All About That Base (Coat)

My nails have taken a bit of a hammering lately what with using false nails over the festives and I'm pretty sure that if you're reading this, your nails could probably be in better shape. FEAR NOT amigo's for I have three base coats that will give your nails a bit of much needed TLC.  It really is all about that base...

From left to right, I've been using the Avon Nail Experts 24k Gold Extracts, Essie "Help Me Grow" and Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails" Strengthener.

All of these are relatively low priced and all do different things but are basically the same, if that makes any sense.

Avon Nail Experts 24k Gold Extracts
Avon are super affordable and always have a good variation of products available. Do I always go to them when I'm looking to try something new? not really, but I stumbled across this a while back and it was reduced to £4 so thought I would give it a whirl. 

First of all, in terms of usage, you apply this on clean nails and can put your nail polish on top - in fact that's how all of these work.

Designed to make your nails strong, this avon base coat does the trick, but takes ages to dry! I'm so impatient when it comes to drying time, so if you're like me, then this might not be the best one for you.  This definitely works, but it has a colour, a very slight yellowy tone which I'm not a fan of.

Essie "Help Me Grow"
Essie is one of my favourite nail brands. They have an insane amount of shades and always make me 'ooh' and 'ahh' whenever I see one of their counters. 

I was intrigued to see if the promise of 5 day growth was real.

While this is a good base coat which helps prevent chipping and all that jazz, I just didn't buy into the five day growth. I watched my nails like a pizza cooking in the oven, but I just didn't notice any growth at all.

With that all said, this definitely is a brilliant base coat and my nails feel healthy when I've used it.

Sally Hansen "Hard As Nails"
Now obviously, this is a nail strengthener and not a nail growth product.  This is the bee's knees. I've said it before and I will say it again, if bee's have knees I will eat my own knees. ANYWAY!

This is my most favourite base coat. You apply 2-3 coats of this before applying normal nail polish and it just really helps to protect your nails. I've had very few chips or split nails since I started using this, which is a freaking miracle because my nails chip and split at the touch of a hairbrush. 

If I was to recommend any of these, it would be this one more than any other.

What nail products are helping to save your nails this winter?

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