#69 - At Home Manicure
I realise I should have written this a lot sooner whilst we’re waaaaay in the beginning of lockdown. I think I’m part of the population that just needed to vegetate and actually be okay with it.
My stressful day job gives me a fair amount of anxiety and going into work was something that I dreaded every day. As much as I thrive on that lifestyle, I also hated it - I don’t fancy having a breakdown every 6 weeks because it makes me doubt myself.
It’s about when it got bad some time earlier last year that I started doing nails. I’ve never been an artist because I am so clumsy and cannot control my hands/fingers. Nails has never been a priority because I’ve played instruments all my life - I don’t now so I can afford to grow my nails and paint them nicely. That has changed massively because I now wear nail polish 90% of the time, and along the way learnt how to care for them.
A lot of people I know enjoy going to nail salons - I am not one of them. I can’t seem to sit still unless I’m the one doing the nails. Doing my own nails is nothing new since i’ve been doing this prior lockdown and doing it for so long now here are the basic b*tch equipment I use.
Please bear in mind that all of these if you do purchase them, you are buying them for more than ONE manicure. You don’t necessarily need to buy all of them to get a good manicure, e.g. if you don’t generally use polish, then you may not see the need to get it.
It’s a small investment even if you don’t paint your nails. All the Amazon links I will include at the bottom of this page - these are affiliate links - if you don’t want use them then by all means search by the product name, but if you enjoyed this, consider using the affiliate links to help fund this blog penny by penny :)
I am just talking about equipment today and not techniques - that may come later.
Nail File.
Specifically glass nail file. If you don’t have one already then it’s time to get one. I didn’t know how much difference a glass nail file makes to filing your nails down to make sure you get smoothest edges possible, and that it’s easy to maintain (rinse) and will practically last forever.
A hoarder like me will want more glass files - after all they’re not made the same - Primark ones are not good.
This one has done all the work for me so far, i trust this, I use this all the time.
Cuticle Remover & Orange sticks
To get a good mani later on, you need to remove the dead skin around your nails so the polish won’t catch on to these dead skin and fall off along with it. I’ve had one from Seche before but this Sally Hansen one works better for me, and faster (15 seconds). Then use an orange stick to gently push the cuticles back and around the cuticles to remove the dead skin, then wash your hands. You now have a fresh, dead skin free nail bed to work with.
The sharper end of the orange stick will also help you refine your nail painting to fix any cuticle flooding. I get it, I’m clumsy too and once upon a time when I couldn’t pain my nails as well and when I mess up now, I am constantly using the edge to fix the edges of my nails.
Jojoba Oil & Pen brush
Jojoba oil has been a really good oil to use around the cuticles that isn’t expense to purchase. You can mix jojoba oil with vitamin e gel to create a nail care treatment, but because I am lazy, I just use jojoba oil. It’s closest to what the nails are so helps with making them grow, and also keeping your cuticles hydrated and make the nails have the flexibility that your nails actually need so you don’t instantly break your nails when you hit it. If it bends a little then your nail won’t break, which is really key to growing your nails.
The oiling pen is a brush-tip pen that makes the application to the nails a lot quicker and more convenient. I have multiple of these filled up and placed in different places (the office, my bag, my coffee table) so I can constantly be oiling my cuticles
Acetone & cotton pads
Nail polish remover is nice. You can opt for nail polish remover if you want but acetone is what is what you want to really remove and clean the nail. Acetone cuts through the polish which means it’s more powerful and you need less swipes and less product to get the old polish off your nails.
Normal cotton pads would suffice - I personally don’t like using quality cotton pads like the ones I do for my face for my nails and prefer using something rougher. However, normal cotton pads also leave a lot of fluff/lint behind so I prefer a lint-free pad that doesn’t leave a residue.
You may also consider one of these pump bottles to put your acetone in. It makes it easy to get the product onto the cotton pad, but just be aware that acetone does evapourate. I don’t pour the product in my bottle to the brim and just maybe 1/3 up.
N.B. if you’re allergic to acetone, obviously don’t use acetone and seek for an alternative
Amazon links:
Pump bottle - comes in 4, you can use this for other products
Base & Top Coat, and a thinner
If you’re not into painting your nails, consider still protecting them.
The constant hand washing and cleaning and just general increased exposure to water make your nails weaker. On the days that I don’t paint anything fancy on my nails, I still have a base coat on in hope I may paint them later. If you’re not thinking of painting anything, then apply a top coat on the nails and wrap the tip to protect your nail from water.
Your nail will not “suffocate”. It’s a dead part of your body.
If you are painting your nails, you will need a base coat to provide a base for your polish to “grab” on to, and you will need to have a dry fast top coat to seal it in and cure it. You can also reapply top coat few days down the line if you feel like your mani is dulling, the glossier the top coat is, the more shine it will restore.
All Seche products are easily bought on Amazon, but I also want to mention Holo Taco, where they make quality nail products. I bought a long lasting base, top coat and a peel off top coat, and some polishes to ship to the UK. Consider supporting a smaller business, but for convenience (and less cost), Amazon Seche.
Even when you’re painting your nails often, as soon as your polish is opened it will be exposed to air which in time makes your polish gloopy. This happens with base and top coat too, which is why I also recommend getting the Restore, which is a polish thinner, that helps restore your polishes back to the texture it was once before and not ruin your day with awful, gloopy polishes. A few drop of this and roll the bottle around and your polish is back to its original glory.
If your polish is just out of date for years just throw it away if you can’t save it
So how much will this all cost you? Amazon prices varies from day to day occasionally, here are the prices that I’ve checked TODAY (25th May 2020)
Glass Nail File: £7.29
Sally Hansen Cuticle Remover: £5.48
Orange Sticks: £6.99
Jojoba Oil: £12.99
Oil Pens: £5.99
Mylee Acetone: £7.49
Mylee Lint-Free Cotton pads: £6.99
Pump bottles: £7.99
Seche Base Coat: £11
Seche Top Coat: £6.90
Seche Restore: £8.95
This bring us to a grand total of £88.06, but of course, don’t feel like you need everything to get a good enough manicure - these are things I collected through time and reach for all the time when I paint my nails.
Is this a lot? It is. It’s an initial small investment - most of these products will last you a good while. The ones that I have purchased multiple times through the year is the acetone because I am constantly trying new polishes or nail designs. If you’re not painting your nails pretty much every week like I do then you can absolutely opt for a smaller bottle of it, or use the large bottle for longer (it will still evaporate slowly).
If you spend around £20 per manicure (is that the market price these days?0 then the ROI would be your 5th at home mani, whilst staying safe. If you spend less then you’ll have to do this more often. If you just don’t like going outside to get your nails done like I do, this is pretty much it to keep your nails in good shape.
I have to stress that all these are not for a one-off. From the year of doing nails, these are the tools I think have been core to caring for my nails. Naturally you do not need to buy all of them if you actually feel like some of them are optional. Some items like the pump bottle and oil pens I included because I felt that it made my life easier. I’m not spilling oil or acetone everywhere and I don’t have to carry around an entire bottle of jojoba oil with me, or risk spilling the entire bottle of acetone (trust me, this has happened before).
Let me know your thoughts - which ones would you consider getting and which ones aren’t actually that relatable to you?
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