HANDS, NAILS, ETC.

I like Mavala hand creme, which is hard to find unless you have a mother-in-law who sets you up with tons of it in your stocking every Christmas. You can order if from folica.com, too.

Crabtree and Evelyn make a gardeners' hand scrub and hand cream that are also really good.

Cuticle cream is U&K. Burt's Bees makes a lemon cuticle balm that comes in a little tin. It smells pretty nice.

Pedicures are worth the cash imo because a decent one will look good for at least three weeks. Hands I take care of myself for the most part (if by "take care of" you mean "mostly ignore, sometimes put cream on). I do like nicely polished nails and can do a decent job myself, but rarely bother since I invariably get chips within 2-3 days.

How topical: my mother sent me an Easter package with a tube of Crabtree & Evenlyn's La Source Hand Therapy cream! The outside says it contains shea butter but they seem to have gotten rid of that faux-chocolatey smell that I hate.

I've been pretty broke lately and not able to replace any personal care items I run out of, so it's extravagant to get this and some Fekkai hair stuff in the mail.

I mean I don't have any foundation. Or lip gloss. Or dinner. But I gots some lavender bath salts, dark dark chocolate truffles, and a 3-pc set of Fekkai "Glossing" products.

I bite my fingernails all the time, they're delicious. But, ugly..

REVIVE!
Since this very last post(!) I've stopped biting my nails and now they are ferocious talons of gorgeousness.

Problems: I can't get used to how easily I can scratch myself
Raw meat under fingernails EWWW KILL IT WITH FIRE
Obsessively painting and repainting nails because the smallest chip will send me on a biting frenzy

Anyway I would like to post nail pictures and ask what you guys are liking lately! I don't have a picture though.. but right now my nails are blue with two white stripes each, which in a former life was a humble strip of scotch tape that I painted with french manicure polish & sliced into tiny strips. I sealed it all off with a couple coats of topcoat. Yay!

Seche Vite. Seche Vite. Seche Vite.

It is the best topcoat. No question. Even with Seche Vite chips will happen after a couple days.

You do too have a pic - I have seen it on the instagrams.

I'll look out for it when I finish my current bottle! (which is, heh, Sally Hansen..)

E, you're right! Is there even a way to get to my instagram pictures from web? Instragram is a weenie.

Wait - the stripes are actually pieces of tape or you taped off your nails to paint the stripes?

Mine are a hot pink chipped mess atm but I'm chosing to igmore it and just get them done on Sat. I could do them myself but I like them perfect and they just don't look as good when I do it. I quit smoking again so that's how I'm justifying it. $15 a week on my nails seems fair in comparison to like $70 on smokes.

We had our gratis orders a few weeks back and they are hopefully coming into the office tomorrow and I am getting the two dudes on the left, yay:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7070/7006943093_8c3ab3eb6f_z.jpg

I painted the tape and then stuck it to my nails and topcoatted it! I used to do the tape off sections & paint bit but I saw this on some nail blog (I have subscribed to a few.. I'm silly) and enjoyed the result.

Yay for quitting smoking! I have not, but I also have lots of time on my hands lately, so thought I'd spend that time on my hands. Heh.

Oh I always upload to instagram from my phone so I assumed your pics where on your phone. :(

In any event, they looked great!

Thing I'm into now - neutral nails with colored tips. I found out yesterday you can use those hole reinforcer stickers as guides for perfect french tips. Clever imo.

Where do you think I found out about using the hole reinforcer stickers as tip guides? I totally read the occasional nail blog.

http://instagr.am/p/MEo2NZjbCK/

lol I just went into my phone & got the URL from mny instagram app then pasted it into Zing. Technology!

Hole reinforcement stickies sound like a great idea! I can't freehand anything, ESPECIALLY with my left hand. Bump city.

wow, those are some amazing nails!

i just stick to Essie these days. i put on some lesser nail polish the other day, two coats, and it was chipping by evening! essie seems to hold up really well for me.

Thanks dude! I took it off. I have to get some Essie to try, the blue was just a dollar store purchase & the topcoat was what saved it, heh. I have a few bottles from work so I mostly just play with those cuz I'm cheap.

Whoa ffm your nails are the business.
I'm going to a wedding a week from now and I want to do my nails today but I don't want to have to do them again in five days. -_-

Thanks! I sometimes throw another coat of topcoat on after a day or two to prolong a coat..?

naw I'm just being a whiner

Hahaha <3 understood

I painted my nails Barbie pink! I hope I don't smudge them in my sleep as I always seem to.

fairy bread nails<3 <3

http://www.sephora.com/productimages/sku/s1429588-main-Lhero.jpg

We don't have fairy bread here! I only know what it is because I saw it mentioned once somewhere and looked it up. I've never actually understood it - do you butter the bread before adding the sprinkles?

yes indeed

I have never bothered to count all my bottles but it's definitely triple digits. It's a problem.

