(left, right)
When I got back I only had about 1/3 of the nail to go to completely grow out the yellow so I decided that I would continue to not wear polish until it was all grown out.
Now that I'm working, I really want to be able wear sheer nudes with impunity.
Thus, I didn't wear polish from mid-November to early January. All the swatches I have posted thus far were just that, swatches. Nothing has stayed on longer than a half hour or so.
I'm happy to report that as of this posting I have dived back into the world 'o' polish.
While I was away, I learned a good amount about my nails and nail care:
- My metal nail file was invaluable, the base coat was not -- Seems I hate applying new polish over chipped.
- Thanks to good nail care at home, my nails were quite strong without anything on them -- I had no snags and no breaks except for my thumbs (always problem children, even in the best of times).
- I should have brought my cuticle cream -- My nails didn't really suffer, but OMG were my cuticles tortured. This is a serious lesson for me. I fell right back into old habits of biting nails and cuticles without the cuticle cream there as a good-habit-replacement.
- Orly Bonder is the devil -- It yellows nails. Period. Right before I left I put on a couple coats of Bonder in hopes that it would hold me for at least a week before I had to go to Sally Hansen. A couple weeks later, when I was walking around in the ultra-bright sun, I noticed that parts of my nail were kinda yellow. Whereas other parts weren't so bad. But the yellow looked weird and chippy. The weird chippy parts were where the Bonder had stayed on my nails longer before wearing away.
From left to right:
- Instant Cuticle Remover by Sally Hansen - don't leave it on too long! The stuff is burny but effective.
- Cuticle pusher - I use the clear flat end to scrape away the dead cuticle. I use the red end to push my cleaned cuticles back once hands are rinsed.
- For especially stubborn parts of the cuticle I use this stone thing to exfoliate away the cuticles.
- Glass file
- Lippmann Rehydrating basecoat - *angels sing*
- Healthy Hoof - *angels also sing*. I am OBSESSED with this stuff. It's thick, it absorbs relatively quickly, the smell is pleasant but non-descript (a must for me, I hate food flavored scents), it is cheap.
- Cuticle Oil by Orly - mehhhh. I really don't care about cuticle oil all that much. It's too messy for me. I use it every couple days or so but mostly I go with cuticle cream. I have no real cuticle oil brand preference. This is just the one I have and it's fine (but quite orange smelling - humph).
