Eliminating cuticle removers and gels and my giant gallon container of pure acetone from Home Depot has helped immensely. To clear my nail beds, I simply rub a slice of lemon or lime onto my cuticles and let the acidity soften them up. Then I gently push back with my nail to remove the dead cuticle bits rather than cut them. When I'm feeling fancy I'll also soak my nails in warm water and use a nail brush to remove any leftover debris. To be extra safe, I file my nails in one direction after applying a clear coat of polish. I'm not sure if all of this making a difference but I'd like to think it is, especially after making the switch to a better cuticle cream and non-acetone polish remover.
To only blame the products I was using seems unfair. There had to be some dietary things involved so I did a little digging and decided to add biotin to my daily vitamins in addition to drinking lots more water. I don't want to give out any recommendations because everyone's body is different but I really think the biotin has been working wonders for me. My nails are growing faster than I can keep up with and thankfully they're getting stronger. Bonus: My hair is too!
I've been easing my way back into partying with polish so I kept it simple with my first jelly sandwich!
Have you tried this kind of manicure before? I really like the look of it but layering so many polishes to get the right effect is rough! It totally started to puff up a little after my fifth layer of jelly polish (2 jelly + 1 glitter + 2 jelly). Not the greatest and certainly won't be very long lasting, but it's still cute. Being the nerdy perfectionist I am I couldn't sweep the glitter on and had to place each hexagon with a toothpick.
From left to right: L'Oreal in Bubble Trouble from their Miss Candy Collection and Milani Jewel FX in Hot Pink.
P.S. Can you tell I had the PBJT dancing banana in my head when I titled this post?
The glitter looks like polka dots! AH! I'm in love. I wish I was a better beauty blogger and actually did my nails every once and a while. Haha.
ReplyDeleteYes! I sat there hunched over with my toothpick in hand lol. You should try it, it's so easy to do and it totally jump started my desire to play with my nails again.
DeleteOh my goodness, this is so beautiful! Much nicer than most of the jelly sandwiches I've done. As much as i love all of your posts, your nail posts get me the most excited :D I'm going to try rubbing lemon on my cuticles now--cuticle removers sometimes make my fingers burn (probably not good), so that will be a really good alternative!
ReplyDeleteBurning fingers are definitely not good! If you have any small cuts the citrus will sting a bit but if you're using cuticle cream and moisturizing enough that shouldn't happen. I never knew how fussy nail care could be! I hear olive oil soaks are really good for cuticles too, but I haven't tried it yet.
DeleteNow that my nails are healthier I'll be posting more nail stuff. They were just too grody to show you guys for a while!
You did the jelly layer INDIVIDUALLY POKING EACH GLITTER PIECE ON? Your patience is insane, and your nails look fantastic!
ReplyDeleteAh, I did! I blame the Virgo in me! Thank you :)
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