Base Coats I like to use...

Hi all! :) Hope you had a fantastic weekend. On this rainy Monday morning I thought I would share with you the base coats I am very fond of! This will be a quick post but no doubt I will have another one for you today, I mean staying inside, listening to the rain and painting my nails, or doing uni assignments? I think you can guess which I would prefer :P 

One of my favourite base coats to use is Essie's Grow Richer Base Coat. I picked this up for a bargain and have been using it religiously ever since. My nails really aren't too terrible however I like them to be strong and nourished, which makes this one perfect :) It goes on clear and dries with a slightly rough feel...That may just be how I describe it, its not super bumpy or anything but I believe it really does help nail lacquer to stick well and I like to have a good quality base coat. 

I like that I can slap on a coat of this and leave it for a day or so if I get distracted. It leaves your nails looking shiny and stops mine from breaking. It also helps prevent staining, a couple of my polishes leave such bad stains however this seems to dull that a bit and coats my nails :) 

Whilst doing a bit of shopping the other day, I came across the Essence brand. Yes, I had seen this before but stupidly, didn't think to try it out. I don't know why! I came home with a base coat, top coat and nail corrector pen and it cost me about $8 all up! The base coat I purchased was the Studio Nails 24/7 Nail Base. 

This is another winner. I have to say, I have been using this more than my Essie base coat now. This one is a milky white colour that applies clear and actually dries matte. It promises to keep polish on for 7 days, I don't remember the last time I kept a polish on for that long however I might have to do a little experiment with this one!

My naked nails :O (Feels so weird without polish on haha) With the Essence base coat. You can see the matte look and I thought this was quite cool. Once you've applied this base coat you can watch it dry and you know when each nail has turned matte then its onto the colour! I really like this one, I feel it provides a good base for the lacquer to stick to and I haven't had any problems with chipping or colour peeling off in one big piece (has happened before!). The brush is also one of my favourites. It is easy to apply with my tiny nails and actually splays out and covers the whole nail in one stroke (well my pinky and ring fingers anyway).  

If you are looking for an affordable base coat that does the job, I would highly recommend either of these. They are both fantastic and it proves you can have a great base coat without the high price tag! (If I remember correctly, the Essence one was around $2.55!) Have a wonderful day and I will be back soon with another swatch post :D

Em x