Breakage...and mend-age!

Hey friends.

More and more I find it increasingly difficult to blog very regularly, so I thought about using Blogger's ingenius method of blogging on the go. I was looking forward to being able to blog from my car (parked, of course), from my office desk (on my lunchbreak, of course) and whilst out shopping (for nail polish, of course!)
Imagine my sheer frustration when I remembered why I hadn't set this up sooner. It doesn't work.

Now, I don't know if it's me not being able to take simple instruction, but my iPhone will not co-operate. Blogger keeps telling me that my device is not registered and that I need to email them...which I do over and over again, but nothing works.

Can someone tell me what I need to do to make this on-the-go marlarky work? Please?

OKAY, NAILS!

 So, I broke my nail off when the baby decided to take a lie down in the middle of the street. Yes, she fell down from standing up, stationary. I think she's probably having a growth spurt and she's a little off kilter.  I scooped her up with the one hand before she actually touched the pavement and gave her some kisses, but she looked pretty confused when she was verticle again. My nail was left on the ground and I was left with a decision to make; chop them all or fix the one. Guess what I chose?

This is gel overlay with a plastic tip. Honestly, I'd rather not have any tips on, but hey, the nail needs a little help right now!

Take care all ;)

xx

The nail extension

Hi everyone, how are you doing?

I've now finished my Nail Technology course and I'm waiting for my portfolio to be verified. Now that I don't have exams and revision to deal with, I can actually pay a little more attention to my own hands. My index finger nail is a fair bit shorter than my other nails...mainly because I seem to end up filing it down by accident whilst shaping clients nails. Perhaps my own nails need to be cut or perhaps I need to find a better way to hold on to my clients without nubbinating my own finger. Please observe:

 You will also notice that I have two splits on my middle finger and a tear on my thumbnail. I've put gel overlays on each of those nails to grow them out without taking them all the way down.  As I'm always happy to play with acrylic, I decided to give my index nail an acrylic sculpted extension!

 I put on my form and began creating the acrylic extension. There are several steps that need to be taken before we get to this point, but I don't intend to bore you with details.

So far, so good.

 After the sculpt is complete. The product I am using here is not the best. It's one that we all had to train with, but our lecturer suggested that we invest a little more money in better products that offer longevity. I'm already awaiting a few deliveries.

 After filing.

 After using a three-way buffer. You know, I'd never seen anyone buff acrylic nails before and I have to say, it makes a lot of difference! I realise that using a white acrylic would have given me a nice 'forever french' manicure look, but I was not about to sit there overlaying every single nail. My nails are rarely bare so no-one will see it.

Here's the shape of the nail.

I know that a lot of you readers take very good care of your nails and there are some who think nail enhancements are a big no-no. I'll admit to feeling like a bit of a fraud when wearing an overlay or patching up a break, but on this occasion I do not. As far as I am concerned providing it is applied correctly, a nail extension can look beautiful and natural. There is nothing wrong with wearing enhancements if they make you feel good. Yes, so they may cause some weakness to your nails when removed, but if you find a good, reliable nail technician who cares about your needs and listens to you, damage can be limited.

Here's one of my clients with before and after an infill.

Before.

Here she is afterwards. She told me that they could pass for her own nails and I have to agree with her.

How do you feel about nail enhancements? If you wear them, which kind do you wear? Acrylic, gel, overlays, sculpted tips? If you don't like them, why not? I'm interested to know folks!

xx

I'm just no good with gloves.

Those of you who read my blog regularly will know that I complain regularly about having dry hands. Unfortunately, this is something I have suffered from for many years and the causal factor is simply bad habits and sheer laziness. How I manage to grow my nails without them chipping and splitting all the time is a wonder. That said, my nails are hard and brittle - if they break, they are clean and usually very low breaks too. Two ways I could immediately combat my brittle nails and dry hands would be to use rubber gloves for housework and hand cream after hand washing, but sometimes even that becomes a chore.