After months and months of trying various nail effects, I've been wearing patent black varnish the past few days. (Butter London's Union Jack Black/Nails Inc's Black Taxi).

a friend of mine just txted me this with "your next manicure" hahaa :)

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7248/7450553470_6ab1bd8f4a_z.jpg

Butter London has great colors but their polishes went weirdly gloopy in record speed. I had to toss a bottle after only a couple months!

This is what I've had since last week. Probably gonna paint them tomorrow though as it's starting to wear a bit:

http://i.imm.io/u7wB.jpeg

dang that's nice

i think my problem is that i have the hands of dorian grey

xxxp oh that's no good. I got them reduced so hopefully will cut my losses, either that or just use them up before they turn to shit?

I love Chanel's colours more than almost any other brand but they seem to chip more easily even with Seche Vite. However, they do seem to stand the test of time & I have a half full bottle of Blue Satin that's as good as new 6 years on.

I love it! What's the gold you have on?

You have such pretty nails! I have stubby, wide, flat, ridged nails, that are vvv ugly :/

I got really into the A England polishes for a second and bought two of the metallic ones: "Princess Tears" and ummmm ahh, oh, "Princess Sabra." Of the two, the bronzeness of Sabra suits my skin a lot better--"Princess Tears" is silver and just too cold. They're both v v pretty tho.

i admire pretty hands a lot (like i genuinely admire them and compliment them when i see them) but i sure as hell don't have them.

my hands are kind of giant octave-spanning hands but not man hands
i think hands in general are interesting

i admit that some women's slim straight tapered fingers do amaze me

mine are small and bonies

gnarly, but not mannish
they're very strong! they have that.

The world is so full of a number of hands, and they are all beautiful if their owners are loved. The slim and tapered ones are still amazing to me, though, like rrrobyn said. They're like ring models, they can wear anything.

Mine are small without being at all "fine." In fact they're downright sturdy, if slightly truncated. Much like the rest of me.

Lechera, I might call your hands sinewy? Like a drummer's! They are hands that Do Work, skilled hands, hands that demand respect.

Aw, thanks Justine. I didn't always have nice nails - I bit them to the quick until they were a gross often bloody mess until I was 28! They were really awful. I think that's why I'm so into keeping them nice now. Gyac - the gold is just some nail art thing with a tiny brush that I got at Walgreens.

I think I also have big but not mannish hands maybe.

I remember complaining to my violin teacher once that I couldn't reach certain places on the strings and he made me put my hands up to his to demonstrate that if he could, I could. Mine were almost twice as big as his. He was a pretty tiny man though.

Does anyone know of a good hand cream with SPF? I am on the hunt for one but most don't have it which is kind of dumb considering that our hands are exposed much of the time.

khiels has one but it's only spf 10 but it's decent!

Rocking peachy pink nails this week. Perfect contrast to faux biker bracelet!

http://instagr.am/p/MWqV8mjbD8/

pretty!

xp http://instagr.am/p/MWqV8mjbD8/ - guess you can't embed. Or did something wrong. Mobiles..

OKAY I have unlocked the secrets of jelly glitter nail polish and conquered The Bends. After way too much time watching videos about how to paint my god damn nails, I decided to try two techniques: 1) use a complimentary color as a base coat and then use the "dabbing" method to apply the glitter and 2) put that shit on with a motherfucking cosmetic sponge.

The first method got way too goopy way too fast, wouldn't try, still looked like streaky shit, so I took it off. Rot in hell, first method.

The second method was successful. I started with a regular old clear base coat (this is pretty stainy stuff) and then did two coats of the glitter polish with a cosmetic sponge (well, a lot of cosmetic sponges). This put a lot of glitter on my nails without making a gross thick layer of polish. Then I went back with the brush and the dabbing method to fill in any bald spots and to deepen the overall color, which was key for getting that cool underwater look of this polish. Then I slopped on some Seche Vite top coat. Apparently somebody makes a top coat specifically for glitter polish but one nail polish vlogger who is practically my sister now because I have watched so many of her videos, said that gloopy Seche Vite works just as well. My particular bottle is old as fuck and it did a pretty good job smoothing everything out.

