My Favorite Pedicure Colors

Product Sent for Review Bought it Myself


Pictured Essie shades, from top left, counterclockwise: Hip-Anema, In the Cabana, First Timer, The Girls are Out, Sunday Funday, Rock the Boat
It's pedicure season again, and while I've had the best of intentions, I fully admit that this weekend I took off my chipping nail polish (it had been on for about 4 weeks) and haven't had a chance to put on more. Today is the day, my friends. So, it was especially appropriate that the nice people over at Martha Stewart sent me pics of June's beauty article, and it was all about pedicures and colors and great pedi tips!

(I'm not sure how they discovered me and started sending me the articles, but I'm always inspired by Martha, so I'm going to keep sharing!)

One product mentioned in the article is Baby Foot's Foot Exfoliate Peel, which kind of looks amazing. Has anyone tried it? I need to order it!

Read on to see my pedicure color picks

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8 At Home Pedicure Essentials: Things That Make My Life Much Easier!

Sample provided for review

I will fully admit that during the long cold Midwest winter, I completely ignore my toes. I usually have some leftover polish on my toes, and I'll trim and occasionally add more polish on to my toes, but I don't even bother removing old polish. I wear socks at all times (unless I'm in the shower pretty much), so that means the polish is really only seen by me and my husband. It's there so that when I look down at my feet (sans glasses, which I really need) things still look semi-decent.

But, now that the weather is getting a little warmer and I recently went on a trip to Florida (where it was in the 50's, so I was still not able to wear sandals at Disney)... anyways, it's well past time to brush up on my foot care so that my little toes can be seen again. I don't really have time to do a big pedicure routine, so I've found some products that speed things up. Some of these items I've purchased, some were provided for review on the blog (though I've repurchased most of them). Here are my must have items for a quick and easy at home DIY pedicure!

Nail polish remover pads are a must! I'm not a fan of cotton rounds with polish remover anyways, and the added friction from the felt makes polish removal easy. You can also just use a square of craft felt with a polish remover or acetone, but I'd only buy white felt if you do this, sometimes the color will bleed out and that is not fun. (Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything...)

This Sally Hansen Instant (well, 30 second) cuticle remover will remove pretty much any sins. Seriously, it is amazing. I use it on wet skin, just apply a bead at the base of the nail, spread it around with your fingers, and then I run my thumbnails over my cuticles and push them down with the same thumbnail. That's all it takes. Do it in the shower. Suddenly your cuticles will look amazing, rather than dry and gross and ratty. I will also use this sometimes on dry callouses if they look really bad, and it helps.

This is my Beautisol Exfoliating Mitt, and it's great for buffing up your feet! Just run it over your feet, around your ankles a little, and you're done! Don't over do it in areas that your shoes rub, you'll regret that. Just a light rubbing is all you need.

The Solevation is the cooling bath mat ever. EVER. I put it down after I wash my hair (that prevents most of my hair from getting stuck in it), and while I'm letting my conditioner soak into my hair and washing body/shaving, I stand on the Solevation. I'll do a little turning every now and then, and I make sure each foot spends some time on both the sand and the loofah sides of the bath mat. That's it. I no longer have to use a foot file! If your feet are looking gross it will likely take a few showers to get things looking good again, but I love that if I keep up with the Solevation I won't need to spend any extra time on my feet.

Once your feet are clean and dry, you'll want to moisturize, moisturize, moisturize! I like to use a cream that is heavy on the moisturizers, but also includes ingredients to help my feet stay soft. Lately my pick has been the True Blue Spa Cracked Heel Treatment (from Bath and Body Works), and then I'll cover it up with heavy cotton socks.

If it's time for polish but my feet are cold (OMG, this frequently makes me skip polish), I'll grab a pair of Pedi-Sox. These are thick cotton socks (that heel cream is great under them), but the toes are gone to be free for polish.

