Green fungus ... Not really

I came across a Sinful bottle of green polish. It made my fingers look pretty and then it made them look gangrenous. First, let's oooh and aaah...

Sinful - San Francisco


A warm tone deep green with a shimmery jewel type finish. I love this type of finish and want one in every color!

I was hoping it would look like the bottle color... sadly the duochrome was not visible on the nail.

*sigh*

Still awesome though!

In the shade... 
This is my other hand. My nails are shorter on this hand because I had a nail break. :(

If you can't tell, I have a nail fix on my middle finger. This will come into play later.






How to for nail fix using Shellac here.

But basically, this polish made this happened. Holy freaking jaundice fingers!!

So that nail fix.... it got beat in the face and turned GREEN! On the bright side, the break had already grown out and I could remove it.

I discovered the nail fix protected the nail from turning yellow! Thanks Shellac! Which is more than I can say for the 2 coats of regular basecoat. Watch out for this beauty!

See that white spot I circled in red? There is a reason I have it and I will tell you about it soon.

Straight Edged

I can't say I am very straight edged, but my nails are a different story. There is nothing that bothers me more then a jagged side wall. What is that, you say?! Two examples...

middle finger

Aside from not looking very attractive, a jagged side wall (middle finger) has a weakened nail structure. I mean just think about it, missing nail pieces! Also, the sharp edges have a tendency to get caught on things. Both increase the probability of a nail tear. That does not bring me happiness. 

pointer finger

This happens a lot on my pointer fingers too.

Shark

How does all of the jaggedness come about? Recently, my fingers got caught up with a shark. Actually, for whatever reason, the nail structure is just a bit softer there; it happens sporadically.

But seriously, how awesome is the Discovery building!? I get to see this everyday!

What's my solution to prevent inevitable sadness? File the side walls. WHAT?! I know, I know.  I told you never to do that. Correction! I told you to do it a certain way. See here.

To summarize:

precious side wall

To preserve nail integrity it is best to keep as much of the side wall intact as possible.

avoid filing like this

Avoid holding and filing like pictured here. This gives too much access to the entire side wall. Too much filing of the entire side wall compromises the nail structure, making the nail more likely to tear.

tear on the pointer finger

Then this might happen...

:(

In this situation my jagged edge was so far down, I couldn't even file it. I do have a solution ... nail fix here.

file the side wall like this!

This is a much safer way to file the side wall.  

So, let's see the "after" photos!

middle finger

Ahh, so smooth!

pointer finger

Catastrophe avoided!

Trind Nail Balsam

A while ago, I was given a bottle of Trind Nail Balsam to review.  Before I go into that, I'd like to say a few words about the company.  I first heard of Trind from one of my readers about 8 months ago, which prompted some late night searching for nail care stuff and beyond.  I must say after many months of communication with the company and the president (US Chapter, Trind Nail & Hand Corp), I have nothing but utter respect and admiration for their products and philosophies on nail care.  I have had amazing conversations with the president and find myself totally smitten with his knowledge, commitment and passion.  I have so much love for nail care that meeting someone with the same passion is enthralling.

I first became interested in the Trind Nail Balsam after reading that it was a moisturizing product you could apply right before nail polish.  This is a bit surprising because normally we aim to remove dirt, oil and other grime from the nail surface before polish application to get the best polish wear.  I was a bit skeptical, yet not totally enraged because after all I put glycerin in my acetone and don't have much problem with polish wear. 

~$13-19 for 0.3oz/9mL

The consumer website can be found here.
















How I use it:

The product comes with a brush.  The Balsam smells flowery and fresh; it has hints of the perfume Sun Moon Stars ... to me.  At first I noticed the scent a lot, then I guess I got immune.

I shake the product well, then apply a thin layer to each nail.

I have gotten quite good at taking pictures with my chest and chin no?

Allow the product to soak in for about 2 minutes.  It will look wet.  Sorry my nails are a bit yellow; that situation was remedied here.

I massage any excess into the nail and cuticle.  The product penetrates really well and leaves the nail and skin nicely hydrated.

The nail surface does not feel sticky or dirty, just hydrated.

Now I am all ready for base coat and polish without having to further prep the nail with alcohol or acetone!

