Nails

As long as I can remember or at least since I was a teenager, I've always worn nail polish. I've prided myself in having nice nails and used to wear them much longer than I do now. The thing is now, it's much more difficult to keep them long! I suppose age, diet, and simple wear and tear have quite a bit to do with that. Granted, I am older and don't eat near the veggies I should and am involved in activities now such as house work and yard work which present the wear and tear I spoke of earlier!

In order to have nice nails, I have on two occasions (and, yes, I can only count two) resorted to getting acrylic nails applied which, in the end and while looking extremely nice, tend to intensify the claustrophobic part of me so much that I eventually wind up tearing them off. Which, as you probably know, only damages and weakens my own nails even further. So the vicious circle continues. I then tend to do everything I can to strengthen the nails I have and get them back into shape which is the cycle I'm in at the moment!!

While recently in my hometown of Panama City to attend my niece's wedding, my sister, myself, the bride to be and my other niece proceeded to a local nail salon the day before the wedding for manicures and pedicures.

Lo and behold, it is there where I learned of a new polish called Shellac. The picture you see is of the manicure I received on Friday, June 10th. It is 11 days later and it still looks pretty darn good if you consider I've done house work, yard work, and even weeded my vegetable garden (with gloves on, of course).

I am so incredibly impressed that I have purchased the UV light needed to "cure" the polish, as well as a base coat, top coat, and two different pink polishes so that I can do my Shellac manicures/pedicures at home. I do enjoy going to the salon and being pampered and will probably continue to do that on occasion, however, I am terribly excited about doing my own manicures/pedicures using the technique that I learned during my visit home. My salon does offer gel manicures which I believe is a harsher technique than the Shellac but that is only based on what I've read on the Internet. They may both be the same for all I know. I've never had any reactions to polishes (including Shellac polish), remover (acetone or non-acetone), acrylic nails, etc.

What I DO know is that from this point further, I shall always have perfectly manicured nails that last and have no chips!!