Top 10 ways to get HEALTHY NAILS this summer!⚘☀⚘

Happy Saturday everyone!! So, summer rolls around and all those dark nail polish colors we used throughout the fall and winter season has taken a toll on our nails! Why not start off the summer with beautiful, long nails to add some sparkly and bright neon polish to? Here are my top 10 things to do to get beautiful and HEALTHY nails this summer :)

1) MOISTURIZE! 

You would be surprised how much of a difference moisturizing your hand, nails and massaging the lotion into your cuticles can do. If you have extra dry hands, try using a cuticle oil and massaging it into your cuticles. I personally just use some body butter from Bath and Body works. I apply it while I'm watching tv or laying in bed and just massage it in, since I'm already just lazying around ;) Aveeno also makes various great lotions that are very moisturizing. As for cuticle oils, I would suggest the brand, OPI. 

2) DO NOT PICK AT YOUR NAILS

Picking dirt and playing with your nails is a sure fire way to cause them to chip and break. The alternative to this? WASH YOUR HANDS! If you wash your hands often, you will need to moisturize more. Healthy nails are ones that are left alone to grow. Similarly, chewing your nails is an immediate way to notice brittle nails that will definitely break off within no time (learned that the hard way!). 

3) ALWAYS APPLY A BASE COAT

So many people skip this step as part of giving themselves a manicure. It is very important you apply a base coat! Nail polish stains your nails. In addition, it strips your nails of their moisture. There are base coats specifically designed to avoid both these problems. A personal favorite is Nail Envy Dry and Brittle Nails by OPI. 

4) BE GENTLE WITH YOUR CUTICLES!

I have seen this mistake done by so many people! Pushing back your cuticles or even using a cuticle trimmer is perfectly fine. However, if you are hurting your cuticles in any way, you are hurting your nails indirectly. Your cuticles are what nourish your nails and protect them from germs and bacteria. If you trim your cuticles so much that they bleed, you are exposing your nails to infection. If you push your cuticles back so much that they hurt to touch, this could end up causing brittle nails. Your cuticles are there to protect your nails, so make sure you don't go overboard in trying to get rid of them!

On the left is a straight edge toe nail
clipper by Tweezerman. It works great
for fingernails to get a clean straight
edge. On the right is a curved edge
fingernail clipper. It will give a
rounded edge to your nails and can be
found in most every brand.

5) TRIM AND FILE YOUR NAILS REGULARLY

Nails, as anything, aren't going to grow exactly as you want them to. It is necessary to file and trim your nails to prevent chips. If you are a fan of round edge nails, almost all nail clippers come with a slight curvature. I personally have found these to make my nails more prone to chipping. I use a toe nail clipper by Tweezerman to achieve a straight edge cut on my fingernails. Find what shape works best for your nails! I would also suggest using a glass file, as they are more gentle on your nails and are less likely to chip your nails

6) USE A HAND SCRUB

I have found that using a hand scrub once a week on my nails has made them more healthy looking after the first use! Scrubbing your hands will stimulate blood flow as well as getting rid of the dead skin. Both of these are great for growing healthy nails and healthy looking nails! It will also help to strip the layer of "yellow" on your nails that are likely due to stains from nail polish. I like to concentrate the scrub for a little bit on my cuticles to get the blood flowing there. Make sure you use a gentle scrub, since your hands and nails are delicate! I use the True Blue Spa 60-second manicure hand scrub from Bath and Body works. Smells a little too lemon-y for my taste, but hey, works great!

7) DO NOT USE ACETONE BASED NAIL POLISH REMOVER

Did you know that insecticides, paint (to thin the paint) and shoe polish are some of the common household items with acetone in them? Of course, our body already produces small amounts of acetone and using acetone in moderation as nail polish remover does not necessarily cause some sort of dramatic effects to your health, however, why not use an acetone free nail polish remover when it is available? The acetone free nail polish remover will help your nails retain some of its moisture and will make them less brittle in the long run.

8) TAKE A MULTIVITAMIN OR BIOTIN

Let me disclaimer this one with, if you do not need additional amounts of these supplements, overdosing on vitamins is a waste of your time!!! Not only that, but all vitamins and medicines have an upper limit, meaning there is a certain amount beyond which taking them will actually
cause negative effects on your body!!! CHECK THE  UPPER LIMITS of vitamins and track your intakes. DO NOT take 5 different multivitamin pills and assume that your body will just be in better shape due to this. Whatever your body does not need, it will get rid of, and in some cases, will end up causing side effects. 

