September Empties & Mini-Reviews

I thought it would be fun to start sharing my thoughts on each month's used up products with you guys! I'm a huge makeup and skin junkie in addition to my polish addiction (I'm just a beauty freak in genral, really) and while I hardly ever finish a bottle of polish, I go through other products on a fairly regular basis. Plus I figured doing this type of post would help motivate me to work through more of my massive beauty stash.

This is one of those months where a ton of things ran out at once--11 in all! Most of it's skincare, but there's some makeup too. Read on to see my thoughts on each product...

IT Cosmetics Bye Bye Under Eye in Light: This is THE best under eye concealer! It's super pigmented and wears all day. You need the absolute smallest amount you can squeeze out of the tube, since a little bit goes a loooooonnngggg way. This little tube lasted me over a year! I've already got another one ready and waiting.

MAC Prolongwear Foundation in NW20: Another all-time favorite product. I love the wear time on this and the coverage is great too. I'd classify it as medium buildable. It feels very lightweight on and doesn't cake or crack. If you have oily skin, definitely check this out!

Bath and Body Works Hand Sanitizer in I Love Cinnamon Buns: It's true, I do! I always keep one of these little guys clipped on my purse. Great for when you're on the go.

Urban Decay Big Fatty Mascara: I like the volume this gives, but it is super hard to get off. My go-to makeup remover, Philosophy Purity, can remove ANYTHING (ever notoriously tough mascaras like Benefit They're Real) but it can't get Big Fatty off without giving me some serious raccoon eyes. I believe UD has recently discontinued Big Fatty now that Perversion Mascara is out.

Peter Thomas Roth Unwrinkle Turbo: I'm currently using a prescription retinoid on my face for post-acne marks, but I was having a bad reaction to it only on my forehead for some reason, where it'd get really red and flaky. I don't have any acne marks on my forehead, but I wanted to use the retinoid in that area to help with brow "11's" that were starting to show up. Unwrinkle was a great alternative--no irritation (peptides and hyaluronic acid are the main active component rather than retinoid) and I did see a decrease in the width and depth of the 11 lines. This little guy lasted a surprisingly long time, too! The big bottle is pretty expensive, so I won't be investing, but I liked this and am glad I tried a mini of it.

Bare Minerals Well-Cared For Brush Conditioning Shampoo: My go-to makeup brush cleaner. I use a Sonia Kashuk brush spray when I need to be quick, then use this shampoo for deep cleaning. It works great with both synthetic and natural bristle brushes. It's also got conditioner built right in, so it leaves your brushes smooth and soft afterwards.

Lush Dream Cream Hand and Body Lotion: I got this as part of a set. Dream Cream is designed for sore and sensitive skin. It has calming ingredients like oatmeal, lavender and rose water. I have KP on my upper arms and this felt nice and soothing on that, but overall there are other Lush lotions I like better...

Lush Sympathy For The Skin Hand and Body Lotion: For instance, this lotion! It smells super scrumptious! The dominant notes are vanilla and banana, but like a real banana, not a fake banana Runts-type smell. The texture is rich without feeling greasy. The only thing I didn't like is that, as you can see, the lettering on the packaging kinda disintegrated over time, so it would come off on my hands whenever I used it.

Dr Brandt Microdermabrasion Skin Exfoliant: This is like a reset button for your skin. When I have days where my makeup isn't setting quite right or my skin looks tired, I know it's time to bust out this stuff! It's pretty intense, so I use it sparingly and only massage it very, very lightly against the skin. If you were to rub it in like your normal face scrub, you'd probably take a layer of your face off.

Lush Cupcake Fresh Face Mask: Probably my all-around favorite Lush mask, although I haven't tried the newest ones. It smells like chocolate and gets all the gunk out of my face--what's not to love? I've bought this a couple times now. You can read my full review HERE.

Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab Base Coat (not pictured): I've gone through several bottles of Gel Lab and I'm still crazy in love with it. I'm curious to try the re-formulated version, Gel Lab Pro, as I've only used the original. If you want to learn more about Gel Lab, I did a full review on it HERE.

Hope you guys enjoyed my first attempt at an empties post! Is this something you'd like to see more of? What products did you finish this past month?

OPI Infinite Shine: Review & Swatches

As promised, I've got some thoughts on OPI's new Infinite Shine system to share with you guys today! This is OPI's long-wear, high-shine polish system that's marketed as an alternative to gel manis. There are three steps to Infinite Shine: base coat, polish and top coat.

