There are many things I keep in my Star Wars lunchbox, in which I keep all of my manicure supplies, but there are a few things that I can't do without when it comes to keeping my nails looking their best.
Essential #1: My Deborah Lippmann nail file. I don't know what I was doing on this earth without this. This file keeps my nails groomed without making them flake (I file in one direction, as well), and it shortens them in seconds, unlike my previous metal file that took forever to file my nails down.
Essential #2: Nail polish remover. This is kind of a no-brainer, considering we all need something to take our previous polish off. I do get one with acetone, because I'm just too lazy to bother with the healthier options that take way longer, but at least I get the strengthening formula, which I do find helps stop my nails from peeling.
Essential #3: Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover. I did a whole blog post about this baby, my first blog post in fact, and I'm still in love. Since discovering its amazing power to get all the dead-nasty off, it's become a crucial part of my weekly manicure and keeps my cuticles in tip-top shape. The bottle lasts forever, too. I've had it for more than a year, and I'm not even a third of the way through.
Essential #4: Revlon Colorstay Gel-Smooth Base Coat. This stuff is amazing. Fast-drying, ridge-filling (with a couple coats), yellow-preventing, just fantastic. It also, as its name would imply, keeps your polish on for a very good amount of time.
Essential #5: Revlon Colorstay Topcoat. I've sang the praises of Sally Hansen Insta-Dri before, and before this, that was indeed my favorite. However, this stuff has overtaken Sally as my all-time favorite topcoat. It applies smoothly (not too thickly, which I love), dries fast, and keeps your nails hard, glossy, and chip-free for a good week. Mine's getting down to the bottom now, so it's a bit gloopier, but it still performs well, and I have to give it credit for not getting unusable at the half-way mark like SHID.
Essential #6: Olive oil. There are so many uses for olive oil. Cooking (obviously), hair oil (I put some in my hair at night to keep the fuzz away in the morning), moisturizer, makeup remover, etcetera. I didn't realize that it would also be the secret for making my polish dry in one second flat. Seriously. After I've put on my topcoat, waited for about fifteen seconds to get my nails at least not liquid-y, I drop some olive oil over the top of them to set them completely. I'm then ready to go about my day with perfect, smudge and mark-free nails without the dry time. It moisturizes my cuticles, too. Nice.
I forgot to mention that I put the olive oil in my old Tammy Fender Lavender and Foti Cleansing Milk bottle. If you noticed that in my April Empties Video the bottle was missing from the label, well, this is where the bottle went. Clever, eh?
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