Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Jennifer Ravenwing, but I prefer to go by Jenn. I'm a single mom to a beautiful five-month-old boy. I work full time as a delivery driver (it's not glamorous, but it pays the bills and I get to show off my manicures to lots of different people). I love doing my nails--it's relaxing and it allows me to delve into my creative side.
But here's the thing: I have a mortgage to pay and diapers to buy, so I need to be able to do my nails without paying an arm and a leg. Hence, mani on a budget!
In this blog I'll show you the manicures I create using nail supplies that cost five dollars or less (with a few exceptions). So if you're here looking for the latest trends or the must-have current mainstream polishes, this isn't the blog for you. I change my mani at least once a week--twice if my son lets me--so longevity isn't a major concern of mine. Therefore, I really don't see the point of paying fourteen dollars for a bottle of polish. Do the expensive brands have polishes that I'd love to play with? Sure. Hell, if F.U.N. Lacquer wants to send me their entire lineup for free, I wouldn't turn it down! But I can still make some pretty awesome looks with regular drug store polish, which is good enough (and cheap enough) for me.
I'll also be sharing what nail goodies I buy, where I buy them, what price I paid, and what I think of the products.
In fact, let's do that now. I recently made a trip to Sally Beauty Supply. I do have a Beauty Club Card, and will try to stop in whenever Sally's is having a sale of some sort. Here's what I picked up:
China Glaze was buy one get one free. With my Beauty Club Card, I paid $6.49 for both, putting the cost of each at about $3.25. The blue on the left is Frostbite, and the silver on the right is Icicle. These are the only China Glaze polishes I own, as they're normally out of my budget. Frostbite is amazing. I live for the bright cobalt and aqua blues. It's opaque in two coats and dries pretty shiny. Icicle is nearly a one-coater, but I would go with two just to be safe. I'll probably be pairing these two together in the future, most likely in a stamping manicure.
I also grabbed an ASP crystal nail file, which was on sale for $2.99. I've heard that the crystal/glass files are a lot better for your nails than the cardboard variety, though I can't confirm that myself. I have used this once, and I will admit that it did leave my free edge much less straggly. Plus it was much faster taking down my length. I approve!
The next item is a bottle of Blue Cross Cuticle Remover. This cost me $4.99 for a 16 oz bottle, and those 16 oz will go a looooong way. My cuticles never want to cooperate. So I thought maybe it was time to just remove them completely. But... I can't seem to get this remover to work. Chances are I'm doing something wrong because this stuff has gotten rave reviews everywhere. It does make it easy and painless to push my cuticles back, but it doesn't outright get rid of them. Perhaps I'm not leaving it on long enough? Or maybe I'm not applying enough? If any of you have used this and have any tips or tricks for me to try, please let me know! Also, if it makes a difference, I never ever use cuticle nippers (I almost typed "nipples" in there... d'oh!). Just the thought of getting those nippers anywhere near my nails makes me cringe. 
The last item I picked up... well, I did a no-no. I went beyond the budget. I paid $5.49 for ACI's Bridge the Ridge base coat. Supposedly this stuff fills in ridges and creates a nice rounded surface for your polish to glide over. This product also got great reviews, and it's also not working for me. Maybe I should try the stuff that nobody likes? Heh! Anyhoo... when I first put it on, it does round out the nail, but then the inevitable happens and it falls victim to the valleys. I've only tried using one coat, so I'll probably try two coats to see if that helps. Generally by the time I have a top coat on, my ridges don't really show, so I'm not sure why I bothered to buy this... especially at that price. However, this stuff did result in much less tip wear than I normally get in a week--even on a gradient--so I was pleased with that aspect. Was it worth going over the five dollar limit? Well, I can't really say yet, as I haven't tried the two-coat approach. But if I were to decide this very moment, I would say no. I'll try to remember to update you on that when I double coat. And that's all I have for you today. Stay tuned for the manis!
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