I was curious as to whether or not I'd like the base and top coat, since OPI's regular ones are not my favorite. Their regular base is nice enough, but the top coat takes longer to dry than I would like. I was pleasantly surprised though that I really liked these! The base coat is very quick-drying and the top coat is reasonably fast as well. I liked the consistency of both and found them easy to work with. In my opinion, both are a step up from OPI's regular offerings.

The color I picked is From Here To Eternity, a really cute, warm-toned pink. It's a great, vibrant color for spring/summer. I would say one of my critiques of the Infinite Shine system is the color selection is still getting off the ground. The colors are pretty, but they're not super unique; polish aficionados will find they already own a lot of similar colors, either from OPI's regular line or other brands. Still, that's something that can be expanded upon over time and I did take quite a liking to From Here To Eternity. Here's how it looked after one day of wear.

As you can see, it's got a nice, sleek shine. I don't think it's quite as shiny as my current favorite, Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab, but it's still got that squishy look to it. This polish was very easy to apply, with a wonderful consistency. I used two coats here. As for the brush, it is just like the one you'll find with OPI's classic polishes.

Long wear is a huge part of what is supposed to set the Infinite Shine line apart and I wore this polish for an unprecedented one week to really put it to the test! To ensure the longest wear possible, I capped my tips after each step: base, color and top coat. And I'm pleased to say it held up fabulously!

The only noticeable chipping I had was on my right hand, which is my dominant hand. My right index and ring fingers are my "problem nails" (Everyone has at least one, right?) so it didn't surprise me that they were the ones that chipped, because they hate everything.

Other than my manicure having "grown out" a bit, my left hand looked practically as good as it did on day one! There were no chips--not even visible tipwear--and as you can see, the shine was still in-tact. I was seriously impressed with how good everything looked--and I did not baby my hands and nails one bit!

So overall, I'm diggin' on OPI Infinite Shine. As I mentioned, the color selection could use a little work, but honestly I wear DL's Gel Lab with all kinds of polishes and I'm sure I'll mix n' match Infinite Shine the same way. It's too soon to say whether or not this will dethrone my beloved Gel Lab, but I can tell you that if you like OPI's regular polish, you will like Infinite Shine too! The price is pretty affordable ($12.50 per bottle, although you can also buy the base and top coat in a duo pack for $19.99, which is what I did) and the quality is excellent!

Have you tried Infinite Shine yet? What are your favorite products or tricks to get the longest wear out of your mani?

Twinsie Tuesday: OPI Muppets World Tour

EDIT: So I accidentally posted this last Tuesday, before it was time. So now that we're actually on the right week, let's give this another try!

I'll be the first to admit that I'm a huge procrastinator. So this week's Twinsie Tuesday theme, "I've been meaning to...", was difficult for me because I had too freakin' much to choose from. I've always got about a thousand things I want to put on my nails, whether it's design ideas or making a dent in my shamefully huge amount of untrieds.

But when I sat down and really thought about what I've been meaning to wear on my nails lately, one thing jumped out at me: "Dammit, Chelsea, you need to wear OPI Muppets World Tour already!" You see, I keep most of my untrieds in their own drawer but I do have a smaller group of untrieds I store in a little bin on my polish table. These are usually newer polishes or ones that I'm especially excited to wear soon. Muppets World Tour has been in this bin forever. Whenever I see it, I always think, "Oh yeah, I'll wear that next time" and then put on some other polish that's captured my attention at the moment.

So now here we are, months after both the Muppets collection and movie have come and gone and I still haven't tried on this poor polish. It's really a shame, because she's a stunner: a white quartz glitter with a rainbow of hexes and sprinklings of silver throughout. Here's two coats over a few layers of Barielle's Natural Nail Camouflage.

Isn't it gorgeous? I love that it's very delicate and soft-looking, but still has plenty of color and whimsy to it. I absolutely adore this glitter and I'm bummed I didn't wear it sooner!

What's something you've been meaning to try with your nails? I know I can't be the only procrastinator out there! ;)

​

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace
Anna at Going to the Showing
Bridget at A Painted Nail

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Cordia at Seriously Swatched

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Jessica at Blue Velvet Lacquer

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

​Lisa at The Polish Playground

​Marisa at Polish Obsession

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision​

Review: Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab

For years, Seche Vite has been my go-to topcoat. Yes, she has issues (thickness, shrinkage, etc.) and she can be temperamental at times, but despite several attempts to find a better topcoat, I always came back to good ole SV...

