Friday, June 13, 2014

Day Thirteen: Chic Nails

Faux books which hold my nail goodies, and Ecoya Vanilla Bean hand lotion.


Something that always helps me feel more pulled together is spending a little time on my nails.  I’m with French women here.  Apparently ‘they’ (not generalising at all) prefer short, neat, natural-coloured or un-coloured nails, with painted toes.

Working five days a week in a busy shoe store I cannot wear polish on my finger nails because the colour is chipped within one day.  Sadly.  On the upside, my nails never go yellow from being covered up, so there is that.

The job factor helped when I was decluttering my nail colours.  I now only have four shades and one of them is nude.  For special occasions I use the nude on my fingers, and I save the others for my toes.

Just for the record, none of my nail colours have any metallic or sparkle, they are all creamy.  I’m not young enough or old enough for shimmer I think.

The colours I use on my toes are a purple/black prune type colour, a bright red/orange and a taupe colour that was supposed to look like that lovely putty beige I’ve seen on women, but instead just looks dirty and horrid on me so it will I have to go.

I love the look of dark or bright fingernails but I’m always so nervous of chipping the colour before I get to where I’m going.  That would positively ruin my night.  Maybe I’ll get brave one day.

My nails get to a certain length and then one seems to go.  That is the cue for all the others to be filed down to the same length.  My mother’s worst nightmare (if that doesn’t sound too dramatic) which I absorbed growing up, was nails of different lengths on the same person, so I always have to have them the same length.

By the sofa I keep a nail file and thick hand cream and I can multi-task while I’m watching tv.

I admit I did have a year-long flirtation with acrylic nails more than a decade ago and it was fun for something different.  But these days I’m very happy to be low-maintenance and low-cost.

How about you?  What do you do with your nails?

12 comments:

  1. I also tried acrylic nails many years ago and felt quite handicapped with them. These days they are short and usually unadorned or a nude shade.

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  2. I keep mine short as they break very easily, I also use a nail hardener which seems to help a bit? Yes When I was in Paris in Feb this year, I made a point of looking at nails, there were a lot of young ladies daring to wear slightly brighter shades than their older counterparts, but in general,It did not seem to be a fashion trend like a lot of countries. However I was distracted by a million and one other things too!

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  3. I only wear polish on my toes and my go to colors are silver or a pearly raspberry. Whenever I try to use other colors I hate it! At least that area is simplified! ;)

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  4. Nice nails make me feel better. I wear light pastels on my nails and maybe a little bit more colour on my toes. I like blue on my toes and nails for beach vacation. Sigh.... unfortunately it happens not that often. My nails don't grow long either but I have never had acrilic nails. Not elegant in my book. To prevent turning my nails yellow I use a base coat and to keep manicure last longer I use top coat and renew it every day/every other day.

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    1. Hmm, I am going to try this! I'd love to polish my nails if the polish would stay on. Thanks for sharing, Maria. :)

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  5. Hi Fiona, I keep my nails polish free. It's just easier for me, and I like the look of clean, stain free healthy nails. It's almost uncommon to see a woman with unpolished toenails so I think it's refreshing to see unpolished well-kept feet! Also, I keep them slightly rounded rather than squared at the tips. The square tips worn by some women on their finger nails looks unfeminine to me and remind me of spatulas!

    On another note, I just found out I will be going to Paris (& possibly Italy) in July. It's been 12 years since I've been to France so I am so excited. I thought of you since you and I were there around the same time last time :)

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  6. I just did a post about taking biotin for my nails. It has really helped! I love polish, but a big reason I always wore it was to protect my nails. Now they are strong and healthy and I am enjoying going polish free for a season. I'm even letting my toenails be polish-free, almost unheard of for me. I'm sure I'll polish my toes again, but nails? I don't know. It's so freeing!

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  7. I had a brief encounter with gel nail polish, but getting it off is horrific. Since I play the guitar, I keep my nails quite short with clear or very pale polish. The toes are another thing altogether. I change up the color every time I get a pedicure and sometimes the young lady puts a little design on the big toe. Fun for vacation.

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  8. I have had gel nails for over 10 years now usually with french polish but of late have been having a dusty pink polish which I am loving. My nail lady does a beautiful job, and they are kept short and look very natural. I mostly do my own toes with occasional salon pedis.

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  9. Another shop girl here with short nails. I did get a professional manicure for about six months once but I didn't like it. Maybe I'm weird but my nails feel suffocated by polish. I keep mine short, battle a bit with my cuticles but recently Burt's Bee Lemon Cuticle Cream has helped a lot.
    http://www.burtsbees.com.au/natural-products/hands-and-feet/
    I have a serious concern with the long term effects of acrylic nails on the nail bed even though I refuse to wear them myself.

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  10. I do not wear nail polish. My nails are healthy. However, I still own 1 clear and 3 colored nail polishes.

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  11. I loved having acrylic nails, but eventually decided to just maintain my own nails. They are short/medium in length and I change the color weekly. I go for nudes/light pinks or reds. I find if you use a quality base and top coat like OPI, they rarely chip.

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Merci for your comment. Wishing you a chic day!