That being said, in moderation, a multivitamin a day or a biotin tablet a day when you are having trouble growing your nails or keeping strong healthy nails is perfectly fine for the average individua

l (again I say average since everyone has different things that work and don't work for them). I personally am a big fan of taking a multivitamin a day and taking a Biotin tablet every 3 days in place of the multivitamin. This has helped both my hair and nails grow healthier!

9) PROBLEMS WITH YOUR NAILS SIGNAL OTHER PROBLEMS IN YOUR BODY. PAY ATTENTION TO THEM!

Your nails are a direct result of what is happening in your body. If your nails are brittle and are not growing, you may have a calcium deficiency. If they are excessively dry, you probably are dehydrated or lacking vitamin E. If they are pitting and have dry spots, maybe it is a more serious condition such as psoriasis. If you see any odd changes in your nails despite actually taking good care of your nails, make sure you consult your doctor. There may be an underlying cause to it! 

10) DRINK PLENTY OF WATER

A simple and common sense tip, but often forgotten! Over 50% of your body is water. Water is needed as a fundamental for growth and nourishment in your body. Drinking enough water, especially during the summertime when you are easily dehydrated, will nourish your nails and cuticles and prevent dry, brittle nails. 

I hope these 10 tips have helped you in some way. Please consult your doctor before doing any dramatic changes to your daily habits and diet, but these should be some easy tips to get you started on your way to beautiful nails! Have an amazing weekend!! ❤❤

xoxo,

GirlontheGo

Hearts & Sparkle Nail Tutorial❤❤❤

Happy Friday lovelies! Today I am walking you through a very easy manicure. This mani is perfect for almost any time of the year! Red, black and white are classy and yet bold colors to wear. You can essentially substitute this look with any color you are loving right now! 

Now before I dive into the tutorial, I just wanted to give you all a heads up that I am in the works of trying to set up my own youtube channel with all my beauty tips and tutorials! I will be sure to post links and updates when the time comes :)

STEP 1: The basic polish step!

To start off, paint your thumb, pointer finger and pinky finger a solid shade of whatever color you are loving right now. I stuck with the bold, red/black/white with sparkle look. The red is my absolute favorite shade of red by OPI. It is Cajun Shrimp. I have talked about this shade multiple times, and if you do not own it, it is definitely a staple color! Next, I painted my ring finger an accent nail. I began by adding a base of Essie imported champagne. I then added a glitter polish over it. I used OPI Halo, which I have been absolutely obsessed with the past week since I purchased it ;) Last, I painted my middle finger an opaque white. I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails Xtreme Wear in the shade White On.

Step 2: Add some design time!

In this step, we add a little fun to the nail! I used my Sally Hansen Xtreme Wear black polish. Any black polish will do. Using my dotting tool, I simply added to dots using the largest of the dotting ends I had, and then used a smaller dotting end to connect the two dots towards the tip of the heart. If you want to see a step by step visual tutorial on creating hearts on your nails using dotting tools, please click the following link to my Heart Mani Tutorial: http://girlotg.blogspot.com/2013/04/happy-monday-i-was-originally-going-to.html

Step 3: Rhinestones!

If you have a few rhinstones on hand, I would add a little rhinestone at the center of the heart. It adds a pretty and professional touch :) In place of the heart, feel free to add some polka dots, a chevron nail look, or even taking you nail polish of choice and adding a stripe down the middle or just creating a nail tip on the middle finger would add a special touch. The look of this manicure is to tie in all your nails with a color trend, but keep the middle two nails unique from the other 3. This is trending currently and I encourage you all to put your own spin on this look and have some fun with it! As always, don't forget to add a top coat to add some shine and make your mani last! As always, I used my favorite Seche Vite. Give it a try! You will fall in love with it :)

Send me pictures of your creations and I would love to feature them in my blog! Take care and check back for summer purchases/must haves (haven't quite thought of a title yet). It will feature a lot of my purchases I recently got this past Spring break and have been loving and using through the hot weather days :)

xoxo,
GirlontheGo

New Nail Polish find!!! ❃ Lovely Lilac Nails ❃

Hello lovelies & happy Monday!

I am a huge nail polish junkie. I absolutely love Essie, Zoya and OPI (personal favs). However, I recently stumbled upon a formula of nail polish that seems to be consistent with both Ubran outfitters and a local boutique called Francesca's. The formula is amazing! The nail polish goes on opaque and does not leave streaks! It is beautiful. The colors are vibrant and with a shiny top coat, the colors just come alive. 

