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BBAC 2015, Day Sixteen: Tools and Toys: manicures and nail art

Posted on Tuesday, at • bought • 333 views

I am not a nail art expert. (My entries from last year's BBAC should prove that.) I have nail stamping plates, and I love using them. I have nail decals, striping tape, dotting tools, even brushes for freehand nail art. I even have a nice box to store everything in, and two small albums for all of my nail plates. But let's just say that I have more enthusiasm than skill when it comes to manicures.

It took time for the industry to come up with nail polish solutions that would work well for me, and not cost a truly outrageous amount of money. (And also, not knock me out when I open the bottle. Yaag…) Finally, though, it happened; and I started finding out which manicure tools I preferred. My nail care routine is pretty basic, and it's all at-home.

BBAC 2015, Day Sixteen: Tools and Toys: manicures and nail art

Photos that show how the product actually performs...! See how I create my swatches

BBAC 2015, Day Sixteen: Tools and Toys: manicures and nail art
<h3>Zoya's Remove+ polish remover</h3> <p>Back in the day, when Zoya was The Polish For Me (and when a bottle still cost USD$6.00) I tried Zoya's nail polish remover. I got great results, and didn't have the strong acetone smell, so when it came up for sale I got the Gallons of Goodness deal: buy two 32-ounce bottles of Remove+, get two free. I think it was USD$50.00 for this deal - which is a good price, since normally these 32-ounce bottles are USD$25 apiece, or approximately 78 cents per ounce. Remove+ is not the least expensive remover there is, but it works excellently for me, and with this deal that I will have a supply of this amazing nail polish remover for a long, long time. I got the deal back in 2011. I don't know that Zoya has done a deal like this in the recent past - they've probably gotten to the point where they do the Earth Day promos probably because it's gotten to be an institution by now, but many of their other deals...aren't too deal-y.</p> <h3>Sephora's 4-sided buffer block</h3> <p>Back in 2010 when I bought this, the first side - used to buff out the nail - was a very fine-grit surface. The current incarnation, the first side is rougher, and I think can do more damage to the nail if you don't use a very light touch. I'm glad that I got my buffing block when I did. When I finally need to replace this one, I may go with a less expensive alternative, since the previous big selling point of the Sephora block was that finer-grit first side. They're USD$6.00 at Sephora, and close to that price from other sources (except Ebay, where you can get five for USD$6 including shipping.) I've got the normal occasional nail ridge, but I also have very weird thumbnails. There are horizontal "dents" in them that routinely grow out, but while they're there, they make the nail surface wavy. Buffing those waves away would probably be a Bad Idea, but I can buff them down a bit and then use a filling base coat to even out the waves a little more.</p> <h3>CND's Stickey base coat</h3> <p>I discovered this about the same time I tried my first Vinylux polish. I was looking for other nail base coats that would bond better with polishes and help keep them in place longer. I tried a smaller bottle of CND Stickey, and made a significant dent in that one over the course of two months, while I tried manicures with my Zoya, Sally Hansen, Color Club, and other polishes to really test durability and compatibility. Once I found that this particular base coat extended the life of any polish I wore, I bought the larger "globe" of base coat and decanted the remaining small-bottle into that. Those globes aren't the easiest to pack in a travel bag or purse, but on the upside, I always can quickly spot my bottle of base coat smile The only polish I haven't tried this base coat with, is CND Vinylux. It maintains that using a base coat prevents the polish from bonding with the nail and providing the longer-lasting manicure. Since I got this base coat to extend the life of my manicures, and since Vinylux performs just fine with no base coat, I'm okay with not testing that combination.</p> <h3>CND's Vinylux nail polish</h3> <p>I started wearing these in 2014, and quickly fell in love with the line. These polishes will last 5-6 days with zero tipwear, and 7-10 days with no major chipping. And no peeling, like I sometimes have with other polish lines! There aren't as many different finishes in this line as in other polish lines, probably because CND also sells additives that nail techs can use to make clients' manicures more unique. But since I don't love glitter polishes or most frost polishes, I'm actually okay. I can use my own "additives" - colored micas from TKB and striping tape, mostly - to create extra designs when I want more than just a single-color manicure.