Favourite Nail Polishes & Manicure Tools

L-R: Barry M Nail Paint in "Raspberry",  Barry M Nail Paint in "Berry", Sephora by OPI in "It's My Pink", 17 Nail Polish in "Sulk", Forever 21 Love & Beauty Nail Polish in "Hot Pink".

For a girl who always has her nails painted, I have a surprisingly small collection of nail polishes. I see some blogs with photos of hundreds of polishes in every colour, glitter, crackle and make, but my collection barely reaches the 30 mark. 

But that doesn't mean that I don't have some real gems! I don't really buy into the expensive nail polish fad, and tend to keep my money saved for more expensive makeup, but I'm a big believer that you don't have to break the bank to find some great polishes! I love Barry M polishes, they have every colour under the sun, including crackle and croc top coats, big and small glitters and even the new magnetic polishes. The brush is the perfect width (for my nails anyway) and I only need one or maybe two coats (depending on the colour) to leave my nails looking immaculate. Forever 21 do great polishes as well, although I've never seen them in European stores, and my collection of their polishes were all bought in North Carolina and New York. The photo above doesn't do justice but that "hot pink" is actually NEON pink which I think will be PERFECT with tanned skin.

Despite all the pastel hype, I think this might be my go-to colour for this summer. "Sulk" by 17 is a gorgeous colour - what I like to call a "mermaid" shade! A greeny, deep turquoise "chromatic" finish looks great on my nails and really makes my silver rings stand out more. Costing only £2-3, you can't really go wrong, and the colour reminds me of a deep ocean which sends me off into my own little summer holiday fantasy :-)

But no nails are complete without the mandatory upkeep! Again, Forever 21 (which seem to sell everything!) do a range of manicure sets and tools, and both my cuticle cutters and 6-sided nail file/buffer couldn't have cost more than £3 each from that glorious shop. Cutipen is a great little tool that you can buy in Boots at around the £6 mark, with a white cream that when applied to cuticles, helps dissolve them, and then a pointed tip (much like a pen!) that helps you scrape off the excess. Superdrug do their own brand of cuticle oil which has a brush soaked in the oil, easy to apply to each finger nail if they need a little softening, and then a rigid point which helps push cuticles back. Finally, there's the Mavala ridge filler, available in Boots for around the £5 mark. As someone who drank nothing but milk for their entire childhood (blame the Irish mother!) I was so surprised to find some ridges in one of my finger nails (which shows a lack of calcium) so I picked up this little baby which is like a nail polish that you paint over the ridges to create a smoother nail finish, leaving your nails ready to paint your favourite colour.

So these are all my "go to" products when I'm having a pamper session for my hands and feet!

Have you used any of these? What are your favourite products and polishes for manicures and pedicures?