Nail Art

Something you might not know about me:  I am legitimately OCD about my nails. 

The history: This personality quirk manifested itself my senior year of high school around prom time. It was somewhat of a tradition for me to get my nails done around the time of school dances. So senior year I decided to go all-out and get gel nails, French manicure style.  For those of you who aren't quite up to speed on your nail knowledge, gel nails are just that: (fake) nails made of gel. They are thick, shiny, and unchippable. They end up growing out, though, and that is one way nail salons make a lot of money off of customers like me. People like me just need to return time and time again to get them filled so our nails can continue to look fabulous. 

And so started my obsession. A monthly trip to the nail salon was always incorporated into my schedule, however busy I might have been at the time. I continued to get my nails done after I moved up to school, and I spent a good deal of money doing it. The gel nails stayed on for 3 years. 

However, at one of my appointments junior year of college, I realized it was necessary that this habit come to an end. To refill gel nails, the manicurist has to shave down the gel that is already there to put on another layer, otherwise the nails get too bulky and look awkward. So as the woman was prepping to apply a new layer to my nails, I looked down to see my nail bed bleeding. I had gone so many times and had the gel shaved down so much, that my real nails were thin enough to bleed. This disturbing fact, coupled with the sudden awareness that I had spent close to $2000 over the course of 3 years solely on my nails forced the sad sad decision that I had to stop pampering myself with gel manicures for good. 

But I had gone 3 years without seeing my real nails, and when I took the gel nails off for the last time, I was thoroughly disgusted with what I saw. There was NO way I would allow myself to go out in public with my hands looking so unkempt. 

So I became my own manicurist, and got pretty good at it, might I add. After trying out many different polish colors and brands, I finally found what I was looking for - polish that would give me the "gel nail look".  French style, of course.

Here's the routine: 

-1 coat of Sally Hansen clear nail strengthener as a bottom coat (I realized that in order to get my nails back to their natural strength and thickness after abusing them for so long, I needed a bottom coat at the very least);
-1 coat of Sally Hansen "X-treme" white polish, applied to just the tips;
-1 more coat of Sally Hansen nail strengthener as a top coat;
-and 1 coat of Sally Hansen instant-dry top coat to give the nails strength, smoothness, and shine.

The result: 

Not bad for doing it myself, right? People have even asked me if they were gel on several occasions. 

Mission accomplished. The only downside to my new found talent? My obsessive compulsion got to the point where I had to take off all the polish in the middle of the day over the summer because it had been on for too long, and I was legitimately uncomfortable riding the subway home without my nails painted. I felt as though everyone was looking at my hands. I felt naked. Sad, I know.  To this day I haven't gone more than 24 hours without nail polish on, all thanks to that fateful day senior year when I got my first gels put on.

I maintain my nails about once a week, sometimes I can go two without repainting. Since the nail art trend has been picking up recently (beauty blogs are seriously all over it!), I've decided to get creative, break out of my comfort zone, and try some different styles. 

Long story short, this novel of a post will act as a precursor to colors/designs/etc that I'm going to try.

Look nouveau #1:

Deep wine red (sorry, hard to tell) + ring fingers with red stripe and white tip

It's definitely been hard to get used to such a dark color after having the French manicure look going on for so long, but it's finally starting to grow on me. More designs to come :)

xo