Holiday Nails

It's a big decision, do I do my nails for my holiday???
It's all about the risks of dealing with potential chipping and maintenance vs. the reward of having stunning and awesome finger tips which I feel we can all agree just make you happy!

Welcome to Bali!!!

So this is the dilemma I battled with for probably a good week before I went to Bali earlier in the uni break this July. I decided yes! I want to have good looking nails while I am soaking up the sun, reading a good Jodi Picoult book overlooking the crystal clear Indian Ocean... 

I am now a firm believer in not letting travel and adventure come in the way of colouring and designing the finest looking nails possible and I am going to share with you the 4 part nail plan I devised to ensure perfect holiday nails.

PREP

To start with I recommend just going for a solid colour manicure when going on holidays. It is far easier and less hassle to maintain and repair than an intricate design which may take half your holiday to fix

Take the time and do a really decent job on this manicure. Don't rush, give your base, colour and top coats the time they need to dry. Do even layers and not too many. 

Cap your nails! I just do this with my top coat. When adding your top coat add a thin line of it along the free edge of your nail. This seals the nail and kind of locks the colour in. I have found this really helps in minimising the polish chipping and prolonging your mani

POLISH SELECTION

You don't want to take too many colours but you still want some options. Choose colours different enough that you can mix it up and will be happy with any

I chose to take 4 polishes: 

• OPI Start to Finish base and top coat - 2 in one, very good idea
• Models Own Hedonist - original manicure colour
• Colour Options - always a good plan
• Barry M Prickley Pear 
• Sally Hansen Pacific Blue

I actually stuck with Hedonist the entire trip. Not only did it last amazingly (I only needed to repaint 4 nails the whole time) but I did not get at all bored with this insanely bright neon coral pink which I felt was perfect for Bali

PACKING

The last thing you want to happen is you arrive at your destination to find that your favourite nail polishes, which were extremely hard to obtain because you live in Australia and you need to order your polishes from the UK because your favourite brands refuse to come down under, have broken or leaked and are now ruined!

That hasn't happened to me but I'm not going to lie, there would probably be a few tears if it did. So to prevent this unnatural disaster from happening here is how I pack my polishes.

• Each polish in a small individual snap lock bag
• All polishes then placed together in a larger snap lock bag
• Then placed in a small Chinese take away plastic container
• This precious container packed in luggage cushioned by a layer of leggings and socks 

MAINTENANCE

An issue I struggled with a lot was remover. Do I take a bottle? That seems silly, it could leak, customs might not like it, its just a bit annoying.

But what should I do then, I'm probably going to need to remove at least one nail and redo it. As you can see I was in a bit of a pickle until I found these "Remove It! Nail Polish Remover Wipes" from Sportsgirl. Genius! For $4.95 you get 50 remover soaked pads which aren't the most efficient but get the job done. They come in a very compact and cute container about the size of a compact and are now a packing essential for me

 So there you have it! My guide to holiday nails :) Simple enough