Clean up on toes can be a little difficult. I typically do the same cleanup I do on a manicure, which is a small stiff angled makeup brush and a little acetone. You can also wait until your next shower and use a fingernail on any polish on your skin (it should come off pretty easily). Or you could use Liquid Palisades. This is a product that you brush on to your skin before the polish, and after everything is dry it lets you just remove the LP and the polish comes with it! I've found that it is a bit too much work for me with regular manis (I'd use this if I was doing nail art or something, I don't have to clean up with a regular pedi so the step isn't worth the time) but if you're messy with a pedicure this might be a big time saver!

Finally, a long lasting pedicure is all about the correct polish! Everyone's nails are a little different, but I definitely get the longest wear from 1 coat of base coat (Orly Bonder is my fave) and then a coat of Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure or CoverGirl Outlast polish. Both are longer wearing (they promise 7 days of wear or more) and they don't require top coats. (Yes, technically neither require a base coat, but I get better wear with 1 coat of additional base coat.) I love that they are cheap and come in a ton of colors too, though I usually go for a bright pink since that's my husband's favorite.


Are you starting to take better care of your feet yet? What are your tips?

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Combating Winter: Keep Your Nails Looking Great!

I fully admit that despite the amount of time I spend on my nails each weeks, they're often the first area to show the stress of winter. Today I have some great tips from Nail Beauty Expert Katie Saxton from Custom Nail Solutions.


Diet Right
Take in calcium, iron, protein, and vitamins A, B, C and D and your nails will gradually grow stronger and healthier. Take in a lot of biotin.

Eat the right foods. Try fish, chicken, eggs, cheese, milk and plenty of fruits and vegetables. These are also great foods to keep you healthy overall!


Consistent Nail Maintenance
Scheduling regular manicures is crucial during the winter months if you want healthy nails. You can schedule in-salon manicures, or do them at home. Both work as long as you are doing them regularly.

File, buff and massage the nails. Purchase a buffer, and start at the cuticle and move forward to buff the entire nail bed. The buff will keep your nails from cracking.


Protect Your Nails
Nail strengtheners and hardeners. Think of it as conditioner for your hair. It cuts down on nail chipping most of all!


Cuticle Care
If you don't want to spend money on name brand cuticle products, you can also use olive oil right from your kitchen! Whatever you decide, leave it on for five minutes to fully replenish your nails. Don’t wash your hands completely, allowing your nails to get the richest conditioning possible.

Use lotions to keep your hands moisturized. During the winter months, hands become dryer than we’d like. Use a few times a day and you’ll feel the difference.
Refuse the urge to bite your nails.

Don’t use your nails to pry open jars; find the right tool instead.

Custom Nail Solutions gives you beautiful, natural-looking nails that are custom-made just for you. You can have lovely salon-looking nails on your own schedule and in the comfort of your own home. The concept of Custom Nail Solutions was invented by a cosmetic dentist. The nails are custom fit from a personal impression, using dental putty, taken from each clients individual nail beds which are as unique as your fingerprint.


Custom Nail Solutions

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The Nail Files: A Common Pedicure Mistake and A Contest!

I fully admit to liking reality television, though I'm pretty selective about what I will watch (some Kardashians, Real Housewives of the OC... but no Bachelor. Sorry.) There's a new show coming out soon on the TV Guide Channel that will likely be making my list of reality shows!

Nail Files is from the creators of Jersey Shore. Katie Cazorla, owns a Hollywood nail salon popular with celebs, is engaged to Walter Afanasieff, a Grammy award-winning music legend. The series follows Katie as she aspires to take The Painted Nail to the next level. Katie has gifting suites at Sundance and the Oscars, attends the Grammy Awards with Walter and has a ton of drama with her staff. She looks fun and just... real.

The series premieres on Tuesday, June 21st and I've already set my DVR!




To celebrate the premiere, I have 5 prize packs! Each includes Katie's line of Painted Nail Nail Polish, a mini fan, a manicure set, TV Guide Network T-shirt, and a poster. The Painted Nail's polish is created with Nubar, and my friend Michelle over at All Lacquered Up loved it in her recent review.

