The Perfect Manicure

You guys know I love having painted nails. I've been doing my own for so long I've come up with what I think is the perfect combination of products for a long lasting manicure. Back in June my friend Jessica did a similar post on her blog. While we follow a similar routine, we do have some differences.

Here's how I've gotten my manicures to last up to 2 weeks chip-free!

1. File, shape, and buff nails as needed.
2. Apply 1 coat of Seche Base. If you want to cut down on a step, this would be it. The Seche Base helps prevent the top coat from peeling. I wouldn't recommend using this as your only base coat, I've not had good luck doing that.
3. Apply 2 coats of CND Stickey base coat. Best base coat I've found.
4. Apply 2-3 coats of nail polish. OPI is my favorite, but in recent months I've expanded my collection to include a few Essie and Sally Hansen colors. The Essie and SH colors are more on trend than what OPI offers, but quality wise, OPI wins.
5. Add any nail designs if desired (see below).
6. Apply 2 coats of Seche Vite top coat. I dare you to find a better top coat!

And, voila!

As for nail designs, I've been doing something with just about every manicure lately. It's so fun! Earlier this summer I tried an ombre look and my first water marble look wasn't half bad either. My favorite nail design technique is nail stamping. It's relatively easy and there are so many designs to choose from. You can read my post all about nail stamping HERE. Nail Polish Canada was kind enough to fuel my obsession and sent me one of Konad's newest nail stamping plates.

I chose plate M95, which features 4 full nail designs and a cute little owl icon.

I love the designs on this plate, I can especially see myself using the bottom two designs a lot. And the hearts will be so fun for Valentine's Day! I tried out all 4 full nail designs (totally spaced on taking a picture of the last one!) and all stamped great. I haven't tried the owl yet, the little icons are intimidating to me and I can never seem to get them centered correctly on my nails.

Nail Polish Canada is currently hosting a giveaway for the 5 newest Konad plates, you can enter HERE! I'd love for one of my readers to win, good luck!

Disclaimer: I received the nail stamping plate free for review. No other compensation was provided. All other products pictured and mentioned in this blog post were purchased by me.