Before I get into the meat of this post, time for a moment of honesty. I have been experiencing some writers block this last week or so. It may not be obvious to all of you because I have still been posting frequently, but the idea for these posts were planned long before they go up, and writing them out and making them sound good and make sense has been way more of a challenge than usual. It’s been causing me a good deal of frustration, which has been kinda spilling over into my everyday life and relationships, and I’m not feelin’ it. Or maybe frustrations in my life are causing my writers block, or its a self feeding cycle where each thing makes the other thing worse.

Oh jeez thats a scary thought . . .moving on.

I think maybe I need a week in the woods to disconnect from everything and reset my mind. A friend suggested camping but I like showers and comfortable beds too much so maybe a cabin or something. I don’t know, or maybe i’ll just lock my phone and computers in a safe and stay in bed for a week. That might work too. Even just writing it down makes me feel a bit better actually.

Luckily connecting with you guys through social media and comments does help me with ideas, which is good because when the idea banks run dry it’s like you all have my back. Yay internet friends!

Recently a few people have asked in comments and on Instagram what type of base and topcoat I’ve been using on my nails, and I’m glad you did because I recently sort of rediscovered my holy grail combo and I’m not going to stray from it again for a while. This is, in my opinion the best base coat and topcoat combination, hands down:

If you’ve been reading my blog for a long time then you might remember that I wrote a post long ago about an at home manicure that actually lasts where I layered my polishes to make them last longer. I haven’t needed to do that in a long time because my nails have gotten thicker and healthier since then, but its a good read if you have a lot of trouble with your nails chipping.

As for the base coat, I went back and forth for a long time between CND Stickey and Essie 3 Way Glaze (among other things that made an appearance here and there but don’t even really deserve a mention) CND Stickey is pretty good, but nothing can touch Essie 3 Way Glaze. Seriously, when I use that as my base my manicures last WAY longer than if I use something else. Sometimes I think I can try something different and then I totally hate it and can’t wait to use it up and get back to my baby 3 Way Glaze.

In the topcoats department, I’m pretty picky. If it’s not super fast drying then I want nothing to do with it. I try to use regular ones and be patient, but the truth is that I’m a klutz and even when I think I’m being careful and and patient and doing nothing I totally end up smudging them. I also prefer my topcoats to give a glassy, gel-like finish to my manicure. For a long time I stuck with things like Seche Vite , and Poshe which are both excellent topcoats, except for the shrinking. I thought it didn’t bother me at first, but eventually it started to work my nerves. When Sephora came out with their Formula X Line, I purchased the whole system, and low and behold the topcoat was PERFECT. The rest of the system is OK, and the nailpolish colors are bomb…but that topcoat has my heart. It dries super fast, its SUPER glassy and gel-like and the best part: No Shrinking. I know, perfection. I’ve been using it consistently for around nine months now, and there’s no turning back. The only downside is that it’s not super duper cheap ($10.50 USD) and I go through topcoat pretty quickly because I’m always painting my nails for the blog. Even then it’s still totally worth it.

Do any of you guys have a holy grail best base and topcoat combination that you swear by?

I would love to hear what works for you!