My favourite hand and nail care products

Hey all!

It was decided way back (or at least I thought it was) that the British Nail Bloggers would do a colab post on our favourite hand and nail care products. Turns out, its for favourite base and top coats, so look out for that in the near future. Here is my post on hand and nail care products now that I've actually written it haha!

I don't think I have an absolute favourite, I do tend to swap quite a lot! But one thing does stay the same and thats my love of OPI Nail Envy.

When I first started nail blogging, I'd given up REAL nail biting for around 2 years. I had never painted my nails before this time and I regularly broke my nails and ended up occasionally chewing them back in stress - simply because my nails were weak, soft and bendy and I didn't look after them at all. Therefore it was much easier to bite them back, pull at them and generally try and ignore the fact they were attached to the end of my fingers! After following a number of blogs I discovered OPI Nail Envy and since then I have never looked back - and neither have my nails! I always wear one coat as a base, or two if I know my polish will be a stainer. My nails are much stronger, healthier and over the course of the year I have been blogging I have managed to lengthen my nail beds as well. Win win!

I won't lie, my cuticle routine could be better. I was once told I should cut my cuticles - this was definitely a mistake and I now have ridiculously fast growing ones. I do push them back, but not as regularly as I should - but I do try and keep them well nourished.  I have a few favourite cuticle products for this:

OPI Avoplex Oil - I have a bottle of this that I picked up from TK Maxx for £4.99 - bargain! It usually retails around £9-10. It's not really handy for carrying about, so I use this when I remove my polish and after I've done a new mani.

My own cuticle balm - these are surprisingly easy to make - this recipe (left) I made for carrying around, its great now the weather is taking its toll on my hands and I can apply when I like!

Sunny's Miracle Balms - where I got ideas for my own balm. Mine is nowhere near as refined, but it'll do until her samplers are back in stock.

The Nail Junkie Cutie Balm - a totally different texture of cuticle care - this has boat loads of Avocado oil and is wonderfully rich and oily. I apply this before bed usually as it takes its time to sink in and can leave your fingers quite greasy, but you can't deny the good it does for your hands!

Hand creams galore! I love hand creams - I don't think I've ever finished a bottle - but here are the ones currently in my handbag (yes, my handbag is bigger than Mary Poppin's!)

Boots Royal Jelly Pure Honey Hand and Nail Cream - I got this in a Royal Jelly set for Xmas. I've always associated Royal Jelly with old people.. but this is really lovely. Soft, silky, nicely scented but not overpowering, soaks in quickly and leaves your hands soft but not sticky or oily. It's a good price as well if you want to buy it on its own - only £2.09. 

Burts Bees Hand Salve - picked this up just before Xmas - it came in a pack with a beeswax lip balm. It's supposed to be peppermint scented, but it reminds me of disinfectant - not sure why. Its not overly strong though, and it has a nice texture. Its oily, but not overly so - its easy to apply and soaks in super fast. The weather has been viciously cold and icy the past few days and I've been turning to this more and more while I've been out. You can buy it on its own here or in many bigger cosmetics retailers.

Body Shop hand creams - I picked up 3 different ones in their sale - Cranberry Joy, Ginger Sparkle and Vanilla Bliss. All three are really nice - 30ml fits perfectly in my handbag and also in my going out bags, and they have a really thick texture and uplifting scents. Even though the texture is thick, its lovely to apply and sinks in dead easily - leaving your hands feeling soft and fresh. I am never sure whether I like vanilla scented things - sometimes its nice, sometimes its sickly sweet.. but its not a very strong scent in this hand cream anyway. If you like Body Shop products, these were only £2 each online and definitely worth the price!

Another Body Shop product I love is their Absinthe purifying hand cream. This comes in a metallic tube and you can buy in the much bigger 100ml tubes. I got mine as a miniature set with a matching nail file and I love it. It's meant to protect your hands and it does just that - my hands see bowl after bowl of washing up without gloves and this cream keeps them soft and moisturised. I've used this cream on and off for a long time - I used it when I used to work in the food industry and it transformed my hands from sore and chapped to beautifully soft. When I ran out, I didn't buy another as at the time I didn't look after my hands - I really wish I had! Glad I take the time to do so now! This retails at £5 for 30ml and £10 for 100ml. You can buy it in store or online.

And the one I am hovering for - hoping it will go on sale - I LOVE this hand cream - the texture is just unreal and it smells gorgeous. It has oatmeal in it. I discovered my work colleague has a massive bottle of it, so I've been sneaking a bit here and there when shes not about haha! Aveeno Emolient Hand Cream. It's pretty pricey for £5.45, so I'm still hovering for an offer in the future - currently living off the samples I got free in a magazine!

Top 10 Seasonal Nail Products and Polishes

Hey all,

Long time no see! Been so run down with work, chocka with cold and whatever lurgies have been passed to me that blogging has taken a temporary back seat. I have however still been painting my nails to cheer myself up!

So here are my top 10 nail products for the season. I love this time of year - I love listening to xmas songs, I love buying presents for people and I love receiving presents too of course! But most of all I love that I get to see a bit more of my family and we get to spend some quality time together, even if it is only a few hours around the table.

