Q: Are those your real nails or do you use acrylics?
A: Yes, I do not use acrylics, these are all my natural nails
Q: What basecoat/topcoat do you use?
A: What I use as a base or topcoat are constantly changing, right now I am using Nfu-Oh nail treatment for weak or brittle nails (the gold bottle!) as a basecoat and I alternate between Nails Inc Kensington Caviar, BB Couture Top Rock and Nubar Diamont for topcoats. I prefer quick-dry topcoats which is why I favour these three (they are the best out of the ones I have tried so far! If I find another amazing one you can be sure I will write about it on my blog)
Q: What kind of camera do you use?
A: I use a Canon Powershot (14 megapixels)
Q: What camera settings do you use?
A: Whenever possible I photograph my pictures in the sunlight, always keep set the camera on a macro setting with a high ISO – if there is no sun I will photograph my nails under a lamp and use the ‘Tungsten’ setting as it tends to showcase the true colour under the lamp
Q: What is your routine when you paint your nails?
A: First I remove the polish with polish remover (I tend to buy the cheap Cutex or drugstore brands instead of the fancy [and more expensive] OPI and Zoya versions because I change my nail polish so often I go through polish remover too quickly to justify the high pricetag of fancy polish removers! After I remove my polish I moisturise my nails with cuticle oil (typically Creative Nail Design ‘Solar Oil’) and I put lotion on my hands (my current favourite product is Bliss Spa ‘High Intensity Hand Cream’). After that I will swab my nails with nail polish remover to remove any lingering cuticle oil (if you leave the oil on your polish won’t adhere to your nail!) and apply basecoat, 3 coats of polish (my personal preference…if I use more or less than 3 coats I will say so specifically) and then apply my topcoat. Afterwards I clean up around my cuticles and nail beds with a paintbrush dipped in polish remover (this allows me control and precision to remove only the excess polish and leave a clean, neatly polished fingernail!). I finish up by reapplying cuticle oil (as the polish remover you just used on your cuticles is very drying!).
Q: How many bottles of nail polish do you own?
A: I have no idea!!! It’s in the high hundreds to say the least and is always growing
Q: How do you store your nail polish?
A: Most people use plastic drawer shelves or Ikea helmers…at the moment I must admit that my polish is just stored haphazardly in a big box. I have every intention of purchasing some sort of container with shelves for organising my polish…it just hasn’t happened yet!
Q: Where do you buy your nail polish?
A: I buy from a variety of places! Ebay, beauty salons, discount nail polish etailers…the list is endless! I also buy from the brand websites, there is no real pattern. I just buy polish wherever I find it, I don’t discriminate!
Q: Will you swatch _____ polish for me?
A: I try to accommodate reader requests whenever possible, I also try to show duplicates of polishes whenever I see them…I do the best I can, but I do have a job and my time for swatching and blogging is limited. Please do note that if you send me a request I will never ignore it, no matter what my opinion on your question may be, you will always receive an answer!