You can only win once, and you must be in the United States to win. You can have multiple entries! Fill this out once to enter. For additional entries, you can follow me on Twitter or are my Facebook Friend or subscribe to my daily emails. For each of these items you can fill out the form again, and indicate why you are cool. You have until next Sunday, 6/26 at midnight eastern to enter. Good luck!

I used Random.org to draw numbers, the winners were entry numbers: 27, 98, 125, 6, 7


The prizes have been provided by TV Guide

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Julep Summer 2011: Super Bright and Fun for Summer

I had to share the new Julep colors for summer. The presales just started shipping so it's the perfect time to snap up these colors. Aren't they just perfect for a fun summer pedicure?

• Niecy: The perfect pink to bring out on a bright sunny day
• Blake: Screams buttery, delicious bliss (without the dreaded calories)
• Jaime: An electrifying and sandal-wearing blue


Julep Nail Color

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Manicure 101 Extra Credit: How I Travel With Nail Polish

First, let me start this post by reminding everyone that I am not a low maintenance girl. There's a reason I've had the slogan above since first starting my blog 4 years ago.... If you need even more evidence, you might want to check out some of my previous travel packing posts. Obviously, I'm a girl that has problems paring things down and I need to have a lot of options at all times. I simply can't travel with just 1 option, I need to have 3 or 4 at all times!

So, now I'm going to reveal how completely and utterly insane I am. This is how I bring nail polish with me when I travel. I'm not sharing how I do it for a simple weekend trip, this is the full blown, I'm heading out of town for a week and want to have lots of options because I will need to change my mani and likely my pedi while I'm out of town.

So, read on to see what I bring with me!

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Manicure 101 Extra Credit: At Home Paraffin Wax Treatments

I received my paraffin waxer as a holiday present about 9 or 10 years ago from my medical school roommate. It wasn't something I would have bought for myself at the time, but wow! I was in love with it from the first use. The waxer has moved across the country with me twice and been used a huge number of times, but it's still going strong. (Obviously they no longer sell my model, but I think it might be the great-great-great-great-great grandparent of this paraffin hand bath from Homedics.)

I don't break out the paraffin spa very often, but when I do it is definitely worth it! The wax is warm and soothing, and I swear it does amazing things to hands that are dried out. My favorite wax is Gena's Peach Paraffin wax, which contains Peach Oil and smells super yummy.

The wax is very easy to use. Simply turn on the machine to the "melt" temperature and wait until the wax is a liquid (this takes about 4 hours), and then you'll want to turn down the temp a little so it isn't super hot when you dip in your hands. When you're happy with the temperature you're ready to dip!

I like to apply either cuticle oil (like Solar Oil) or a hand lotion first to dry areas. Then dip your hands into the wax for a few seconds and lift out, allowing the wax to harden slightly. I usually do a few layers of wax. I wait about 4 or 5 minutes until the wax has cooled and then I can easily peel it off of my hands. To lengthen the time before the wax cools you can put a plastic treatment bag over your hands and then an insulating mitt. I find this difficult to do on my own so I skip this step.

Once the wax is removed your hands will feel oily, so a quick hand wash is necessary. This is why I typically do my wax treatments in the bathroom so clean up is easy. I follow it up with an application of a very occlusive cream to seal everything in, my favorite is Orly's cuticle cream.

If you want to go ahead with a manicure after the paraffin treatment, you'll need to clean the oils off of your nail before nail polish application, or everything will slide right off. Using a little rubbing alcohol or nail polish remover do the trick.

Make sure you throw away the wax you just took off! It is incredibly tempting to just throw the wax back into the machine, but you shouldn't do this. I fully admit I used to do this back in my cheap/broke student days. It's fine if you're the only one using the wax, but I warn you that little bits of dead skin will be floating in the wax. This is definitely not a pretty sight.

I typically use my paraffin wax when my hands are undergoing quite a bit of abuse. So, a lot of severe hospital soap hand washings at work... winter cold and arid conditions... You get the idea. A paraffin wax treatment can take my hands from dry, aching and looking 20 years older than I really am to hydrated and happy.

