Celebrating My Nails!

I mentioned in a previous post that a nice lady commented on my nails. She thought I had fake nails and when I told her my nails are real she mentioned to me that she uses Shellac and her nails are awful. I told her about a few things that I've used and encouraged her to try them out under nail polish for a while and see if her nails will strengthen up and get prettier. It was a nice moment to encourage someone to embrace her nails and make then pretty again so she can proudly display them!

With that I want to take some time to celebrate my own nails! When I started this blog back in February I took some photos of my nails at the time. You can see the original post Here or click on 'naked nails' in my Labels. Here are what my nails look like today. (Before the tear last week)

I can't seem to get rid of the stains :( I've used a stain remover and I ALWAYS use a base coat and yet my nails are determined to be yellow. I'm pretty sure my cuticles hate me too. Oie! I'm just glad my nails are stronger and healthier!

Click to see the mani that followed :)

Natural Nails #2

My Nail Journey 

(pic heavy)

When I started this blog my nails were peeling, very short, yellow, and my cuticles were rough. Here's a reminder of where I starters at.

I'm still working on my cuticles but the yellow is growing out (I bought some stuff for that but haven't had a chance to use it yet). My nails are actually growing out for the first time ever! I'm currently seeing how long I can grow out my ring finger. It tends to be the strongest nail. Keep reading for my products ;)

I used...

 

Left Hand - Right Hand

Nailtiques has a habit of peeling off when I have 3+ layers over it but works really well to stop peeling nails. When Nail Tek peels it takes some of the nail with it and I noticed peeling on my left hand when it stopped on my right hand. To further my test I switched hands and then my right nails started to peel with Nail Tek over them. So overall I like Nailtiques better. These are roughly the same price at Ulta, around $10-12.

  

I haven't had a chance to use this over the past few weeks as I've been extremely busy but I like it. I don't know if I was using it correctly though. I noticed some of the pics online of applying it and that's not how I did it! :) I will start using this again soon, and hopefully the right way, but I won't be trimming my cuticles this time to see how it goes. Since I stopped using it my cuticles are getting harder, not just at the top of my nail but along the sides as well. $5

 

I got this to help my cuticles my noticed my nails started growing faster too! I apply this in between painting my nails. I haven't been diligent about this lately. $20 (Yikes!)

 

I've used this before but purchased it so long ago that I threw it away and bought a new one. I don't really notice it's affects but the other day I had applied it to my left hand but didn't have a chance to apply it to my right hand. About 20min or so later I looked down at my nails and noticed that my left cuticles were much happier than my right! I try to apply this once a day but often forget. $6

That's it for now- I'll have another post about the yellowing product once I get a chance to use it.

Bare Necessities!

OK I said I would talk about my very sad nails and what I'm doing to try to repair them. Any thoughts you have would be much appreciated! Here is a pic from about 2 weeks ago. I'll take another soon. I'm trying to get a view about every 3-4 wks to see how they are doing. (Next time in day light hopefully)

Not sure how much you can tell but I have peelin

g, stained nails and rough cuticles. I got on polish blogs with http://www.fashionpolish.com/ and turns out she had nails like I do now. I'm using some of the stuff she listed as her mani routine. Some is a bit different. So here it is

Cuticles:

Sally Hansen 'Problem Cuticle Remover' with aloe. I noticed an almost immediate difference in my cuticles with this.

Burt's Bees: Lemon Cuticle Cream. I try to remember to use this daily but I often forget. :(

Nail Bed:

Left Hand: Nail Tek Foundation II - this is made to go under nail polish

Right Hand: Naltiques Formula 2 - I was told not to use nail polish with this (hahahaha! so silly!) but found another blogger who does. I'm trying it. Can't hurt!

Now for some added fun. I've seen the heart tutorial floating around and just had to try it!