![Essie Apricot Cuticle Oil & OPI Acetone Free Polish Remover Are Nice For Nails](https://img.resized.co/beaut/eyJkYXRhIjoie1widXJsXCI6XCJodHRwczpcXFwvXFxcL3d3dy5iZWF1dC5pZVxcXC9pXFxcL25vSW1hZ2UucG5nP3Y9MlwiLFwid2lkdGhcIjo3MzcsXCJoZWlnaHRcIjpudWxsLFwiZGVmYXVsdFwiOlwiaHR0cHM6XFxcL1xcXC93d3cuYmVhdXQuaWVcXFwvaVxcXC9ub0ltYWdlLnBuZ1wifSIsImhhc2giOiIzMWEzZDU2YWE3MDRjNWMxNTYxMjIyZDYwYzdkMjU5MWZjM2NjMjQ0In0=/noimage.png?v=2)
Wouldn't your nails just drive you around the bend?
Mine would, anyway. Flaking, peeling, splitting, breaking as soon as they get a hair's breadth above the finger, screeching with fright at branching out on their own, they have the heart scalded off me. Of course, I don't really help matters by constantly picking my nail paint off, but lets move swiftly on from that.
Every now and then I half-heartedly decide to treat them right in the hopes they behave so that means no peeling polish off while watching Ace of Cakes and actually using a decent remover. In the absence of being able to purchase the excellent L'Onglex anywhere near my flat, I picked up some ridiculously pricey Opi Acetone Free Polish Remover in Boots a while back. I'll explain: I was in London, it was a very small and very crap branch and it was either a very expensive bottle or one of those godawful own-brand removers they do that take your lacquer off down to the bone. I hate that stuff, so Opi it was.
Anyway, expensive as it was (£7.35 according to boots.com) it's pretty good. And it'd want to be, says you. And you'd be right. It's hassle free, whips off darks, brights and stubborn whatsits in seconds. Grand job. Will I replace it? Hmm. I might, but I might just hunt some L'Onglex down instead.
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The other thing I'm using recently is Essie Apricot Cuticle oil in an attempt to strengthen my nails from the bed. No, not my bed. Their bed. Prone to being very weak, peely and splitty at the tips (all correct, scientific terms), I can never keep a manicure in place for more than a day or two at most because there's so much movement in my nails. Needless to say, I'd like to correct that.
I'm not very high maintenance and neither do I want to look over-groomed but just occasionally it'd be nice to have the full complement of polished nails for a few days at least. The Essie oil was about €14 at Boots Liffey Valley from what I recall - I've had it a while now and keep losing it - but I'm sure you could find it a lot cheaper online. Will it work? If I can manage to keep it in one place for long enough and remember to use it regularly I might find out. That may be a combo to far for me - watch this space.
What about yourselves? Anything particular you've got in your nail-based arsenal at the moment? Paint me a picture in the comments.