Nail Care - My Way

I've gotten some request and questions about how I take care of my nails. I'm not really sure that I'm doing it the "right way", but hopefully it can still be useful. I don't have a lot of trouble with my nails breaking. I think it's a combination of genetics, nutrition, and the products I use on my nails.

Genetics
Too late to do much about that one....

Nutrition
I'm pretty sure this is huge. I eat a lot of veggies and some fruit too. Broccoli is good even though I don't love the taste. Carrots are yummy. I believe in getting a very varied diet.


Unsaturated fats like oil are good in moderation. Sugar is bad. I don't eat candy or cake, and I don't drink soda. I just don't like the taste of sweets so it's easy for me. I've heard lots of people reporting that they felt better after they cut down on sugar. I also try to drink a lot of water (in between all the coffee) I don't take multi vitamins because I should be able to cover my needs through food. I do take a biotin supplement. Some people can take very large amounts of biotin, but it can cause acne. I take 2.5 mg and I haven't had any problems.

Products
Ah, the fun part. First of all, I don't believe you can "treat" your nails. They are made of dead cells just like your hair. Like your hair you can apply products that will support them and make them less likely to break, but after you remove the product; the effect will be gone. Here is my nail care rutine
1. Remove old polish with acetone free nail polish remover and felt I feel that acetone free remover is gentler and doesn't dry my skin out as much.
2. Soak the hands in hand cream I haven't found a perfect hand cream yet, so I just use what I've got.
3. Wipe the nails with the acetone polish remover. This will remove any residue from the hand cream and any oils that might be present on the nail.
4. Apply base coat. Currently I'm using Zoya Anchor which is decent. Before I used OPI Nail Envy. It sucked. It made my nails yellow.
5. Apply polish. This is actually the most important step. My nails have a much larger risk of breaking if they are unpolished or the polish is chipped. I usually apply 2-3 coats.
6. Apply top coat. For fast drying top coats I like Poshe. Sally Hansen also has some great fast drying top coats.
7. Apply cuticle oil. I'm currently using a Nubar Cucumber one. I try to let the polish dry for a least 30 minutes first.
8. Apply some more hand cream.

Shaping
I keep my nail polish on when shaping. It makes it easier to get the nails even when you don't have the white parts distracting. You're supposed to be really careful about shaping, but usually I just clip them with clippers. If I don't want to take a lot of length off I use an emery board. After I get them to the length I want, I file them (in one direction only) with a crystal file. Mine is from OPI and it's pretty nice. I prefer a square shape, but "squoval" (square oval) or rounded nails look nice too. Pointy nails would probably make good close combat weapons.

Other advice
Don't use your nails as tools. You've probably heard it before, but it doesn't make it less through. I don't really use my nails for anything besides looking at. If you use your nails to open stuff they are going to break. Just saying... Change your polish when it starts chipping. I usually never have nails break unless I let the polish chip. When the polish chips the nail below is not protected and it breaks easily. Don't soak your hands in water. The nails will suck up water and it will distort them causing the polish to chip. I solve this problem by never cleaning or showering (just kidding... about the showering). I hope that was helpful. Now go eat some broccoli.

Review: Skin Blossom Organic Bloom Care and protect hand cream

Man, I so wanted to love this product. In fact, I had decided that I was going to love it from the moment I saw it, but it was not to be. I bought this hand cream at Just Beauty Direct for £5.14. The tube has 60 ml of product. I think that's resonable. I like the design of the tube. The green pattern is quite pretty:

Ingredients: Water (Aqua), Helianthus Annuus* (sunflower oil), Prunus Amygdalus Dulcis* (sweet almond oil), Vitis Vinifera* (grape seed extract), Stearic acid, Glyceryl Stearate SE, Glycerin*, Glyceryl Stearate / Cetearyl Alcohol / Cetyl Palmitate / Cocoglycerides, Sodium Stearoyl Lactylate, Aloe Barbadensis leaf juice powder* (Aloe Vera), Butyrospermum Parkii* (Shea Butter), Phenoxyethanol / Benzyl Alcohol / Potassium Sorbate, Pelargonium Graveolens flower oil* (Rose Geranium), Sodium Benzoate, Citral, Geraniol, Citronellol, Limonene, Linalool.
*Certified organic. Hand cream is certified by the Soil Association and contains a minimum of 92% organic content.

The ingredients are ok. I love that it's certified organic, and it has 92% organic ingredients. A lot of organic products have a lot less (I believe they only have to include 10% to be certified as organic)

There are two problems with this hand cream:

Problem #1: It stinks. I absolutely cannot stand the smell of this. I'm allergic to mosquito bites, and this cream smells exactly like the products my parents would put on me to scare the mosquitos away. I've been testing the cream for a month, and I'm getting more used to the smell, but I still think it stinks. There goes one lemming point....
I think it's the Rose Geranium oil that smells like this, so if you already know that you don't mind that smell, maybe you'll like this cream.

Problem #2: It's not moisturizing enough. My hands aren't terribly dry, but this cream still isn't enough. It does absorb resonably quickly, and I like the texture, but that doesn't make up for the poor moisturizing properties.

I really, really support the idea of organic skincare, but this cream simply isn't moisturizing enough. Thumbs up for packaging, texture, and a high precentage of organic ingredients, but
thumbs down for the final product.

Verdict:
3/5 Lemmings - For a great idea that didn't turn out so hot (and smells bad).