My grandmother has always told me that I should use gloves when I'm doing housework. I've never listened to her and I still don't - she's the first person to shove her bare hands into a hot oven without a moment of contemplation! I am realising, however, that she probably IS right because my hands can become so dry that they actually sting (although that could be because I'm using neat bleach to clean things).

 I came across some cotton moisturising gloves the other day in Superdrug so I thought I might try to do something about these crusty dogs. The gloves were £2.99 but I can't remember how much the Soap and Glory Hand Food was. I got that from Boots over the Christmas period.

Nice, thick consistency. Oh, and a great big close up of my elephant skin. Meh.

For two nights, I slathered on some Soap and Glory Hand Food (which, I hasten to add, smells absolutely divine), pulled on the gloves and went to bed.  Unfortunately, I fought those babies off twice in a row and in the mornings would find them either at the foot of my bed or on the floor. What can I say? I'm just no good with gloves. Luckily, the 'Hand Food' is miraculous on its own so I had soft and very lovely hands in the mornings. It's just a shame that a few hours later, I was back to Brillo pad hands again.

Let me know if you are any better than me. I know some of you readers have beautiful hands...what do you do to maintain their condition?

xx

My bare nails

After filing my nails to nothing for the sake of my manicure and pedicure course a few weeks back, I'm pleased to see that they've grown out a little.

I cracked the ring fingernail somehow. It's still attached and doesn't bend...I don't know what is going on there!

This is the cuticle oil I've been using recently. It's almond oil and I absolutely love the smell of it. I use it any time I remember. Don't be fooled by the name 'Maximum Growth'; I do not believe that this grows your nails per see, but it complements healthy nail practises such as moisturising.

I start the nail technology course this weekend, so goodness only knows what my nails will be looking like in the next few weeks!


xx
 

Green nubbins

Hey all, ready for Monday?

As my nails get ever shorter, I'm going to have to come up with manicures that work on nubbins.

 Not really much to say about this one.  I'll go into the colours in another post - I got all three polishes in a 'lovey package' from Anastacia

 My free edge may 'look' longer here, but I have literally about 2mm on my index finger. Had I painted my free edge only, I wouldn't have had much of a green tip!

Here's an example of the depth of my nail beds, but on my right hand before polishing.

Have a wonderful week friends.

xx

Sinful staining and Bubble White

Hey all.

This post is to reveal how absolutely terrible my nails were looking a few weeks ago after day 14 of the 31 day manicure challenge .  They are currently stained beyond recognition because of the very evil 'Innocent' by Sinful Colors.

Please look at the horrors that lurk beneath the lacquer:

GAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!

Oh my goodness. The sheer horror. And this was after only a few hours of wear AND I wore a base coat.  My thumb and index finger were patched in places, hence the way they look.

Two of my lovely Tweeties (whom I can't link to now because Blogger is telling me that I don't follow any bloggers, yet I follow at least 100 if not more) Marina and MariJo, suggested ways to get rid of the traces of eviiiil.
One of these ways was this:

Bubble White, effervescent powder that bubbles and removes stains when added to warm water and used to soak stained nails. It cost £1.99 from Sally's and was enough for one use.  This stuff smells like menthol and claims to cleanse your nails of stains in 5 minutes; I soaked my nails for 15.

This is what they looked like before:

Grotty.
After:

I THINK I can see a subtle difference on my pinkie. They still look awful naked now though.

Since these pictures, I've buffed them very lightly (I never buff my nails!) and there has been a slight improvement. I still can't pull off a french manicure for now.

Have YOU found any fool proof ways of ridding yourself of stains? Any tips to give me or any other readers?

Thanks for visiting :)

xx

31 Day Manicure Challenge Day 14 - 'Flowers'...and tears!

Good evening readers.

Today I am posting up a picture of my 'Flower' or floral nails. Whilst I love the end result, I was far from dissatisfied with what I saw when I removed the polish (you'll see what I mean in a minute).