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Manicure 101 Extra Credit: Gelous & Instant Artificials

Gelous is something that I've just started using at the continued recommendations of the girls over on the Makeup Alley nail board. Instant Artificials is something that I just bought yesterday, but is the same idea (and again, beloved by the MUA Nail Board), but it's just there looking pretty in the picture, I haven't actually used it yet. They are available pretty much only at Sally Beauty Supply, and really seem to be somewhat all purpose very thick polishes.

Gelous and Instant Artificials can be used at almost any point in the manicure. The Sally site recommends using them directly on the nail (something about bonding to the nail). I haven't noticed a difference in wear if Gelous is applied over a treatment coat (I like Barielle Fortifying Nail Builder, when I'm having a lot of weakness or peeling issues I put that on first). I have noticed that a coat of regular base coat and then the Gelous results in a more smooth looking manicure that lasts an extra day or so.

Gelous also has a great 2nd life as a top coat for glitter polishes. Have you ever put on a great glitter polish, only to notice the next day that your top coat (even a thick one like Seche Vite) has been "eaten" by the glitter? A coat of Gelous over your glitter polish and then your top coat over that seems to do wonders. It smooths every thing out and makes the glitter really shine.

So, if you want at thicker polish look, to make your nails tougher or need something to go over a glitter polish, these are both great options!

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Manicure 101 Extra Credit

I hope you've enjoyed the Manicure 101 series! Last week I covered the basics of my manicure in 5 posts. For the next couple of weeks on Tuesdays and Thursdays you'll find posts that deal with more advance nail care issues such as specialized base coats like Gelous and Instant Artificials, Paraffin Baths and Vitamins to help your nails grow stronger. Let me know if you have any nail questions you'd like to see addressed!

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Manicure 101: Cuticle Care, Perfect Cuticles are Easy!

Over the last 4 days I've shared with you all of my steps in creating a great looking manicure at home. The problem? I haven't shown you what I do to maintain it, and I keep saying "Acetone, Acetone, Acetone." Which means that if you've been following my directions from this week your fingers and cuticles are probably cracked and bleeding by now because they are so dry!

So, the key to having great looking nails and cuticles really is moisture. Yes, even when you have on polish, you need to keep moisturizing. I am really not so good at remembering to keep applying moisturizing products to my nails, but I do apply before bed every night and this seems to be often enough for me. My favorite method of moisturizing my cuticles is to apply a cuticle oil such as CND Solar Oil first. The oil step seems to really be key for me, don't skip out on the oil! After the oil has had a few minutes to sink in I apply a thick cuticle cream to "lock" it into my cuticle. My favorite is Orly Cuticle Therapy Cream, but the Kiehl's cuticle cream works great as well. The point is to have a fairly occlusive cream on over the oil.

On days that I'm making an effort to remember my cuticles, I use hydroxy acid moisturizers on my cuticles. Pictured here are products from CND and Poshe (I have the old packaging of both, I stocked up about a year ago and am still using them up). The idea behind these products is pretty simple: they hydrate and the hydroxy acids help to exfoliate. When I'm using these a few times a day I find that my cuticles look amazing, I don't need to use cuticle remover and I can go ages between hang nails.

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Manicure 101: Polish Removal and the Foil Method

For nail polish removal, I love the little pots of remover. I can open them up, stick in a finger and swish it around a bit. I've found that the pure acetone pots have plastic scrubbing bristles and work really well for glitter polish removal. Again, they are super drying, so I don't use them frequently and I always follow up with some intense moisture.

If the polish that you need to remove is particularly tough, you might want to consider using the foil method of nail polish removal.

To do this, you'll want some cotton or craft felt cut into squares about the size of your nails, Acetone and foil squares about 3"x3" or so. Get the cotton/felt wet with the Acetone, place it directly on your nail. Put foil over the whole thing and just encase your nail pretty tightly. The foil is there to hold the cotton/felt tightly to the nail and prevent the Acetone from evaporating away. About 10-15 minutes later (go as short a time as you can because the Acetone is so drying), you can remove the whole thing and the polish will either be gone already or only need a small wipe to take off the remainder.

