Essie and Sally are Best Friends

So maybe it's because I've been using super cheap nail polish, though gorgeous. Or maybe it's because I wasn't letting my nails dry long enough between coats. It's hard to tell...

But all I know is I've finally found a way for nail polish to both look amazing and last more than 12 hours! :P

I had been doing one coat of clear nail polish, two coats of whatever color I was using (with very little time between) and then another coat of clear. And I'd get up the next day and it would chip--bad. What in the world??

Now, you can't really blame me--I knew next to nothing about nails and just did whatever I had gathered from Pinterest. Well.

However, Pinterest had also gotten Essie into my head. So I found these two bottles on clearance at T.J. Maxx: "Orange, It's Obvious" and "Fear or Desire."

The awesome nail polish

The secret weapon

I skipped the first coat of clear (which I probably could have done) and just did two coats of the colors, using the lighter orange on my ring finger. And I just waited a couple of minutes between each. Then I let them dry for a good 45 minutes to an hour. Then I did a layer of Sally's awesome No Chip Top Coat and generously let it dry as long as I could. (What do people do while they take two hours on their nails?? I watched TV and then got brave and got on my computer. Anyway...)

And they lasted a good 4 days. And when they did finally start chipping, it wasn't hideous gashes out of them but little ones on the ends.

So maybe if I'd waited longer between coats of color it would have lasted even longer. But regardless, I am pretty thrilled!