ALWAYS wear a basecoat...

Everyone tells me. I've been told so many times. It even says on the back of some bottles.

"ALWAYS USE A BASECOAT"

So what did I do? Well, I didn't use a bascoat, that's for sure. 

What I'm talking about happened to me last weekend. I'd been wearing 'Jewel in the Crown' by Topshop on my nails for a few days, it looks like this:

It is one of my favourite nail polish colours, and I've used a a lot of times before. But I've NEVER had such a disaster as this. I always get told that when you wear bright or intense colours on your nails to wear a clear bascoat underneath the polish, otherwise it will stain your nails. But did I listen? No, of course not. It's me, I just did my own thing, I was in a rush to apply it, so I just slapped it on, applied a top coat and bam, my nails looked great. Luckily, I didn't know what was coming. 

On Sunday, I decided to change my nail polish to a more natural colour, so I got out my nail polish remover pads and started rubbing away at my nails, as you do. I was so annoyed though, as just as people had warned me, the nail polish had stained my nails and they were left with a green tint on them all. Worse still, the nail polish that I had just taken off and that was on the pad was just rubbing off all over my fingers, and so I also had zombie fingers. I took a couple of photos to show you:

Vile. I tried washing my hands and that didn't do it. So I washed them again. And again. And again. Multiple hand washes and a shower later, and my fingers were beginning to look normal, but as for my nails, I had to paint over them, although you can still see some green around my nail beds. 

So the moral of this story is ALWAYS use a basecoat. It's not like I don't have any, I just choose not to use them normally. But from now on, I will be using one of two which I like- the first is by Jessica and is a salon-professional basecoat for normal nails, and the other is Boots Expert Nail Strengthener, which is great for all of you out there who are trying to grow your nails like I am. 

So as I say, I managed to paint over my green-tinged nails, and I am currently wearing a Bourjois polish on my nails called 'Taupe Sompteuex' which I hope won't stain my nails! At least I'm wearing a basecoat.

Olivia Ellen XXX

@oliviaellen97