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Manicure 101: Manicure Clean Up Tips

Now that you've got the polish on, you want it to look perfect, right? I'm frequently asked where I get my nails done or how often I go to the salon. The answer is that I've been twice. Ever. I just know how to clean up a manicure so it looks perfect!

My favorite way to clean up a manicure is with a brush. You can see my well loved and nasty looking mani clean up brush in this picture. It's a really old Sonia Kashuk eye liner brush from Target. I am not sure why I started using it, but this brush is perfect. You'll want a stiff brush so it can be easily directed and can scrub off the polish. I went for an angled brush, but a square or even pointed brush would certainly work. I've heard that the paint brushes from a store like Michael's work well.

First, I pore pure Acetone into a little glass dampen glass. Mine is a from a nail supply, you can find them on-line or at Sally's for less than a dollar. Don't use the cap from your Acetone, you'll want to be able to close your bottle right up to minimize the evaporation. I wet my brush and simply run it along the areas that need to have polish removed. I wipe the brush off on a tissue or piece of felt, redip in the Acetone and repeat until I'm happy with the results.

Note that the Acetone is pretty drying to your nail and skin, so you'll want to moisturize right away when your mani is all dry. Some people have tried doing this using regular nail polish remover, but I've found that it doesn't clean up as nicely.

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Manicure 101: Polish Application

Now to get to the part everyone is really curious about, applying the polish! I've found that the secret to making a manicure last really is the base coat and top coat. I can make a manicure last for 7 days without any chips and barely any tip wear. Considering everything that I do in my daily life, I think that's pretty amazing!

My favorite basecoat is Orly Bonder, though I have great results with CND Stickey as well. Stickey is a little cheaper, so I've just ordered a big 2.3 ounce bottle of it and will be using it for most of my manis. My only issue with Stickey is that it seems to tint lighter colored manis a little green on my hands (I took a ton of pics and the Stickey keeps showing up as blue, but it really is a green color, similar to the other flavor of Scope mouth wash), this is likely because I'm so fair. I'll be saving my Bonder for light manicures to avoid this issue. Otherwise I get equal wear with regardless of which basecoat I use. So, Stickey for mid tone or darker polishes, Bonder for light colored polishes. My wear is equal, it's the color issue that's really at play here.

Next is of course, color. I've shown Chanel's Morning Rose, but that's only because it had just arrived when I took these pics, so it was in the big pile of polish on my desk. My favorite polish brands:
• OPI: I get the best wear out of OPI and they do have a lot of fun colors. The Sephora OPI polishes are the same formula, though they are a little more expensive. I'm not certain if the Nicole by OPI polishes are the same formula, but in general they apply just as well on me (and I prefer the Nicole brush) and they also have a great color range.
• Essie: Now owned by L'Oreal, Essie can be found in your local Walmart, Drugstore and in salons. If you want a light pink/nude color, look to an Essie. They also do pigmented creme polishes very well, often only 1 or 2 coats are needed.
• China Glaze
• Chanel: I love the colors and the shimmer, but typically the wear is only for a 2 or 3 day manicure. I usually change so often that I don't care.
• MAC: Similar to Chanel, they have some great colors but horrible wear. I get 1-2 days max.
• Sally Hansen: I admit that I'm only including them on this list for completeness. I know their Salon range wears for 7-10 days, but I really haven't tried them myself.
• Zoya: Usually a 4-5 manicure for me, the wear is a little worse than the OPI/Essie/China Glaze brands, but they also have some great colors and are free of 5 different chemicals.

My favorite top coats are Seche Vite or Poshe. I have Seche Vite right now as I bought a big pro sized bottle and just refill my bottles. Both are thicker than other brands, and apply over wet polish pretty easily. Super shiny and dry to the touch about 10 minutes after application!

So, I've created this little graphic to show you how I apply polish, though I'm planning to create a video for this post as well. You can click on the image to enlarge it if you want.

So, the cuticle is at the purple semicircle. Not pictured here is my first step, which is wrapping the tip of my nail in basecoat, polish or top coat. Simply run the brush along the tip of the nail. Try not to get it all over your skin, but if it is there don't worry, you'll clean it up later.