Review: Aldo Valdini Hand and Nail Balm

I got this hand cream as a present a few years ago, but I didn't get around to using it until recently. I really like it. I'm pretty sure Aldo Valdini is a drugstore brand. I don't think it's available here anymore which is a shame since I want to buy another tube. The tube contains 100ml of product.
Ingredients: Aqua, Glycol Sterate SE, Glyceryl Sterate SE, Cetearyl Alchohol, Glycine Soja, Dicaprylyl Ether, Sorbitol, Tocopheryl Acetate, Chondrus Crispus, Zinc PCA, Manganese PCA, Copper PCA, Sodium Carbomer, Propylene Glycol, Parfum, Benzyl Alchohol, Phenoxyethanol, Methylparaben, Butylparaben, Isopropylparaben, C.I. 15510, 19140, 42090.

I'm pretty sure the ingredient list is in German (the cream is made in Germany). It has quite a few moisturizing ingredients. The two sterates, Cetearyl Alchohol, and Glycine Soy are all emollients. Sorbitol is similar to Glycerin (which means it's good for your skin). Chondrus Crispus (two words that sound amazingly cool together) is a red algea. The packaging does say that the cream has "sea minerals and algea" in it. I'm not sure red algea really does anything for the skin, but it is thought to have aphrodisiac qualities, as well as work as a cure for male impotence. How could you not want that in your hand cream?

The other ingredients are the "sea minerals" (which I suspect of doing nothing), preservatives, and dyes. It also has alchohol which is great for drying out skin as well as causing irritation...

To be honest, this cream isn't even that moisturizing. It's certainly not a heavy duty moisturizer. What is like about it is that it absorbs really quickly. I don't like walking around with greasy hands, and this works right away! I also don't have very dry skin on my hands, so it's perfect for me. I like the smell (very subtle) and feel of the cream. I hate to admit it, but I also like the light minty color.


Overall, I really like it, but I'm not sure it's a good product. The ingredients aren't amazing, but I would buy it again if I had the chance.

Verdict:
4/5 Lemming wheels - because I love it, but I'm not sure how good it really is

Review: Paula's Choice Cuticle and Nail Treatment

This is my first review! I figured it would make sense for me to review stuff since I have an opinion on pretty much anything, so expect more of them. The first deals with Paula's Choice Cuticle and Nail Treatment which is a cuticle oil as far as I can tell. It has the following ingredients:

Ricinus Communis (Castor) Seed Oil, Butyrospermum Parkii (Shea Butter), Oenothera Biennis (Evening Primrose) Oil, Cyclopentasiloxane, Olea Europaea (Olive) Fruit Oil, Rosa Canina Fruit Oil, Tocopheryl Acetate.

Castor oil is good stuff. It moisturizes well and penetrates deep into the skin. It's also used as a laxative (haha). It has an anti-inflammatory effect as well (this is also the case for evening primrose oil). Shea butter and olive oil are great moisturizers. Olive oil is also an antioxidant (woot woot), and so is the rosa canina fruit oil. The silicone (cyclopentasiloxane) makes the product feel better on the skin and helps protect the cuticle from water. Tocophetyl acetate is also know as Vitamin E, which is another powerful antioxidant.

These are very good ingredients for a cuticle oil, and I really do like this product. I think it's great that it's free of perfume to prevent irritation of skin that might already be very dry and cracked. The click pen makes application super easy, and it feels great on my cuticles. The cap clicks on and off easily and survived travelling with me without problems. In general I don't have major issues with extremely dry cuticles, so I can't say if it's moisturizing enough for that, but the ingredients are good.

There is only problem with this product: Price. $10.95/€ 11,30 for 0.06 oz/1.8 ml. That's not a lot of product. Probably only enough for a month of so if used daily. I'm taking one star off for the price. Other than that this is a great product, and I'll probably rebuy for use when I travel since the click pen is perfect for that.

Verdict:

4/5 Fat Konad Snowmen

Cuticle and Nail Treatment on Paula's Choice USA
Cuticle and Nail Treatment on Paula's Choice EU

The Lemming Has Landed: Nfu-Oh Cuticle Oils

Yes! I got my Nfu-Oh cuticle oils from ebay queen fabulous_nails:

Mango, Rose, Peppermint, and Vanilla.

I don't know if they're any good yet. I'm way too busy staring at them!

Nail Related New Year's Resolutions

Happy New Year!

Hope you guys had a good party last night. Hehe. At my house we had a very quite "party" because my boy friends was sick with the flu. It was still a good time though, and I'm not hung over!

So, lets talk new year's resolutions. Mine is to remember to use hand cream. I don't have particularly dry hands, but washing and cleaning nail polish off with acetone can dry them out a bit. I'm going to keep a couple of different hand creams around the house and bring one with me to work too.

How about you, dear reader. Any nail related new year's resolutions?

My Biggest Lemming: Nfu-Oh Cuticle Oils and more

Lemming (from Urban Dictionary): A lemming refers to a purchase/wished-for-item which results from reading an enthusiastic post about a new fabulous product. Overcome by compulsion, readers follow like lemmings diving off a cliff.

Lemming:

Cute, right?

Now here is my biggest lemming:

Lets have another one:

Beeeeeaaaauuuuuutil. These gorgeous little lemmings are Nfu-Oh Cuticle Oils. I believe the green one is Peppermint and the red one is Rose. Ahhhhhhh, look at the packaging:

In my not very humble opinion, this is the most beautiful nail care/polish packaging on the market. There is only one problem (well except for that thing about them costing money and all): The only place I can buy them is in New Zealand and it costs a lot to have them shipping. On top of that I'd had to pay a horrendeous fee + customs + toll.... No thanks. I have contacted my ebay Nfu-Oh pusher to see if she can get a hold of them. I still have hope!

Update: My Nfu pusher informed me that she can indeed get a hold of the cuticle oils. If you are interested; I suggest contacting her through ebay.