Blabs: The Naked Truth about My Nails - Nail Care E.T.C...

Hello Darlings!!!

Life certainly has been keeping me busy, but today I have something to share with you all.. Something I've been planning to share all along!

It's BLABBING time!!!

Today's blabbing is brought to you by my Nails...
I realized I've been blogging for a year now, and I never really shared with you all the deets about my nails.

Now, before you get super duper excited, This is not a fancy post that's gonna teach you how to get FABULOUS nails, because let's face it, Its NOT as if I have the best nails in the world. lol.. BUT, I do Love my nails in their own special way. :-)

I just want to share with you all whatever you shall read below. LOL. Hang with me, Ok?

First off... I shall Start with the FAMOUS hand (It is famous right?)
This is the hand you see mostly on the blog, It's my left hand because I'm right handed.

Here it is in all its nakedness (Cover your eyes oh ye little ones). Lol

About this Hand:

1. The nails on my "Famous Hand" have been square shaped since forever. I Love the square shaped nails soo much. When my nails grow out, people actually think they're fake! The sad thing about square shaped nails is that when they do grow out, they start curving inward, and look really weird, so I always find myself washing my hands A LOT so I can make the nails soft and bend them back to square. 
2. Bending my nails on my own certainly makes my nails prone to breakage and when one breaks, I get tempted to file them all down - because different length of nails just doesn't look right. I must admit, I get stubborn once in a while and refuse to file them all down equally.lol
3. My left hand nails almost always contain some form of nail art. Whenever I do nail art on the blog, About 85% of the time, that nail art is NOT done on my right hand. I am definitely not ambidextrous AT All, so I can't always use my left hand to create beautiful goodness on my right hand nails. Except for when I do Nail Art stamping! Which is a life saver!
4. The nail on my Pinky looks Longer than the rest of my finger nails because my pinky has extra short nail beds! So I have to grow the nails on it out longer so the length of the "Nail bed" looks "longer" when I paint my nails. When they're painted, you can't tell that the nails are longer. Yaahhh This is a Trick I discovered a while back. Lol... 
5. Speaking of nail beds, I have short nail beds. Iam wise enough to appreciate what God has given me.. BUT DANG @ All of you with Really Long Nail Beds.
   Even when your nails break/are short/nubbins, they still look longer than my Entire nails + Nail Bed. Lol..

Anyhoo, Enough about the "Famous hand".
It's time for my Right hand. 

About this Hand

1. I wish it could be the famous hand because I LOVE the nails and everything about my nails on this hand!
2. I'm not joking about #1. lol.. Seriously, The nails on this hand grow like WEED! And they hardly EVER break! I have gone about 2 months or more without breaking a SINGLE nail on this hand. Idk HOW it happens, but it just does. The nails GROW like WEED once again! They are even, and my cuticles are always nice looking - They are right? :-P *sighs*
3. I tried to make this the "famous hand" on the blog for a while but It was seriously A LOT of work to get it painted and make it look decent for the blog. I spent lots of time cleaning up after polishing and making things look right that I just had to switch back to the Left hand. 
4. THIS IS MY EXPERIMENT HAND. Layering combinations, nail art experiments, Nail Shape experiment, And Any kind of Experiment you can THINK of. Lol.. As you can see above, the nail shape is different from the shape of the "famous hand".
   For the purposes of this post, I took a 1 week of "nail growth" picture for you guys.
   Look above: On the Left is One week ago, and on the right is After one week. You see the visible growth? I told you it grows LIKE WEED!!!
5. As I stated before, It doesn't always look identical to the "famous hand". lol.. I have been known to have different mani/styles/color of polish on both hands AT the same time. 

Nail Care... 
Heck, Who am I fooling, I don't think I specially care for my nails. So, let's just call this, "What I do to my nails". lol..

1. I wash them A LOT! That's a personal nursing thing though. I can't have dirty hands, so Yeah, I find myself washing my hands a lot! This is good because it helps me clean the dirt that might be under my nails (since I have to grow them out to avoid the look of nubbins). 


2. I am a firm user of this product below. Petroleum jelly. Yaaaasssss!!! Picked this up at a dollar store. It's the TRUTH my loves. I tried Burt Bee's Cuticle cream and while it was NICE, I must say this Jelly below is more economical for a Frequent hand washer like me. This is also really moisturizing. Seriously!
   
