My mirror, my friend

I am vain. I admit it. You may have noticed due to all the pictures I post of myself. I figure my vanity is OK because I’m pretty diligent with my preparedness. That makes up for it. And I have two callings at church, which also counteracts the amount of time and money I spend on myself. (Actually I’m a brunette who likes being a brunette so monetarily I’m way ahead of all you brunettes who are convinced that you’re really blondes. No highlights and root touch-ups for me, suckers!)

Lately I have been spending an excessive amount of time on my eye makeup (one of these days I’m going to do a tuturial. Really. Because I never got around to it on Makeup Monday) and on my nails. I used to get my (fake) nails done all the time when we lived in Oregon. This was back in the Pre-Cambrian age when I had to drive twenty minutes to get to a nail salon. I can barely remember the time when there wasn’t a nail salon on each corner. Then we moved to Utah and I was still getting my fake nails done. But I noticed that everyone was getting their fake nails done by then. Everyone. Even our fifteen year-old babysitter. And I kind of hated being like all the fake Utah girls (although I don’t have fake boobs or a fake tan so I’m already way better than them*). So I decided to let my nails go natural and boring. Being a nail-biter who loves her bad habit, my nails haven’t looked good since then. My nails are peely and brittle and then there is the whole hangnail issue. Apparently my vanity only made it down to my elbows.

I tend to not bite my nails when they are painted but you know what a drag it is to have to keep up polish. Every day there is something chipping off. What a drag. But, my friends, a miracle has occurred! And its name is Gelish. It’s a brand new type of polish that lasts for two weeks and does not damage your nails at all. It’s true! I have tried it! There are similar types of products such as Shellac (which I’ve heard through the grapevine is not quite as durable). But I am loving my Gelish. It’s sold “to professionals only” and you have to go to a salon that does Gelish to get a manicure. But being a DIY girl through-and-through I bought all the stuff myself off of Amazon and ebay. It’s not cheap. No ma’am. It only cures with a 36-watt UV lamp (at least $75). And the polishes, base coat and top coat are between $15-25 each. But once I figured that I would be doing my nails, plus my girls’, plus my moms’ (who has the most awful nails in the history of the world so her polish only lasts a week), it seemed not too unreasonable.

Plus, as I mentioned, I’m vain. And the promise of having lovely nails for days–no, weeks!–on end is pretty intoxicating.

And I make my own soap and lotion, for crying out loud. So look at all the money I’m already saving! Money that I can now spend on my nails.

It takes a couple of tries to get the hang of applying Gelish. But I’ve been wearing this red polish for nine days already. And this is after spending an hour scrubbing bathtubs with that harsh, nasty cleanser AND painting the hallway in my house (requiring much scrubbing of the hands to remove latex paint) AND doing a whole bunch of crafts involving acrylic paint (again requiring much scrubbing of the hands). Impressive, no?

*I have zero problem with fake boobs. It’s just when it’s combined with fake everything else that it starts to irritate. And if you happen to be smaller than a size 6 I will be especially critical of you. Sorry. (Not really.)

6 thoughts on “My mirror, my friend

  1. You crack me up. I'm with ya on the boob thing. I really do need to try the Gelish manicure. I get so annoyed when my polish chips after a day or two. It looks like it is working out great for you! Your hands look so nice.

  2. I am with you, I have no desire for fake boobs or to be a bathtub blonde. I do color my hair but only to cover the gray. It's only gray on top and if I let it go I would look like Pepe LePeu. I don't do my nails. Lately I have broken the whole vanity thing. I do need to start looking more like a girl. I keep telling myself when I lose the weight. Just another excuse though. Your nails do look great though! I may have to look into this.

  3. I gave up painting my nails a long time ago. Every now and then I'll put on clear polish, but that's it. (And only because you can't really tell what it's chipped–and by chipped I mean "that I've gnawed on it subconsciously.") I paint my toenails in the winter with 99 cent nail polish and that's about it. 😀

    Hurray for real boobs.

  4. I must have used up my fingernail points on boobs, since I truly DO have the worst nails in the world, and DDD cups! I say hooray for your Galish, cause it has worked & looked better than anything ever has on my nails!

    How's about I trade you an hour of sewing for each weekly manicure? (And how do you get this stuff off once it DOES peel!)

    (And have you noticed that vanity only works for those who are beautiful already, Cute Stuff?)

  5. Ok, that entices me. because I cannot stand fake nails, and I cannot stand all the time and effort involved with regular nail polish only to have a it chip hours later. But I also don't know if I love having polished nails enough to spend all that money. Maybe you can try it out on me next time I visit to see if it's worth it. (Did you really buy the UV light??)

  6. I bight my nails, too. I was excited about a durable nail polish until I read about the nail salon or lots of supplies part. I think I'll stick with my ugly nails.

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