Beauty Secret!

Most of my friends know that I have a "thing" for nail polish. It's hard not to notice, I think, since I sport a new color almost daily. Working from home affords me the luxury of painting my nails during endless conference calls, or starting a manicure in the morning and finishing it stages throughout the day. But, most often, the entire manicure takes me about 15 minutes, max. What's my secret? These three little products:

I start off my manicure with a good base coat. Quite often I use the Seche Base (se-shay). I have some small ridges in my nails and not only does this ridge-filling basecoat make my nails smooth for when I add the color, but it also protects my nails from discoloration that can occur when wearing darker colors for long periods of time. You can find the Seche Base at your local CVS or RiteAid drug stores. Recently I popped into my local Bath & Body Works and discovered a bottle of lippmann collection's ridge-filling basecoat. Deborah Lippmann creates gorgeous nail polish colors that sell for around $15, and while I love her stuff, I couldn't justify spending that money on a basecoat. Happily, I found this bottle on clearance for a fraction of the price and I really like it. But you don't have to spend a lot to get a good basecoat. Sally Hansen makes a number of good products that will do the trick.

But the thing that changed my manicure life is the clear bottle in the middle. Poshe's super fast drying top coat. If you've suffered from dents and sheetmarks on your nails in the past from manicures that you "thought" were dry before you went to sleep or about your business, Poshe is the answer to your beauty prayers. It will dry your polish quickly (five minutes) and adds a beautiful shine. I've found Poshe at Meijer and at online retailers like head2toebeauty.com and 8ty8beauty.com.