   
3. I always have a nail file in my purse. If I have a little breakage on the side of my nail or  top of my nail, I quickly File it away before it becomes something that'll cause a big nail breakage.
   This nail file is by Cheeky, and you can find it HERE. Set of 5 for less than $10. Also check Cheeky's Amazon page if you'd rather shop there.
   I have to say,  I Love this glass file!
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. I DON'T CUT my cuticles. I just let them be. I've heard that it's a bad thing to cut them, and I've experienced how bad cutting them can be. It's just unnecessary. 
5. I use an E.L.F concealer brush for clean up when I paint my nails. I dip the brush in polish remover and use it to clean around my cuticles and wherever else needs clean up.
   My brush is old and needs to be replaced. Lol.. I will work on that ASAP. That's the brush in front on this little "working station" of mine.
   
6. Speaking of work Station, My Work station isn't a table.
   Get your imagination ready. Lol.. When I paint my nails, I'm mostly ALWAYS on my bed. I sit up in bed, place a pillow on my thighs, place a table-like platform board looking thing on the Pillow, put a Tissue paper or regular paper on the board, and GET To BUSINESS.
   Look Below.
   
7. Yes IT is Very comfortable. Painting my nails is a Hobby and one of my favorite past time. A Leisure activity that I do while I'm on my bed. Having a more serious "work station" would take the fun out of painting my nails in my Opinion. Maybe I'm just saying that because I don't want a special painting table? Ha!
   Anyhoo, I turn the fan on in my room and open my door so that the Polish fumes don't get in my head and make me dizzy (is that possible?). Lol.. 
8. As you can see above, When I'm polishing, I usually have my Cotton Pads, My Personally made Polish remover - in an old Zoya remove+ Bottle, my Petroleum Jelly, Nail File, Clean up brush and the polishes I want to use. 
9. My polish stash is right beside my bed, so if I want to choose another polish, it's easy to get to it. :-D
   
10. My Base Coat is Usually Kleancolor - Calcium and Topcoat is Seche Vite or Color Club Topcoat found in the color club packs at Ross. BOTH are fast drying and I LOVE that! When I'm having a "swatch-a-thon" I use regular cheap topcoats like the NYC, Sally Hansen, Or Color Club Topcoat. 
11. I drink LOTS of water - personal preference, but I think it helps with my nails - Just throwing that out there. lol.. I don't use special pills for nail growth. 
12. Aside from the regular "mishaps of nail breakage" - especially on my left hand, My nails do fine!
    As you can see from my right hand nails, My nails grow well, I guess the left hand nails just don't have room to grow because I'm ALWAYS messing with them. Lol.. Swatch and clean, Clean and swatch.. *sighs*
13. Speaking of cleaning and swatching, On an average, I wear a mani for about 3 Days. Especially on my left hand. Yep. Three days is about as Average as I get. I've gone a week before here and there... 

For My pictures

1. I need to invest in a photo box. But for now I just take my pictures using either a Black, White or Red background. Whichever one shows the Polish/Product I want to showcase in its true color. 
2. I use my Canon Rebel EOS - XS. 
3. Sadly I don't have any fancy Photo Editing Software. 
4. I take my pictures with LOTS of Love and hope they look decent enough to show you guys. Lol.. Seriously... I do, I position my hands in the most awkward of positions just to show you the polishes in the best light. I love you all, I really do. Lol

Alright, I think I covered everything in that little write up.
I have sat down for some minutes now hoping to remember ANYTHING else I might have missed, and nothing comes to mind, soooo..... I think now is the time to say... 

Speaking of my personally made Polish remover - since I Know someone WILL ask - it's really easy to make. 
It composes of pure acetone, glycerine, and water. I mix them together and it's kind of a cheaper version of Zoya Remove+. You can read all about how to make this HERE. 

Last but not the least... 

I Decided to follow my right hand and I went ahead to shape my left hand nails just like it.
Oh Dears! I don't know HOW I feel about this....

My "Famous hand" Looks different AND Odd. Lol.. I guess that's partly because the nails on here aren't as long as my right hand nails, but OH well, the damage has been done, and I'll try to see how I feel about this in the next couple of weeks.
One good thing about this shape is that, my nails don't bend inwards and I don't have to bend them to make them square!

Sooooo... Did you enjoy this post?
What do you think about my new nail shape, Tell me the NAKED truth... ;-) Don't sugar coat it.

Share whatever else you want with me... I'm ready to read.
If you have questions... Ask and I'll answer to the best of my ability.

That's it for now sugars.
Till Later, Happy New week, God Bless. :-)