If you paint your own nails at home- not gels or acrylics

[ILoveMaxiBondi]

Just normal nail polish. What do you use and how long does it last? I do a lot of cleaning with hands constantly in and out of water/cleaning products etc but I have finally gotten my nails to a nice length and shape and have been wearing nail varnish over Christmas. My New Years resolution is to look after them and wear gloves everytime im cleaning.

So what do you use and include pictures if you like!

I have such horrible thin nails that if there is any length at all they end up bending and I get a crack mark across the varnish.

And if I do them too late (I agree do them after you've anything to do where you might smudge them) I end up getting sheet marks as "texture"!

OPI and CND vinylux
And I put on some nail wraps yesterday and they look amazing
Lady in Boots complimented my nails, this never happens
No idea of how to remove them

Rimmel usually, use base coat and topcoat too, then another topcoat daily. Take it off after about 5 days, day off then start again. I do it to protect them really as they are so weak and easily break. Having them polished means I take more care with them. Of all the things to spend money on, paying someone to paint my nails for me would be at the very bottom of the list!

I have found my people!

I like the boots essential base coat , rimmel 60 seconds polish and Sally Hansen insta-dry top coat.

I do simple nail art like a gradient with a make up sponge or a feature nail with a funky tip.

Oh and I normally redo every 3-5 days.

I used to do the ‘sticky sandwich’ technique - layer a sticky base coat like Orly Bonder or CND Stickey, then colour, base coat, colour, top coat. It lasted well but it was a faff. I now have a lamp for gels and use my normal polish with a Sensationail ‘converter’ topcoat, cured under the lamp. It is quicker and cures totally hard.

I use OPI, Nails Inc and Morgan Taylor mainly, I tend not to use a base coat as my nails are always painted so I don't care that they are yellowish and then finish with Sally Hansen Insta-dri and I can get 10 - 12 days usually. Having said that I am currently wearing Dior Nail Glow as it makes my natural nails look lovely and pink and healthy.

Cnd vinylux is amazing, the polishes are great and the top coat makes any polish last much longer. Works better than seche vite (dries as fast and as shiny but lasts much longer) ime.

If you do gel with a lamp or vinylux at home, is it easy to remove?

Vinylux is exactly the same as nail polish, no curing, no lamp, no special remover etc.

Nails Inc Kensington top coat is the best. I much prefer it to Seche Vite which can cause polish shrinking.

Maybelline do a long lasting polish. Might be called Superstay or 7 days. They are not the little bottles they do, they are the bigger ones. The colour range is limited though. These last a long time on me.

Surprisingly Primark ones, one pound each, are long lasting.

OPI, Butter London, Zoya, China Glaze are all good too.

Reading with interest - I have tried lots of varnishes and currently using OPI at nearly £15 a bottle. My varnish lasts an average of 6 hours before chips start to appear. After 1 day it already looks tatty. No idea what I'm doing wrong!

Just popping onto say, if anyone has damaged nails from having gels/acrylics, then Nailtiques 2 nail repair stuff is fab.
My nails were really sore, peeling and as thin as paper after having acrylics and gels for years and applying this every-other day has really transformed them.
I'd forgotten about seche vite and have just re ordered. Determined not to go back down the gel route again.

I have a whole collection of OPI and use the OPI base coat and top coat

I also have a couple of Poundland ones that a good

I tried Jamberry nail varnishes, very disappointed with that.

Prometheus are you using a proper base coat and top coat?

I love the Jessica/Yessica top coats

@GreyHare please could I ask you what colour nail varnish you're wearing in your photo?

I usually wear dark red or purple but I need a more subtle nude and unpainted my nails look unloved.

Thank you!

Always use a top coat.

I like Rimmel polishes the best, the 60 second ones are good. I always use Rimmel base coat, a polish of choice and then use the Essie Speed Setter top coat. Its changed the game for me as they are dry and good to go after 5 mins (it says 1 minute on the pack but I like to give them a few minutes before I start to properly use my hands just incase!) I tend to get 5 days out of them at least.

@GreyHare - doh! Sorry I just reread your post and the details are there. Apologies apologies apologies... Your nails look fab.

I used to get mine done every fortnight until i knocked it on the head because my nails has become truly fucked. Flaking into layers and paper thin and bendy. My nail lady used to convince me it was because I wasn’t using enough of the x,y,z she was selling me but eventually it twigged that they’re just no good for my nails.
I paint them myself now but I’m yet to find a combination that doesn’t mean I’m sat for a minimum of about 3 hours waiting patiently for coats to dry before going to bed! I don’t often have a ‘spare’ 3 hours so I don’t bother often.

I’m yet to find a combination that doesn’t mean I’m sat for a minimum of about 3 hours waiting patiently for coats to dry before going to bed!

Mine were the same as yours after gels, after only a couple of applications too, so I now paint them myself.

It takes 10 minutes!

Base, which dries almost immediately (Orly bonder), straight onto thin coat of polish, straight onto second thin coat of polish (Essie and Nails Inc both seem to 'self level' so even if they go on a bit bumpy, by the time you come to do the next coat they are smooth), maybe wait 30-60 seconds for Seche Vite (if varnish is still a bit wet SV can drag over it a bit as it's so gloopy), wait 60 seconds, then use drying drops (Bourgois are fine but others are available and good too). Then I read in bed for ten minutes and they are dry enough to go to sleep.
I never get sheet marks now. I did them last night this way, they look fine today.

Seems like the SV top coat is what I need.
I end up with sheet creases when I wake up and generally use an Essie or nails inc colour.

The SV I ordered is due to arrive 18-30th January so not fast but cheap. Free shipping for California so really don't see how they make a profit. I'll let you know how I get on with it.

I prefer Sally Hansen Insta-dri top coat to Seche Vite and I find SV shrinks and wrinkles the polish, stinks to high heaven and costs a fortune. 2 coats of colour followed by SH top coat and they are touch dry within minutes.