Along the back (left to right) you will see:
- Q-Tips (great for fixing mistakes when you're finished your manicure/pedicure)
- Konad nail stamping plate *
- Konad nail stamping set *
- Nail polish thinner (when you want to thin out a thick polish)
- Nail polish remover (self explanatory)
- 100% acetone polish remover (this is FANTASTIC, I will explain more below)
The front part has some miscellaneous items that are pretty generic, the include:
- Makeup sponges (great for creating a 'gradient' effect - tutorial on its way)
- Various nail files
- Small toothbrush (great for cleaning under your nails)
- Cotton pads (removing your manicure)
- Tweezers (for picking up rhinestones to put on your nails)
- Cuticle trimmer (a must for me)
- Nail clippers
- 'Orange' sticks (great for cleaning up around nail edges)
The white pencil is used for colouring under your nail to create a fast french manicure. My dotting tools are the five tools sitting between the 'orange' sticks and the yellow tweezers. Below is a better picture of them.
These dotting tools are double ended (large and small ends). I found mine on eBay: 5 for $1.99 with free shipping. (I searched 'dotting tools'.) You can create lots of different looks with a dotting tool and they also double as a glitter/rhinestone 'picker'. Dip the end in clear polish, choose a stone, place it on the nail and gently push it down for 5 seconds. They're great!
* The Konad products pictured above will be explained in detail in an upcoming post. Keep an eye out if this interests you!
Also, I mentioned above about loving my 100% acetone nail polish remover. Some people highly dislike any polish remover with ANY acetone in it. Personally, I see nothing wrong with acetone. I've listed my pro's and con's of this type of polish remover below.
PRO's
- Removes regular polish (full manicure) in about 1 minute.
- Removes heavy glitter polish (full manicure) in about 3 minutes.
- Extremely fast clean-up around nail edges when manicure is finished.
- Cost is low for a lot of product. I bought mine for less than $3.50 at Wal-Mart.
(Onyx Professional)
CON's
- Dries out skin around nail.
- Evapourates quickly.
The con's that I've listed are easily remedied. I use Beauty Secrets Cuticle Oil to replenish both my nail and skin around my nail with lots of moisture. (Bonus: the cuticle oil smells like almond oil! De-lish.) As for the evapouration, keep the bottle closed between applications, simple as that. I reapply remover to my cotton pad between each nail with regular polish, so I don't find it evapourates off the cotton pad.
I hope this has given you some helpful tips/ideas!
Next post: New Nail Look.
Comment and let me know: Have you ever used 100% acetone polish remover?
As always, thanks for reading and commenting ;)
Good tutorial! I haven't seen/known of some of those tools prior to this post. I love the look of those dotting tools! They look like edible candy sticks :D YUM.
ReplyDeleteIn response to your question - I've never put much thought into the polish remover I've used... I usually moisturize my hands quite a bit so the dry skin "con" wouldn't bother me. I have had some removers that dried out quickly which I found annoying, especially when trying to remove a glitter polish.
PS: In your description of the "front" items, you typo-ed "they" and wrote "the" :)