May 22, 2011

NAIL NIRVANA!

Posted by Ethne~

When Lori and I were together today, she commented on how my nails always look impeccable. I don’t know about that, because they can get chipped for sure, but she is right in that I ALWAYS keep polish on my nails. I feel it’s professional, fun and one of those things that is an obvious sign that I take care of myself. Naturally we thought I should blog about it.

Read on to learn about this SWEET discovery.
Isn't my Sweet Baby T-Rex devoted to me?!?


For me, it’s a pretty THRIFTY deal. I am blessed with strong nails, which don’t peel or chip as long as I take care of them. There was some expense involved in building up my nail color collection (and for the most part, I only use OPI colors – just a preference – and those are a little more expensive, about $8.99 per bottle). But since nail polish can last for a really long time, it’s not as though my investment goes to waste very quickly.

You can't really see my nails but
I thought it was a nice pic of Easy Mac 'n' me


For those of you WOMs out there who have less sturdy nails, or who don’t like to put a lot of time/effort into their nails, or have a hard time painting your nails, you have a couple of options. Thrifty Nana for a long time had acrylic tips put on her nails. They always looked like perfection, though she had to get a fill every 2-3 weeks (no more than 3). As I recall, she spent about $30 per fill, including tip. And she always got a French manicure, which looks phenomenal. So if you want to give yourself a treat every couple of weeks, try that option out!

A nice pic of Thrifty Nana from today!


And on the professional manicure subject, there are a couple of new products available at nail salons. One is OPI Axxium gel. It’s not as thick as acrylic tips, but it’s thicker than nail polish. Mom Connie used to have that done – about every 2 weeks. The cool thing is the gel comes in actual colors, so there is no issue with nail polish coming off.

The product that’s even newer is shalack. This is what Mom Connie uses now. It’s pretty much a thick nail polish-type gel that is applied and then hardened with a UV light. It lasts for weeks and comes in all sorts of colors – including French manicure! If you’re going for salon nails, this would be my recommendation! I understand the cost for this manicure is similar to acrylic or gel.

For my nail polishing, I simply use nail polish – 2 applications of color – and a top coat – 1 application. I buy OPI polishes, as I said, and I use Essie fast-dry top coat. It’s BRILLIANT. I do my nails once a week, usually on Saturdays or Sundays, so I can get through the work-week without having to paint. I do get chips and growout by the end of the week, but as long as I don’t go more than 6-7 days, my nails always look nice.

But here’s my latest SA-WEET discovery: Thrifty Nana, the girls and I went to get $1 flip-flops at Old Navy today – it was their awesome buy of the week. The Old Navy girl who checked us out had cheetah print fingernails. I was naturally on the lookout and I asked her if someone had painted that on her nails. She said no, it was a press-on nail, but it’s actual polish that you apply, it hardens and then it stays for 10 days up to a couple of weeks. From the look of her nails (we like an actual person to vouch for a product, right?), I knew this was no scam. Thrifty Nana and I immediately headed to Ulta and I found it!

The girls and their new silver flip-flops


SALLY HANSEN SALON EFFECTS! They are real nail polish strips that you peel and apply to your nails (envision the old-school Lee press-on nail application, kinda). No dry time. Since it’s my usual painting day anyway, I knew this was just the product for me! I didn’t go with cheetah – yet – but I was still brave: I got “Laced Up” which is pretty sexy!

Retail $9.99 - of course I had an Ulta coupon to cut that price down!
This week's coupon inserts had a coupon for this - check online too


Incidentally, my selection of a fancy design isn’t surprising. In high school, I would paint my nails with C-O-Y-O-T-E-S on my fingernails, in our school colors, when it was sports season (cheerleader). I was a huge Chicago Bulls fan, too, so I would paint BULLS on each hand, in red and black, during finals. Don’t forget, the Bulls were brilliant back in those days. I even tanned (as in suntan) a Bulls bull-head logo into my stomach in the summer. It actually looked pretty cool. Thrifty Nana, Whit and I always do some combination of red, white and blue for the 4th of July, and the Girls Trip girls and I are going to have Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles painted on our nails for Girls Trip ’11 and/or Halloween. I saw this on my fave New Dress A Day last fall. BRILLIANT! [I’m pretty sure you just got a mini Riot Girls story here Friends – you’re welcome.]

The instructions are pretty clear. In essence, you file and buff your nails, make sure they are super-duper clean and oil free, then you pick out the strips in sizes that most nearly match the size of each of your nails. Peel the strip covers and backings and apply. The technique takes a little practice, but I was able to get a pretty good application on each nail. It took no longer than it takes me to paint my nails. And no tacky drying time. (Trust me, I milk the tacky drying time each week. I ask Shaun to get me beverages, tell him I can’t help out, etc. – all in the name of not messing up my nails. It’s GENIUS if you think about it.)
What a fox I am!
Selecting the strip size


I will let you know how long they last, but I am loving it already! Shaun didn’t know what to say. Typical man. He prefers candy apple red (my fave OPI red: 'Vodka and Caviar') – shocker there, huh gals?

I send you off with a MISSION: give yourself a little perk-up and have a manicure! We deserve it. ☺ Woot-woot!

3 comments:

Steph said...

Love this post! I actually have the exact same print on my nails right now! This stuff is great!!!

WOM-MOMS said...

Thanks Steph! Your nails always look fabulous! I am not sure how you two do it! But I love this new nail treatment...I am going to have to check it out of course with a coupon!

Steph said...

Target often has coupons for these nail treatments on their website! Mine are still looking fabulous and I have had them on for a week!