Again, I haven't really put these in any order.. I would really be here until after Xmas if I had to decide!

Firstly is a basic product - cuticle balm. With the coldness setting in, my Raynauds has kicked in again - not sure if its related to my Raynauds or just the cold.. but my nails and skin have started to go downhill big style. So I've been slathering on the cuticle balm like theres no tomorrow. It has left my skin and cuticles much better, but I'm not commenting on my nails just yet. My favourites are Sunny's Miracle Balm and Cutie Balm by The Nail Junkie. I carry my Miracle Balm around for every day use, and I usually wear my Cutie Balm before bed when it has time to soak in. Sunny's Miracle Balms come in so many different scents its unreal - my favourite so far is Eucalyptus as its not an overpowering scent. The Nail Junkie's Cutie Balm is unscented and perfect for anyone with sensitive hands and skin (or a sensitive nose like myself!) I also have my own that I've made myself - they're fairly easy to make, I've played around with mine to improve the texture as my first although they did work were difficult to apply and a little on the gritty side (new on the left).

Another hand care product is my hand cream. I have millions of these and to be honest, I don't have a particular favourite. They have all worked well enough for me, but I did happen to really like the texture of one I got as a sample in a magazine - its got a nice texture - not sticky, overpowering or 'claggy'. It works in really nice and left my hands feeling lovely and I didn't need to reapply after washing my hands during the day - so it's on my list to buy. It's called Aveeno Hand Cream with colloidal oatmeal. 

Onto the polishes and other nail products. I think Xmas calls for some solid basic colours. Black, white, red, gold, silver, (blue and green) are my Xmas go-to's. I have always been a massive fan of Zoya Raven for my go to black, but as its hard to come by and also expensive, I have swapped and been using Sinful Colors Black to Black. For £1.99 I really can't fault it - it is a one coater on my short nails and has a nice and easy to level formula with a satin finish. However, my new find is the Kate Spade - New York Noir polish by Nails Inc. Its absolutely stunning. I actually only picked it up for the sake of it being free, but I am so glad I did - it really was worth the £2 price tag on the magazine! Even glossier than Zoya and a fraction of the price!

Zoya - Raven

Kate Spade - New York Noir by Nails Inc

Red is a hard choice. It is one of my most owned colours after pink (which I hardly ever wear - go figure!) and I have so many that I love. I really love jelly reds - most of which I own are very similar, if not dupes.. but seen as I love them so much I can't part with them! One is Poppy Red from the Beauty UK Gel FX collection. 

It's inexpensive and such a beautiful vibrant red - what I love the most is that it's something I can wear whenever I want - red isnt just a Xmas colour. Another very similar red that I love is Sinful Colors Gogo Girl. It has the same vibrant colour and jelly texture as Poppy Red, the only difference is that you would need more coats for the plumped Gel look that Poppy Red has and a good top coat to match the shine. The last red on my list is Crimson Rose, also by Beauty UK. I really expected to dislike this but it is so classy and demure, I just stare at my nails all the time. It is definitely an autumn winter polish, although I'm not sure it's a specific Xmas colour. Just so you're aware, I did get the two Beauty UK polishes as samples for review.

Gold and silver are no brainers - Barry M Gold and Silver Foil Effects. I don't own the latter, I usually steal it from Becca when I'm polishing at her house. I picked up the gold from a blog sale and use it for pretty much anything that requires gold. They stamp great and have fantastic coverage for general nail painting as well.

Glitters! OMG. This was the hardest part by far. I LOVE glitter. Its the biggest section in my helmers as I class glitter as my favourite colour - it has two drawers. There are so many shapes and sizes, I don't think I could ever pick just one, but I do love a good multi-coloured glitter (Ellagee Crazy He Calls Me or KBShimmer Wrapper's Delight are my Xmas faves). 

I also have a passion for circles. Circles here, circles there, big, small, holographic... I LOVE ME SOME CIRCLES! I have a few now with circles in them, and some of my favourites come from Nail Lacquer UK. I have Midnight Prince, Grape Juice, Choose the One, Heart or Love and Ariel which are all circles from Nail Lacquer UK. 

Nail Lacquer UK - Heart or Love

Can you really pass through the season and not have some love for iridescent flakies? I certainly cant! I only own two - Finger Paints Asylum and Sinful Colors Green Ocean. Neither are easy to come by, but they are both worth it if you can get them. Completely different in their own right, but both just beautiful! (I also own a couple of iridescent glitter polishes which also create the same sort of effect and are much easier to find - my favourite is my new Nail Lacquer UK - Snow Topper which also comes with cute snowflakes as well!)

Holos! Could I not mention holos? Definitely not. There are only two holos that I swear by and they are both Zoyas. Zoya Storm - a black scattered holo, and Zoya Blaze, a deep wine red scattered holo. I own back up bottles of both and am considering backups of my backups - no holos have ever come close for me on how beautiful these are!

And last but not least - stamping plates. I have only recently gotten my Xmas MoYou London plates but I'm surprised there are any etchings on as I have used them that much! I don't want to spoil the Xmas manis I've done as I have seperate posts coming.. so here's my most popular and favourite stamp so far (also a MoYou London plate!)

What're your top 10 favourite seasonal products?

Rachael xxx