Base Coats - Part Two

Welcome back to my mini series of nail care. Part One - Cuticle Care can be found HERE. Tonight we are moving on to Part Two of the series...

BASE COATS 

I would like to mention before I get started, that base coats vary greatly from person to person. Some base coats can work wonders for certain people and others hate that same base coat. Each individual has different body chemistry so I can't promise what works wonderful for me will do the same for you. I had to go through a lot of different brands of base coats before I found the ones that worked best for me.

MY FAVORITE GO TO BASE COAT COMBINATIONS: 

I wear a ton of glitter polishes, so having a decent base coat is very important to me. My favorite and top choice is Barrielle Camouflage. This bottle is super old and it now comes in the newer style bottle. It can be purchased at Transdesign in the newer bottle style. This works wonders for me. It goes on very thin and provides a nice sticky type base for me.  It helps to prevent staining as well. I have several polishes that have permanently stained my nails, which is no fun. This works great for anti staining.

I also like Orly Nail Armor, which can be purchased at Sally's Beauty Supply.
This is much thicker, but also works wonderful.  What I love about using this as a base is that it has a Ridgefiller built right in.  I have had really good results using this as a base coat.

Finally, is Barrielle Hydrating Ridge Filler. This can also be found on Transdesign as well. This is a nice hydrating base coat. I do get dry brittle nails some times, and this helps prevent that. This is much thinner then Nail Armour.

I also like to venture out...

When I want a less thick base coat for a simple solid creme polish, non glitter polish, I use Essie Feed Me. I really do like this one. You can purchase this is Walgreens and other places that carry Essie.  I usually use the next four bases for non glitter polishes

Essie Sensitivity Base Coat.  This is a mini bottle size. Another favorite here.

Poshe treatment base coat. I use this if my nails start to peel or show signs of breaking. This saves a step if you are wanting to treat your nails as well as apply a base coat.

Finally, Posh antimicrobial Base Coat.This prevents fungus on the nail. now granted I never got a fungus from a manicure...but anything that prevents fungus works in my germaphobe world lol.

I have tried many other base coats as well, but so far I stick with these. Variety is important to me. In no means do you have to own all these base coats in order to get a good manicure. Some people like to just use one kind for everything. I have not had luck that way. I do suggest you do use some sort of base coat. A lot of people skip this step but it really does help protect your nails. Especially if you are changing polish often like myself.

Here are some examples of combinations...

A glitter: Barrielle Camo, Nail Armour or Barielle Hydrating Ridge Filler.

A smooth creme: Essie Feed Me, Essie Sensitivity Base coat, Poshe Anticmicrobial

When nails feel week and and start to break and peel: Poshe Treatment base coat, Feed Me

 One of the only bases I plan to add in the future is an aqua base. This is supposedly excellent for all hologrphic polishes. I am not sure which brand I will go with yet on this. Once I decide, I will edit this post to include it.

Thanks for reading guys and stay tuned for Part Three on Top Coats, coming soon!