</p> <h3>Polish Me Silly's multichrome nail polishes</h3> <p>The chief, near-universal complaint with multichrome nail polishes has long been that they're so thin. A person needs to apply four coats to get the full depth and richness of the base shade and the multichrome effects. Well, finally there's a solution! Polish Me Silly (sold on Etsy, and also carried by Femme Fatale) has - get this, people - two-coat full-coverage multichromes. These polishes are really great! They're durable, they cover very well. The cost is fairly reasonable, USD$7.50 for a .5 fl oz bottle, which puts it in the same cost-neighborhood as L'Oreal, Revlon, and Sally Hansen CSM.</p> <h3>Color Club's Halo Hues holographic nail polishes</h3> <p>Polish Me Silly also sells holographic polishes, which I may try at some point. But I also own nearly every bottle from the first two "waves" of Halo Hues releases, and I haven't finished a bottle yet. These are lovely linear holos with a good amount of the holographic particles, base colors that cover very well, and overall durable polishes. It's a far cry from the old Sally Hansen Nail Magic polishes that would scratch away if you looked at them sideways! They're more costly than other polishes, even through places like Transdesign; but in my opinion they're worth a little bit extra. (Twice the price...? Maybe not quite that much extra.)</p> <h3>Zoya's Armor top coat</h3> <p>When I'm not using Vinylux polish with its specialized UV-curing topcoat, I use Zoya's Armor. It works well, it protects my manicure and doesn't easily peel or bubble (or drag the polish beneath it.) It does dampen holographic polish effects a little bit, but not too much. (I will admit that, with many of the newer-generation, stronger holographic polishes, I'll wear them with a really good base coat and no top coat so that I can enjoy the full range of linear-holo effects.) I may try to find a replacement once I use up the several bottles that I have...or maybe I'll just wait for another sale, then get a few more bottles. Zoya isn't the least expensive out there, but they're the best that I've found for my budget and my body chemistry. (That said, I wouldn't mind a less expensive top coat that worked equally well. I'm just not sure how to go about finding such a thing. Comparing ingredients, maybe? Gah, what a bother...I'll have to get out my magnifying glass to read the ingredients!)</p> <h3>Striping Tape</h3> <p>Oh, Ebay, Ebay. How I love Ebay. It's great for finding inexpensive things like <a href="http://www.ebay.com/itm/30Pcs-Mixed-Colors-Rolls-Striping-Tape-Line-DIY-Nail-Art-Tips-Decoration-Sticker-/361028012301?hash=item540ef2490d:g:axsAAOxyMxpRwrBV" target="_blank">striping tape</a> and nail decals and beauty sponges and <a href="http://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_odkw=nail+striping+tape&_osacat=0&_from=R40&_trksid=p2045573.m570.l1313.TR3.TRC1.A0.H0.Xnail+dotting+tool+set.TRS0&_nkw=nail+dotting+tool+set&_sacat=0" target="_blank">dotting tools</a>, so that you're all set to become A Really Enthusiastic Nail Artist. Of course, without skill, the nail art won't look great; and without practice, you won't get skill. So some of my problems with nail art stem from me not actively taking time to try things out more and get better with them. (Case in point: I've tried nail stamping about two dozen times. It looked great zero times. It looked acceptable six or seven times. I know it's a practice thing. Gradient nails are another thing that are a practice-thing, but there I have to figure out what I'm doing wrong, then start working to change whatever-wrong-thing I'm doing.) I have many many rolls of striping tape that I got for about ten cents per roll. I took apart an old plastic tape dispenser from a nearly-gone roll of medical tape, and used that to store about 15 rolls at a time. It's easier to find the color I want, and it's easier to get exactly how much I need for a particular manicure. I've got about 20 different colors.</p> <h3>Nail art storage</h3> <p>I found this double-sided plastic pencil case at a Fred Meyer store one day. One side is about 1/3 of the total depth of the box, with a few divided compartments; the other side is the other 2/3, and is one large open space. It's about the size of a trade paperback book, and about 3 total inches deep. The lids click to lock into place, so if my cats knock the box off of the shelves the lids won't fly off instantly. On the other hand, if I were to travel with this, I'd probably still want to rubberband the box closed for extra protection.</p>

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