Nail Care Collection & Review [January 2013]

These are the products that I currently have in my stash, though some items do change rather regularly.

Nail polish remover isn't something I'm overly fussed about, but I have been rather loyal to Face of Australia throughout the last year or so. Not only is it often the cheapest I can find in Priceline (they're often on sale for under AU$2!), but it works decently. I don't buy the orange one (non-acetone), but I interchange the green and pink ones.

L-R: Deb. Lippmann Fast Girls, Deb. Lippmann Rehydrating, OPI Nail Envy, Revlon Colorstay, China Glaze Strong Adhesion 

L-R: Essie's Trillionails, Millionails, First Base, Fill the Gap, 3-Way Glaze

Base coats have been an important step in my polish routine for years, which is why I've built up quite the stash. I have dry and brittle nails so I tend to stick with treatment base coats over regular base coats. My favourites are Essie's Millionails, OPI's Nail Envy and Deborah Lippmann's Rehydrating base coat. For my toes I use Fill the Gap! The rest I really don't use anymore.

 I didn't like these three top coats

These four were my favourites. Essie's Good to Go was my absolute favourite this year, with Revlon's Colorstay and Deborah Lippmann's Addicted to Speed coming in a close second. OPI's Rapidry was nice, but not one I reached for often.

My go-to cuticle removers last year were Sally Hansen's Problem Cuticle Remover, and more recently, Deborah Lippmann's Cuticle Remover. I also have Deborah Lippmann's 2 second primer and Sally Hansen's nail growth miracle in my stash but I rarely used them.

As far as cuticle oils went, Deborah Lippmann's Cuticle Oil was my favourite. I don't think Essie's does all that much, but Myer had 'spend $30 and get a free cuticle oil' so often last year that I have about four bottles sitting around getting dusty!

For cuticle moisturisers, I loved all but the Sally Hansen Cuticle Massage Cream. I use Lemony Flutter at night (this is my third tub of the stuff) and I use the other two during the day or just after I've painted my nails.

Lastly I come to hand moisturisers. These are just the ones I have going at the moment, but I'm constantly picking up new brands looking for the 'Holy Grail' hand moisturiser. Out of these four, Sukin and Yes to Carrots have the best hand creams for me. Sukin's is thinner and absorbs quicker, but Yes to Carrots is thicker and more nourishing which I tend to use in the PM.


Well that's my 2 cents on nail care, but if you have a favourite that I haven't mentioned, please list it in the comments as I'm always on the lookout for better products! No Sally Hansen top coat recommendations though! I've tried all of the ones I can get from Priceline and none of them work for me :(