Manicures: The Basics

In this post and the next one, I thought the best thing to do would be tell you what I would term 'the basics'; I'll tell you everything you need to give yourself a great manicure in the first, and the things you'll need to create amazing nail art in the second.
Giving yourself a mincure is a great 'Friday-night' thing to do; after a hard week at work, its a nice way to chill out whilst watching a rom-com to prepare for your Saturday night party. And here are the essentials...
Nail varnish remover and cotton wool pads. I know it's sad when you have to take off your design before it's chipped, but rather than picking it off, it really is best to take it off properly. The best I've found is actually one of the cheapest and is 'Boots Clean Off Nail Polish Remover' and I find that using double sided cotton wool pads are the best things to use with it.

Next things: hand cream, cuticle pusher and cuticle remover. I've got so many hand creams that have been given to me in toilettries sets for Christmas and Birthdays that I dont really buy a particular brand, I just use up the ones I've got. Cuticle removers may look like some medieval torture device, but are really essential for leaving you with a completely blank canvas on which to work!
A buffer and a file are two bits of kit that you'll need to keep your nails in great shape and looking tip top. Again, files are things you can just pick up as you go; my Cath Kidston ones are really good though. I've never tried the glass nail files but have heard they're really good! There's also the 'S shaped' file the 'Stylfile' which can be used to file your nails to a natural rounded shape (and can be found on Amazon.co.uk) - looks really good, but I prefer to file mine to a square shape.

Lastly, you'll need a place to keep everything! Preferably somewhere portable, so you can take your manicure kit with you, and something with compartments so that you'll know exactly where to find everthing when you need it is ideal. I've got mine in a set of drawers and I've painted the fonts with blackboard paint so I can categorise everything - one for base and top coats, one for nudes and neutrals, one for all my colours and one for all my other things.

I'm close to outgrowing it now so have been looking for something bigger and better. Acrylic stands can be bought online, but are quite expensive so I've been looking at making something. The best tutorial I've seen on YouTube is here (In the process of finding the link for the storage tutorial, I've just found this one too which is a great idea) I'll let you know how I get on if I decide to make anything!