How To Make Your At-Home Manicures Last

Hi Guys!

I have been wanting to do educational posts for a while now, some "how-to's" pertaining to nails and I want to start with something that I think is completely universal: How to make your at-home manicures last. 

Rich Girls and Po' Boys, OPI

Review: Base and Top Coats

Probably two of the most important steps in making my manicures last as long as possible (and chip-free!) is the use of a good base and top coat. And I can't say enough about the absolute necessity of having a fast-drying top coat! We all know how annoying and debilitating it can be waiting for nail polish to dry on its own... It takes FOREVER, and then you have to be on high alert making sure you don't accidentally smudge it. It's awful. Fast forward to my discovery of fast-drying top coats *insert the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah here* (Here it is, for the full effect). How did I ever paint my nails without one? Anyway, these are the base and top coats I've used, and what I think of them...

Sally Hansen's Double Duty Base & Top Coat and CND's Stickey Base Coat