And then Deborah Lippmann Gel Lab came along and changed everything!

Gel Lab is a basecoat and topcoat duo that promises the long wear and high shine of a gel manicure, without the UV lamp. Now, when you change your polish as often as I do, you don't necessarily need a topcoat and basecoat that 1-2 weeks of wear, but I have a job where I use my hands a lot, so durability certainly doesn't hurt! I was so impressed with the mini sizes I'd tried of Deborah Lippmann's Addicted To Speed Topcoat and Fast Girls Basecoat that it peaked my curiosity in the Gel Lab set.

The biggest things I look for in a base and topcoat are:
1) good, workable consistency--not so thin that it's runny or too thick to the point that it's goopy
2) fast-drying
3) minimal (preferably no) drying issues like shrinkage, bubbling and rippling
4) durable.

So let's delve into each of those points in respect to Gel Lab!

Consistency: This to me is where Gel Lab really outshines SV. I get so frustrated with how thick SV gets about halfway through the bottle and it has all these annoying little "quirks" that come with that! Gel Lab has the perfect viscosity for me. The Lippmann brush is a favorite of mine, which adds to the ease of application. The bristles fan out across the nail, allowing for smooth, even application.

I didn't feel the need to add any thinner until about the last third or so of the Gel Lab topcoat bottle and even then, that was mostly to make it easier for me to reach down into the bottle and get product onto the brush than it was due to a change in consistency. As for the basecoat, I'm still only about 40% of the way through my first bottle after several months of use, but so far it's maintained the same perfect consistency throughout!

Fast-drying: Both the basecoat and the topcoat dry very quickly. Deborah recommends allowing about a minute of dry time between each step of a Gel Lab mani--basecoat, color and then topcoat--and I've found that works perfectly. After only a few minutes, the topcoat hardens to the point that I feel confident in using my hands again without fear of denting my polish.

Drying Issues: Other than a very occasional bubble here and there, I haven't noticed any "quirks" with Gel Lab topcoat. In my experience, it never shrinks, which is a huge plus over SV! Gel Lab dries to a high-shine finish that doesn't quite manage that squishy look of a real gel mani, but still gives you that extra gleam that any good topcoat should.

Durable: Given that Gel Lab promises gel manicure results at home, this will be the lengthiest part of the review. Now, I have never had an actual gel manicure, so I can't vouch to how this compares, but in doing some research from other reviewers, results seem varied in terms of whether or not they think Gel Lab lasts as long as a gel manicure does. So if you go in expecting Gel Lab to be as bulletproof as salon gel manicure, you may not see those exact results. Nail polish reacts differently to different body chemistry, so with any base and topcoat system, your mileage may vary.

Another point to keep in mind is that with the exposure to UV light and the special removal process, salon gel manicures can also be very harsh on your hands and nails. So these gel alternative systems are much kinder to your skin and nails in the long run, while still providing a respectable wear time.

But as someone who just wants a topcoat that is easy to work with, dries fast and holds up through several days of wear and tear, I could not be happier with the performance and wear time on Gel Lab! One tip that I've found is that capping the tips (running the brush along the free edge of your nail) after each step of the Gel Lab process is the key to really getting the most longevity out of your manicure. When I do this, I always get days of flawless, chip-free wear!

I have done many manicures with Gel Lab over the past few months, to the point that I feel comfortable vouching for its durability with a wide variety of polish brands. I haven't found any brand that it doesn't seem to play well with. But I decided to do an "official" wear test for this review using one of Deborah Lippmann's own polishes, Hannah, to give you an example of how Gel Lab holds up. Pretty much the longest I am capable of wearing a polish without really feeling the itch to change it is about five days, so here is four and a half days into my Hannah manicure:

As you can see, I easily could have worn Hannah for quite a while longer. All ten fingers were chip-free and the tipwear was virtually imperceptible. The topcoat also maintained its high-shine finish and still looked freshly applied, with no visible dents or scratches.

So yes, it's finally happened: I have a base and topcoat system that has dethroned Seche! Gel Lab is my new HG! There's really not anything I don't like about it. Yes, at $45 for the set (containing two 0.5 oz bottles), it's on the pricier side. But considering that you use base and topcoat with virtually every mani, to me, a good system is well worth investing in. It makes painting your nails a simpler, more enjoyable experience and it lets you get the most out of all the polishes you love!