I painted my nails with Beach Day from the boutique and used OPI's Halo to add some glitter accents and an accent nail to my ring finger. I used the Seche Vite top coat (as always) to top off my nails and make my mani last the rest of the week! Hope you are having a fabulous summer and check back for my summer must have's blog later this week :)

xoxo,

GirlontheGo

The Best Nude Nail Polish Color ☼

I don't know about you, but I have been on the hunt for the best nude nail polish for quite some time now. Colors are either too light, too dark, a pink tone, a brown tone, but nothing ever matches that truly nude shade that has been in style for quite a while now! Well lovelies, I have hit jackpot for the PERFECT nude nail polish. It is OPI Samoan Sand. Pair this beautiful color with the Seche Vite top coat for high shine, and add a few rhinestones for a classy touch and a beautiful and easy manicure! Check back later this week for blog post all about eye liners! Have a lovely Wednesday :)

xoxo,
GirlontheGo

Hearts and Dots Nail Tutorial ❤

Happy Monday!!

I was originally going to wait until Saturday for my next post, but why wait on a good thing? Today I want to share with you guys a nail tutorial I think is perfect for any occasion! 

If you are in search of the perfect nude nail polish, I have your answer! OPI's Samoan Sand is absolutely the perfect nude shade for almost all skin types. I used a contrast color for the added details. My pick was L'oreal's Violet Vixen #500. To add a pretty touch to your nude nails, I used a dotting tool add some dots to my thumb and ring finger, and using the same dotting tool, added hearts to my middle and pinky fingers, but later decided if I were to do this look again, I would only add the hearts to my middle finger and leave my pinky and ring finger completely nude (As shown in my finished image to the right).

To make the heart, I placed to dots in the center of my nail. I then used the dotting tool to connect the dots and bring it down to make the tip of the heart. Follow my images to recreate your look and let me know how this look worked for you!

Hope you are having a beautiful Spring day!

xoxo,

GirlontheGo

Spring 2013 Nail Polish Trends ☀

OPI Cajun Shrimp

Hello lovelies! I hope you are having a fantastic weekend! With Spring here, I thought I'd go ahead and post my nail polish blog a little early!

Spring time is the PERFECT time to bring out those bright and fun colored nail polishes. Here are my top picks for this Spring's best nail polish shades!

OPI is one of my all time favorite nail polish brands. They glide on smooth and last a pretty decent amount of time. Both during springtime AND during fall, OPI's Cajun Shrimp is a staple in my collection. This coral infused red tone is perfect all year round!

Zoya Arizona

If you're on the hunt for that perfect orange nail polish, Zoya's Arizona shade might be worth giving a try. I found that it adds just enough bright orange with still a more sorbet color so that it doesn't look like you're rockin' neon.

I have recently picked up this fancy little nail polish by Inglot. It is shade #203. It seems like just an iridescent nailpolish you could pick up anywhere, however, the small glitter flakes are anything but! Apply your favorite dark toned nail polish and apply these flakes on top, and it will add a 3d nail art effect with no effort at all. This nail polish is not available everywhere, but at select Macy's stores. You c

Click for larger image.
Top row shows Inglot#203.
Bottom left is Essie's Off the Shoulder.
Bottom right is OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavendar.

an however purchase it online through the Inglot store. It is rather expensive for a bottle that looks like a trial size, but for occasional use, this is truly worth the buy for any nail polish lover!

Violets are a great color for Spring, and OPI's Lucky Lucky Lavendar is my favorite lilac shade. It adds a classy touch to my nails and the nail polish goes on opaque with a glossy shine. You could probably even get away with a single coat and no top coat with this one!

What is Spring without a great pink shade? Essie's Off the Shoulder is my absolute favorite. It screams girly and cute and is one of the prettiest pink colors I have seen!

Essie Absolutely Shore

For the perfect light mint green, Essie's Absolutely Shore is one of my favorites.

Francesca's Mystic Shores

My pick for the BEST Spring nail polish color has to be a  bright mint color. I personally love the nail polish colors form a local boutique, Francesca's Boutique. Here I picked up the shade, Mystic Shores, and it is my absolute favorite. I have received compliments on this color each and every time I wear it, and it has currently been on my nails for about 2 weeks (which is saying a lot since I change my nail polish a little too often!). If you cannot get your hands on this nail polish, you can find similar colors to this one. I would suggest Essie's First Timer or OPI's Pea's and Q's (by the Nicole Collection).

Forever 21 Red/Black Arrow Bangle

Also, I could not resist myself and absolutely had to show you guys this adorable bangle set that I picked up at Forever 21 this past weekend. Unfortunately I could not find the exact bracelet on the online store, but I did find the same bracelet in gold and black, so I will go ahead and link this down below as well if any of you are interested in purchasing it. I am loving the cute arrow detail and the bright pop of color.

Thank you so much for stopping by and taking a quick read. Please feel free to leave me a comment and let me know what you think I should blog about next Saturday!



Xoxo,
GirlontheGo


Click here to view the Arrow Cuff Bracelet in Black and Gold