I’m currently away from Austin and all my gel nail supplies. I’ve been visiting my daughter in Alabama where she goes to college for about a month now. I’ll go more about what’s going on later when we have more of a confirmation of what we think the cause is.
That said, I can’t stand not having a proper manicure. I really don’t like the feel of rough or chipped nails. It goes along with my issue with tags in clothes. So I needed to find a solution that was low cost and quick. Buying all of my favorite gel manicure stuff on Amazon and having it shipped to my daughter’s was not an option.
They have a great Target here and I knew they carried the Olive & June manicure products. I picked up a bottle of acetone and a bag of cotton balls to soak off the chipped gel polish. I knew my daughter had aluminum foil back at her apartment. I also picked up two Olive & June nail polishes and a fast-dry top coat. I also picked up their nail polish remover in a pot with a sponge, their cuticle remover and tool to push back your cuticles, their foam filing tools and their cuticle serum. It was the positive Allure magazine reviews of their cuticle serum that made me want to check out this brand. That and they show up on my social media feeds all the time!
The first time I did my nails with their polish and quick-dry top coat, I still had issues with denting the polish by not letting it fully dry, and apparently not letting each coat fully dry before I did the next one. I also had a problem with the beautiful finish getting bumpy once I put on the quick-dry top coat. I went to their website and they indicated that you really needed to make sure you let each coat of polish fully dry for a few minutes before the next and then wait 15-20 minutes before putting on the top coat. I did this on the next manicure I did a few days later and while I didn’t dent it because it was fully dry, I still had the bumpy finish. I went back online to the reviews and this was a common theme from folks and comments made about Essie nail polishes being much better.
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I did love Essie nail polish, pre-gel nails days, so the following weekend I went to Ulta and picked up the classic Essie “Ballet Slippers” color as well as “Birthday Girl.” I had never tried the “Ballet Slippers” color, and it is my birthday next month. I also picked up the Essie quick-dry top coat. I have been much happier with the results of this manicure, although I have been touching up small chips and putting on another top coat every other day as recommended. The picture above is “Ballet Slippers.”
I do like some of the Olive & June products though and am glad I bought them. I really like the nail polish remover pot, in case I need to take off my nail polish on just one nail and don’t want to ruin the rest of them. Their cuticle remover is really good, as well as the nail file blocks, cuticle pushing tool and definitely really love the cuticle serum. I may also go back and try using their nail polishes again since I have them and use the Essie top coat to see if that helps. I did like the “Pink Goldfish” color I bought from them. I’d put links to the Amazon locations for these products, but it seems like their products are not available on that platform right now. But if you want to try the products I did like, pick them up on your next Target run!
Hopefully, I won’t need to be here in Alabama for much longer. Looking to go back home in the next few weeks, as we get to move into our new house in mid-March!!! But in the meantime, I’ve figured out how to make my nails look pretty and feel good!
What type of manicure do you prefer: gel or regular nail polish? If so, why do you prefer that kind? And what are your favorite products or colors?