hailes talks nails

I've always wanted to be good at doing my nails. To keep them nice and healthy. To paint them regularly. Just to not hate them as much as I always have and recently I've gotten into them a lot more! I've always painted my nails (and loved nail varnish) but I was terrible at shaping and doing all the prep work. This all changed after I  had my first manicure a couple of months ago. It was amazing seeing my nails go from chipped, dry monstrosities with horrible ridges in to lovely rounded, smooth, healthy little nails with the dreamiest pink painted on them. Well, while I was at the spa having them done I really picked the nail technician's brain. She'd do something and I'd be like, "Oo what was that? Can you show me how you did that?" and luckily she was lovely. I think she found my inquisitiveness quite amusing. But ever since that day, I got a taste of what it felt like to have nice nails and since then, I've been trying to keep it up. The pictures above show my absolute favourite nail polish. It's from Kiko and goes on so effortless. I've had it a while and it hasn't gone all gloopy which is always the sign of a great varnish!
The picture below shows all the products I've been using recently. As you can see they aren't in pristine-just-bought condition because I have actually been using them all a lot.

A Few Tips:

So I'm no expert. Really. I'm so far from it. But these are just a couple of things I've discovered since getting into nails!

• I don't care what they say. It ain't no beauty myth. Putting your nail varnish in the fridge does works. It goes on better, stays on for longer and gives a more glossy effect.
• Burt's Bees cuticle cream (see above) is ah-mazing and it smells even better. Such a handy sized product to carry around in your make up bag for when your nails are feeling a little dry.
• Under coats and base coats make ALL the difference. 
• The nail technician told me that if you get ridges in your nails (which I always do), to buff them out. I didn't know this. Maybe everyone but me knows this but man, it really works. Try and steer clear of those cheap cube filer/buffer/shiner/polisher/does absolutely nothing'er. Pay for a good buffer and you'll see the difference.
• If you're going nail varnish shopping take some sellotape with you. Then pop a bit of tape over your nails and you can try out the testers and then just remove them when you're finished. I discovered this amazing tip when I first found a Kiko shop in the south of France. This helps to save your from that horrible situation of having random testers all over your nails!

Anyway, I thought I'd share with you a couple of funny nail memes I found on Pinterest recently...

To follow my nail journey some more, feel free to follow me on Instagram here...

Also, let me know your top nail tips and your thoughts on anything and everything I've discussed in this super long post!

Happy Monday Y'all!