Digit-al Dozen Does Nail Heroes; Day 3

For Day 3 of the Digit-al Dozen nail heroes theme, my hero is MeganChair and her cleanup method!  I'm not 100% sure who started the cleanup around the cuticle using a brush but from my first recollection seeing it out there in the nailesphere was MeganChair.  I actually believe I seen it first in MakeUpAlley and she did a subsequent blog post here about it.  I know some people complain about the gap but it certainly does tidy up the nail look and I just can't imagine doing my nails without cleaning up even if I wasn't taking pix!

These are my current favourite brushes.  When I first started nail clean up, I used an eyeliner brush (I think it was) from an Elf compact; I didn't like the Elf brush at all!  I've only been using it a couple years and am lucky enough to have a few of the older style of brushes before the whole bristle change. At the time, I wasn't too keen on it as I didn't think it picked up enough remover and was too time consuming, plus had another product that was working just as well at the time.  The first brush is one I picked up at a local nail supply; I actually like it when I'm doing my first clean up especially if its a real messy one and I would say I've been using it and the Elf brush for a good many years before the FAB UR Nails and UberChic came on the market recently.  I still use the big one again for the first cleanup around the skin but not as close to the edge of the nail because now use either the FAB UR Nails or UberChic.  I find the FAB UR Nails works really well along the sides and the UberChic along the cuticle and curve of the nail if that makes sense.



I thought I'd share one of my better cleaned up mani's (in my mind anyway!).  Although to be honest, this polish pretty much applied itself! Here's what I came up with!



Started with a base of three coats of Scofflaw Diamond Dogs, no top coat in pix below.  Two coats gave good coverage but I did a third to cover at the tips.



I'm all about flakies right now and them along with the beautiful colour of this polish made it a must have!





Topped with a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC before stamping.


I went with some fancy swirls so as to not cover the base polish that much; this is an image from Moyra Stamping Plate 03-Ornaments.  Stamping polish is MdU 19.



Moyra Stamping Plate 03-Ornaments









Finished with a coat of Girly Bits What A Rush QD TC.






Here's a few other of my (unsung) nail hero tools; the UberChic lux stamper to help shrink stamped images (game changer for me and my small nails), my go to regular stamper being a FAB UR NAILS semi squishy, non sticky (I dread the day it stops working!), lint brush for stamper cleanup, and my current favourite two clear jellies right now which again, life changing in the stamping world for placement.  I still use a Konad scraper; I know there are many others on the market but this is just my favourite.  (See those four containers around the stampers?  Full of stampers and stamper heads and that's only a portion of them; can you say stamper problem?  I also have 5, maybe even 6 of the double sided Konad stampers (go to choice for making stamper decals), maybe 6-8 of the smaller Konad stampers, who knows how many of the Mango stampers even though I still can't get any of them to work well.  Seriously, I don't know why I even bother with all the rest when the little stamper in the silver cap shown here is used 99% of the time, other than with the others shown know which have their time and place.  I seriously do have nightmares thinking about what will happen if it kicks the dust.  Or I lose it.  I have tried others and nothing else works like it).



A few more nail staples for me; my go to base of Duri Rejuvacote Beauty Secrets Pure Acetone and beside it is a nifty bottle I picked up at Sallys for $1.99 that just makes life a little easier for me.  I pour acetone in it then use it to fill the cap of the bigger bottle for clean ups, I dribble it on nail plates for clean up, and on a cotton round to clean my stamper.  I've had this one for almost a year and no issues with the acetone.  I also use the claw from Sally's for plate cleaning to save the mani!



I love this little bottle!



Here's the other ladies Day 3 nail heroes!

An InLinkz Link-up

Thanks for looking!