Classic Nail Colours for Spring

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acrylic nails, Beauty Essential, colours, Destressed Denim, Detox My Socks Off, fashion, fashionable, fingers, flattering, gel nails, green, inspiration, Just Breathe, lavender, long nails, Love My Nails, manicure, Morning Mantra, multicolour, nail polish, nail varnish, nails, Orly, pastel, red, short nails, spring, toes, white, White Tips

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Spring is just around the corner and with it will (hopefullly!) come a change of weather and trends. This time of year gives us all sorts of inspiration when it comes to colours and our clothes, as well as the colours that we wear on our nails. With this in mind, we’re sharing with you some classic nail looks for Spring and the Orly polishes you can use to achieve them:

Lovely Lavender

This pastel purple shade is perfect for the Spring and Easter season and makes us think of painted easter eggs! It’s a great shade which will go with a number of different looks and it’s neutral enough to still look professional if you work in an industry where that matters. We recommend using the Orly shade Just Breathe to achieve this adorable look. 

Gorgeous Green

While some people associate green with Christmas vibes, green is also the perfect colour for Spring as it reflects the new growth around us. The Orly shade Detox My Socks Off has a slightly turquoise tint to it, for a slight variation on this look, and bold, darker colours look great on short, neat nails, as well as longer talons if that’s your style. 

Ravishing Red

Let’s be honest; has there ever been a time when red nails haven’t been fashionable?! Red is the ultimate in sophistication and makes a bold statement. Red nails can be worn to compliment a red outfit or to add a subtle splash of colour to monochromes. It’s a grown up look which works in Spring, and all year round, and can be recreated using Love My Nails. 

Wonderful White

White nail polish is adorable, if it’s done right, and Spring is the perfect time for white nails. They’re the quintessential neutral with a bold twist and they are another shade which perfectly complement shorter nails. In fact, white nails are super flattering and wearable by just about everyone! Orly’s White Tips is the ideal shade if you want to attempt this look at home. 

Marvellous Multicolour

If you’re feeling really adventurous, this multicolour look is perfect for Spring and is surprisingly easy to achieve! Using a combination of Destressed Denim, Morning Mantra and Beauty Essential, or any other colours you choose, this really is a freestyle look! Simply place neat blobs on the nail using the tip of the brush and allow each one to dry before applying overlapping blobs of contrasting colours. 

Four Things You Should Know Before Getting a Gel Manicure

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breathe, cuticles, Elemis Liquid Layer SPF30, Elemis Sweet Orchid Monoi Body Oil, Elemis Tea Tree S.O.S. Spray, gel, gel nails, mani, manicure, melanoma, nail, nails, oils, salon, strip, suffocate, tanning beds, UV lamp

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In the past, if we wanted a manicure which lasted any length of time, you’d have to get acrylic overlays which require infills every few weeks and ended up costing a lot in maintenance. Now, if you want a manicure which lasts and looks good, but doesn’t ruin our own nails, you can opt for gel polish, which is cured (hardened) with a UV lamp and can last a matter of weeks. The application process is far simpler and you can have it applied straight to your own nails. Here are four things that we think you should know before opting for a gel mani:

Your Nails Don’t Need to Breathe

A common myth that gets touted around is that your nails won’t be able to ‘breathe’ if you have gel nails, but it’s actually codswallop. Your nails don’t need to be in direct contact with the air around them and having a gel manicure won’t somehow suffocate them! It can strip some of the oils from you nails leaving them a little dry, but that’s nothing that a little Elemis Sweet Orchid Monoi Body Oil won’t solve.

You Should Sunscreen Your Hands!

A lot of people don’t make the connection that the UV lamps which are used for gel manicures are basically the same type of bulbs which are used for tanning beds, which means that exposure leaves you vulnerable to melanoma. Before you have your mani (or do it yourself), use a sunscreen such as Elemis Liquid Layer SPF30 on your fingers to protect them from harmful rays.

You Can Do It Yourself

Not everyone has the spare cash to go to a nail salon once every couple of weeks to get their nails redone, but what you might not know is that gel manicures are more than achievable at home. You can pick up a kit which includes a curing lamp that gives you everything you need to get a salon-fresh look, and there are a lot of YouTube videos to help guide you through the process.

Be Careful With Your Cuticles

One of the things that a decent manicurist will do is take care of your cuticles before applying gel paint, so that it doesn’t stick to them and cause lifting around the edges. However, having your cuticles cut can leave you at really high risk of infection, and having them pushed back is a much better and more hygienic way to deal with them. If you’ve got some Elemis Tea Tree S.O.S. Spray in your bag, a quick spritz on your fingers one your mani has completely set would be great way to prevent germs from spreading.

How to Get a Salon-Quality Manicure at Home

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cuticle, Decleor Ongles Nail Strengthening Serum, DIY, Elemis British Botanical Hand and Nail Butter, fingernails, gel nails, hand, hands, home, mani, manicure, massage, nails, oil, polish, salon, sheen, shine

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Having a manicure at a salon can feel like one of life’s little luxuries, a pick-me-up if you’re feeling low and an oasis of calm in an otherwise busy week. However, sometimes it’s not possible to get to a salon to have your nails done, owing to schedule or budget issues and you don’t want your hands to end up looking tatty so we’ve put together some tips to help you to achieve a salon-mani look at home, so that your hands don’t need to suffer.

Prepare

Half of the work in having a manicure is getting your nails back to zero, so that they can begin the real work. This means removing old polish and giving the fingers a good coating with cuticle oil. This will soften the area and make removing ragged cuticles far easier. We’d recommend Decleor Ongles Nail Strengthening Serum, to revitalise the nails and surrounding skin. Use a wooden cuticle stick to push overgrown cuticles back and use clean nail scissors if you need a trim.

File

It’s amazing how different your hands can look when you take the time to file each nail into a neat, tidy shape and well-filed nails will be the difference between a perfect mani and a nail disaster. Use a curved nail file (NOT a metal one as these can split the nails) and only file in one direction to limit stress fractures.

Paint

Choosing the right colour is really important, as well as the TYPE of polish you use. If you want to get a really salon-like finish opt for the gel-nail dupe polishes that you find on the market as they’ll give you a more professional finish. However, if you’re not a big fan of colour or your painting skills just aren’t up to scratch, opt for a high-shine clear polish. It will give your nails a healthy sheen and make your hands look a lot more ‘finished’ than if you leave them completely bare.

Massage

Giving yourself a hand massage might seem like a really weird, or nigh-on impossible suggestion, but it’s actually surprisingly easy to give yourself a hand massage. Give your hands a liberal coating of Elemis British Botanical Hand and Nail Butter, which will not only feel great, but smell great too. Then, get to work! You can either go down the manual route and use your other hand, working into the palms and heels of your hands with your thumbs, or use something to roll your hands over like a bottle which allows you to find the pressure which feels right for you.