Big cons to this though, specifically - I used up a full quarter of this $12 bottle of nail polish and like my grandmother says, "I don't have money just falling out of my asshole." But the bright side is that it won't take long to use up this whole bottle and then I get get on with my god damn life and stop trying to replicate the nail polish techniques of people who take instagram pictures of their fingernails for a living. The other, bigger con is that it is so fucking messy baby jesus h. christ. This is why my best friends the nail bloggers put liquid latex around their nails before they use any sponge methods, but since I am a boring middle age midwestern mom I do not have liquid latex for nail art or sex dungeon purposes so I was like eh fuck it I have acetone and a paint brush how hard can it be to clean this up. REALLY HARD. REALLY GOD DAMN HARD. As in hopefully when I next shower I'll be able to get the rest of the glitter off my fingers because otherwise, I'm going to die as I lived: with blue-green stained glitter fingers.

this is a technique that sounds v much not for me, i am sure i would manage to get it everywhere

we honor yr service, carl

ditto that! Any chance for pix? Or pix of what you were going for?

Also by cosmetic sponge I am assuming you mean the foam kind and not the cotton-pad kind?

Liquid latex, dear god!

right!? O_O

Here's some pics of what other people have managed to do with this polish:

From Super Black's website:

http://superblacknailart.com/bends-mani.jpg

And from some bloggers:

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-RJf6BOTZyak/Ubcvbuf1bHI/AAAAAAAAB9Y/jF0Il5GU5Wg/s640/Super+Black+Lacquers+The+Bends.jpg
http://media.tumblr.com/72eade95373bd30ebb110a082c410b32/tumblr_inline_mhdfedvm181qbvj4q.jpg

Looks cool, yeah? Like underwater. Love it.

So here's what I managed to do to myself, and this is after round one clean up attempts with a q-tip and brush and orange stick:

https://c2.staticflickr.com/6/5459/18219067883_53b715f1a4_z.jpg
https://c2.staticflickr.com/4/3895/18653540619_77edd51a6d_z.jpg

Less cool.

also IRL LOL at "we honor yr service, carl"

also also I hope Ivy's pediatrician appreciates my nails when I take her for an appointment tonight sigh

omg whoa -- welcome to the latest beauty trend that is impossible to achieve, good lord
i hope you manage to get it off without too much effort or chemical burns!

i got my first mani in years while waiting around for several hours in a city i'd never been to and i got manicured 1) by a man 2) who invented this cool exhaust system to get the fumes out of the small storefront
he was really nice! we talked about esl classes and vietnamese food (he's vietnamese)

HOLY SHIT that polish looks impossible to manage for pros, nevermind mere mortals. Super awesome, though! I love regular (non-glitter) jellies and have quite a few that are easy enough to work with, but that huge glitter is far too intimidating for me (to apply, not to wear).

yeah - applying each piece of glitter w tweezers sounds more appealing, jeez louise

Some people do that at the end! To make sure everything is perfect. I DO NOT CARE. I just want nails that look like they are underwater. I just want mermaid nails, OKAY???

I think this is a perfectly reasonable desire tbh.

it's 2015, underwater nails shd be more attainable

I dunno, I've been waiting since the days of Sea Wees in the bathtub for my luxurious mermaid hair and I still don't have it!

Sea Wees!!!

I bought some Deborah Lippmann polish because it was mermaid themed.

For regular glitter polish removal, I recommend putting a cotton ball soaked in polish remover on your finger, wrapping it with foil, and waiting 10+ minutes.

I don't love gel polishes and usually put a base color underneath so the gel color doesn't have to be evenly applied. Then I kind of push the glitter blobs around with the end of the brush, maybe even using an orange stick or toothpicks to distribute it around. Then a small flat brush cleans up the gel from the edges but hopefully there won't be as much glitter flakes scattered around.

I had no luck with that, but I don't have the same expertise and experience you have.

I'm happy to say that all the glitter on my fingers wore off over the course of the day. I did a little shower cleanup this morning and slapped another coat of Seche Vite on my nails on a hunch and while they definitely don't look nail blogger perfect, they are just fine for every day wear and have enough of the cool underwater look to make me happy.

I would say I'll never do it again buuuuuut I probably will.

http://blog.flauntme.com/2012/02/14/daily-nail-art-purple-disco-nails/

Speaking of time consuming, precision glitter application jfc

O_o

omg you guys guess what

I bought some of that liquid latex stuff. Just a little tube of it from "Mini Mani Moo" because even though the large tub of sex dungeon liquid latex is way more cost effective, I have no idea if I'll use it enough. I just wanted to try it out. Anywayyyyyyyy so emboldened, I actually did a gradient with a sponge and it looks pretty good. Far far from perfect, but I'm reasonably happy with it for my first attempt. I did a white to lavender gradient and then went over it with green glitter top coat to camouflage all of my mistakes. I won't be giving io any competition but as a hobby, it is fun.