In terms of polish wear ...
I don't remember ever having any problems with polish wear.  As an example, I remember wearing

China Glaze - Stella

for about a week while I was at a conference and it looked flawless.



This product does not contain oil which probably helps with proper polish adhesion. 


So what makes this stuff so special?  A few key ingredients:

Liposomes!
I don't know about you, but I first heard of liposomes when I discovered Prostrong.  They had a moisturizing product they included with the accelerator that was pretty great.  Later they made it pink (using Red 33) which I have an allergy to and our relationship ended real fast.

Liposomes are really neat little things you can read about here.  Simply speaking they are fatty sacks filled with, well with whatever you want to fill them.  They can vary in size. 

What is most important is not that this product contains liposomes, because many do, but about the quality and quantity of  the liposomes.  You can be sure you are getting high quality liposomes that allow moisturizing ingredients to penetrate the nails and provide real moisture.

Biotin:
Normally we are accustomed to hearing about biotin as a vitamin/supplement taken internally.  It is metabolized by the body and delivered ... well everywhere.  However, in this product the chemists have specifically formulated it to stay on the nail.  An exact amount is stabilized and its delivery is controlled on the nail bed.  Does that mean no pimples?!?  That could be a plus.

Allantoin:
I love this stuff as I have mentioned in this post.  It has the capacity to increase the hydration levels in the skin and has exfoliating properties.  Read this if you want more info.

Panthenol:
Simply speaking, this is a moisturizer.  More fancy ... this is a provitamin of B₅.  It can absorb water from the air and is an emollient. 

Phytantriol:
Helps retain the moisture in the nail bed.


Overall thoughts: 
What a great little product!!  The winter months bring me a lot of trouble with dry skin and nails.  I need all the help I can get in the cold weather.  You can be sure I will continue to grease up my cuticles extra hard with oils and balms while I'm wearing polish and apply this Balsam under new manicures.  *Don't forget to wear gloves when it gets cold outside to protect your nails from the lower temperatures and wind!*

Trind has many other fantastic high quality products from nail hardeners to nail colors.  Solveig from Nailin' It! has had fantastic results with Trind Nail Repair.  Have you tried any of the Trind products? Thoughts?

*This product was provided by the company for review*

Tampons for your nails

Typically hemorrhaging of any kind is sopped up with a pad or a tampon.  Take wrestling for instance.  I remember on the high school wrestling team, when some dude would get a bloody nose, they would stick a tampon up his nose and call it a day.

Did you know your nails can hemorrhage?  Does that mean we need a maxi pad wrapped around each finger?  Luckily, no.  Although I imagine my hands would look exactly the way they do when I'm taking off glitter. ... see Foil Method post and video.


On occasion my nails hemorrhage and so do yours.  Have you ever noticed the following? ...

Do you see the black splinter? Click to make it bigger.  That is the start of a splinter hemorrhage.

There are medical reasons that cause such things to happened, one of serious concern is fungus, but I am ignoring those at the moment.  More typically, my hemorrhaging splinters come from over zealous buffing or knocking my nail bed into something.

It's faint and spread out at first, but gets more needle like as it grows out.

I usually don't worry too much about it and just let it grow out. Eventually, it will come to the nail free edge.

Growing out the coagulated blood...




 Let me show you the under carriage. lol

Creepy right.  You really can pick it off like a splinter.  Don't pry at it though.

Notice the hyponychium under the nail.  You can learn more about that in this post. 

In short, it is just skin that grows up the nail free edge.  This skin prevents some of us from taking down their nails to true nubbiness.  You can, however, manipulate it carefully.  Again, visit this post for more information. 

Next time you pull out a tampon think of your nails ... and how they don't need one.

Which one is not like the other?

I have been waiting to "unyellow" my nails.  I'm going to continue to be secretive about why, but I want to show you why I prefer to buff versus other options, such as lemon juice, backing soda, peroxide, etc. 

First let us take a look at the horror that is my yellow nail bed ... you might want to get a waste basket just in case you start to regurgitate at the sight.

There are uglier pictures here.


Ewwww ... there are no words.

DUDE ... I love my buffer.  The transformation is just wowza!

I personally love my square buffer that I showed here and here.

As I have discussed in previous posts, buffing should be done in moderation.  If your nails are thin you may want to just skip it altogether or be very light handed and use a very high grit strength buffer. 

