Cosmopolitan Magazine On Nail Care

Today's post is about an article I just read on Cosmopolitan's (you know, the magazine) website: "21 Things You Absolutely Must Know About Painting Your Nails" by Carly Cardellino. Having been seriously obsessed with nails for the last...oh I don't know...8 or 9 years, I think I've picked up on a lot of them but a few "tips" had me concerned, rolling my eyes, or just plain filled with questions. I've included just the 21 things (none of the article's additional thoughts or reasons for each) so if you want the full list click the link above. Otherwise, let's explore Cosmo's wisdom and see if I'm not the only one that should be surprised she even has nails at this point. 

1. Three strokes are all you need. Yeah nope, I definitely don't do that. Sometimes I just need to go back over a stroke, you know? I don't think this one is a deal breaker.
2. Always use a base coat. Eh, guilty. I'm so guilty of NEVER doing this. And I know I should because I have paid the price so many times by having my nails stained blue and green before. That is never an appealing sight and contributes to the reasons that my nails are always always always (hear me?) alwaysss  polished.
3. Repurpose your old lip brush to help tidy up the edges of your nail. Genius idea but I don't have a lip brush so...Q-tips for me it is!
4. Find the right white. Is this similar to "find the right wine"? My favorite white polish so far is Zoya Snow White but it took me a while to find it. I've also tried China Glaze White on White and Orly White Out. China Glaze was shockingly my least favorite! Oh my gosh that's two China Glaze polishes in a matter of days that I've said I didn't like! What's going on here?!
5. Stay away from quick-dry nail polish. I have no opinion on this. My polishes are usually standard but then my Seche Vite is fast drying. Eh, no biggie.
6. Swipe on cuticle oil religiously. Guilty. I never do this even though I have Orly's Cuticle Therapy Creme (the one in the circular pot) AND Sally Hansen's Instant Cuticle Remover and that stuff is AMAZING. To do one better, I also trim *gasp!* my cuticles on the daily because for whatever reason they always are rough. Next time I'm at Target I will have to invest in a cuticle oil. Or maybe just start using the creme, lol. The Cosmo article also mentions that you can place cuticle oil over your polish and that would give the nail a little slip when it comes in contact with something, therefore decreasing the chance of chipping. I'm not sure about the truth of that....but in the name of science I will definitely be giving that a try!
7. Hold your hands under cold water post-paint job. They say it makes the nails dry faster. I say there's no way I'm doing this.
8. Make your neon polish pop by adding a white shade under it. I knew this and said a little thing about it here. I didn't do it with a neon though and will have to get on that immediately! Perhaps a comparison post to see if this is actually true! Yes! Expect that post shortly :)
9. Apply thin, not thick coats of polish. Yes, so many times I will put layers that are too thick and then it will take FOREVER to completely dry and harden. So many smudges have resulted from my impatience to do multiple coats!
10. Keep your paint in a cool, dry, dark place aka your fridge. I'd like to say this is ridiculous. If anyone actually does this and it makes a difference...can you let me know in the comments? My fridge is for food. My IKEA Helmer is for polishes. I'd like to think my Helmer is cool, dry, and dark though.
11. Thin out too-thick nail polish with thinner. I literally just got on board with this one when I did my Ode to Seche Vite Nails of November post. I was so bummed I wasted two good bottles of seche vite top coat because they had thickened too much. Now I have a ton of Seche Vite Restore and no more polishes will ever get prematurely abandoned!
12. Never shake your nail polish. I do this all the time. None of that rolling nonsense happens here. I'm not making cookies...I'm handling my nail polish!
13. Never cut your cuticles. See #6. OMG GASP.
14. Only bust out the nippers when you have a hang nail. Ew, hangnails. The reason everyone should exercise some level of nail care. I don't have nippers (the actually scissor like ones) but I do have a cuticle trimmer that I just slide across the dead cuticle skin.
15. Never saw your nails back and forth when you file them. Oh good lord, I'm so guilty of this. I blame my lack of coordination...it's just easy to saw the nails! I really should change this though because I do know it's the worst for your nail strength and composition.
16. Stay away from hot water. Aw, I recently gave my boyfriend a piece of my mind for never offering to do the dishes when he knows I hate doing them because the hot water and detergent chips my nails!
17. Use non-acetone nail polish remover whenever possible. Oops. I mention my nail polish remover in this post. Yes, it's pure acetone all the way. What can I say?
18. Go for glitter. Oh, I do, thank you very much! And I might again soon now that you mention it!
19. Use a cotton ball to help remove your glitter polish. I usually resort to brute force when removing glitters but yes, surrounding the nail with a remover-soaked cotton ball and letting is soak for a minute does indeed make glitter removal less frustrating (and bonus: if you don't move the cotton ball around a lot you eliminate unwanted glitter specks from getting ALL OVER YOUR HANDS. Scout's honor.)
20. Always use three-free polish. To my knowledge, I do! Carry on.
21. Always use a top coat. AMEN! My top coat of choice? You guys know me. Let's all say it at the same time: SECHE VITE!

So which tips do you follow? Are there any you definitely don't (but maybe should) follow?