Polish tonight is zebra stripes over lime green. Turned out pretty wild!
Right hand is a little sloppy but I'm still working on my ambidextrous skills ;)
Shynk!
Feb 5, 2011
Wild Green!
Winter in the high desert is so dry, my hands were looking haggared! So I added baby oil to warm water and soaked them for about five minutes. Then applied cuticle oil and hand cream before polishing. It's good to remember to dip a q-tip in acetone or alcohol and wipe any oils from the nail before the base coat. This keeps the polish on longer and helps prevent chipping :)
Polish tonight is zebra stripes over lime green. Turned out pretty wild!
Right hand is a little sloppy but I'm still working on my ambidextrous skills ;)
Shynk!
Polish tonight is zebra stripes over lime green. Turned out pretty wild!
Right hand is a little sloppy but I'm still working on my ambidextrous skills ;)
Shynk!
Feb 4, 2011
Snap crackle!!
I love love love the idea of crackle polish! O•P•I has a crackle polish I've been eyeing, but haven't nabbed it yet. Today I was at Dollar Tree and saw a double pack polish and one was a crackle! For a dollar! Hollar!
I did a 2 tone of bright orange and pink then a layer of crackle
All these polishes were under $2 each so score for being thrifty :)
Turned out pretty neat after a coat of Speed Dry top coat. Next time, though, I think the pink and orange would show better with two coats instead of one.
Shynk!
I did a 2 tone of bright orange and pink then a layer of crackle
All these polishes were under $2 each so score for being thrifty :)
Turned out pretty neat after a coat of Speed Dry top coat. Next time, though, I think the pink and orange would show better with two coats instead of one.
Shynk!
Feb 3, 2011
Nail damage :(
This is what happens after pulling/chipping off nail enhancements with a nipper. Nail damage!!
I was getting anxious to have the acrylics off so instead of soaking them off like a smart person, I chipped them off with nippers. The tech who originally put them on used an electric drill to "buff" the natural nail and create more adhesion with the acrylic. This is bad! What it really did was file off too many layers of my nails. Now you can see where the normal outgrowth from the cuticle drops off into the valley of too-thin.
...the weak natural nail tore from my nail bed creating this nasty and painful dent :(
Lessons to be learned from my mistake:
1) Do not allow your natural nails to be filed with an electric file! ouch!
2) Always soak or gently file off nail enhancements - never chip or pull them off
So I'm trying out Nutra Nails to help protect my damaged nails until they grow out. The damaged parts will never fix themselves; there's no amount of anything you can apply to make the nail repair itself. Your nails are dead like your hair. What you can do is protect the nail from further damage and keep the cuticles healthy.
I am trying 2 coats of Thickener to add some layers back on the thin nails, then a coat or 2 of Strengthener to keep the nails from breaking. I'm also keeping the nails very short so the damaged parts will not catch and split up further on the nail bed.
So far, the Nutra Nails has been awesome! It's easy to find (Walmart) and inexpensive ($4), plus it really does the job. With it applied, my nails are flexible enough not to snap, but still thicker and strong enough to protect the weak natural nail underneath.
Some polish and design, then Speed Dry Top Coat! (I love this stuff - it dries quickly so you don't have to worry about smudging)
Black n Yellow, black n yellow... Rawr!
Poor nails. I may have to apply soak off gel so I can keep changing paint while the damage grows out. While nails are still dead, I'm afraid that changing polish too often will dry them out and make them worse. With a gel overlay, the acetone cannot penetrate the gel so I can keep changing polish :) And the nail surface will be smooth and even - no more of this weird drop-off into bad nail valley.
Shynk!
I was getting anxious to have the acrylics off so instead of soaking them off like a smart person, I chipped them off with nippers. The tech who originally put them on used an electric drill to "buff" the natural nail and create more adhesion with the acrylic. This is bad! What it really did was file off too many layers of my nails. Now you can see where the normal outgrowth from the cuticle drops off into the valley of too-thin.
...the weak natural nail tore from my nail bed creating this nasty and painful dent :(
Lessons to be learned from my mistake:
1) Do not allow your natural nails to be filed with an electric file! ouch!
2) Always soak or gently file off nail enhancements - never chip or pull them off
So I'm trying out Nutra Nails to help protect my damaged nails until they grow out. The damaged parts will never fix themselves; there's no amount of anything you can apply to make the nail repair itself. Your nails are dead like your hair. What you can do is protect the nail from further damage and keep the cuticles healthy.
I am trying 2 coats of Thickener to add some layers back on the thin nails, then a coat or 2 of Strengthener to keep the nails from breaking. I'm also keeping the nails very short so the damaged parts will not catch and split up further on the nail bed.
So far, the Nutra Nails has been awesome! It's easy to find (Walmart) and inexpensive ($4), plus it really does the job. With it applied, my nails are flexible enough not to snap, but still thicker and strong enough to protect the weak natural nail underneath.
Some polish and design, then Speed Dry Top Coat! (I love this stuff - it dries quickly so you don't have to worry about smudging)
Black n Yellow, black n yellow... Rawr!
Poor nails. I may have to apply soak off gel so I can keep changing paint while the damage grows out. While nails are still dead, I'm afraid that changing polish too often will dry them out and make them worse. With a gel overlay, the acetone cannot penetrate the gel so I can keep changing polish :) And the nail surface will be smooth and even - no more of this weird drop-off into bad nail valley.
Shynk!
Ok Meow...
Finally got this blog up and running and connecting to iphone. Phew!
Other nail blogs that serve as inspiration:
Daily Nail!
Supa Nails!
Dollface!
and more to come...
Shynk!
Other nail blogs that serve as inspiration:
Daily Nail!
Supa Nails!
Dollface!
and more to come...
Shynk!
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