My Nail Care Routine

Hello everyone!

I've been asked a couple times on Instagram about my nail care routine. I figured I would write a step by step process on what I do to keep my nails looking healthy. Like always I will provide direct links to everything that I have purchased online.

Disclaimer: This is what works best for me. What works best for me may not work best for you.

Step One: 

I begin by removing my nail polish with Beauty Secrets Nourishing Acetone (pink bottle). I purchase this bottle from Sally's Beauty Supply store for about $2-3 dollars. This has been probably the only acetone that does not dry out my nails! It also smells delicious.

Step Two:

After I remove my nail polish I begin to shape my nails with any Nail File. My all time favorite nail files are purchased though Ulta and they come in a pack of 3! I normally wait until they go out of season and they discount them for less than a dollar. I think any nail file will work. I just prefer these because they feel soft to me. 

Step Three:

Once I'm done filing away I buff out my nails in order to get rid of all the ridges. I purchased a nail polish that left my nails horribly stained! The nail polish is now discontinued so no need to mention it. A long time ago I purchased a kit from a kiosk at the mall called OnsenSecret. The kit comes with an amazing Cuticle Conditioner and a nail buff that I love! I purchased my kit for 20 dollars. The kit online is much more expensive, if you see them at your mall make sure to try it out! I really like this kit. 

 This is what my nails look like once I'm done with them. As you can see, my hands are very dry. 

Step Four:

Time for a mani bath! I purchased these mani bombs from Forever Polished. Basically what they do is hydrate your fingers (yay!)

I follow these instructions: (taken from their website) 

To use: You'll need a medium size bowl or a foot soaker. Warm water filled to the amount you would like. If the water is to cold some butter may not melt. Drop 1 Mani Bomb in and watch it fizz. You can place hands in while it is fizzing or wait. The oils and salts will release and butter will melt. (Some have Jojoba Beads, they will float in the water and are used for a rub to exfoliate. Just rub hands or feet & cuticles together in the water.) Let  soak for 10-15 mins.  Pat hands dry when done. Avoid washing for 30 mins for best results. I recommend only using about once a week. Over soaking can damage nails.  This is now a great time to push back your cuticles and to rub some butter or oil on them! 

Here is the one I used for this mani: Black Raspberry Vanilla. Yummy!

Step Five:

Once I'm done with allllll of those other steps, I apply some cuticle conditioner. This comes with the kit i have mentioned before. 

You don't have to purchase this I just really like it and it wasn't very expensive when I bought mine. 

Ok, so I apply the cuticle conditioner all over my cuticles and the sides of my nails. By now my cuticles should be ready to be pushed and cleaned.

Step Six:

These are the two items I used to push my cuticles and clean out all that nasty gunk out of my nails. The Cuticle Conditioner works to take out off that extra nastiness I may have missed when taking off my nail polish. 

I used the Revlon Expert Nail Groomer (left) to help clean out the nasty gunk out of my nails.

I use the Hangnails Remover (Right) to take off any excess cuticle I may have or any hangnails. I normally get one or two hangnails because my fingers and hands tend to get extremely dry. 

Step Seven:

(Congrats if you've made it this far) These next two products are "this OR that" products. You don't need both but sometimes I prefer one over the other simply because they are two different textures and sometimes my cuticles aren't too dry. 

This cuticle oil has worked wonders on my nails. Cuticle oils have been very popular lately and practically every indie shop sells them. Stardust Polish Cuticle Oil has saved my finger tips and cuticles so many times.

I leave this on for about 10 minutes while I massage my cuticles. Once i'm done I wash my hands and put some hand lotion. 

OR!

I apply Lush Cuticle Butter on my cuticles and I massage my cuticles. I also wait about 10 minutes then lather it all over my hands then wash my hands once i'm done. This one is a bit more expensive but it has lasted me almost a whole year! 

This is what my nails look like after being washed. 

For this picture I hadn't applied my base coat yet but my favorite so far has been 

Cirque Colors HoldFast

So that's it! That's my nail care routine. Hope it was helpful. I like to google and watch youtube videos about nail care routine so somethings I have learned through other people and some I have tried on my own. 

Until next time,

Karen (Minipolishh)

New Brand Monday- EchoesPolish

 Hello everyone!

Welcome to a different type of blog post. 'New Brand Monday' where I talk about a new brand I recently discovered. There are A LOT of indie brands out there that I probably never heard of and they probably make AMAZING polishes. I hope by you reading this blog post you get the courage to try a new indie brand.

