Good afternoon, Dear Reader!
I hope you're having a great Saturday. I'm stuck inside today - lots and lots of heavy snow is going on outside, so I'm just avoiding it altogether! I found a little activity to keep me busy, though.
Yesterday and this morning whilst typing, I noticed that my nails were beginning to feel a little weaker (I use them to type). I've been taking biotin for the last three months, and have noted looking back over pictures from recent weeks that my nails are beginning to grow like little weeds, and I'm hoping to see some additional strength soon as well, as the last three months' growth becomes free edge. I thought about filing a bit off of them so I wouldn't have a break, then decided not to - I've only recently begun filing them between breaks, so I'm a beginner at it and completely impatient with the process. However, I remembered that the last time I thought I needed to file and put it off, I did have a break within a day or two, so I reversed my decision. It seemed like a good time to do it anyhow, as I was wearing Film Noir, and it's easiest for a novice like me to file with dark polish on (that way there's no optical illusion in total length due to having nail beds and free edges of different length).
One thing I've learned by being on my ladies' nail board is that I should only use a glass file. I'd heard that before, then heard it on the board, dismissed it as gimmicky silliness and just used emery boards. Then last year I did a Thanksgiving secret gift exchange, and the person who had me sent me a glass file. Since I had it, I thought I may as well use it, and it's made a huge difference - I've had literally zero splitting or peeling on a single nail since I started using it exclusively over a year ago, and I used to always have a nail or two that was peeling a bit. What a great find! That experience humbled me somewhat to the wisdom of the nail board, and now I'm less obstinate that I used to be in resisting group suggestions now. For the record, I was also a holdout for quite some time on quick dry top coat, thinking that was just a gimmick, and that turned out to be a life changing find for me! Humility comes slowly to me...
Anyhow, I pulled out my glass file (the same one that lady sent me, incidentally - they last forever) and began the job. Since I was aiming to essentially maintain the length I had about a week ago before I felt any loss of strength, I started with my left thumb and just filed a bit flat across, then rounded the corners of the nail. Some readers have recently suggested that more square nails would be more attractive on me, but after many years of trial and error, I've found their current shape to be the strongest - either more square or more oval and I have tears and breaks. As I finished each nail I was comparing the length from the underside of my hand to make sure each was even with the ones already filed, also verifying the shape and evenness from the top side, and then moved on to the next nail. I did my right hand by comparing each nail to the corresponding nail on my left hand as well as to the last one filed. I also tidied up the shape of the ones that don't grow perfectly straight as I went. See why I was reluctant to take on such an arduous task? It took me forever - I hate filing my nails, but it does seem to make a big difference in their strength and condition, so I guess it's just one of those things I have to do that I don't like. I assume I'll get better and faster at it by doing it, but for now, it's quite a little snowy day project! I'd initially thought that I'd take out some Q-Tips and finish removing the red that's still leftover at my nail lines from the Louboutin mani, but by the time I finished filing, I was so weary of working on them that I decided to make that a project (and it will be a project!) for another day.
That meant that I had to pick an opaque color for today, and although I wasn't 100% sure it would work to mask the remaining red, I selected RBL's Grunge since I've had dark colors on for several days now - I was up for a little variety. My faith in RBL was well placed, as Grunge turned out to be sufficiently opaque and even in three thin coats. It's definitely an odd color, but I'm very fond of "muddy" colors, which this is to me. It's a little twist on the BABB (Band Aid But Better) theme - a little more grey and, as I think of it, muddy. I think it would be close to flesh tone on many people, but since my skin is much paler than most, it's far from the color of my skin. Again, I have no idea what's so magical about the RBL brush (it looks like any other), but the application of RBLs always seems to be effortlessy perfect. Take a look...
I'm very happy with it, and it is a nice break from the vampies (which I still love!).
Now you know how I go about filing my nails, and probably see why I don't like doing it! I think it's the mathematician in me that insists that they be as even as possible in length and shape - it drives me nuts when there's any variance! If you, Dear Reader, have suggestions for making this process simpler, please do leave a comment or email me your ideas - I'm quite open to any means of simplifying the job. As I mentioned, I'm a complete novice when it comes to filing nails to maintain length, and would be glad to learn from your experience.
That's all I have for you today, Dear Reader. I have something fun planned for you tomorrow if all goes as as I hope it does, but if not, I'll just come up with something else for you! Until then, love and nail polish to you!
No comments:
Post a Comment