Movember Manicure |

This is the manicure I’ve been parading for the best part of November, to support the cause Movember, a movement which helps raise funds and awareness for prostate and testicular cancer. The men of the world hang up their razors, and let their facial hair sprout all kinds of moustache masterpieces. As a lady, I lack the means to grow a wonderful “Mo” on my face, and so I took to my nails!

These are the products I used:

1. Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover – £1.60
2. Rimmel London Nail Nurse Stronger Nail – £4.49
3. Avon Nailwear Pro Deluxe Chocolate*
4. MUA Lush Lilac – £1
5. Barry M Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener All in One – £2.99
6. A Tupperware tub

*This colour has been discontinued from Avon but is still available online for around £1.50

All of these products are available in standard high street beauty stores and are affordable. The basecoat is a little pricey, but it’s worth it!

Firstly, with any manicure, you need clean nails! Use nail polish remover on a cotton pad or cotton wool and remove any nail polish you’ve had on your nails before. My nails are really weak, so I use Cutex Nourishing Nail Polish Remover, the smell is a lot nicer than the usual nail polish remover and it does just as good a job. Use a tuppaware box to put your used cotton pads/wool into, nail polish remover ruins furniture.

After you’ve wiped your nails squeaky clean, you need to file your nails to the shape and length you like, I personally go for a curved tip, it compliments my long nail beds! A little tip for filing, don’t file back and forth in one motion, it weakens your nails. File one direction at a time.

Next, take your basecoat, I cannot stress the importance of using a basecoat! I once told my friend to use a basecoat, she then proceeded to forget her basecoat and paint her nails a teal colour (which was lovely) but stained her nails to the extent that soaking them in acetone couldn’t remove it! I like to use a basecoat that protects your nails, I use Rimmel London Nail Nurse Stronger Nail which strengthens and protects. It’s a cute pink colour, but it goes on clear.

Once your nails are dry, take the colour you’re going to be using for four of your nails and your little moustache. You can use any colour you like, but I kept mine fairly similar to natural moustache/skin colours. I used Avon Nailwear Pro Deluxe Chocolate for my main colour and MUA Lush Lilac for my accent nail. I chose my ring finger as my accent nail but you can choose any nail you like, or do every nail like an accent nail and have lots of little “Mo’s”.

After painting your nails, they should look something like this:

I don’t paint my nails very neatly, I like to get them covered as much as possible – no gaps at the sides! Once you’ve got this far, it’s time to create your little moustache! To do this you can use dotting tools, if you don’t have any a toothpick will work just as well! I bought my dotting tools off eBay for around £1.25. I got 5 double-ended ones, so I have ten different dotting sizes in total!

I used two dotting tools to create the moustache, one smaller than the other. To begin with make two dots next to each other with the bigger dotting tool in the middle of your nail about a quarter of the way from your tip. Next, with the smaller dotting tool, make two dots closer to the edges of your nail but on the same level as your bigger dots, then join them up using the smaller dotting tool with a stippling motion for more control to create the moustache shape! It should look something like this:

There you have it! Your very own little “Mo”. Before you’re done, apply a topcoat to make your design last longer and to smooth out any ragged edges. I used Barry M Basecoat Topcoat & Nail Hardener All in One for my topcoat, it makes nail polish last longer and gives it a beautiful shine! Finally, pour some nail polish remover into the cap and dip a cotton bud into it to clean the excess polish from around your nails, and voila!

Some men get sponsored to grow their moustaches and donate their money to Movember to help progress research into prostate and testicular cancer. It’s a great cause, and just because you don’t have facial hair, it doesn’t mean you can’t have a moustache to brag about!