Next to apply polish to the nail itself. I place the end of my brush in the middle of the nail, a few millimeters from the cuticle (look at the light blue line, that's roughly where I place the brush). I push/wiggle the brush right up to the cuticle (the yellow squiggle), and let the brush fill in the nail right up to the cuticle. I do like about a millimeter of space there, but if it gets on the cuticle that's fine. Then I pull the brush along the nail (green arrow).

Usually I have enough polish on the brush that there will be some extra off to either side. I use this polish to help me repeat the process off to the sides. I cover the entire nail in 3 strokes, though I sometimes need 4 for my thumb. I do not reload the brush in between stroke on each nail, this results in too much polish. I do my entire left hand, then right hand and then just repeat. I rarely wait between coats, since the Seche Vite will dry all of the layers together.


All of the products pictured/featured here were bought by me. I've repurchased them so many times that it is somewhat crazy.

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Manicure 101: Preparation

Obviously, the first step has to be preparation of the cuticle area and your nail. Here you can see the products that I use to get ready for a manicure.

Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover: There are a lot of products like this on the market, but they all seem to be either much, much too strong or to do absolutely nothing. This product from Sally Hansen strikes the perfect middle ground Simply apply a small bead on your cuticle bed and it does its job while you push back cuticles and run your nail over the cuticle. Simply rinse off to find perfect cuticles!

Cuticle Trimmer: I think mine is from Revlon, but this tool costs about $2 and it is money well spent. While you shouldn't cut your cuticles themselves (they help protect you quite and bit and cutting them is just asking for an infection), I like to use this along the sides of my nails in case of a hang nail.

Emery board: Yes, I know. There are a lot of people that swear by the crystal or glass nail files instead. Maybe I'm doing something wrong, but I have found that those files take forever to work and don't cut down on the issues I have with splitting nails. I like to use one that is coarse and either fine or medium on the other side. This one is from Sally's Beauty Supply.

Smoothing Block: Again from Sally's Beauty, I like to smooth out my ridges just a little so I can avoid needing a separate ridge filler. The blocks come with 4 sides, #1 is a fine/medium nail file and #4 really buffs your nails to a shiny finish. I only use #2 and #3. The goal is to lightly smooth out the ridges without overly thinning out the nail, but you want to leave behind a little rough surface so that your polish has something to grab on to. If you over buff the polish will peel off very quickly. So, #2 and #3 only!

Orange Stick: In case you're not a fan of using your fingernails to push back the cuticle. I don't always use these, it truly depends on whether I feel like hunting one down in my polish stash.

Nail Clippers: I have 2 of these, a "normal" one, and one that is pointed. The regular nail clippers are to clip down my nails before filing. I like to have pretty short nails, longer ones harbor bacteria under then tip which is bad for infection control at work. So, I like to keep them about 2 mm past my nail bed. The pointed nail clipper I rarely use, but it is for those instances that I have a hang nail my Cuticle Trimmer can't take care of.

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Manicure 101 Week

In case you haven't noticed, I've become a bit more candid about my nail polish obsession over the last few months. I fully admit that I was once a very active member of a nail polish forum (Makeup Alley), and I'm still a semi-active lurker and sometimes poster over there.

The picture above is the closet in my office. See all of those drawers on the left? That was my polish collection a few months ago. It recently spilled over onto the right side of my closet... it might have more than a few hundred colors. Yes, I'm obsessed and am willing to admit it. And I really do need that many colors, I can totally tell apart dark purple #1 from dark purple #5 and of course dark purple #12. So there.

Anyways, I've gotten a lot of questions about how I do my manicures and make my nails look good. I do have a large post that contained my manicure routine, but it's pretty long and things have changed a bit.

So, this week I'll break things down step by step. Posts to watch for:
• Preparation
• Cuticle Care
• Applying Color
• Clean up

And, if people are really nice, I may even make a few videos to show each step of the process!

