I’ve been uncharacteristically lax about having color on my nails in the past couple months (which is changing because of the holidays). Whenever they’re painted, though, I am routinely asked what my secret is to making my polish last.
Do I add a new coat at some point to mask tip wear and chipping?
Do I remove mid-week and re-paint with the same shade to maintain the illusion of longevity?
Have I in fact sold my soul to the devil in exchange for bullet-proof polish?
To all of these things: No.
My September 2015 Favorites are all inexpensive drugstore products! Aside from one being discontinued (jerks – but you can still find it on Amazon), they’re all accessible!
We’ve all dealt with it – a manicure that is stubborn to remove (dark colors, glitter), or is more of a mess during removal than anything. I use pure acetone these days, but when I heard about 1st Acetone Power Gel (from Cutepolish, I think?) I had to try it out.
As far as I know, it is carried at Wal-Mart in two varieties: a regular and a Glitter formula. I went with the glitter formula because I tend to have trouble with glitter removal more than other varieties.
Here’s my nail before. There are two coats of China Glaze Wish Upon a Starfish. It’s one of those glittery, sandy-textured polishes (basically, there’s no smoothing it out without twelve coats of top coat). In short, it’s a pain to remove and an excellent polish upon which to demonstrate this product.
The non-glitter variety is in identical packaging except the pink and yellow parts are switched.
Inside is a thick, viscous, translucent pink gel. Unlike regular liquid acetone-based nail polish removers, 1st Acetone Power Gel does not assault you with a strong, chemical odor. That said, it DOES have one – don’t get curious and sniff the jar; if I had to guess it is because the gel doesn’t throw off fumes quite like liquid does.
I am a fan of flip-flops.
Seriously, you don’t know. I wore them in the winter until I moved somewhere Truly Snowy in the Winter (and have since wised up). I have a $50 pair of Rainbows and they are joy.
(I never claimed to be fashionable.)
Anyway, as a result of being flip-flop-focused, I need to pay a little more attention to pedicures. Last Christmas, my husband got me a Tip2Toe Electric Callus tool (knowing my pedi-obsession) from Amazon. It is a high-powered (and I do mean high) electric rotary tool that you use to buff dead skin from your feet. I had actually considered just getting a dremel (not because my feet are atrocious, but because I’m lazy) – but I couldn’t figure out what grit(s) would be safe to use.
The Tip2Toe has a long cord with a GFI switch at the plug (like a hairdryer) to protect you – like I said, this sucker is high powered. You need to be very careful or you will hurt yourself. To use it, you attach its little, yellow, proprietary buffing discs (it comes with a few)…
After soaking your feet to soften them (or, you know, showering – that’s usually fine), you can go to work. It works. It smooths them, but for me, didn’t remove the excess like I so desired. I am anti-Credo blade, anti-grater. But then, I figured it out!
OPI makes a good polish. They make my (and cult) favorite red, I’m Not Really a Waitress. Their wide brushes changed the application game when they hit the market ages ago; they’re a staple in many salons and policy fanciers’ collections. Even though I am primarily a gel fanatic these days, I feel that I can typically rely on OPI for quality and consistency.
But in the last couple years, they’ve been getting a little silly. Not all of their collections have been eyeroll-worthy – the Coca Cola collection, for instance, was pretty cool. But when I saw OPI Color Paints in a recent Ulta email…well, they screamed, “gimmick!”
And not just, “gimmick,” but, “TIRED.”
The OPI Color Paints collection features a mostly-opaque silver, “base,” coat and several translucent colors to slap on top — wait.
Isn’t that similar to another collection of OPI’s I’ve written about?
June 2015 FavoritesThis past month was super busy and flew by, but I somehow managed to get my June 2015 Favorites together on time!
