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)

Cherry fight!

One of the most memorable and fun times I remember as a kid was going to "pick your own" fruit at an orchard.  They take you out on a big tractor and like Peter, you pick a peck of pickled peppers ... except we usually picked strawberries and cherries.  And by "pick" I mean shove as many into your mouth when no one is looking and then the rest go in the basket.   

China Glaze - Bing Cherry

How amazingly beautiful is this polish?  It has a really pretty hue very reminiscent of Bing cherries and so the name is quite perfect.  The thing I like most, however, is that it has a very delicate shimmer that in my mind mimics the skin of cherries. 

I love food inspired polish names.  It combines two of my favorite things. :)







Lamp light

Sunlight

This polish is like heaven to apply.  It's very pigmented and  just glides on the nail.  This is two coats.

Indirect natural light

Picking cherries was always really fun.  At some point my sister and I would tire of the "picking" and a pit spitting fight would ensue.  We would leave the farm covered with crusty cherry bits from head to toe.

Aside from the fruit, the orchard had an animal farm with goats that would chase you for corn feed and then horn you if you didn't give it to them promptly.  

Have you ever picked your own fruits or vegetables at a farm?

Next time you eat cherries pelt the pit at a loved one and see what kind of fun follows. :D

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?

Dirty Crabs

Eating crabs is a dirty job, but someone has to do it.  This weekend, that lucky lady was me.  Yay for my belly, nay for the mani.  Normally when I participate in this activity it is hell on the nails and hands.  I end up with micro-cuts and acetone has no mercy.  Furthermore, the wetness makes my nails obese.

If you are on the west coast, or in other parts of the world, you are probably looking at this picture and wondering, 'why is she excited about eating muddy crabs?' 

photo credit

The deliciousness on these blue crabs is a seasoning mainly well known in Maryland and the surrounding regions of the U.S.; it's called Old Bay.

Have you ever tried Old Bay?
If you ever get the opportunity ... try eeet!

The crab says hi!

Then I ate him, he was delicious.

It's too bad the first time I get to show you China Glaze - Heart of Africa is with all this muck on my hands.

How is this? Oh woops, still dirty.

I promise to show you Heart of Africa properly in a future post because it is GORGEOUS, not to mention a fantastic fall color!

Do you see the terror?!  My nails are so fat.

I showed my engorged water logged nails once before in this post. 

Once I cleaned up, the mani was a bit scraggly, but doable ... um except then this happened ...

 Peeka boo, I see you!

Mani ... dead. 

What do you think ... save them for later? 

The hubbie tried to fit them on his fingers ... ROFL.

I've never had Dungeness crabs so I am super jealous of the Cali girls, BUT blue crabs are delicious and worth all the mess, cuts and a dead mani. 

Grape Flavor

Why is it that artificial flavors never taste like the real thing?  Some of the worst imitations have to include grape, watermelon, and cherry.  Don't get me wrong I love cherry flavor, it just never tastes like a big bowl of Bing cherries.

photo credit

This leads to my Nail Of The Day:

China Glaze - Grape Juice
3 coats

*eye roll at my camera*
The color of this polish is not blue, really it's purple, but this picture does show how deep, rich and sparkly it is in lower sunlight.

Normally my grape juice does not include sparkly glass shards, but I won't lie, I like China Glaze's take on grape juice.

In full sunlight.  The glass flecks are so shiny!

Purple! The color is a more deep in reality.

I did three coats for the full mani, but here I am showing what it looks like at one and two coats.

I could have stopped at two, but I feel the color looks much more rich at three.

3 coats

Indirect light.

This picture is more color accurate than the first picture. 

photo credit

The absolute worst artificial flavor ...

... BANANA ...

... but they are so cute though!

I love real banannas ;P

Lemon has to be my favorite fake flavor.  I love sour things! :)

What is your favorite flavor of hard candy, least favorite?

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?

Polish Expires?

Nope ... negative ... maybe?

I was rummaging through my Mom's polish bin.  I came across a seriously old polish.  Do you remember when Cutex made polish?  Yea, a completely forgotten fact.  I don't think they are doing it now, but maybe they should.  I urge Cutex to pick up the beakers again and start mixing! ;)

This polish is over twenty years old, my guess is ca. 1990.  The bottle had a price sticker from Ames.  Remember those stores?  My Mom used to work there in the early 90's and she bought it on clearance for $0.99.

