Manicure of the Week and Nail Polish Review

My manicure for this week is quite simple because I can finally start growing my nails I thought I would do a coloured french manicure, so instead of doing a whole lot of tutorial photos I thought I would review the nail polishes that I have used in this manicure.

Coloured French with reverse ring finger.

I applied my regular base coat, OPI Nail Envy Nail Strengthener for Sensitive and Peeling Nails (it's the one with the orange writing). This base coat works well for me, I don't have sensitive or peeling nails so I can't judge it on its ability to help with that but it helps to prevent staining on my nails. I do still get slight staining when I wear green and blue polishes, so I recommend trying two layers of base coat if you are using blue or green polish.

Next I applied two coats of OPI Pink Flamenco to all my nails except my ring fingers. This colour applies nicely to my nails and is opaque in two coats. It is also very shiny, even without a topcoat, but I always apply a topcoat so I get as much wear as possible.

Next I applied three coats of Revlon Orange Pop, which is scented when dry. Like all Revlon polishes that I have tried this colour needs three coats to be opaque. It is less shiny than the OPI polish but this doesn't matter because I put a topcoat on top. At first I thought the scented when dry idea was a silly gimmick because you can't smell it after you have put top coat on, but I find it useful. I know that when I can smell the orange then the polish is dry and ready for another coat.

I then free hand painted french tips on all my nails with the opposite colour. I did two coats of the Revlon Orange Pop and one coat of the OPI Pink Flamenco.

Once it was all dry I applied Nailene Acrylic Strong topcoat. This gives a nice shine and helps prolong the wear of my polish. But I do find that I can get bubbles in my nails when I use this topcoat.

Overall I like this combination of polishes and it usually lasts at least a week on my nails, although I do find that when my nails are longer the polishes tend to crack after a few days because my nails have more flexibility than the polish. I try to prevent this by adding a layer of topcoat every couple of days.