These Essence Express Dry Drops are fab for nail art and  french manicures. I use them on top of SV because I am THAT impatient.

To clean up any mistakes I just use an angled brush dipped in acetone. If I get some polish or top coat on the skin under my nail when I “wrap” then I use a Q-Tip to clean that up. To get the moisture back into my nails I finish with some cuticle oil.

My nail care doesn’t stop at that though. I am forever mindlessly rubbing things into my hands and nails. Below are my HG products without which I’d probably have no hands at all – exaggeration I’m aware but I actually can’t imagine not using all of these wonderful products.

Hope that helped at least one person! Let me know if you have any HG products you can’t live without! Thanks for reading!

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