Nail Care Challenge: Basecoats

Betty Nails is having a Nail Care Challenge and I thought this would be fun to do. Basically, each week participating bloggers will post some things in regards to the subject of the week. Since I have a  LOT to learn about nail care, I thought I would post what I do know, what I'm using/doing and I'm also going to do some research on the subject while I'm at it. I would really appreciate feedback while I'm doing these, thank you!

I know I've read comments from other bloggers stating they never use base coats. Is it really necessary? Like you, most of my polish days were spent just applying color and top coat. (OK, just color, top coat if I was bored.)

My boyfriend has many years experience working with paint in numerous mediums: painting industrial buildings, vehicles, t-shirts, drawings, Halloween makeup, and I just talked him into painting my nails once I figure out how to do so! If I were to ask one person about paint, it would be him. He insists, yes, base coat is necessary, because otherwise the polish has nothing to stick to. It acts as a binder, just as primer would when painting a car.

Here are some other good reasons to wear Base coat:
"Other reasons to use a base coat

1. Base coats with certain proteins, Aloe vera, vitamin E and/or calcium can strengthen nails that are brittle and dry and reduce splitting and peeling.
2. Dark nail polishes like blues, blacks and bright reds can stain the nail and seep into the nail bed. Applying a base coat may prevent that from happening.
3. A base coat provides a hint of shine, and when used properly (base coat, color coat, top coat), the shine lasts even longer."
   (Source: Makeup and Beauty Blog)

Personally, I never gave it any thought about base coat protecting my nails from stains. If so, this is kind of scary because I've had some recent stains with my nails!

I only own one polish that is strictly a Base coat and it is a no-name generic polish so I won't talk about it. I recently purchased Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails Hardener which doubles as a base coat. Previously, I was wearing only a generic brand fortifier. Here's why I made the switch:

 I took this photo ten days ago, right before using the Sally Hansen Hardener for the first time. Can you see how stained my nails were? Some of them are also very, very thin. Pieces of my nails chip off in layers, as you can probably tell. So they're not very pretty, and I've been trying to grow them out a little bit which was hard at first because they were so brittle and kept breaking.

I've used the Sally Hansen Hardener twice now, and I would say I'm definitely seeing an improvement. My nails haven't been flaking or cracking as often. I did file a couple of them yesterday because I had a couple of sharp points but nothing needing trimmed. I'm still not entirely sold as to whether or not they chip less because of the base coat, but it's definitely working as a strengthener, so I will continue to use it. I bought mine on sale at Family Dollar for $2.50. Just browsing online, WalMart sells it in store so it shouldn't be too difficult to find if you want to try this out. It looks like it typically sells for about $2.99.

With that being said, how do I use it? Well, I've read a lot of recommendations to clean your nails by wiping them down with nail polish remover before applying base coat. I do not do this, since my nails are brittle it seems counter productive. I do try to rinse them off first and clean underneath them first. Then I just apply one coat of my base coat, and I usually let it dry most of the way or completely. I've read differing opinions on whether or not you should let it dry all the way or not, also. I don't really know which works better or if it really matters, what do you think?

What I would like to know is this: what base coat products do you use and love?