Top 10 Nail Care Items

Hello Everyone! Today on the M.M.M blog, I kind of have an update for my nail care routine that I want to share with all of you. Last year I did two post called nail care and hand and cuticle care, I wanted to update all of you on that by doing a top 10 post. Some of the items that I have used in my last post have changed and their are some that have not, I just thought this would be a fun way to update all of you. 

Here are my top ten (with 2 extras) favorite nail care items, Let's start off with Moisturizers:

Yes to Carrots Super Rich Body Butter $9.99 at Target  

Yes to Coconut Hand & Cuticle cream $5.99 at Target    

1. Yes to Carrots Body Butter. This is a body butter I have been using for years and have gone through many jars of this. This is a super thick body lotion that I like to us on my hands. It keeps your hands moisturized for a long time, it is a little bit greasy but absorbs in no time. It is a natural lotion with a natural smell.

Another lotion that I have been using lately is another product from the Yes to line (in case you didn't notice, I love the Yes to line), The Yes to Coconut hand & cuticle cream. I actually ran out of my favorite lotion the Yes to Carrots Body Butter, so I thought I would give this a try. So far I do like this lotion, it is also a little bit greasy by absorbs well. It does smell like coconut, but not the fake smelling coconut, this smell like a real or natural coconut.

     Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream $5.99 

2. Is another item to keep your cuticles moisturized, that is the Burt's Bees Lemon Butter Cuticle Cream. I rub this cuticle cream around my fingers and on the cuticles ever night, a long with my favorite lotion.  This is a nice cuticle cream that keeps your cuticles soft and moisturized and smells just like lemon.

     Julep Mighty nail & cuticle serum $28.00 on Julep.com or $22.00 at Sephora.

3. This cuticle and nail serum is not a must, but I do still really like this. My fingers have the problem of on the sides being dry and then peeling. Since I got this in a Julep mystery box, this serum has helped the dry parts on the sides of my fingers, not 100 percent, but they are much better I just every so often will still get dry parts. The only thing about this product is the price, it costs a lot for the amount of product that you get.

Now on to other nail care items.

      Beauty Secrets Nail Polish Remover in a jar 

from Sally Beauty $4.99 or $1.99 with Sally card.

Up & Up Acetone nail polish remover $0.97 at Target.

4. The Beauty secrets nail polish remover I actually got because I forgot to get my old favorite remover from Meijer. I then stopped by Sally's to get something else and then remembered that I need some remover. Let's just say I am glad I forgot that remover at Meijer, This remover works so much better, it actually will remove all of your polish when you dip your finger in the sponge.    

The Up & Up Acetone polish remover I use to clean my nail art brushes between designs and at the end. I also use this to clean up around my nails when I get polish on the sides of my fingers. This remover is also good for removing stubborn glitter. Do to this remover being acetone based it is very drying and I only use this for those purposes.   

 Way to many nail clippers!

5. Is nail clippers, I cut and file my nails once a month, I first use the big nail cutters and then the regular sized one to cut the sides of the nails. The third and fourth nail cutters in the photo I use if I get the dry peeling skin on the side of my fingers. You really do not need all of these nail clippers, just one or two would be fine. I really don't know why I use so many. 

 Sally Hansen crystal nail file $8.99 at Ulta 

 Kiss four way nail shaper $2.00  

Trim buffing block, $1.87

four sides; 1.even out, 2.smooth nail, 3. buff nail, 4. shine nail

6. Once again I do use a lot of different files when filing my nails, which you don't really need, I just found that using all of these works for me. I first start off with a crystal file which is suppose to be less harsh on your nails. Then I use the Kiss nail shaper the light blue side, then the light or the darker pink (not both), I never use the dark blue side it is a little to harsh. Then filing I use the buffing block on my finger tips, this I think is actually suppose to be used your nail surface. I just use the even out, and smooth part, and some times the buff side. 

Now time for cuticle clean up.

   Sally Hansen Instant cuticle remover $4.99

7. The Sally Hansen cuticle remover, I use once a month usually after I cut and file my nails.

This product is nice for helping to remove your cuticles and making your nails look nice.