Are you ready for this?

Cutex - Sparkling Amethyst
2 coats.

You know the most amazing thing? Not one drop of thinner was necessary.  When I first opened it up, it was a bit gummy at the neck.  I gave it a good shake and it returned to a completely normal consistency.

It applied very smoothly, but polishes with this type of pigment usually do.

The color itself is not that fantastic, very 90's, no?

It's definitely frosty, but not too bad.








Myth busted?  Perhaps.

Does this polish work?  Yes, but I could imagine a polish "expiring" in terms of:

1. Color - Color can fade or change over time due to exposure to the sun or other factors.  Perhaps the color I observe in the bottle now was not the original color when it was manufactured back in the day.

2. Formulation degradation - Polish contains compounds that are comprised of long chains of molecules called polymers.  Mainly, these resins provide strength and flexibility to the polish coating.  Can these resins degrade over time?  Perhaps.   If the polymers are breaking would this change the polish consistency?  Maybe.  I guess it all depends on the inherent physical properties of those smaller chains.  Whenever I come across an old polish that is really thin (that was once normal) I always think this is the reason, but I have no idea, just theorizing here.  If the resins are degrading then the integrity of the polish could be compromised because the strength and flexibility may have diminished.  I would think this would be an important factor with regard to polish wear.    

Is old polish safe? I don't know, but my fingers haven't fallen off.  Have yours?  Some people worry about bacteria in polish.  I can't fathom how they would survive in the solvents.  For example, isopropyl alcohol, present in many polishes, is used as a solvent, but is also a well known anti-bacterial agent.  BUT, I suppose stranger things have happen.  There are bacteria here on earth that thrive in sulfuric acid.  Interesting fact, but I doubt there are any bacteria in polish.  Regardless, let's use commons sense ... if you experience some sort of reaction, then it would be a good idea to discontinue use.

This makes me want to start a tag.  Do you have anything really old?  Rummage through your, your mom's or your grandma's stash and see what you can find!  I would love to see it :D

Crapity Crack

I am not a fan of crack of any kind.  Crack is Whack.  Whitney was right.  When the trend came out I wanted to slit my wrists.  I am currently holding my breath until it ends.  The look reminds me of open wounds.  I have seen attractive crack in pictures, but in real life it looks like an infested wound.

So, when my sister told me she wanted to try it, I one, gave her the death eye, and two, said "ugh, fine I'll get it for you."

After seeing a whole lot of crack in the last few months I at least knew which one I wanted to get her.  I finally came to a decision after seeing this post on Addicted to Polish.

Okay, I know this is a gift, but I have to make sure it's "safe" right?  If anything she should feel like royalty.  I can be the equivalent of a royal food taster.

First a big thank you to Another Botttle of Polish?! for the base polish ...
Color Club - Give Me a Hint

She has some of the best color combinations my eyeballs have ever had the pleasure of seeing.  Visit her blog for some seriously great eye candy!!

Color Club - Give Me a Hint
2 coats

A dusty purple with taupe leanings. My pictures make it look more purple.  It looks more taupe in the sun.


Now let's do some crack ...

Sorry for the crustiness! I was seriously just "tasting it".

La Rosa - Seaweed

1 coat on each finger, but I varied the thickness of the coat. 

More crust!

Seriously no clean up, sorry.

Since this was my first time, I didn't know what to expect.  My first few applications, pinky and ring fingers, got a thick coat, which cracked into thick pieces.  The pointer got a pretty thin coat and you can see it cracked into finer pieces.   

I hope this crack satisfies my sisters hunger for crusty infested looking fingers.

Nail spam of the blue, purple, near naked and fall variety

China Glaze - Raggae to Riches

China Glaze - Grape Pop

A dark blue that doesn't look black ... yea!
NYC - Pier 17

OPI - Bubble Bath ... Um yea hi sexy nails.
Just 2 coats.

Essie - Masquerade Belle  ... SV thank you for giving me convulsions. 

Revlon - Valentine ... Rawr!

This guy has a rusty quality to it. The copper color that you see on the inside of that light reflection actually dominates. 
Freaking awesome.
Essie - Urban Express