Friday, April 3, 2009

Getting Your Nails Done

Hi everybody!!

So I choose today as my mani/pedi day. I usually like to do my manicure and pedicure, but if you find yourself needing to touch up your pedicure but you don't need to redo your manicure, latex gloves should help you avoid ruining your mani from the nail polish remover.

I buy pharmacy nail polish as most of it is good quality and budget-friendly. I try to pick up different colours even though it is really tempting to get a matte yellow as well as metallic, but I realize very few people would realize the difference. Once I've found a good brand I'll stick with it. A word of caution, dollar store nail varnishes seem great except for you'll find that the darker colors can really stain your nails. So I advise you to pick lighter colors or just stay away. Some brands I've found I really the quality and price of are: L'Oreal, Sally Hansen, and NYC for bright colors.

So, you've chosen a colour (or the Americanized color :):


I'm a bit lazy when it comes to my nails. I don't break out all the spa tools every time that I paint my nails. I find that a nail file (or clipper if you're in a pinch), some nail polish remover, a q-tip (to get off the nail polish that makes its way onto your skin), and some clear nail polish will do. I also have an ONYX aerosol nail dryer and Caramel Bliss foot mask here as well. Nice, not necessary. I'll do a review on them later on in the post. I also really recommend the ONYX nail polish removers. It gets the old polish off fast.

Now it's time to prepare your tools:


When you're choosing a nail shape, it's important to remember a few things. Dark colors work best with short, round nails and light colors- you can do whatever you want really. Also keep in mind that round nails tend to break less often than square nails. Do whatever works with you.

So time to file the nails. I choose to go short and round because I was using a darker nail color:

I'm not a very picky girl and use a top coat as my base coat. I find it works well enough in preventing nail stains and works pretty well as a base. After that I applied two coats of color. If you find yourself needing to apply more than two coats to get the same color as in the bottle, try a different brand. The one you're using is probably cheap and takes more energy than it's worth.

I also sprayed after each layer with the ONYX nail dryer and I found it really reduced the amount of time that I spent waiting for my nails to dry. PLUS it smells like baby powder. No more bad chemical smell.

So this is the color in the bottle:



This is how it turned out on my nails:

So, all it took was a base coat, two layers of color, and a top coat. This normally lasts me around 6-7 days before it starts chipping and I have to redo them.



Caramel Bliss Foot Mask
This is a foot mask I bought from Pier1. It's from the Caramel Bliss line from Toe Toppers and retails around $20 CAD. It's basically a clay mask for the feet. It smells like caramel and really makes your feet soft. It makes your feet look a bit ashy when you put it on, and be careful not to get it on your floor before it dries, but I really like it. For the price, I wouldn't buy it again though.
4/5 stars



ONYX Professional Nail Dryer
I love, love, love this. I picked it up at Wal-mart (sorry small businesses) for about $3 CAD. It cuts my drying time in half and the baby powder scent makes polishing my nails much more pleasant. I would recommend you get this. Great product, great price.
5/5 Stars

8 comments:

MsRitaJanay said...

Ive always wanted to buy that onyx nail drying stuff but ive just been to scared tht it wouldnt work! Thanks for this review!!! Im gonna go out to walmart and get some next time yayyyy!

Afro Heroine said...

Lol, me too!! For $3 it's ridiculous I didn't buy it before. It smells good and really cuts drying time. I always smudge my nails, but not this time :)

Anonymous said...

Pretty color. I never do my nails done. It's crazy 'cause I'm such a girlie girl, but sometimes walk around here with really shabby nails.

Afro Heroine said...

Thanks! I have a bias towards dark colours. I actually only started painting my nails regularly about two years ago. Before that it was strictly restricted to prom & homecoming.

LaiParis said...

im terrible at doing my nails
that why i tend to let someone else do them
but good job!!
&& i love that color
i currently have a burgundy type color as well=]

Afro Heroine said...

:) Thanks Lai. Haha, I was terrible at doing my nails before too. Like, get polish everywhere but the nailbed terrible. Lack of $$$ to get it done at a salon forced to learn. I used clear nailpolish as my trainer ;)

Chanel said...

wow your nails look great!

Afro Heroine said...

:) thanks chanel!