First, here is the eye candy:

This is Sinful Colors 'Innocent'. Hmmm.

 To do this, I used the 'Innocent' as a base and sponged on Barry M's Matte White. After two layers of Sally Hansen's Diamonds, I used image plate S5 to stamp on the cherry blossoms. I then went in with my tiniest art brush and painted in the petals and centre with acrylic paint, before adding a few black dots for effect. My back was aching after that!

Just look at the absolute horrors I saw when I removed it...

'Innocent' is not so innocent after all. The staining is horrific. I was bawling about it all over Twitter today and after soaking my nails in lemon juice and using two stain removal tablets (effervescent ones) I still had no joy. I think I'm going to have to take some drastic methods here...baking soda here I come. By the way, thanks for the tweets of advice my dears :)

Aside from the 'stainage' I hope you liked it!

xx

Miracle Growth experiment....2 WEEK UPDATE!!

I had to try and squeeze this in because I should have really given you an update yesterday.

Remember I decided to buy Sally Hansen's nailgrowth Miracle Serum? I was trying to get a 59% boost in my nail length in a two week period (as promised by the product) and also some nice cuticles too. After rubbing a drop of serum into my nails and cuticles twice a day for two weeks here are my results.

*Drum roll please*

Errrrrr. I see progress, as you would in any two week period, but 59%? No, I don't think so.  The middle and ring fingers look a good deal longer, but I don't think it's anything spectacular. What do you think?

I gained around 2mm on the index fingernail - blah.

I'm not sure if this does what it promises to do. The formula of the serum is not moisturising all - it's water based and after application, it didn't alleviate any dryness. As much as I think it didn't work for me, I really don't want to write it off just yet. I'm going to use the bottle for another two weeks just so that I can say I gave it a good try.

I'm so sorry I couldn't come back to you with a 'Miracle Growth Stimulator' that is like gold dust in a bottle. Alas, t'was not meant to be.

Have you had any luck with particular products?

xx

Miracle Growth experiment....

Friends, I've trimmed my nails because I was getting tired of having to patch up tears with every change of polish.  I've bashed and bent my nails so much of late, even after a trim a few weeks back; I'm looking at damage on practically every nail :(

So, in a bid to grow my nails out again, I've been looking for a growth accelerator.  I bought this...

Hmm. '59% Longer nails!' in two weeks apparently.  Let's not worry about the 9%  - 50% is good enough for me.


My nails tend to grow about 2.5-3mm every two weeks. I know this because I used to get my acrylics filled in twice a month and usually had this amount of growth. So if I use this, by two weeks I should have between 3.75-4.5mm of growth? Really?!! This may not seem like a lot, but it makes a big difference if you have a painful break that you want to get rid of!

Moisturising and massaging can stimulate nail growth and so can drumming your fingers every so often
but I want to see if any of these growth solutions give you visibly faster growth. So, for the next two weeks I will apply one drop of this clear, non-greasy serum which has the consistency of a gel, to each cuticle. The package doesn't specify how many times a day it should be used, so I'll do it before bed and one other time during the day. After massaging the serum in, I'll moisturise my nails in the normal way (with any old cream I can lay my hands on).
In two weeks time, I'll make a post about my progress...

Here are the starting pictures:

 16/10/2011

19mm

I've measured from cuticle to tip because it wouldn't be so accurate measuring the free edge.

Wish me luck eh? I hope that it DOES work - this bottle cost about £10!!

xx

Naked nails

Hi friends. How's it going?

I thought I'd give you an update on my naked natural nails. I'm happy to say that the stains that were on the nail bed on my left ring finger are now grown out. I still have the stain on the free edge but that can be covered up with a french manicure...haven't done one of those for months!

With a base coat of Sally Hansen's 'Hard as Wraps' - there's a photo in this post. This is stuff is great because although it's a polish, it's thick and it acts like layer of gel. By far my favourite basecoat.

 Posing doesn't come naturally to my right hand.

So before these nails start to break I need to get cracking with a french manicure at some point.

