I'm a huge OPI (and to a lesser extent, Essie) fan. I think OPI and Essie both have great colors and last-ability, but I think the thicker OPI brush is so much easier to paint nails.

I have a whole system when I do my nails (which is pretty often):
-Cuticle Remover (Sally Hansen Instant Cuticle Remover)
-Push back cuticles with cuticle stick and wash hands
-First coat of OPI Nail Envy
-Two coats of OPI or Essie polish
-Top coat of Seche Vite dry fast top coat... the MOST. AMAZING. TOP COAT. EVER. Dries quickly and with a super shiny finish. Seriously, you can do almost anything within 20 minutes of applying this top coat without smudging your nails. Amazing!

Current OPI color obsessions:
http://www.beautyjunkiesunite.com/WP...res-swatch.jpg
OPI I Brake for Manicures

http://www.beautysnob.com/images2010...l_we_drop2.jpg
OPI Ski Teal We Drop

http://www.beautyjunkiesunite.com/WP...OPI-swatch.jpg
OPI Honk if You Love OPI

http://www.beautyjunkiesunite.com/WP...hts-swatch.jpg
OPI French Quarter for Your Thoughts (Super similar to Essie's Chinchilly)

My faves from Mavala:
Marrakech - a pinkish red
http://scrat.hellocoton.fr/img/mediu...la-2229807.png

Mexico - deep purple
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ThF0pMFcXy...00/image_3.jpg

Nice - red orange
http://fabiana.se/wp-content/uploads...la-nice-72.jpg

Minsk - blueish grey
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_Q_GtmGHQEr...vala+Minsk.JPG

Berlin - light grey
http://img.over-blog.com/333x500/3/5...ris1-copie.jpg

Get some fun dish washing gloves to protect your manicure and also from soap drying out your hands. I'm kind of Howard Hughes/Joan Crawford about some of my cleaning since I have cats, and I have different gloves for each task: dishes, bathroom cleaning, household cleaning, kitchen cleaning, cats (I scrub out their litter boxes) and write the chore inside the cuff. My local Wal-Mart has pairs with patterned cuffs for under $3 as does Ross. I broke in a new pair this weekend cleaning the inside of my dishwasher and I looked quite glamorous removing the rust, hard water deposits, and gross stuff I don't want to really know about.

Are there any brands y'all see or use that are without formaldehyde, other than OPI? Since I live in a small rural area I'm limited, but if I knew what brands to look for I can use the internet for orders. I'm also avoiding toluene, but with a good base coat it may be tolerated, but formaldehyde is a deal breaker.

I mentioned this one before, but Butter London is without formaldehyde and it is AMAZING. They sell it at Ulta if you have one of those anywhere close by...?

You mean like these...
http://s4.thisnext.com/media/250x250/4BA01BA9.jpg

You want to look for stuff that's "Big 3 Free" - free of Dibutyl Phthalate (DBP), Formaldehyde and Toluene.

There's a list of polishes here.
http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2009/0...l#.T0RUxvGPXd4

And here.
http://www.inspirationail.com/3-free-varnish/

Oh yeah, you can order Zoya online and from what I've seen the polishes are beautiful and high quality. They're 3 free - I haven't taken the initiative to look through and pick out colors yet (since I'm working off a gift card that I've earmarked for nail polish) but I intend to.

Stay away from Seche Vite as a topcoat. It's LOADED with one of them, I forget which, but might have all three. I'm pretty sure my Sally Hansen Insta-Dri topcoat is 3 free. A good topcoat helps keep manicures from chipping, too.

The China Glaze polishes with the black labels (on the bottom) are 3 free - I like that brand a lot but don't get the wear out of them like I do OPI or Nicole by OPI.

If I'm getting something besides a drugstore brand or boring color of OPI I can usually find it (well, not the HTF ones necessarily) for about $3-5 a piece on the Awazon. OPI, China Glaze... I've ordered a few off of there and haven't had a problem - they always mail wrapped in bubble wrap in a bubble wrap envelope so it fits in my mailbox which I appreciate as the post office sucks about delivering packages that don't fit.

Ya, Toluene :(

I still use it but not every day - mostly when I have a glittery or shimmery polish that's rough and I want to smooth it out. For cremes I use insta-dri but it tends to crack on me (is that weird? It only happens with this topcoat but I can NOT wait for non-almost instant topcoats to dry).

http://www.alllacqueredup.com/2012/0...l#.T0RZ0E4gcVg

I found swatches of the Hunger Games nail polish! So far I like Fast Track, Harvest Moon, and Riveting the best. I'm not sure if I'm so keen on Luxe and Lush anymore.