Today I will be talking about Echoes Polish. These polishes were sent to me for swatching purposes and I figured they would be great to review. Before I was contacted by EchoesPolish I had no clue who they were and what the quality of their polishes were like.

About EchoesPolish:

• It is run by two sisters (Kristyn & Shannon) 
• They are from Canada
• International shipping is available! yay!!
• They make a huge variety of polishes (thermals, holos, jellies, flakies, and many more)
• They are 5free, vegan friendly and cruelty free 

Here are the swatches I did of these beautiful polishes. 3 coats were used and topped with HK girl topcoat. Each bottle has a wide brush which made the application a lot easier.

Deepest Depth is a black linear holographic polish with a hint of glitter. I like to think of this polish as the black version of Orly's Mirrorball. It reminded me a lot of it. Applications was very smooth.

My Own Silver Lining is a silver linear holographic polish with a hint of glitter. Make sure you wear sunglasses when you're out in the sun. 

Cara-Mellow is definitely a hard one to describe, it's on the neutral side and also contains a hint of glitter. 

Tedious Work is a gorgeous blue holographic polish. This one was my favorite from the collection, mainly because my favorite color is blue haha. 

Tender Things is a purple holographic polish. The purple is so bright, I even wore it for 3 days after I finished swatching all the other polishes. 

Reckless Love is a subtle pale pink holographic polish that look very bright under direct sunlight. 

Overall, I am very excited that I was able to swatch for such an awesome brand. I love love love holographic polishes and these have such a strong holo. If you get the chance I definitely recommend trying them out!  

Will you be trying out this brand? Which colors did you like?

What are some indie polishes that you cannot live without?

Until next time,

Karen (minipolishh) 

Short Review Friday Anchor Studs

Hello everyone!

Welcome to Short Review Friday part 2! Yay! I'm actually kinda late on posting this (almost saturday) :/ oops but I wanted to keep the tradition going! I was recently sent some awesome nail art goodies by BornPrettyStore! I have been shopping from there for quite a while now so I was very excited when they contacted me.

This week I will be reviewing these amazing Anchor Nail Studs that I recieved from BornPrettyStore. Of course, as always, I will have direct links to everything I used for this mani. You can also receive 10% off BornPrettyStore using my code 'RAK31'. 

I really loved these studs! I am NOT good at doing freehand nail art. I cannot draw. Last time I tried to write an anchor I failed. These are a super easy and fast way to make your mani look like you actually tried haha

The down fall was that they peeled off super quick. I think it might've been because it got caught in my hair then I peeled if off my nail because it was lifting. I would highly recommend a 2nd topcoat layer. 

Overall, the anchors are a great size. I had no trouble applying them on my nail and they aren't thick either! I don't think the anchors are reusable but they come in a pack of 50! 

More about the Anchor Studs:

• These are sold at BornPrettyStore.com 
• They come in a pack of 50Pcs for $3.19
• They come in gold or silver

More about the mani:

• I purchased the Chevron Vinyls from nailvinyls.com 
• The blue nail polish is from Pahlish 'Sailing the Hispaniola'  (no longer sold)
• The gold  on my pinky is Fun Lacquer 'King'

Let me know what you think about my Short Review Friday pt. 2! and also what you think about my manicure. Don't forget to use my code for 10% off your next purchase at BornPrettyStore they have a lot of awesome nail art stuff!

Until next time,

Karen (minipolishh)

Short Review Friday Shell Studs

Hello everyone!

I am back with another blog post! I was recently sent some awesome nail art goodies by BornPrettyStore! I have been shopping from there for quite a while now so I was very excited when they contacted me.

I thought I would share a short review every friday of a new product I am trying out. I personally like short reviews. When I read a review I want to know if the product is good or not. I don't want to read a million things about it. That's just my personal preference unless it's something that i'm really interested in. This week I will be reviewing these amazing Shell Nail Studs that I recieved from BornPrettyStore. Of course, as always, I will have direct links to everything I used for this mani. You can also receive 10% off BornPrettyStore using my code 'RAK31'. 