    360 beauty metal cuticle pusher from CVS $3.99

8. The metal cuticle pusher I use along with the cuticle remover. Their are many cuticle pushers from wooden ones or the orange sticks, plastic or rubber pushers, and metal ones. I do own all of them, but I found that the small metal one works the best for me.

The Base and top coats.

          Nicole by OPI 3 in 1 base, top and strengthener $7.00

9. For the longest time I never used a base coat, then I decided it would be a good idea to start. I had a lot of trouble finding one I liked, then I found this one. This is a three in one, I only use it as a base coat, I have not noticed any strengthening from this product. One thing I noticed with this base coat is with cream polishes they start to crack after a few days. So maybe after this base coat is done I will try the OPI natural nails base coat.

Revlon Extra life no chip top coat $5.00

10. The Revlon Extra life no chip top coat has been by go to top coat for the longest time, after the Sally Hansen no chip acrylic top coat stop working as well, I tried this one and have liked it and have been using it since. 

Can't believe I almost forgot this one for moisturizers!

 Yes to Coconut Polishing Body scrub $7.99 at target 

11. The Yes to Coconut body scrub is a great way to keep your hands nice and soft. I use this after removing my nail polish or whenever I feel that I need something a little extra.

 Elf concealer brush $1.00

12. The Elf concealer brush I just recently bought and started to use to clean up the polish that gets on the sides of my fingers and on the cuticles. This brush is amazing for clean up, it makes it easy to really get into the sides of your fingers and to make it look like your are almost perfect a painting your nails. I use this brush with the Up &Up acetone remover. 

Hope all of your enjoyed this list and also found it helpful in your nail care routine!

See you next time for more nail fun!                

Let's Try Water Marbling!

Hello everyone! Many of you may have seen a cool looking design that is done on your nails that is created with water, this is called water marbling. You may wonder how this is done, or like me, you want to try this but it looks difficult or just way to messy. 

After a long time of wanting to try water marbling and having someone ask how is that done, I finally decided to give it a try. I will warn you, I did run into some problems myself, but I was able to create some kind of marble effect, so I can still do a tutorial.  

 First attempt at Water marbling, turned out okay for my first try?

Here are the nail polishes and tools needed for this water marble design:

Base Coat and top coat - Nicole OPI-  3in1- base, top, & strengthener and Revlon Extra Life No Chip top coat.

Nail polishes used- Revlon Gel envy- Sure thing, Sally Hansen- Hard as Nails - No hard feelings, and Milani- Quick Teal.

Tools used- Let two cups of water set over night or for a few hours to be room temp, tape, and toothpicks.

For clean up- a Q-tip with a precision tip, and acetone nail polish remover.

As for rating, as stated above I feel that I can't give a fair rating due to the fact that I ran into some issues myself. Water marbling I found requires a lot of trial and error! 


Let's give this water marbling a try! 

1. Like with any nail design or just painting your nails, apply a base coat. 

2. Paint all of your nails white. This helps the colors stick to your nails and to be opaque. 

3. Things are going to get messy! To help things be a little less messy, take two small pieces of tape, put that on both sides of the nail, then put a large piece around the nail. Their is also a thing called liquid latex (which I don't have) that can be painted around the fingers, then simply peeled off for easy clean up.

If you want to know more about liquid latex Elleandish (Janelle) has a good review on YouTube about it. 

4. Take your cup of clean room temp. water, or water that is not too hot or too cold. Some people have said to use filtered water and some say tap water is fine. I used room temp. tap water. I also strongly suggest having two cups of water, one for your right hand and another for your left. I only had one and when I went to do my left hand the water was too murky and was impossible to work with. 

*Make sure to have your polishes, toothpicks, and everything close by. You need to move quickly for this and it is best to have everything close.  

5. Uncap both of your nail polishes and leave them uncapped for this step, this helps to create the bulls-eye quickly. Take the first polish that you want to use and make sure the brush has a lot of polish on it that way it will drip into the water. With a fully loaded brush, place it close to the water and let the polish dip into the water, then wait for it to spread. Do this for the next color as well. Repeat this step as many times as you would like, to create a bulls-eye.