My favorite buffer has a grit strength of 400 - 600.  There are even higher grit strengths out there and should be used for thinner/weaker nails.

The results are amazing.  

Look at that ring finger!

I can never achieve results like this with lemon juice, peroxide, etc.

My hubby said, "Oh look, now your nails don't look like you've been smoking for 20 years"

... jerk ... then I scratched him across the face with my newly stain-free nails. 

Bonus picture: OPI - Bubble Bath (2 coats)

Look mom I can see through my nails!

Do you know what happens to my nails after getting water logged?  Aside from getting fat ... they get invisible.

I see London, I see France ... I can see down your underpan.... wait no ... my nails get clear and I can see right through them.  

Sorry for the yellow nails.  I'm waiting for something ;) and until then enjoy my jaundiced finger nails in all their glory.

So after an hour or two of shoving my face full of wet crabs my nails got pretty see through.

That's the natural response nails have when they are submerged in moisture for long periods of time.  They are actually not too bad this time.  After a long hot shower or bath they get much worse.

I think the thumb was the worst.  Had I left my thumb soak any longer all of the white part would have disappeared.

This scenario gives me an opportunity to make a good point ...

... at this stage your nails are soft, pliable, weak, and more likely to tear.

*PLEASE BE CAREFUL*

Avoid filing, using your nails as tools, and polishing.

If you are thinking to yourself ... "wait a minute, we want the nail to be flexible, this is perfect!"  Unfortunately, the nail is a bit too soft at this stage.  Imagine wet paper.  Nail hardness is NOT balanced with flexibility, therefore the nails are not as strong as they could be.  Be gentle to avoid tearing.  I avoid all filing until ...

... they are back to this stage.
 
Don't worry though, they will always go back to the original solid color once they dry up.  It's now safe to file.  Other cautionary measures for your nails are discussed here. 

I think I had base coat on at this point so they are a bit more shiny too.  *still yellow as hell :(

Sometimes I just get holes in my nails ... weird.  But again, it always goes back after it dries up.   

Because nails behave this way I seriously dislike "wet manicures", which involve soaking the hands in soapy water at the start.  You will see this in some nail salons and YouTube video's all the time.  I hate it (I know those are strong words) and find it to be dated and very (old) textbook.  There are other, better methods out there.  Although soaking has some advantages, like making pushing back cuticles or removing the true cuticle easier, it introduces an inherent weakness to the nail during the manicure process that I just would like to avoid, hence prefer a "dry manicure".  I know some people actually prefer filing after soaking, but unless you have extremely thick nails that are difficult to file, I would avoid it.  Those who have extremely thick nails would benefit from lower grit strength files to take down length.



If you visit a salon and they don't know what a dry manicure is ... run.  I'm just saying ... why would a normal consumer know what that is and a professional not? 

Do you notice your nails get clear?  Do you prefer to soak your nails at the start of your mani?

Mama Mia! That's red alright.

Red is classic, but I always feel strange wearing it on my nails.  Maybe because it feels a bit loud or a bit scandalous or maybe because it can stain easily.   Either way I achieved it with this mani ...

Sunlight
China Glaze - Italian Red

I would say this is a warm toned red, but definitely not dominated by orange.  I really like the way it looks against my warm skin tone even though the picture is a bit over exposed and makes my skin look really white. 


The formula was a sweet sweet jelly.  I did two coats and loved every minute of it.  Although the pictures show some visible nail line, I
1. don't care and
2. couldn't really see it in real life. 

The hubs really liked it, so that's always nice to hear. 

Indirect light

Again, every time I wear red I am always reminded of Jennifer from the two fat ladies ... click here ... they make me hungry.   

Anyone want spicy garlic wings? ...

I shoved my face full of these last weekend ... mmmmmm














Back to the nails.  OH the stains .... shield your eyes!

Although I did a double coat of base it still stained a bit.   However, this is nothing compared to what Rodeo Fanatic did.  More on that another time. 

Do you ever feel like a hooker wearing red?  What is your favorite red?

:P

Come here, I want to cut you!

I used to watch Ricki Lake back in the day.  I remember this one episode was about bad ass girls in gangs.  They were so bad ass they carried razors in their mouths 24/7 ... ya know in case they had a hangnail.

