What follows is a brief cautionary tale…

Neglect your mani/pedi long enough, and your fingers and toes may turn to eagle talons. It’s true. I speak from experience. I’ve neglected my nails to the point where I could carve hearts in trees, bluh!

Enter the Lori Greiner by Orly Manicure Keeper Nails Necessities Kit ($18), a handy (ha!) three-piece set of goodies designed to make at-home manicures easier. You get a bottle of Rubberized Basecoat to bump up the wear time of your polishes, a bottle Smudge Repair to smooth over any nail polish mistakes (I always make at least one) and a small bottle of Fast Dry Drops to cut down the drying time of polished nails.

Is that an apparition in the corner or just a tabby who won’t sit still?

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Base coats, like the Essie First Base ($8) shown above, act like primer for nail polish, ensuring better adhesion of polish to the nail. Not only does that mean a more uniform application of color, but it means a longer lasting mani or pedi that’s slower to chip.

Other reasons to use a base coat

1. Base coats with certain proteins, Aloe vera, vitamin E and/or calcium can strengthen nails that are brittle and dry and reduce splitting and peeling.
2. Dark nail polishes like blues, blacks and bright reds can stain the nail and seep into the nail bed. Applying a base coat may prevent that from happening.
3. A base coat provides a hint of shine, and when used properly (base coat, color coat, top coat), the shine lasts even longer.

Sounds good, right?

Then why don’t I use one all the time, LOL? I wish I could say that I always take the time to apply a base coat, but I don’t. It’s a step I’ll skip if I’m feeling lazy or rushed, which is about half the time.

As a matter of fact, before my visit to the Lippmann Nail Bar last year, where I got a rundown on base coats from an accomplished polish pro, I used to skip the step entirely.

When you do your nails, do you always take the time to use a base coat?

Your friendly neighborhood beauty addict,

Karen

Like a miniature giant, I TOWER over the world around me. I don’t mind being vertically challenged, but at just over five feet tall it bugs me when pre-pubescent kids ask me whose class I’m in, or when a box of cereal mocks me from an out-of-reach shelf at the grocery store.

Other than these few annoyances, I’m totally down with being small.

As a matter of fact, I have a soft spot in my heart for other small things, like babies, Smurfs and Hershey’s Kisses, and couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw Orly’s Mani Mini nail polishes.

Aren’t they precious?

Drugstore brand Orly offers an extensive line of nail polish colors and nail care products. Each of their four Mani Mini sets runs $9.95 and comes with four tiny 0.18-fl oz bottles.

I like these wee tykes. I can never seem to finish a full-sized bottle of nail polish, so it makes sense to me to package ‘em smaller and sell ‘em for less.

The Classics set comes with four safe shades in colors designed to work in every season.

• Berry Sweet: shimmery hot pink
• Haute Red: creamy red
• Ruby: creamy wine
• Sheer Peche: transparent light peach

Berry Sweet

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