Back to School manicure with Julep

What time is it? It’s time to talk manicures! Little Miss is excited to head back to school. She’s got her new threads, and now she’s focused on the perfect back to school manicure with Julep polishes. We’ve got plenty of colors to choose from, plus a few nail decals to work with, too.

Back to School manicure with Julep

It’s no secret, I’m a Julep Maven and I love the amazing polishes. However, to get the perfect manicure, you need more than just a fantastic color polish. You need to start a manicure with an excellent base coat. I’ve used all of the various base coats Julep has to offer, and my personal favorite is the Oxygen Bonding Base Coat. It goes on like every other base coat out there, but it dries super fast and it also dries kind of “sticky.” It’s not tacky, but actually sticky, like it’s going to super glue the color polish right onto the nail. LOVE IT.

Once the color goes on, I’m a big fan of the Freedom Polymer Top Coat. It dries quickly in the sun, and it cures the best when you hold your hands under regular lights you have in your house. I put my hands under a lamp in our living room for five minutes, and the top coat dries super shiny so it looks like gel polish. A little bonus tip: apply the Freedom Polymer Top Coat after the color polish dries for about two minutes. Even though the directions will tell you natural light works in 5 minutes, I prefer the lamp method. It really cures those nails, and they are not tacky at all.

Top coats and Ta Da! Quick Dry Drop options

The KEY to the top coat working great, is to cap off your nails with the top coat. It also helps if you throw on another coat every couple of days. It’ll extend your nail polish longer, without chipping! Since it dries so quickly, it’s not a huge inconvenience to throw another coat on. It just extends the manicure, by fending off annoying nail chipping.

Now, with my daughter, if she doesn’t want to sit under the lamp, I just throw some Ta Da! Quick Dry Drops on her nails, and the polish dries super fast. However, the shine won’t be as fabulous as when using the Freedom Polymer Top Coat on nails. It also doesn’t last as long when you don’t put the top coat on after the color polish! However, in a pinch, it works well to get her done, and on her way.

What color does a young girl go with for her back to school manicure?

The base coat, and top coat, isn’t where the excitement is for my daughter. The color is her favorite part. Rather, the colors. She likes to mix things up. Plus, she asks for designs, and has found nail decals. Her first day of school outfit is an orange dress, so picking the perfect color to do her manicure (and her pedicure,) was a challenge. Our collection is HUGE, and narrowing it down to a couple for a back to school manicure is NOT an easy task!