Nails & Needles

Nail and Hand Care: Cuticles and Hands

Every nail enthusiast has their own tips and tricks for keeping their nails and hands in tip top condition. In this series of posts, I thought I’d show you what works for me. Some of these I’ve discovered through other people’s blogs, some I’ve found on my own.

There’s been a bit of trial and error before I got far enough to say with certainty that this thing or that thing is beneficial to my nails and/or my skin. Some of the items below are actually still in that testing stage, but things are looking good for them, so they’re included anyway.

1. Plastic orange stick. For pushing back my cuticles after using cuticle cream or for use during nail-mending.
2. Oliva Eco Cuticle Oil. For keeping my cuticles soft. I try to use this at least once a day, but sometimes I forget. I like this particular one because it has a brush applicator, but I sometimes also use ACO Sense & Care Cuticle Cream.
3. Glass nail file. I need to get a new one as I broke this one just the other day. It still works great, it’s just a bit fiddly. On the plus side, this is now small enough for me to keep a piece in mymini nail kit. ;) Glass files are brilliant because you don’t have to worry about which direction you file your nails and, also, unless you break them (like I do! I’m clumsy as all that), they last forever and a day.
4. Foldable nail file/buffer/polisher. I don’t like this one as much as my glass file, but it works well enough in a pinch. The buffer and polish sections of this work a lot better than the file bits, so I tend to use those most. Sometimes I use the buffer right after I’ve applied nail oil (which I will talk about in the next post in this series).
5. Nail brush. I use this after my cuticle eraser has worked its magic. It helps to get rid of those pesky dead skin cells and stuff that likes to sit around your cuticles. This came in the little mesh bag I keep my mini nail kit in.
6. CND Cuticle Eraser. Great for getting rid of those dead skin cells I mentioned above. I got this off eBay after reading about it on a couple of blogs, but I wasn’t sold at first. Eventually I realised that it was because I didn’t let it sit on my cuticles long enough before rubbing it off. Now what I do is: apply it on each of my cuticles, let it sit for about 15 minutes before rubbing it in (much like you would a cuticle cream or oil), then take my nail brush and brush it over my cuticles to make sure all the stuff the eraser has softened up actually rubs off. Then I wash my hands to get rid of the last traces.
7. Cowshed Cow Pat. I received this in September’s Glossy Box and I’ve used it ever since. It contains grapefruit and coriander oil, which means it smells really special. I love coriander, so I love the smell, and this makes my hands feel really soft and smooth. I’m almost out of my tube and first chance I get, I’m buying a full-size one. Can’t be without it now!
8. LUSH Lemony Flutter Cuticle Butter. Name one nail blogger who hasn’t mentioned this at some point? I bought it after recommendations from a lot of people and while I’m not the biggest fan, I do like to use it sometimes when I feel my cuticles need a little extra moisture action (like when I’ve been neglecting them). My favourite use, however, is for when I’m swatching a lot in one go: I rub this on my nails, then apply a coat of Seche Vite to them. After that, I apply my nail polish and finally another coat of Seche Vite. When everything has dried properly, it’s super easy to just peel off in one go. Best trick ever! I learnt it from Cactus’ Nail Polish.

That’s it for today! Now you know my favourite products for keeping my hands looking nice and feeling soft, as well as for shaping my nails. What are yours?

Bare Necessities: My Mini Nail Kit

I don’t know if anyone’s actually curious to know this, but today I’m going to show you the little kit I always keep in my bag so I can properly take care of my nails even on the road.

1. The small mesh bag I keep it all in. Bought at H&M for a tiny penny (I think the equivalent of £3/$5) and it came with a nail file/buffer/polisher, a nail brush and a plastic orange stick.
2. Plastic orange stick. For pushing back my cuticles and also for mending torn nails*. Came with the mesh bag when I bought it.
3. Foldable nail file with shape, smooth, buffer and polish surfaces. I might have to replace this one soon, as I sort of broke it a while back. Still works, mind!
4. Oliva Eco Cuticle Oil. I really like the brush on this tube, makes it so much easier to get the oil where I want it!
5. Scratch Nail Food. Nail oil based on sesame oil, with added lavender and myrrh for scent. I try to massage some nail oil into my nails at least two or three times a day, so it’s a good thing to have in my kit, since I can do it even if I’m not at home.
6. Nail glue. In case of torn nails*.
7. An emptied out, unused tea bag. Again, for mending torn nails*.
8. A small tube of hand cream, because my hands get ridiculously dry, especially in winter, so it’s a good thing to carry around. Right now, it’s No7 Protect & Perfect Intense Day Hand Cream, but it varies depending on what sample size tubes I have on hand.

So that’s that. Do you have a nail kit you always bring with you? If so, what’s in yours?

*See this post for how I use them.

How to Save a Nail

Today I thought I’d tell you about a little trick I learned from the Internet. Obviously, if you’re a fellow nail blogger, you probably already know this trick, but if you’re not, then this might be a new life saver! The first time I read about it was on, I believe, Lacquerized.

What you need: nail glue*, a tea bag**, an orange stick (cuticle pusher) and a nail file.

Oh, and a broken nail. See, this trick can save a broken nail so you don’t have to file it down. Brilliant, right?

Now, it’s not going to fix it fix it, as in re-attach it permanently to the rest of your nail, so you will eventually have to file it down, but this enables you to wait until the nail has grown out enough that you can file it down a bit but still have it be the length you want.

1. Make sure your nail is clean and dry.
2. Stick on a bit of nail glue.
3. Tear off a small piece of the tea bag (you could cut it with scissors, but I prefer just tearing it — keeps what you need to have in your kit to a minimum) and stick it on top of the glue.
4. Use the orange stick to smooth it out so that there are no bubbles and lies flat on the nail. (Sometimes you need to apply a bit more glue to ensure this.)
5. Apply another coat of glue.
6. Stick on another little piece of tea bag.
7. Repeat step 4.
8. Once the glue has dried completely, use your nail file to smooth out the surface.

Done! Now you can apply your nail polish as usual and not worry about tearing your nail further. It might look a bit less smooth than usual, but with a properly applied polish on top, it should be barely noticeable that something is up with your nail.

If you use a gentle nail polish remover, you can even change your polish without ruining the tea bag mend. However, you might not be able to get all of the polish off, as evidenced by the teeny tiny leftover purple polish you can see on my nail***. Still, that’s a minor inconvenience, compared to hacking off most of your nail.

*I always have an emptied out tea bag and a tube of nail glue in my bag. It’s a good investment and nail saver! Nail glue is available at most beauty supply stores (sometimes you’ll have to buy a pack of fake nails to get it, but not always. Depends on how big their selection is!) and through eBay. I bought a 10-pack of nail glue for about 3 bucks on eBay a while back when I had my fake nail phase, and I’ve not even made a dent in it yet. So, lasts for ages and if it’s not mid-emergency, it’s dirt cheap!

**There are silk wraps available for nails, so if you can get your hands on those, great! But, I haven’t seen them in any shops yet and in an emergency, you’re likelier to have access to a tea bag, which works just as well. The first time I tried this trick, I use a silkier sort of tea bag and had little success, so I would advice to go with a paper tea bag, which is what I’ve used since.

***As you can also see in the photo, my ring finger is ridiculously dry. It’s due to my allergy to oranges and carrots (which presents itself as a rash on my right ring finger and nowhere else on my body. Seriously, nowhere else!) and is one of many reasons why my left hand is my blog hand.