Review: Barielle Natural Nail Camouflage

I could have sworn I posted this review already but I saw it still sitting in my drafts folder, so I guess I was mistaken. So this post is long overdue: a review of Barielle's Natural Nail Camouflage!

This lightly tinted base coat works especially well with sheers and jellies, as it helps cover VNL, staining and yellowing. It's a great way to increase the opacity of sheers so you can get the coverage you want without having to apply so many coats.

Here's a quick comparison. On my middle finger, I'm wearing Butter London Pink Ribbon, a sheer pink, with no base coat. On my ring finger, I've got the same polish on, except with Nail Camouflague underneath. My middle finger took four thick coats to reach opacity. My ring finger was three thin coats, no special application methods required. My ring finger also has by far the worst staining out of all ten of my nails, but the Natural Nail Camouflague helps tone it down and make it a breeze to cover, even with a sheer polish.

If you work somewhere that you can't wear colored polish or you simply don't feel like wearing it for whatever reason, you could use Natural Nail Camouflage to make sure your nails still look well-groomed. It dries down to a natural, semi-matte finish, so no one will even be able to tell that you have anything extra on your nails, but you'll still get the protection of having a base coat on and that bit of coverage if you need to cover any little imperfections.

If you have severe staining and you want to wear Natural Nail Camouflage alone, you'll likely need a few layers to even things out, as it's not super pigmented on its own. After all, this is not a polish, but a prepper, so it's not designed to be opaque. Otherwise, one coat is all you'll need to wear this as a traditional base coat, but of course you can add additional layers if desired.

On top of its unique benefits, Natural Nail Camouflage is just a plain nice base coat. It spreads well across the nail, dries quickly and helps prevent staining. 

You can purchase Barielle from their website.


Disclosure: This product was sent to me for my honest review. For more information, please see my disclosure policy.

Twinsie Tuesday: My Nail Care Routine

We're doing something a little different for this week's Twinsie Tuesday. Rather than sharing manis, we'll be sharing our nail care routines!

As I was writing out my whole routine, I was afraid I kinda sounded like a complete crazy lady, detailing all of the different steps I do and products I use. But it's a ritual that I enjoying doing and while it might sound like a lot of work, it's also very relaxing for me. I use it as a way to decompress and take some time for myself. So without further ado, here's how I take care of my nails!

A few of my nail care favorites: Essie Feed Me, Deborah Lippmann 2-Second Nail Primer, Barielle Nail Strengthening Cream, Seche Vite & Deborah Lippmann Cuticle Oil

Polish Removal & Nail Upkeep

First thing's first: removing my old manicure. For remover, I recently bought my first bottle of Zoya Remove+ and it absolutely lives up to all the hype! It works wonderfully but doesn't leave my nails feeling as dry and stripped as traditional removers do.

A few times a week, I follow up with Develop 10 Nail Whitening Scrub. I have some bad staining on my nails from polishing them so often and one of my nail care goals this year is to whiten them up. I've only been using this scrub for about two weeks, but there has been a visible difference so far! I know getting the stains to go away will be a gradual process but I'm encouraged by the initial results I've seen with this scrub.

 My essentials for cuticle removal: Blue Cross Cuticle Remover and a Sally Hansen cuticle pusher

As needed, I'll also use a cuticle remover after taking off my polish. My favorite is made by Blue Cross. You can get a jumbo bottle for super cheap at Sally Beauty. After applying my cuticle remover, I use a metal Sally Hansen cuticle pusher to get everything looking nice and tidy. I like this Sally Hansen pusher because the other end of the tool is designed for cleaning underneath your nails, so it's a two-in-one.

Prepping For Polish

Once or twice a week, I'll give my nails a good buffing and do some light filing, all with my Deborah Lippmann Smooth Operator 4 Way Buffer. I'm working on an in-depth review but in short, this is a great buffer if you're like me and tend to get a little overzealous. Deborah designed it so that it won't damage your nails, even if you like to put some extra pressure on.

After buffing, I massage Deborah Lippmann Cuticle Oil into my cuticles. This is one of my absolute nail care must-haves and I'm obsessed with it! Lush Lemony Flutter is another favorite cuticle rescue product. At this point in my routine, I may also slather on some Lush Handy Gurugu Hand Cream if my hands are feeling dry or rough.