You just made this so easy for me with those lists! My reasons for avoiding that stuff is that it stains my nails a horrible yellow that looks like a smoke, and it dries out the surrounding skin and I get more hangnails and my cuticles look unattractive.

I'm quite familiar with Butter as I've had them do my nails at the Seattle airport many times, they are just around the corner from the Alaska Airlines Boardroom and most of my flights. It looks like there are a few places nearby (within 100 miles in Coeur d'Alene and Spokane) that carries Butter. There's a Nordstrom and an Ulta in Spokane, and also two surprising retailers: Northern Quest Casino and Mel's Nursery.

Butter's Powder Finish Foot Creme is one of my favorite products, I've given money to people with layovers to get more.


Not as fancy as that with the ribbons, mine just have patterned cuffs, but you've got the idea.

I decided to get the entire Holland collection from OPI. It's ridiculously gorgeous, and I'm kind of obsessed.

China Glaze has a magnetic nail polish collection: http://www.thepolishaholic.com/2012/...ollection.html
Not sure if want.

Nutra Nail now has a gel manicure kit for at-home use that doesn't require a UV light. Not a huge selection of colors, mostly pinks and reds. But at under $15, I'd be willing to try it. There are even coupons on the Nutra Nail website.

Has anyone ever heard of Piggy Paint nail polish? I stumbled across it yesterday and then visited the website.

From the website:
"Piggy Paint is specially formulated from God’s natural ingredients and dries to a hard, durable finish. There are no toxic chemicals; it’s free of formaldehyde, toluene, phthalates, Bisphenol A, ethyl acetate and acetone."

Obviously, they are marketing to kids/moms, but I think I want to order some.

I think for me, things like that depend on durability. If they're marketed to kids, it's possible that they're made to be removed pretty easily--with my line of work I can't afford to have a manicure bust out on me after day 2 or 3. That's why I end up doing gel and UV manicures.

Edit: I was confusing Piggy Paints and Piggy Polish, which is sold at ULTA and marketed as specially formulated for toes.

I'm such a Seche Vita addict :( Nothing else keeps my manicure chip free for up to two weeks - not to mention the shine it gives! People have often mistaken it for shellac. :D lol An alternative to Seche is Essie's Good To Go. I think it last just as long, but it doesn't have the same amount of shine though.

I recently discovered Zoya (I am a DEVOTED China Glaze girl) and I'm really loving the bottles I've purchased so far!

I organized my nail polish box today and took "inventory" since I've come close to buying a lot of dupes lately.

I need to lay off the polish buying.

Honeykiss, I LOVE Zoya. Have you gotten anything from their new beach and surf collection?

I love the colors from Essie's new summer collection! I bought Off the Shoulder and Mojito Madness. They are so cute and perfect for summer!

I LOVE Mojito Madness! I got it on Friday and am so glad I treated myself to a "Live-in's in Vegas without me, we had layoffs at work this week" pick-me-up.

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339207501

And then I did this:

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339354555

http://i719.photobucket.com/albums/w...g?t=1339354572

Oh my gawd. That is GORGEOUS. I'm so jealous of your skills. I just did a mani with Mojito Madness with silver glitter on my ring fingers. I can't quite get the hang of ombre manis. I found a couple tutorials on Pinterest but I haven't been brave enough to try it on myself. Any tips for me?

Sure. I haven't had luck before but tried this tutorial, http://www.thenailasaurus.com/2012/0...orial.html?m=1, from the nailasaurus blog, and it turned out much better. The holo glitter hides the bumpiness a little.

Thanks! I'll be sure to try it. I think I'll use my sister as a guinea pig tonight. I have a really good top coat that is great at hiding bumpiness, and it almost makes and manicure or pedicure look like a gel, but it comes off like any regular topcoat. It's called the Glosse topcoat by Milani. You can get it at Target or probably any Walmart/Walgreens/RiteAid type place. I love it. It's so shiny, and a coat or two will make even the bumpiest of glitter perfectly smooth and shiny. It's pretty cheap too. It's in a solid gold bottle, but it's clear. I highly recommend it.

Thanks for the topcoat rec. I'm using Wet & Wild right now, and it is shit, but I want to use it up before I get another. I was just going to go w/ the Revlon.

Yeah, I hate cheap topcoat. I firmly believe that nothing ruins a good mani/pedi more. It also follows that good topcoat can make cheap nail polish look like a million bucks... :)

There's polish at my local food co-op that is supposed to be super-duper natural and friendly, can't remember the brand name at the moment, but I was reading the info sheet and it mentioned it went on thin/sheer and it required many coats. I lost interest since I don't have the time or patience to take that long to do my nails, and my job is like Munchkin's where I do a lot with my hands and need something durable.