On occasion I will get a nasty hangnail.  In today's post I will show you how I take care of it.

The hangnails I get these days are different than the ones I use to get when I first started caring for my nails a long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.  The kind of hangnails I used to get were from dry skin.  Also their location is somewhat different now too.  They would either start at the cuticle (eponychium) or on the skin right near the cuticle called the proximal nail fold (see the second picture for these terms).  These types of hangnails can be taken care of with a regular moisturizing routine (2-3 times a day) using your favorite moisture delivery system.  I have several posts on the importance of moisture.  You can visit them here, here, and here.   

Now they look more or less like this:

Please excuse the stainage.  I will be taking care of it soon.  For now, let it soil your eyes. 


Actually this is a continuation of stainage I got from China Glaze - Italian Red that was further enhanced by China Glaze - Rodeo Fanatic.  


Thank you China Glaze! <=== SARCASM 

Pictured here is a recent hangnail.







I don't have too many hangnail issues from lack of moisture these days because as I have told you before ... I am slightly obsessed.  When winter rolls around things can get a little tough, but I do what I can.  Nowadays my hangnails appear after I use cuticle remover. 

If you are not familiar with my earlier post on cuticles please visit this post.  In the mean time, I will continue to use my hubs ugly stumps for demonstrations purposes.  Yep, I'm still holding a grudge.  

The point of cuticle remover is to remove the "true cuticle", not the eponychium, however since you are putting the solution near the eponychium it too will do its chemically business there as well.   Perhaps I leave it on too long or get a little rough with the towel action ... as seen in this video.  

Either way, I will get the hangnail on the eponychium as shown in the first picture.  


I seriously wish I was taught to carry a razor in my mouth, because that would be some interesting self defense skills that could double as hangnail resolution.  However, a better tool for the job is the ...

Cuticle Nipper

This picture shows my jaundiced finger nails wearing 3 coats of OPI Bubble Bath.


You know what makes me laugh ... my mom calls them NEEEEPERS.  I freaking love her for it.  Every time she's looking for them, I pretend I don't know what she is talking about just so I can get her to say it over and over.  <3


There are many kinds out there and generally speaking the sharper they are the better.  These kinds of tools can be on the pricey side, but are much better for hangnail removal than say a razor you hide in your mouth or a nail clipper like I have seen being used on YouTube quite often. 0.o

The sharp pointy slanted end allows for a more precise and accurate removal of the hangnail without tearing the eponychium (which is live skin) further.  Since the eponychim is live skin you want to be careful when you are cutting anything in that area as a deep cut can cause a wound that may lead to bleeding and possible infection ... if you are a dirty girl.  But seriously be careful!

It may be a good idea to reserve nippers just for the purpose of cutting skin; avoid the temptation to clip nails (or other hard things) so that you can keep them as sharp as possible.  

This picture shows the finger after the hangnail was snipped.  


With continued moisture and perhaps a little AHA cuticle cream this area will smooth out and be glorious again! 


Do you get hangnails? How do you get rid of them?


More importantly ...
Do you know how to hide a razor in your mouth?

Good God Loodie put your knives away

Can you believe a quesadilla was almost the death of my thumb!

Okay that's a little extreme.  That knife in the background was actually the near culprit. 

OH the horror.  I will spare you the immediate blood and gore, but HOLY CRAP.  OUCH.

The quesadilla was delicious though.

So I'm chopping jalapenos right.  Ya know, having a good time, thinking about how succulent the quesadilla will be.   Then BAM!

Can we just take a moment of silence please.

IT'S SO FAR DOWN!! 

Waaaaaaaa

NOT COOL.

Don't worry, there is a happy ending.

Lucky for me life is not like "Death Becomes Her"

Not only do nails grow, but thank goodness for Shellac.

I fix my nail boo boo's with soak of nail gels. 

You can find that tutorial here.

The end result with Shellac.

Protected ... and SHINY :D

This is actually a week later, so the cut has healed.  :)

Gosh this regrowth is gonna take awhile.

But in the mean time I spent my days complaining to Olivia who coincidentally had a traumatic paper cut.

Dude, two months later it finally grew out.

YAY!!

China Glaze - Nasty

Sorry for the large gap, this picture is from a wear test.