Also these are beautiful and I wish I had the time for such an endeavor: http://www.thenailpolishchallenge.com/2015/06/mermaid-scale-nail-art-whats-up-nails.html

and have enough of the cool underwater look to make me happy.

^^ urgent & key

QUESTIONS:

1. Is Seche Vite still everyone's fav topcoat?
2. Is a base coat necessary, and if so, does it matter which one?
3. How much does polish really vary btwn brands? I'm looking at two v similar charcoals from CND and China Glaze but have never used either!

I think a good base coat is necessary- I started painting my nails again in March, once a week, but I wasn’t using a base coat and now my nails are fucked, peeling and cracking and weak af. So I’d suggest a strengthening base coat

I just use sally hansen quick dry top coat

Differences btw polish brands can be things like how long it lasts without chipping, how easy it is to apply, color quality. But there can be differences within a brand’s line as well, like maybe their regular colors are long lasting but their metallics are shit, for example

Try searching YouTube for the polishes you’re interested in to find reviews

i use sally hansen top coat too. the one with the lil faux diamond on it.

QUESTIONS:

1. Is Seche Vite still everyone's fav topcoat?
2. Is a base coat necessary, and if so, does it matter which one?
3. How much does polish really vary btwn brands? I'm looking at two v similar charcoals from CND and China Glaze but have never used either!

― the masseduction of lauryn hill (Stevie D(eux)), Tuesday, August 7, 2018 1:58 PM (four months ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

Stevie! I have answers!

1. Yes but I also like Sally Hansen's Hard As Nails. Neither one is particularly expensive iirc which makes it mystifying that salons don't use either, and instead my top coat from the salon is never deep or shiny enough.
2. Yes; idk probably not. It's not going to make your nails stronger or whatever some of them promise, but it will keep dark pigments from staining your nail surface and it probably does make the polish stick better.
3. I care about color options and brush quality more than which brand of polish. Essie brushes, for instance, are small and relatively firm, whereas Julep brushes are big and fluffy and I find them inexact though they do deliver more polish to the nail at one time. But China Glaze was one of my fave brands for color choices. I never had any CND--I think they're more in the gel market?

I'm working on a home reno project right now so it's not the time to do a lot to my nails but I miss having a poppin mani.

Very late but the topcoat I can’t do without is called Poshe and it knocks Seche Vite into a cocked hat. The base coat is great too.

I've used both in the past and don't remember there being much a difference to me. What do you like better about the Poshe?

For a minute I was into Sally Hansen Insta Dri but it goes to stringy crap pretty fast and doesn't take well to thinning.

I like the texture better, it’s a lot less thick than Seche Vite imo and it dries faster and stays around longer. It might be though that I had heard such great things about Seche Vite and was disappointed, whereas I got Poshe after reading about it on some random blog somewhere and was really impressed.

Also, regarding different formulas. Chanel is a favourite of mine but the formula is notoriously lacking. Recently tried a new shade in the new formula and it’s definitely improved but ...this is why I always have a good bit of topcoat on.

I really like Starrily a lot these days but it’s not that easy to get.

OK I'm getting the CND Stickey base coat which everyone seems to be in general consensus about.
I was about to reach for a new bottle of Seche Vite but am reading that it gets gloppy in like 6 months and honestly I don't paint my nails enough. Do all top coats get gloppy in like 6 months???

also there is one vote each for Sally Hansen Insta-Dry, Sally Hansen Hard as Nails, Sally Hansen Diamond Strength, and Poshe and I have no idea what to pick! My goal is chip-free longevity above all else, like shine is great too but it's not my tip top priority

You can thin out the Seche Vite with SV Restore, come visit me and I will thin everything you could ever want because I have a big ass bottle that I will never finish before I die.

The Restore works to thin all polishes, not just SV. Don't try to thin with polish remover, that ain't no good.

Hard as Nails and Diamond Strength are not quick dry, I don't think. Which makes them a no-go for me.

I love getting my nails done. Did blie cat eye now. I hardly wear makeup and nails kinda work for me. I do have'em sort. I can't stand 200 meter long nails. Lol

Blue. Short. Sozzers

so wait why are some top coats fast dry and some not? What is the advantage of a non-fast-dry one if fast-dry ones seem to protect your nails just as well?

still don't understand why Sally Hansen makes 15 different top coats when they are all basically designed to make your nails shiny and long-lasting