Now for the quick review. I loved them! They are not too overwhelming on the nail. I put topcoat over the shells and it did not mess up my manicure (aside from using an old topcoat...THAT messed up my mani haha). I normally don't like to purchase studs because i'm always scared of losing them. I had this mani on for 3 days before removing it and the studs were still holding strong! The stud also fits perfectly on my thin nail bed. Sometimes with studs they either stick out or don't lay flat on my nails but these did! These shells also add a little more to your mani without having to put a lot of effort.

More info on the studs:

• These Shell Nail Studs come in a pack of 10. One for each nail if that's what you like. 
• They cost $2.28 USD for a pack of 10 studs (BornPrettyStore has free shipping worldwide!)
• You have the option between Gold or Silver 

After removing them off my nail I was a bit sad to let them go. I want them to at least last me another mani or so. I cleaned them up a bit with some acetone and a clean up brush.  You can still see some blue on the shells but they still look gold to me! In my opinion they are totally reusable if you take good care of them :D

More info on the manicure:

• I used Cirque Colors: Julep, Cabana Capri & Monte Carlo (no longer for sale)
• For my pointer and middle finger I used Monte Carlo
• For the mermaid scales I sponged on Julep and Cabana Capri
• The mermaid scales were purchased from Vinyl Boutique
• Lastly, the Shell Nail Studs are from BornprettyStore 

Let me know what you think about my Short Review Friday and also what you think about my manicure. Don't forget to use my code for 10% off your next purchase at BornPrettyStore they have a lot of awesome nail art stuff! 

Until next time,

Karen (minipolishh)

Formula X Infinite Ombre Review

Hello everyone,

I'm currently out of town so I figured I would write as many blogposts as I can. Formula X is also giving you a chance to win this amazing kit! Link at the end of this blog post! 

Today I will be reviewing the Formula X Infinite Ombre kit. I received these products from Sephora X as part of the Preen.Me VIP program. The kits retail value is 29.50.  Here is a look at what the kit looks like. Since i'm out of town I don't have pictures of the kit so I took most of the information of off the Sephora website :) 

Picture Taken from Sephora Website 

Here is some additional information about the kit that I got off of the Sephora Website.

What it is:
A revolutionary five-polish nail design set that makes stunning ombré nail art possible with a simple stroke of the brush—no tools required. 

What it does:
Pull off ombré nail looks with this innovative set that makes nail art easy. It features a kaleidoscopic array of five lacquers, uniquely designed to fuse with one another while wet, allowing you to blend, stripe, dot, and marble your way to never-before-seen nail art in a few effortless brush strokes. Simply layer the colored lacquers over the Platinum Prime silver base once dry and watch your mani transform instantly into any effect of your choice—from ombré to tie-dye to water color effects—the design possibilities are infinite. This set includes an illustrated, step-by-step tutorial for three eye-catching looks so you can paint on eye-catching color hybrids that revamp nails into stunning works of art. 

This set contains: 
- 4 x 0.13 oz Effects Nail Color in Boundless Berry (electric pink), Infinite Indigo (vivid bluish-purple), Timeless Teal (dynamic blue-green), Limitless Lemon (radiant yellow) 
- 0.4 oz Effects Nail Color in Platinum Prime (silver anchor base) 
- Step-by-step tutorial 

I enjoyed playing around with this kit! There are seriously an infinite amount of manis you can do with this kit. Of course, it does take a couple of tries. As you can see, not one mani was exactly the same (except the first two). They watermarble so well! The colors spread out amazingly when they touch water. If you're a huge watermarble fan than you'll definitely love these. I also tried my luck using some fan brush nail art and I love it! They worked so well together!

Aside from using the Infinite Ombre Kit for all these manis, I also used the Formula X Shine Top Coat. I've bought this topcoat waaaay before I was sent the kit so I figured, why not combine them. I also used some nail art brushes and dotting tools on almost every mani. You can find the exact kit I used at Born Pretty Store <---Direct Link (10% off using my code 'RAK31') 

Here are all the manis I was able to create with just this kit!

Overall, I really enjoyed this kit more than I thought I would. There really are an infinite amount of ways to do your mani. The kit may seem a bit pricey but you do get a lot out of it. I hope Formula X comes out with a lot more colors to play around with! I would like to see maybe some pink and green. 

Lastly, don't forget to follow @formulax and @preendotme on instagram for a chance to win a kit for yourself! 

Enter here as well:

http://formulax.com/infiniteombresweeps

Will you be purchasing one?

What colors would you have liked this kit to come with?

Until next time,

Karen (Minipolish)