I used two colors a purple and teal cream polish, you can use more if you would like. Also not all nail polishes will work for water marbling, you really just have to test them out. I found that cream polish that will drip well worked the best. 

6. Once you have the bulls-eye that you want. Take a toothpick dragging from the center outward works best to make a design. For a beginner like us, you don't have to make a intricate design, you can just drag your tooth pick and make a simple design that doesn't need to be perfect. 

7. Now find a part of the design that you like then dip your finger in. You are actually suppose to dip your finger in at an angle, which I did not do. As you can see I dipped it straight in. Then take your toothpick and remove the excess polish around your finger.

8. Then remove your finger. As you can see even though I didn't do it right is still tuned out.

For each finger repeat steps 5- 8. You can dip them one at a time or dip up to three fingers at a time.

 Here is the final results of the water marble done on my left hand.

As always once your design has dried apply a top coat. As you can see my first attempt turned out okay on my right hand. A few fingers I had to re-dip because it didn't tun out or was not opaque enough.

 The sadness that is my right hand.

For my right hand this was a whole another story, as I ran into so many problems! As you can see, only three fingers somewhat turned out. I don't know what happened with the middle finger, then the ring and pinky finger and at that point with all of my frustration, I just painted a solid color.

Here are some of the problems I ran into (mainly with my right hand.)

- The first cup of water got to murky and would not work at all.

 - I didn't have an extra cup of room temp water, then I had to wait for another cup to hopefully get at room temp. This still was not working well.

 - Sometimes the polish just would not spread.

In conclusion, the actual water marbling steps are simple, the part that is difficult is the process, getting the right polish to spread, the right room temp water, and for the design to come out. With a lot of practice, trial and error water marbling can be done. Also even though I had issues with water marbling I will give this another try!

Hope this tutorial about water marbling was somewhat helpful, even though I ran into some issues myself. Like anything it is a learning process and we can all learn together.

Here is a video from Sara Beauty Corner, she gives a great video for beginners on how to water marble, just in case you need some extra help!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3A5onIW9j3Y 

 

See you next time for my next nail tutorial!             

Nail Care

Hello everyone! Welcome to my second post for today on the subject of nail care! As stated in my 1st post about nail and cuticle care, their are more to nails than just painting them, you also need to take care of them as well.  

Once again I just want to start off my saying this is just the routine that I do to take care of my nails. I am not necessarily saying it is the right or wrong way.

Nail Polish Removers:

I'll first start off with one of the nail polish removers I like to use, the Sally Hansen Kwik Off polish remover. This polish remover has a sponge on the inside with 3 holes in it. 
I like this nail polish remover because it is a faster way to remove your polish, but this remover doesn't always remove all your polish. Sometimes if their is still polish left behind, I'll just take a cotton ball and remove the rest. The down side to polish particular remover is that in a short amount of time the remover inside get's dirty kind of fast. I tend to go through a lot of these, and every few months I have to buy a new one. 
 - Sally Hansen Kwik Off polish remover cost $2.19.

The 2nd polish remover I use if the Sally Hansen Kwik Off polish remover doesn't take off all my polish is the Up & Up dispenser pump. Right now I have a Meijer brand remover in this bottle that seems to work out. (I also did a review on this magnificent finds- dispenser pump) 

The last polish remover I use is the Up & Up acetone polish remover. I use this for removing stubborn glitter polish, and for clean up around my nails (this remover seems to remove the polish around my fingers better and quicker.) I don't like to use this that often due to the fact that it can leave my fingers feeling very dry.  

 - Up & Up acetone polish remover cost just $0.97 (very cheap!)

This is a glass jar I use to put the Up &Up acetone remover in to clean my nail art brushes while doing my nail art. At first I made the mistake of using a plastic jar, which melted due to the acetone. I got this small glass jar at Hobby lobby for I think around a $1. 

For nail polish thinner I use Beauty Secrets nail polish thinner. At first, I heard you can just put polish remover in your polish that has gotten thick, but I later found out that is a bad idea. That would mess up your polish in time. So I found this a Sally Beauty and thought I would give it a try. It seemed to work out okay, though at times it still seems like my polish is a little thick even after putting a few drops in.