Then I apply some Barielle Nail Strengthener Cream. My fellow Twinsie Lakeisha kindly provided me with some of this cream to try and I'm hoping it will work wonders for me like it did for her! My right index and middle finger nails always seem to peel or break and Lakeisha recommended this as a remedy. I haven't been using it for too long but so far, so good!

Next, I usually go mess around on the computer or watch a show or something like that, just to give all the creams and oils time to really sink in. When I'm ready for my actual manicure, I bust out my Deborah Lippmann 2-Second Nail Primer. This is a newer addition to my routine and I thought it sounded like kind of a gimmicky product at first but now that I've been using it, I really like it! What it is, is a primer that you brush across your nails to dissolve any grime and oils on the nail surface, ensuring you have a smooth, clean nail to help your polish go on easier and stay on longer. It's the same general concept as applying primer to your face before putting make-up on and it's a handy little product to have around.

Polish Time!

When I first started getting really into polish, I never wore--or even owned--a base coat. I only started wearing one after I got a free bottle of Seche Clear as part of a promo at Sally. Of course, now I know it's important not to skip base coat, both to lengthen the life of your manicure and to prevent staining. I haven't really committed to a base coat, but two of my favorites are Essie Feed Me and Deborah Lippmann Fast Girls. For glitter manis, I can't live without Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel.

Current base coat go-tos: Glitter A-Peel & Fast Girls

As for top coat, I have tried several different ones, but I always seem to wind up back with the ever-popular Seche Vite. It has its annoying quirks (thickness, shrinkage, etc.) but I can't deny how shiny it makes my nails and I love how quickly it dries.

So yeah, that's about it! This is a much longer post than I'd originally anticipated but hopefully I didn't come out of it looking too cray-cray. My personal routine has definitely changed and evolved over time so I'm looking forward to hopefully learning about some new products and tips from my fellow Twinsies' routines!

Alaina at The Little Canvas

Amanda at Amandalandish

Amber at Nails Like Lace

Anna at Going to the Showing

Anne at Grape Fizz Nails

Casey at CaseyLane Loves Polish

Chelsea at Nailed Blog

ChiChi at I'm Just Me...ChiChi

Elizabeth at Did My Nails

Erin at Paint Those Piggies

Heather at Peace, Love, & Polish

Kelly at Tuxarina

Lakeisha at Refined and Polished

Maribeth at Obsessive Cosmetic Hoarders Unite

Marisa at Polish Obsession

Rachel at Top Coat It

Róisín at Cuti-CLUE-les

Stephanie at A Little Polish

Tiffany at Polished To Precision

Traci at DrinkCitra

Review: Nail Pattern Boldness Glitter A-Peel

Got a stash full of glitter polish? Can never have enough sparkle? Then you need to check out Nail Pattern Boldness' new peel-off basecoat called Glitter A-Peel! Glitter fiend that I am, I had to give it a try! I purchased a bottle of Glitter A-Peel from Nail Pattern Boldness' Etsy shop and have been using it virtually non-stop since it arrived! This, ladies, is some good stuff. If you have always wanted to rock glitter non-stop without having to worry about when it comes time to take it off, I think Glitter A-Peel may just become your new best friend!

As you can see, Glitter A-Peel is not a glue basecoat. It looks and applies just like regular basecoat. The texture is a bit thicker than most normal basecoats, but it's still very easy to work with and dries super quickly. I use one coat, wait a few seconds for everything to dry and then I am good to go. Glitter A-Peel creates a smooth, even surface that makes polish application a breeze. There are no bumps or residue whatsoever. My polish goes on the same as if I were using a normal basecoat.

Compared to glue basecoat, I'd say Glitter A-Peel is more durable and I also find it easier to work with--both in application of the product itself and applying polish over it. There's no waiting around for it to dry or worrying about any lumps or ridges where the basecoat pooled like there is with glue. With Glitter A-Peel I can be as rough on my hands as I want without having to really worry about accidental peeling. I only had one instance where some of my polish popped off before I was ready to take it off--and trust me, I did not baby my hands one bit! I went through long work days, prying things open with my hands, cleaning, etc. Some polishes seemed a bit more prone to chipping with this basecoat, but otherwise I was extremely pleased with how durable my manis were with this basecoat. The only advantage glue basecoat has over Glitter A-Peel is the price, but I feel like Glitter A-Peel performs and applies better, so it's worth the extra price. (A 0.5 oz. bottle sells for $8.)

