My New Obsession- Nails!

Well, as if I didn't spend enough time each day being shallow about things like makeup, purses and shopping-- I now have a new obsession- nail polish! (I figure I spend enough time doing useful things like saving ill children, so I should be allowed my little obsessions).

I blame all of this on the new blog All Laquered Up-- Before, I was content to go for months without changing my nailpolish, I would simply buff and file, occasionally use a neutral Essie color, but that was about the extent of it. I bought Essie Wicked when it first came out, but when it chipped at about 24 hours, I gave up on it. But, I now can safely say that I've been very inspired, and have even made a few visits to the nail board at Makeup Alley (wow- those are some hardcore nail girls!) I have a huge cart of polishes at Head 2 Toe Beauty, and I have made trips all over town collecting colors, base and top coats that I've seen recommended on-line.

I'm currently in the middle of a giant experiment regarding the best combination of basecoat and top coat for extended wear. Here are a few links for inspiration if you are interested:
All Laquered Up- Stickey Sandwich
Nail Tech Secrets- Polish that Lasts
All Laquered Up- List of favorite products
Makeup Alley- Nailboard Wisdom


Here are my results so far, inspired by the results above, and very much influenced by my lack of Creative Stickey, I can't find it in my area and haven't placed and order yet.
1. Bonder, 3 Coats Polish, Bonder again, then Poshe Top Coat. The next day I did another coat with Opi Designer Series Top Coat. All of my nails had PEELING off of the clear top coat. Huh? I was like that nailpolish we all used as kids- it would peel off in 1 large piece, leaving the color below unscathed. I've never seen anything like this. I'm not sure if it was the top coat or the bonder. But, the color lasted 7 days with minimal tip wear, on the 7th day one of the fingers suddenly had a HUGE chip, so I moved on. I was VERY active during those 7 days, working in the ICU with gloves on and off, washing my hands several times an hour with industrial hospital strength soap.
2. Jessica Fusion (a basecoat to help peeling nails, inspired by Christina Jones at Nail Tech Secrets), Bonder, 2 Coats Polish (I didn't need 3 for coverage), Bonder, then Out the Door. This polish also lasted a full 7 days, even less tip wear on day 7. No peeling this time (maybe it wasn't the Bonder afterall?), only 1chip about 25% of a nail at the end of day 7. I was less active this week, I was not in the ICU at all that week, but I did spend a lot of time typing, all day everyday.
3. I just put on a third combo with Jessica Fusion, Bonder, 2 coats of Opi's Lincoln Park after Midnight (pictured here), Bonder again and then Hoofer's Choice. Update After trying this combo last night, I got to see my mani in "the light of day" this am, and it looks like I have about 20 coats of varnish over my nails. And, they are SUPER full of bubbles, which I know they weren't last night. Looks like I'll be taking off this combo and trying Seche Vite instead.


Things I still have to try- Need to order Creative's Stickey, I still have Seche Vite and Opi Rapid Dry to try out. I have been doing all of my coats of polish in a row, no bonder in between (which had been suggested over at the Special Polish), etc. I'll let you know how all of this experimenting goes! I have been using only Essie's Wicked as my color so far, which means with such a dark color, 7 days is GREAT wear-- hopefully I can get even more time in for a mani!