 - Beauty Secrets nail polish thinner cost $4.29 at Sally Beauty stores.

For removing extra polish on my nails that the Kwik Off remover 

doesn't remove, I just use basic UP & Up cotton balls (I love Target!) 

For cleaning up the sides of my nails and cuticles I use Q-tips precision tips cotton swabs. (trust me these are needed, I tend to be a little messy when painting my nails and I get polish on the side of my fingers.) 

 Here's a photo of the precision tip Q-tip, this is great for getting polish that gets on the side of your finger and on the cuticles.   

 - Q-tips precision tips cotton swabs cost $2.99 at Rite Aid.

Nail filing and clipping:

The next items I use is for when I cut and file my nails. This kit is the Ms. Manicure set I bought years ago at Walmart (so I don't remember how much this was, and if they still even sell this anymore). I have also added a lot of different ideas to this, not all of the stuff shown was included in this. I also don't always use all of the items in this kit. 

When it comes to cutting and filing my nails, I do this once a month. I am not too sure if I really cut and file them right because every month when my nails start to grow out they start to feel very sharp. So I wont be going over how I cut and file my nails, just the tools I use. 

The first items I use when cutting my nails is that very large Trim nail clipper, I bought this in the hopes that when I cut my nails it would cut a little smoother. I also, at times,  just use a normal size nail clippers (the 2nd one in the photo). The 3rd and 4th nail clippers I use to cut hang nails or loose skin on the side of my fingers (gross!) For some reason those two are better for cutting hang nails (yes I use baby nail clippers, to get on the sides of my nails.) 

Next I file my nails. I first start off with the Sally Hansen La Cross Crystal nail file as this is supposed to be better for filing your nails by preventing cracking and breaking. Next I use the Kiss 4 way nail shaper (it has different grains, Medium 600- dark blue, Medium fine 400- light blue, Fine 240- light pink and Extra Fine 180- dark pink.) I usually just use the light blue and one or both of the pink sides. Then sometimes I use the purple Ms. Manicure metal file on the edges of my nails near the side of my fingers.

 - The Kiss 4 way nail shaper cost I think around $2.00.

 - The Sally Hansen La Cross Crystal nail file cost $8.99 at Ulta.

 Here is the other side of the Kiss 4 way nail shaper.

The next and final file I use is the Trim buffing block this has 4 sides to it to even out, smoothing, buffing, and shining. I usually just use the even out and smooth sides. Yes I do use a lot of nails flies when I file my nails, I really have no reason other than some of them seem to smooth in my nails better. But I know I really could lessen the amount of files I use. 

- The Trim buffing block cost $1.87 at Target and Meijer. 

 After I put on the Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle remover, I use ether a orange stick or this weird looking cuticle push shown in the photo above. This cuticle pusher is Trim's cuticle pusher and it also came with a small pink nail file as well. 

- The Trim cuticle pusher with buffer cost $4.48.

Last item in this kit that I use is this purple brush and sometimes this green baby looking brush to clean out dirt or anything that gets under my nails. 

Extra nail care items:

For one of my extra nail care items I wanted to include the Revlon extra life no chip top coat. I have tried out many different topcoats and have only really like 2 that I have tried out. When I first started to grow my nails out I used Sally Hansen No Chip Acyclic top coat. it seem to work very well for many years then I am not sure what happen, if that changed what was it the top coat or what happened. So I then decided to give this top coat a try and loved it ever since. 

Also included in my many steps in my nail and hand care routine is touch ups. Due to where I work at I get a lot of tip wear (probably more then others), which means I touch them up every other day to everyday (depending on how much my nail polish has chipped). I sometimes just touch up the tips with top coat and other times with both polish and top coat. Uselessly on a good wear week my nail polish last about a week.      

 - Revlon extra life no chip top coat cost around $5.00

Hope everyone enjoyed these 2 post about hand and cuticle care, and nail care. Maybe even give these products a try yourself. See you next time for more Magnificent nail art!