Take care folks!

xx

My nail growth progress

Hi Friends!

Remember this post, where I lamented the deterioration of my nails over my holiday?  Well, I'm pleased to say that I've had some progress.  First, let me just say that these pictures are of  naked nails that were not filed or moisturised., so yes, they do look grotty. The most recent pictures are taken of my nails after having removed polish and washed dishes - without gloves!

 10th April

 18th April

10th April

19th April

I'm right handed and my nails grow a lot faster on this hand. I just can't wait to get rid of the staining on my left hand nails. When they are gone, I'll be able to do a french manicure, finally.

xx

I'm back...with nubbins :-(

Hi Friends!! 

I'm back from my holiday and very happy to see that I have so many new readers. I had a lovely time but unfortunately, I'm suffering from jet lag. Hopefully a lie-in tomorrow morning might sort me out before work next week.

Whilst I was away, my nails suffered a thrashing. Heaving luggage up and down, rushing with zippers, getting those tiny padlock keys of the metal rings; they tore my nails to shreds. On the last few days before I came home, I removed my polish and cut my nails. I picked off the fibre glass strips I had on some nails *shock horror* and this was what I was left with.

 

My right hand is worse due to the nails breaking unevenly and my nail beds experiencing trauma. Not to worry, this will give me the opportunity to pay attention to my nail growth for a while.

 Filed down with one layer of clear polish. I've been growing out that stain on my ring finger for ages :-(

After polish removal with no filing. The middle finger is so bad.

Every so often I'll make updates about my growth progress. For now though, I'm going to have to live with these nubs and try to make them look pretty. Ugh.

xx

Ruined Christmas mani...but got nice pressies!

Hi everyone! Did you have a good Christmas?

I had a lovely day filled with family, food and festivities.  Dribbles cut her first tooth (finally), Little'un got presents galore and my macaroni cheese went down a treat at the huge Christmas dinner table.

I got a few nail related presents from my hubby, but first, I need to show you what I did to myself...

 Yes, I tore my nail whilst opening a drawer!

 What a way to ruin a manicure, eh?

 This lazy girl decided to fix the nail - I wasn't about to start removing polish at 1am.  I used some nail glue to stick the tear together then got a piece of fibre glass wrap and cut a strip off to cover the the tear.

 Here the strip is. This is only a temporary fix. When I change my manicure I'll soak the whole thing off with acetone and repeat the repair process on bare nails.

Next, I brushed some resin onto the fibre glass strip. This stuff bonds in seconds, like superglue so you need to be careful.  You can use an activator spray to dry and harden the resin instantly, but I chose not to use it because it dries out my skin...I have really dry hands already. Once it air dried and was no longer tacky, I brushed on a second coat.

And there you have it. Repaired and no longer scary to look at! I'm going to try and grow this nail out with the strip on.  The break doesn't hurt, but I don't fancy wandering around with a nub on my 'photo' hand!

Here are some of my presents!

A little storage chest from Argos. It's already full but I have a large wardrobe and could fit this and another two (possibly) in there if need be... I'm also going to attempt to use the box this came in to make a light box! Stay tuned for that one.

 Bottom drawer of reds, pinks, purples, blues and greens.

Middle drawer with some more greens, blacks, dark duos, greys, glitters and clears. I have a little tub of mini pots in there too.

Top drawer. In this one there are files, diamantes, stamping accessories, nail tips, striping colours, tape, transfers, stickers and other bits and bobs.

 Nails inc set.

 L-R. 10ml bottles of Kensington Caviar topcoat (dries in 45 seconds apparently), Kensington Caviar basecoat, Ebor Street (pink with tiny shimmer particles), Shoreditch High Street, Kabaret.

 L-R 4ml bottles of Stables Market, Bruton Street, Henrietta Street and a vitamin E oil pen.

 Manicure set.

What did you get for Christmas? Was your polish obsession indulged by your nearest and dearest?

Take care friends x