I saw a piece on the news a few weeks ago saying that the average woman has a couple hundred dollars worth of nail polish in their cabinet and most never gets used.
What? That’s crazy talk. But then I looked in my bathroom drawer.
That stat is totally the case for me. I’m super hard on my nails. I like to garden, I do dishes. I go to the gym and play sports. But the huge truth is that I hate sitting still long enough for polish to dry.
Then I walk into Ulta or Target or Walgreens and see the pretty colors on the wall and I get sucked in. I tell myself this time, this brand will be different. My nails will be awesome all the time. And that never happens.
But now, I found a solution. Cheap polish. I never pay more than a few bucks for the color itself.
I know. I’m not 14. I know. But there’s a method to the madness. What makes this work is high quality base and top coat. At some point, I realized that if you have a solid base, and you lock the color in, you could go cheap on the color itself.
And this rarely proves me wrong. Take this image – I painted my toenails 2 weeks ago using a bottle of polish that I bought at CVS for $1.25. During this 2 weeks, I worked out, played tennis, walked dogs, wore flip flops constantly and spent a week barefoot at the beach. In the sand.
The color is called “Surf n Turf.” How can you not love that?
And 2 weeks later they still look pretty good. Think how cute my feet would have looked if I had the time or talent to do a little nail art?
Like I said – the key is in the base and the top. These are the ingredients in the secret sauce:
Base coat: In our not-so-scientific study, our best results came with China Glaze Strong Adhesion Base Coat or Julep’s Oxygen Smoothing Base Coat.
Color: Man, these polishes from Pop-Arazzi are addicting. The colors are so fun! I bought these at CVS the regular price is 2.99, but they have them on sale often. At a price point like that, you can splurge and get a few colors. Go crazy.
Top coat: Gotta give it to China Glaze again – that No-Chip Top Coat is pretty great.
Then there’s my favorite part of this whole thing —- Opi Drip Dry Lacquer Drying Drops. Your nails are set in a minute. They are really set in 5 minutes. Essentially rock solid in 10 minutes. Lifesaver.
So if you’re busy like me and on a budget, this combo is a lifesaver. Save the crazy money on colors, get a quality base and top coat, and splurge on the drying drops for your sanity sake.
What’s your favorite nail polish combo?
Want to check these out? Here’s links the goods:
Drip Dry Lacquer Drying Drops:
(FYI – no, I didn’t get kick backs from any company for doing this review, and yes I bought all of these products with my own money. Totally unbiased!)
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