My Nails

Jan10 by Cheryl Cheryl

Though I feel like I’ve been neglecting my blog…. I haven’t really been neglecting my nails. So… this is just me playing instant catch up.

Currently:

LaPalm Gel II – “French White” & “Midnight Black”
& silver nail art striper

This is a no-chip design, so I’ll try to get good wear time out of all the time it took to actually paint them. Smile

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And here are some of my recent manicures:

LaPalm Gel II – “Birthday Girl”
w/ acrylic paint dots and bow

ibd Just Gel – “Infinitely Curious” & “Whipped Cream”
w/ acrylic paint dots

China Glaze – “ I Herd That”, “Golden Enchantment”/ “Water You Waiting For”, “Skyscraper” (& blue micro glitter)

Seche Ultra V

Jul22 by Cheryl Cheryl

My last manicure endured volumes of hardship (shampooing hair, washing dishes, bleach cleaning, hairstyling for a fashion show, cleaning and organizing) over the last 2 days, and resulted in chipping on my left thumbnail and my right ring fingernail. I can’t be sure that the Seche Ultra V topcoat wasn’t a superior barrier. So I started over. And I plan to chill out for the next few days. LOL.

China Glaze – “Electric Beat” & “First Mate”

The topcoat is simple to apply – just like your regular topcoat. After applying, cure the polish under the UV lamp for 3 minutes. (9 minutes total with Seche’s portable UV lamp – 3 minutes for each hand with 4 fingers, and then 3 minutes for the thumbs)

I love the way my nails feel after this process. It’s definitely a sleeker “gel nail” feel. So, all day I’m rubbing my fingers over my nails beds. LOL. My nails actually feel stronger too.

The shine is not any more brilliant than when using the regular Seche Vite Fast Drying Topcoat, in my opinion. And the drying time seems actually longer in that the regular Seche Vite top coat seems to dry rather immediately. (There are factors that affect that… if you have many thick layers of polish, it will definitely take more time to completely dry. I have watched the topcoat seeping through the layers and forming a “wrinkle” in the nail polish when the previous layers were thick and still rather wet…and then drying to a smooth finish. Craziest thing in the world to watch. haha)

Removal is the same for the Seche Ultra V topcoat as any other polish. There is no soaking required.

So, hopefully this time, I give the topcoat a fair chance. Last time I felt like I was looking for opportunities to use my nail tips as tools and just doing crazy things that directly impacted my nail tips. I gotta stop tripping and chill out. Smile

Tartan

Jun11 by Cheryl Cheryl

Back to nail polish strips.

Let me just say: I really, truly love Sally Hansen products.

Now that that is out of the way. This product was trash. Hot burning, flaming, smoking trash.

I wanted so badly to have this argyle pattern on my nails. But it took FOREVER to apply this particular design. And maybe it was user error all day. Perhaps my nails are in the way now that they have grown out and made it more difficult to apply the polish strips.

But I don’t think so. The last time I used Sally Hansen strips my nails were even longer. (Houndstooth design). The diagonal white line in this design was printed in such a way that the strips kept tearing easily at the point where the line was printed. Sad smile . ALL BAD!

It took like 40 minutes to apply these suckers. I COULD HAVE JUST POLISHED A DESIGN BY HAND ON MY NAILS IN THAT AMOUNT OF TIME! Applying a polish strip is supposed to cut DOWN on manicure time and potential error.

This application turned out sloppy. And I was disappointed in the flaws. But I did still love the design… wore them for three days – flaws and all.

Sally Hansen Salon Effects – “SWEET TART-AN”