Removal is a sinch. I wriggle an orange stick under one of the edges and then the polish comes off nice and smoothly. It's oddly satisfying. Polish usually came off in big pieces--oftentimes all in one piece--so there's no picking and scraping to try and pry off remaining bits of polish. It doesn't leave any type of film or stickiness behind on your nails either. Here's a quick snap of my Darling Diva Bitches Have Birthdays mani--post-removal, of course!

The only thing I am not 100% on board with about Glitter A-Peel is the smell. This is not a three-free basecoat; it contains Toluene, which has a distinct odor to it, kind of like rubber cement. But as I mentioned, Glitter A-Peel dries quickly and the smell vanishes as soon as it dries, so you don't really have to deal with the smell for long. It's more of an observation than a complaint. Glitter A-Peel works so wonderfully that I don't mind if it smells!

I suppose you could technically use this basecoat with non-glitter polishes as well if you don't want to go through the process of regular removal or maybe just want to give your nails a break from all that acetone. I've been using only Glitter A-Peel for over a week straight now and my nails seem to be appreciating their acetone-free holiday. :) There has been no damage to my nails whatsoever and if anything, they look and feel less dry.

Overall, this is an amazing product and an absolute godsend if you love glitter but hate the hassle of removal. I highly recommend Glitter A-Peel and I hope Nail Pattern Boldness keeps making it for a long time to come, because I would be a customer for life! In fact, I've already ordered a back-up bottle so I'm never without this stuff!

Glue Basecoat For Easy Glitter Removal: Instructions, Tips & FAQ

Oh, the things we do for glitter... Right, girls?

True. So painfully true.

Luckily, as I'm sure by now many of you have heard by now, there's a new, easier way to take off your glitter polish: glue basecoat. It all began when Essence came out with a peel-off basecoat, which it turned out was basically just the same ingredients as craft glue, plus some water and preservatives. Remember the weird satisfaction of peeling dried glue off your hands as a little kid? Well this is pretty much the same idea: being able to peel off glitter nail polish all in one go! No scrubbing, no foil, no hassle!

I will try anything for easy glitter removal, so naturally I had to test this out for myself after hearing all the hype. After doing several manis with a glue basecoat, I wanted to share my results with you all, plus some tips in case you were curious to try it too! I'm happy to report that the glue basecoat really works and is the easiest method I've ever tried for glitter removal!

The ingredients are really simple--and dirt cheap too! All you need is some non-toxic glue and an empty polish bottle.

Like so.

 

I made sure to clean out the bottle really well by turning it upside down for a few hours and then swirling some acetone inside for good measure too. Then I squirted the glue inside the bottle until it was about 85% full. I added a bit of water to make the glue thinner and more workable, but this step is completely optional. I personally don't like working with thick bases, but everyone is different, so you can fill it all the way up with just glue if you prefer. If you do add water though, make sure you shake the bottle up afterwards to really mix it in good with your glue.

Then, simply apply the glue like you would a normal basecoat. Allow about 5 minutes to dry (5-10 if you didn't add water), then go ahead and paint your nails like usual. When you're ready to take your mani off however many days later, wedge in a cuticile stick or something similar and go to town peeling! It's oddly addicting! I always just peel the polish off in the shower. The glitter comes right off and you can usually get it all in one big piece too.

Now for the FAQ portion of this post:

Is it safe?
So long as you're using craft glue (check your labels--think Elmer's or something similar), then it's non-toxic. Children have been using this stuff in school for years with no ill effects. Heck, some of you probably ate Elmer's glue in elementary school--you know who you are. ;)

Does it damage your nails?
I haven't seen any negative impact on the strength or texture of my nails. If anything, it's made my nails and my cuticles happier because I'm not soaking them in acetone all the time! However, this does lead me to my next point, which is important...

Do I use a regular basecoat with a glue basecoat?
No. I've read some people saying you can if you really want to, but that it makes removal more difficult. Others have also said that pairing glue basecoats with some traditional basecoats (Orly Bonder, OPI Nail Envy, etc.) has caused the glue to pull up layers of their actual nail. So only use a glue basecoat on bare nails!

Is this basecoat waterproof? How well does it wear?
I've been able to shower and wash my hands as usual with the glue basecoat and the glue holds up just fine. I haven't noticed any significant differences in weartime or durability.

Hopefully this post has been helpful! I think this is a real game-changer for us glitterhounds. It's cheap, it's easy and it works! What's not to like? :) Happy polishing, ladies!