Edit to add: It really isn't so much of a week any more. I keep finding topics to include and I've spilled over well into next week too. Let me know if there is a topic you'd particularly like covered!

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A Quick Tip for Soft Feet!

Today's new mommy tip is definitely one of those tips that will work great for any one, and it is one I never would have thought of myself. It comes from Romy, of Romy Raves. Romy not only a very busy beauty blogger, but she co-owns a very successful marketing research and consulting firm and on top of all that is mom to a 7 year old son. I'm tired just thinking about everything she does! If anyone has great (and fast) beauty tips, it is Romy!


Here’s my tip for either swollen pregnant feet or very dry feet: At night before bed, wipe down both feet with a Stridex Pad (super cheap, slightly cooling, you can find it at any drugstore and they contain Salicylic Acid which is great for exfoliation). After you have really wiped each foot well, slather your feet with favorite foot cream (I am loving QTICA’s thick rich Foot Repair Balm during these dry winter months), put on a cute and cozy pair of socks and wake up in the morning with soft, happy & hydrated feet!

Romy Raves

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Pedi-Scrub: 60 Seconds Each Morning Equals Smooth Feet

What is that green star shaped thing? It's a product infused sponge, with a scrubbing side. Spending about 30-60 seconds using this in each shower will help make (and keep) your feet soft and sandal ready, regardless how long it has been since your last pedicure.

The sponge is infused with a special soap meant to help penetrate skin and help moisturize. The soap is lightly foaming and smells faintly herbal. There is quite a bit of it in the sponge, and it was about 5 uses before the soap was fully off of the sponge. While the package states 15+ uses, I've easily over 30 and the sponge still has a ton of soap in it. I wash my feet with the regular sponge side, and then flip it over to use the scrubbing side (similar to a rough Buff Puff) on my feet. Everything rinses off easily.

While this sponge won't help the worst of cracked heels (you should use a file or a Ped Egg for that), it definitely helps even out the rough spots and has greatly reduced how often I'm using my Ped Egg.

Spongeables

4

Poshe Topcoats and Basecoats: Can They Fit into Your Manicure Routine?

I'm sure a lot of you know by now that I love nail polish and nail products. I admit that I'm frequently on the nail board over at Makeup Alley (though I comment a lot less now than I once did), and I have a huge nail polish collection.

I am pretty picky about what products I use. I expect to do a manicure quickly (I can get from polish removal to the end in under 10 minutes), I want my manicure to dry in under 10-15 minutes (at least to the point that I can do basic things, I don't expect to put on gloves), I want nice shine and I want 5-6 days of wear despite the rough things I do with my hands.

I have posted my manicure routine before, though that was a few years ago and I'm always up for revisiting products or tweaking my routine. So, while I had tried Poshe before, problems with shrinkage persisted and it wasn't a regular product of mine. They recently asked me to give it another try, this time paired with their base coat.

So, I set out on a massive trial process. I've been using the two products exclusively in combination with other brands. I've used them with OPI, Essie, China Glaze and Zoya nail polishes. I've added or deleted my Barielle treatment products. How did it go?

It went pretty well actually. I'm not sure if it was because I was using the top coat previously with other base coats, but when used with the Poshe Base Coat, I have no shrinkage issues. I have great shine from the Poshe (equal to Seche Vite, which is fantastic). I can type on my computer or do other basic things about 10 minutes after completing application. Application itself goes well and I think the Poshe is a bit less viscous than SV, which I know a lot of people will appreciate.

Wear seemed to be a little bit of an issue. I can't add in a Barielle product, it cuts wear to 2 days. But with the Poshe top coat and base coat all manicures pretty much last 5-6 days without a chip in sight. (One exception is Zoya, which seems to only last 2 days or so, but I seem to have Zoya issues. I'm taking the advice of my friend Michelle over at All Lacquered Up who thinks Zoya does best with its own top and base coats. I'm trialling that now.)

Overall, I was pretty happy with the Poshe products. Great wear, nice shine, no more issues with shrinkage. All that and it's pretty fast drying. What more could a girl ask for?



Poshe Fast Drying Basecoat & Topcoat

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