My top 10 Favorite Must Have Items

Hello all. I hope everyone is having a lovely day!

Today I'm going to review some of my favorite products.  We all have a special list of special nail products that we can't seem to live without. Please keep in mind that the items listed here are in my experience and opinion only. I'm not affiliated with any of these companies.  Each person has a specific body chemistry and each of us will have different reactions to different products.  It's best to test all your options and eventually your favorites will stand above the rest, here are mine...

(remember to click pictures if you would like to see it closer up)

1. Mar-v-cide for disinfecting.  Okay I admit I'm a germaphobe BIG TIME!! Kinda of like Howie Mandel but sometime even worse lol :) This is probably one of the main reasons I stop going to have professional manicures to begin with, and why I now do this all myself.  My Last manicure the manicurist cut me (clipping my cuticles) and I was deathly afraid I would get an infection and lose my finger :p Yup, it was going to get green and fugly and just fall off - I was sure of it hahaha! I picked up both these items at Sally's Beauty Supply.  I soak all my tools up to 25 minutes prior to using them and I do soak them after using them as well.  I even soak my glass nail file (which you will see  later on in this post).

2. My Cuticle removers.  One thing I have learned along this journey of doing my own nails is that cutting your cuticles is not the greatest of all things.  It does provide a quick fix, and I think this is why Salons practice it so much.  You come in with frazzled cuticles and leave looking perfect.  What you don't realize is the more you cut, the tougher and more the cuticle grows, so overall it's not a good fix.  I only use cuticle removers, and I get much better results then when cuticle trimming was doing for me.  Most important, NO MORE CUTS! Now there is less of a chance for the fugly green finger incident I so badly fear :) My favs are CND clear Cuticle Remover and my NEW fav is CUTIQUE from Orly. This works great for during the middle of a mani when you can't push back as much.  The cuticle just melts away and I'm loving it!

3. My Cuticle Pusher.  Without this my cuticles would look frazzled and crazy.  I picked this little beauty up at transdesign.com and it was only $2.50 USD.  I was using an older one that came in one of those cheapy all in one tool kits and the difference is unreal.  I would have thrown my old one out long ago if I knew what a difference this one would make! Cuticles watch out, this baby packs a serious punch and knocks cuticles right out.  The pointed edge is great for getting the yuckies that collect under the nail.

4. Nail Treatments - Spinach for the nails.  Here are the two products that I rotate between.  Barielle Nail Rebuilding Protein and Barielle Growth Activator for Natural Nails.  I like to always have a treatment of some type under my basecoat and this help keep my nails strong and free of peelies.  Peelies have to be my worst problem and I continue to experiment with new treatments, but for now these are the winners!

5. Basecoats.  I have tried many of these including Sally Nail Quencher that seems to be a favorite among many.  Unfortunately the NQ discolored my nails and dried them out very badly.  I know that seems odd but each of us has a different body chemistry and every product reacts differently on different people.  Here are my favorite ones so far....

6. Top Coats. I am also in experimental stages with this but here are my winners for this category.  This is the best combination I have found so far.  I do not get shrinkage (when polish pulls away from the free edges and shrinks so to speak).  I put on one layer of Sally Hansen Mega Shine and Top it with my Poshe.  Sometimes I leave out the Poshe and just use the Megashine and get great results.   

7. A Good Glass file! This is really important.  A Glass/Crystal file should be your new best friend.  I find that I get the least amount of Splits and problems when I use this versus your traditional emery board or metal file. I also only file in one direction, and so far so good. 

8, 9 and 10. Cuticle Cream: Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter, Mango Mend and CND SolarBalm.  These are all my favorites, I can't decide on just one lol.  To me they all work equally well for my skin. I love rubbing these on my nails and cuticles throughout the day.  I actual alternate between them all.  It's like shampoo for me.  Once you use a product over and over it stops working, and it's good to switch off to something else and then go back.  The products work better this way.  

11. (I went over 10 - ooops lol) Is Polish Thinner.  I use these often, more often then most I'm sure. I use the Poshe formula to thin my Poshe Topcoat when it starts to get thick.  I also thin most of my nail polishes that I use. For whatever reason I tend to like my polish formulas thin.  I rather thin and do more coats then globby and thick single coats. Also, thinner can save an old thick nail polish.

Well that's it.  Phew - a lot huh? lol.  Well these are my Must haves.  If you have must haves that I haven't list please add them down in the comments section.  I will try them out as well and let you know what I think. 

Thanks for visiting