For the last post dealing with my nail polish collection, I decided to share with you the nail treatments I have in my collection and talk a little bit more in detail about them. I also have a variety of top coats and my favourite hand creams at the end of the post. Read on to see what I think about each product!
Nail Strengthening and Hardening Treatments
There is a variety of nail strengthening treatments on the market to cater for different nail problems. Mine are quite strong but after gel manicures and wearing polish all the time, I sometimes find I need to help them regain strength. Here it is important to note though that it is not recommended to use a strengthening treatment for more than 3 weeks as it can have the reverse effect. You can check out my article about how nail hardeners work on local beauty portal www.eve.com.mt over here.
Next up are two treatments from Essence from their Studio Nails range. I have the Ultra Strong Nail Hardener and the Pro White Hardener. I sometimes switch to these especially when I don't feel like having colour on my nails. Both seem to do a good job in keeping my nails in shape and the Pro White version has the added bonus of making the nails look brighter. Kudos for the small price tag!
The last nail hardener in my stash is the Sally Hansen No More Breaks which I was utterly disappointed with. I was going through a phase where my nails were breaking like crazy and I decided to try this product and see how it works. My bad though, I should have checked reviews about it as the few I found all agreed that it did nothing to their nails. Not only that, as soon as it dried, it just peeled off my nails and I tried every which way to make sure there were no oil residues and that my nails were completely clean but to no avail. My advice, stay clear of this and spend your pennies on something else such as the above suggestions.
Nail Whitening Treatments
Sometimes I want my nails to show their true colours but a little help is always good to have on hand! For this reason I have two nail whitening treatments in my stash, namely, Essence Studio Nails Pro White Effect and Sally Hansen Insta-Brite. They both do a good job at giving the illusion of whiter nails especially the Essence one with its lilac tint but I prefer the Sally Hansen one for a more natural look. I like to pair them with Essence Tip Painter for a fuss-free French manicure that is quick and easy to achieve!
Cuticle Treatments
I can never stress enough the importance of taking proper care of our cuticles. They are there to protect our nails from bacteria and infections so keeping them in tip top condition is a must. My favourite products are Rimmel Cuticle Scrub - an exfoliating and conditioning treatment in one; Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover - dissolves excess cuticle in just 15 seconds, a hit with clients and lastly, Seacret Cuticle Oil - a must have to apply every day for soft and supple cuticles!
I can never stress enough the importance of taking proper care of our cuticles. They are there to protect our nails from bacteria and infections so keeping them in tip top condition is a must. My favourite products are Rimmel Cuticle Scrub - an exfoliating and conditioning treatment in one; Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover - dissolves excess cuticle in just 15 seconds, a hit with clients and lastly, Seacret Cuticle Oil - a must have to apply every day for soft and supple cuticles!
I have accumulated quite a lot of top coats but I still haven't one the perfect one so please bring your suggestions forward, they are more than welcome. Anyways, here are the ones I currently have in my collection:
- Essence Glitter Top Coat: good for adding some silver shimmer to any nail colour to jazz it up a little.
- Essence Quick Dry Top Coat: I don't know why they named this one 'quick dry' because it takes ages to dry. I only use it to adhere rhinestones and other nail art embellishments.
- Essence Gel Look Top Coat: I love the glossy finish this gives to any manicure but be warned...the polish underneath has to be completely dry otherwise this will just bubble.
- E.L.F. Matte Finisher Top Coat: does what it says on the bottle...gives nail polish a matte finish.
- Rimmel Base Coat Top Coat Pro: another one of those top coats that take quite some time to dry but the results are well worth the wait!
- China Glaze Fast Forward Top Coat: I had really high expectations for this one but it was a total let down. It smells horrible and the polish underneath has to be completely dry before applying because it will cause bubbles. The thing I hate most about it is that the polish only lasts a day or two without chipping.
- AODL UV Top Coat: I got this from Born Pretty Store and I really like the results as it lasts as long as I want my manicure to. The only downside is that it has to be cured under UV light.
- Essence Nail Art Express Dry Drops: now I know this is not a top coat but it is a life saver when it comes to polishes that take excessively long to dry. Be careful though, the polish has to be slightly tacky as if you apply them directly to fresh polish, they will just slide off the nail.
Lastly, I have some random treatments and stuff. I will start with this Nail Polish Remover Gel that I got from Born Pretty Store. I think it is quite an innovative product and I like to use it on glitter polish when I am too lazy to use the foil removal method. It smells of mint but they have other smells available too.
Orly Bonder comes next. This is a rubberised base coat which promotes better nail polish adhesion. I prefer to use it over another base coat though because it has a tendency to stain the nails orange. It does a good job though because I find polish lasts longer when I use this.
The final nail treatment I have to share with you is the Orly Fungus MD. I always have one of these in my kit ever since I had treated a client that got a fungal infection from another nail technician. This did wonders and helped alleviate the pain and discolouration on her nails. I like the very sanitary pipette it comes with and it is rapidly absorbed into the nail.
Hand Creams
Hand creams are very important because they provide the necessary moisture to our hands which we strip away when washing them and performing daily chores. I always recommend to my clients to keep a small tub on their bed side table and massage a little before going to bed. You can use this time to push back your cuticles while they are soft and moist and the heat from your duvet will make absorption easier and more rapid (alternatively you can wear gloves in colder months). Another tip is to keep a hand cream (preferably in a pump dispenser bottle) onto each sink you have in your house to apply a little after washing your hands. Here are my favourite ones:
- La Roche Posay Lipikar Xerand is my go-to hand cream during the colder months because it replenishes the lipid layer in my hands, counteracting dryness and making them softer in seconds due to it being rapidly absorbed.
- Essence 24h Hand Protection Balm Vanilla Apple Pie was actually a limited edition product and it didn't cost more than €2! I love the smell of this one and I generally use it at work to mask the odour from latex gloves.
- Marks and Spencer Essential Extracts White Peach & Almond Hand & Nail Cream is my hand cream of choice when giving myself a manicure. It has a light fragrance and is rapidly absorbed into the skin and doesn't leave any greasy residues.
- MOR Cosmetics Black Currant Iris Hand Cream is quite a luxurious cream which I use as a treat once a week to try and preserve it for as long as I can. It has a rich floral scent that lingers on for hours after application, yet your hands are not left greasy at all.
- Marks and Spencer Ingredients Coconut Hand Butter is the last cream in my stash and I use this on my clients when they book a manicure. Coconut is a very popular scent and everyone seems to love it so it is almost always a safe choice. Being a hand butter, it is richer in texture than hand cream and that is why it is my product of choice for clients, to give them a full pampering experience.
That concludes my Nail Polish Collection series of posts. I hope you enjoyed these posts as much as I enjoyed putting them together for you. If you would like to see my nail art stash, just leave a comment below and I will do my very best to share it with you all :)
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