I might go get something professional or buy the do it yourself UV or gel just for topcoats since there would be other polish and a base coat in-between that may help with the allergy issues. My other first word problem is I don't know if I could sit long enough to get my nails done if there is poor ventilation with fumes. I did vehicle and house chores last weekend and I finished a yearly work task today that is not manicure friendly so I may do my nails this week.

I've been using a Revlon topcoat for a few months now. I like it. It's shiny, goes on easy, and seems to help the polish last.

The one reason I was interested in something water based is because I've had a couple Revlon/Sally Hansen polishes clump up in the bottle on me. I haven't had them that long--maybe a couple months and now it's virtually unusable. (Maybe I'm closing them wrong, I dunno, I do have fine motor issues) But, I thought something water based might have a longer shelf life.

Essie is finally for sale in the Netherlands. Sounds silly but I missed being able to buy it in a store. Online just doesn't really cut it since colors aren't always accurate.

Happy! Bought two colors in the last week.

You can put a couple drops of nail polish remover and shake it up really well to thin it out again.

I use either NailTique or OPI double duty base/topcoats. I have way too many colors of nail polish, but it's so much fun to get new colors. My newest are "Posh" by Revlon, and "Tourquoise & Caicos" by Essie. I love that Essie comes in smaller bottles, bc I am more likely to use them up. I hate throwing away polish because I have too many and never use them all up.

This doesn't work as well as thinner. You can buy thinner at any Sally Beauty Supply.

I have used pure acetone to thin out some of my glitter topcoats and it has worked fine. I've never used actual nail polish thinner though. I don't keep nail polish remover around though, I only use acetone.

The advantage is that if you use a little too much thinner, you can put it in a place where nail polish would thicken (steamy bathroom I'm looking at you) and it becomes usable again. That doesn't work with NP remover.

Ooh, that sounds neat. I may have to invest/put it on my birthday list. What brands are good?

Also... polishes to add to my want list: Playdate and Turks&Caicos by Essie. Does anyone know what that metallic gold one by Essie is called? It's used in some of their print ads on the displays in stores... I don't think it's their gold glitter topcoat. It's fine if it's not Essie either, just looking for a good brand of a gold/metallic polish.

^^
Essie and OPI nail polishes are actually the same size. I only use OPI (love the brush) and I want to try some Essie shades. I've used them at the salon, but I don't know what colors to try. Anyone have any suggestions? I'll try pretty much anything.

OPI's Fall 2012 collection takes us to Germany. There are sneak peeks here and here :)

If you want a green color, go for Mojito Madness. It's incredible.

For blues, I like Lapiz of Luxury, Mesmerize, and Aruba Blue. Mesmerize is the blue color I used in that gradient mani up top.

Their luxeffects topcoats are so fun, too - I love Pure Pearlfection and Shine of the Times is close to one of my other flakie topcoats which I love. You'll have a learning curve with the brush size.

I don't like their sheers, but to be quite honest I don't like sheers anyway and always regret buying them and try to give them away to friends.

Thanks for the links on the Germany collection. They all seem pretty forgetable to me, but maybe they'll grow on me. I'll have to buy a new nail box by then, I'm already growing out of what I've got.

As others suggested, try some polish thinner, OPI makes one, and it has saved a few bottles I've had over the years. I usually roll a bottle in my hands to mix it before I use it, I've also used my foot when I had exercises to do for my feet. There is some nonslip gripping shelf and drawer liner for sale everywhere now, I got four coaster sized pieces at the dollar store I use on jars and other stuff, that might help with bottle tightening and loosening.

It's just whatever Sally's house brand is. They only had one kind. As VS said, OPI also makes one.

I purchased Horse Power, Nail Fertilizer by Butter London. I hope this helps my nails which tend to break at the base.

OPI announced today (via facebook) that their holiday collection will focus around the new James Bond movie, Skyfall. I can't wait to see what the names will be :)

I bought and tried my first Essie products this week! I bought Dive Bar and Jamaican me crazy from Ulta. Dive bar is gorgeous, but it started to chip the day after I used it.
Oh, and I have to correct myself in saying that OPI and Essie have the same amount of product. Essie has .46 ml and OPI .5; same difference though, right? :)

Sorry, let me clarify. With a few exceptions, most of my Essie polishes came in the mini-size bottle collections, that have 4-6 colors in them.

For example: http://www.amazon.com/Essie-Spring-2.../dp/B00714ZSWS

Sorry I didn't clarify.