Nail and Hand Care

Some lucky people out there can get away with lots of moisturising and pushing back their cuticles in the shower, but for some us looking after our hands and nails takes a lot more work! I'm one of those unlucky ones so I thought I would share what helps me in case any of you are looking for a few tips. 

Base Coat
Firstly, always use a base coat before painting your nails, not using one can weaken your nails and the polish will most likely stain your nails. I change my base coat when it runs low to see what works best, right now I'm using Essie's All In One Base which is good, I used Essie's Nourish Me before that which was just as good. Before that it was Barry M's three in one which was good to start with but quite quickly turned goopy and didn't work as well anymore. That's just my experience though!

Moisturise
Generally I use Soap and Glory's Hand Food just because I already had it and turns out it works quite well :p I know most people use Burt's Bees but I really don't like it, it hurts my hands for some reason! When I'm being good I use Sally Hansen's Vitamin E Nail and Cuticle Oil, I really should use it more often though!  

Nail Block
What works best for me is the Body Shop's four way nail block. It stops your nails peeling and really strengthens them. I can't recommend it enough! 

Cuticle Remover
After the second or third step of the nail block (I like to save shining for last), I use Sally Hansen's Instant Cuticle Remover and follow the instructions on that. I will admit that I do cut my cuticles, but only when there is a big piece of it hanging off that won't come off with the remover. I used to use them to properly cut off my cuticles and have ended up with this too many times:





So I don't do that anymore and would advise not to use them except for bigger pieces that won't come off with the cuticle remover. They might look a bit messy the first few times but by the next day they tend to be tidy again.

Oil and Salt
Next is the brilliant Accio Lacquer's oil and salt tip, except I use baby oil and table salt (cos I had them both lying around and couldn't wait long enough to buy the same as in her blog). You put them both in a bowl/pot and leave each hand in for five minutes, then take a scoop and rub your hands with it. It is just lovely and your hands will feel yabba dabba delightful. I couldn't stop feeling them up for hours the first time I did this, this was almost me:




After I've done that I'll use the fourth step of the nail buffer if I haven't already and tada, my hands look and feel gorgeous!




Here are my lovely shiny nails with no polish at all and a Christmasy pj background:




Hope that has been of some help!



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