Sunday Mani.

For the last installement of the July mani/pedi challenge I would like to talk about hands care.
I love a neutral manicure, either with a light pink or white polish, or a clear one. I find it very elegant, it requires less maintenance, and nobody notices if some solvent I am using at work takes off some of the nail polish.
But to wear clear polish I think one should take good care of one's hands.
I have oentioned already that I am a bit OCD about them. Here is what I do to try to keep them soft and presentable - even with my job, which requires a lot of washing and some accidental solvent spilling.

• I wear rubber gloves when I do the dishes/clean the bathroom, to avoid even more chemicals on my hands (of course I wear gloves as much as possible at work too, but sometimes spills just happen).
• I put a very heavy hand cream every night before going to bed. Right now I am using Glysolid, but I like the Neutrogena one too.
• I pur a lighter hand cream in the morning before leaving and a couple of times during the day (I keep a tub at work).
• If my nails show some sign of brittleness (it happens a lot in winter), I dip them in a mixture of olive oil and lemon juice at night before bed.
• And when it's cold I wear my leather gloves, which protect my hands from the wind too.

Now for this week's mani. I just used my base/top coat from Bottega Verde:

And here's the result:

I would like to end this post by thanking the girls at Broke and Beautiful who had the fun idea of the July mani/pedi challenge. I found it an inspiration to write about the topic, and to better care of my nails. Besides, I loved reading other girls' entries!