Splitting and peeling nails: my rescue product

Hi lovelies!

I often read questions on the internet on how to cure or prevent splitting and peeling nails. I finally found something that works almost instantly! My Cinderella hand had been splitting and peeling forever and I had tried EVERYTHING! Eventually I tried Herôme "Nail Growth Explosion", in an effort to speed up the nail growth process. And to my surprise, the peeling stopped! Let's dive into that a bit more:

Essence Peel Off Base Coat Review - Ideal For Glitter Nail Polish!

Hello!! 

Today I have something brilliant for you glitter polish lovers: Essence's Peel Off Base Coat. I already showed a trick with aluminium foil, but this trick is even better. Let's see it in action!

First apply a nice and thick coat of the base coat on a naked nail. It starts out as an opaque white goo and you want it to dry until it is completely transparent. Here you see it half-way the drying process (top finger coat has dried completely and is transparent; bottom two fingers are still half opaque):

After it has dried completely, you apply your nail polish. I used Golden Rose Jolly Jewels no. 113, as shown in yesterday's Swatch-It Sunday. It kept for 2 days, not bad! Then it started to chip and I started peeling:

After you're done peeling, there will be some residue: 

You can easily remove this with nail polish remover. So in the end all you're left with is this: 

Conclusion: the Peel Off Base Coat works very well. It is very important to apply a thick coat, it will peel off much easier then. I'm super happy to have discovered this!

xoxoxo

Captain

How to remove glitter nail polish

Hey!

Here a quick post on how to remove glitter nail polish. This is always tricky business, since the glitter itself does not dissolve in remover, and acts as a shield between the remover and the underlying coat of nail polish. It seems to take forever to get it off. Here is an easy way to speed up the process. I read it somewhere ages ago and I don't remember where. You need:

1. cotton balls or cotton pads

2. aluminum foil

3. nail polish remover (acetone free is best for your health, although somewhat less effective)

First I cut aluminum foil in ten pieces of each 10 by 10 cm (4 by 4 inches). I cut 3 cotton pads in four or make a 10 pieces of cotton ball that fit well over my nails. Then I soak one piece of cotton in nail polish remover and place it firmly on my nail. I take a piece of aluminum foil and wrap it around my finger and cotton, so that it is airtight. I first do all the fingers of one hand and let it set for 5 minutes. Then one by one I take it off, scrubbing off the remaining nail polish and glitter with a clean piece of cotton and remover. Then I do the other hand. This makes it all much easier!

Hope this helps! Here some pics to show the steps:

xoxoxo

Captain

Stained nails - WHAT TO DO?

Hey lovelies!

Here a quick solution to those who suffer from stained nails, either from a specific nail polish colour, or the yellowing of the nails. You can easily take care of that yourself with some household products:

You'll need:

1 tablespoon of baking powder

a little olive oil

a few squeezes of lemon juice

an old toothbrush

Mix it in a bowl and rub it on your nails with an old toothbrush. Rinse with warm water after 5 minutes, and you're done! I would not recommend doing this too often, but every once in a while it couldn't hurt!

Take care of your nails by applying some caring nail balm or butter, to hydrate them. Use the cuticle remover to push back the cuticles and improve nail growth.

xoxoxo

Captain

Review: Essence Studio Nails Extra Moisturizing Nail Balm

Hello there! 

Today I have for you a very nice and cheap way to moisturize your nails: Essence Studio Nails Extra Moisturizing Nail Balm. Here it retails for 2 euros. It might seem like a tiny little tube of product, but since you only need very small amounts per treatment, it will last very long.

The balm contains Pro-Vitamine B5 and has a nice scent. It is very nourishing for both the nails and the cuticles. Apply tiny amounts on the nail and rub it in. Add some extra to the cuticles. It's absorbed within a few minutes (if there is some residue, just rub some more and it will be absorbed) and leaves the nails nice and healthy looking:

See how ugly my nails are? But repeatedly treating them with this does make them stronger and more flexible (so less prone to ripping and tearing). I've been using this (and these other nail products) for a couple of months and it really does make a difference!

xoxoxo

Captain

Save The Nail 3: My Final Attempt

Hey hey!

So the story continues. The tea bag method worked well, it lasted for more than a day. I wanted to try one more thing, and after a tip from a follower, I decided on nail glue:

See how the tea bag is giving in:

This is, as you can see, from Essence. It's tricky stuff, so be sure to read the instructions carefully! It will glue skin together in no time. I just applied a little bit over the tear and let it dry:

Then I polished my nails as usual. It would last for 2 days, then I repeated the treatment. A week after the initial nail incident, this happened:

I was sick of it. Therefore this happened:

But I had managed to delay the need for cutting by a week, so yeay!

xoxoxo

Captain

Save The Nail 2: Trying The Tea Bag

Hey Sweeties!

Ok so remember when I broke my nail? At the time, I didn't have much around, so I temporarily saved it with tape. Temporarily, because it lasted for about half a day. Somewhere I heard about these patches (that I didn't have and couldn't find), and how you can mimic them with tea bags! So this is Part Two: Trying The Tea Bag.

I cut out a small rectangle from a teabag. I put a basecoat on my nail and while that was still wet, I placed the tea bag with tweezers on my nail. I pressed it with my finger. Then I added another layer of basecoat. 

I waited until it was fully hardened and then I filed off the excess pieces. Here you see my index finger still with the tape, while I'm working on my middle finger.

Afer that I applied 3 coats of my nail polish (Catrice "Vanilla Love"), here you see the difference between the tea bag and the tape:

Unfortunately, later that night, this happened:

So: I cleaned my nail:

It's baaaaad....

I took another piece of tea bag. This time I wanted to try and cover my entire nail, to see if that would be prettier:

Again: basecoat, tea bag, basecoat, let it dry and file:

I started with my nail polish, only to discover that it was really bumpy, the tea bag. 

So I decided to apply a ridge filler:

This is the result with 2 more coats of polish and a topcoat.

In the end, I can't decide between a local piece and a nail-covering piece. The nail covering piece may make things smoother, but it requires a lot of ridge filler and it is very tricky to polish neatly around the edges. The local piece leaves a little texture that isn't nice, but perhaps with ridge filler that would be solved. Anyway, this lasted for a whole day. Now mind you, this is my right hand. Had it been my left, I'm sure it would've lasted longer.

Stay tuned for part 3!!!

xoxoxo

Captain

Save The Nail!

Hey beauties!

Today I tore 2 nails... Even though yesterday morning I woke up with a perfect mani, a lot of cleaning made my polish pop off and by the end of the evening only 3 nails were undamaged. I did not have time to stop cleaning, nor to nourish my nails with oil, nor to quickly give them some new polish. This morning I had to hurry to the office and by the time I got there, my nails looked awful and two of them were torn. Luckily I had grabbed some nail polish on my way to the office, but what to do about the torn nails? I had read someone saying something about scotch tape, so I tried it, and it seems to be working! Look:

Now I took tiny pieces of tape and placed it over the tear, folding it around my nail, two pieces per nail. Then I filed away some of the parts that were particularly out of bounds ... Then I applied a basecoat (on top of, and under the nail) and 3 coats of polish (I will review this particular colour tomorrow), finishing off with some top coat (which I will also review tomorrow).

This is the result:

I found it needed a fourth layer of nail polish, so I did and this is the result, as seen from a little further away:

That's not half bad, now is it? I will go to the  drugstore later and try to find a better, and hopefully more permanent solution.. This probably won't hold for long.. But right now I don't feel afraid for it tearing further, so that is good!

Do you have any better solutions for me?

xoxoxo

Captain