Nail undercoat.

Nail polish is a thing right now. It's pretty cheap DIY fun: even if you only use a bottle of colour once it's cheaper than a manicure. I tend to go no more than one week of a colour, by which time it is thoroughly chipped, so take it off and 'rest' my nails for a bit. Using nail polish more frequently, I have noticed some damage to my nails. Mainly, they sometimes split. (I always thought that nails split longways, from the edge to the base, ow. But they don't, they split like plys of toilet paper, you get the top of your nail breaking away along the edge.) Keep them short, and it's not too much of a problem. I used to assume that long nails were more beautiful and short nails were only practical, but lately I've started to prefer the look of short nails. It's a better world, when form follows function.

Something about my skin tone, and my hands are particularly brown or sallow or something, means that nail polish is slightly disappointing on, compared to holding the bottle in my hands. What I have discovered though is white undercoat, like when you paint a wall or a canvass. White nail polish on first as an undercoat. I get a much more true colour over a coat of white than over my dark natural finger colour. Which makes sense. And there is an added benefit, that my nails wont be stained when I use a bright colour. Haven't had staining problems with silver or neutral colours, but orange was a bit gross and left me with fanta nails.

My favourite nail product is a matte topcoat. Turns tacky silver into cool metal. Turns shiny black into ipod black.