Review: Jessica Nails Nourish Cuticle Formula

I've been growing my nails for nearly two months now and they're coming on nicely, I've gotten over the casualties as the growth rate on the other nails has placated me greatly.

As I haven't had nails before, I didn't (read: still don't) know how to take care.  I'm not ashamed to say that I didn't know what cuticles were up until a few weeks ago but now I'm fully up to speed on all this nail talk.

I wanted my nails to grow a bit faster so I decided to raid my Jessica Nails goody bag which I won on Twitter.  I call it a goody bag despite the fact that you can actual buy it as an item.

The packaging looks battered because it has been lolling around in my handbag, when I first got it, it was immaculate and the writing on the lid was not chipped at all.

Jessica Nails say it is "an all-time classic cuticle therapy, this pure blend of antioxidant vitamins and healing agents provides instant hydration and continuous moisture to nourish and soothe cuticles and nails. It feeds the matrix of the nail as it’s massaged in to stimulate circulation and growth."

I say that they're bang on.  This is the first cuticle cream I have ever used and I don't think I will use another.  I know a lot of people swear by Lemony Flutter from LUSH but I didn't like the smell of that so I decided to use this up.  When I had my manicure at LFW, Heather used this on my fingers and said it would help in repairing "rips" in my skin.

I like the way it comes in a small sized tub because you can just chuck it in your bag and leave it on your desk without it looking like you've opened up a nail bar.

You only need a really tiny amount and it rubs in really quickly.  If, like me, you're a bit heavy handed, your fingers will look greasy but it sinks in quickly so you're not left with a film on your fingers.

Here's what the product looks like:

I've been using it for a bit more than 2 weeks and it is still going strong, there is a lot left in the tub.

The smell is also pretty nice, the best word I can use to describe the smell is delicate..but not overly girly.  I know that description is really helpful ;) I find that it doesn't smell cheap or too rich.  It's basically the kind of smell you can live with on your fingers...and that sentence sounded better in my head than it does typed out.

Does it do everything it says?
Healing agents which provide instant hydration? Check. It really moisturised my nail area when I put it on, it sunk it and afterwards my nail are felt a lot softer.  I also had a "rip" on the skin at the bed of the nail on my right hand thumb and after a few applications of Nourish, the rip was totally gone.  I forgot to take a photo of said thumb which is typical.

Nourished and soothed cuticles and nails? Yep, after using this my nails felt SUPER smooth, even without nail polish on, they looked shinier and felt stronger.

Growth and circulation stimulated? Yes, my nails have been growing faster since I've started using this.

Here's what it looks like before I rub it in:

Purchase?
When mine runs out, I'm deffo going to buy some.  I never knew that products like this could give you these kinds of results.  I thought that you only got really good nails through taking those nail vitamins and eating tonnes of fresh produce.

You can buy Nourish here.

Project Grow Your Own: A while since week 4

Well, it's been a while since I last showed off how my nails were growing on here.

I've had my Jessica Nails manicure (which was gor diddly orgeous) and I've applied polish a few times myself (both with favourable and non favourable results).

The one thing I've been doing consistently with my nails is applying this:

I'm more than happy with most of them, apart from one that broke because it was damaged and the two that snapped themselves because I kept nibbling them :( In my defence, they only broke this week.

I've also got a problem, can any of you nail-y gals help me out? Scroll down and you will see it, it's nothing gross!

Project Grow Your Own Week 4 aka ONE WHOLE MONTH!

I've been growing the stumps for a month now and white bits no longer phase me and I'm having no cravings to bite my nails.  I really wanted to speed growth up a bit but there were many conflicting reports on the web.

I was on Twitter last week and I spoke to Jayne from Just Beauty Direct (incidentally, they were the first company I ever ordered makeup from online and their service is great, they give you full sized extras with your orders and they actually think about what colours would match you instead of whacking just anything in the bag..plus every item comes in a cute little gauze bag.  Oh, AND they colour code your items so your samples are in a different colour bag to the items you ordered).    You can follow Jayne on Twitter (she's a fountain of knowledge, I tells ya!)

Anyway, Jayne suggested using a cuticle cream or a cream which claimed to strengthen nails.  So, I went to my Clarins box and found the nail cream within.  I used it religiously all week and it didn't do much.  I haven't given up though, I have been using my Sally Hansen top coat and that's doing me some good.  I was wearing a purple colour on my nails but took it off so I (and you) could see if there's been more growth.

Here are the nails for your perusal:

I'm going to pick up Soap and Glory's Handfood as I've heard nothing but good things about it.

Project Grow Your Own Week 3

This is indeed the third week of me growing my nails (despite my other post just being posted the other day).  The astute amongst you will notice there was no week 2.  This is for many reasons, the main one being my general rushing around doing things and forgetting to take a photo.

My nails are now growing at a speed I like, I can see the white bits forming on many of them, which is nice.  I've ditched the "put coloured polish on so I won't bit them" approach as the polish chipped real quick and I didn't like the frequent re-applying.  I could have overcome that problem by applying ones which don't chip but I'm keeping them for when my nails are at a (near) universally acceptable level.

Anyway, I'm now (under the guidance of Jo) wearing just this:

Funnily enough, I haven't had the urge to bite my nails or anything..I'm not doing anything different in life since before biting them so maybe I was just being silly before and biting them for no reason? I ran this idea past the Mr and he decided to keep quiet..

This was meant to be a quick post but succint and my rambling nature aren't exactly a match made in heaven, so, finally, here are the nails:

I'm not sure why I took one photo with the flash on and one with the flash off and why the second one looks a bit vintage but the main thing I'm taking from this is the emergence of white bits.  I even managed to scratch Mr Ross yesterday :)

I can't believe that next week will be week 4 of growing the stumps, I'm quite chuffed with myself.  The single thing keeping me going is the thought of being able to apply Jessica Nails Black Ice which is my current favourite polish..it has nothing to do with the fact that it smells like Southern Comfort *hic*

Do you guys think that any of the polishes out there which claim to make your nails grow actually work? Also, I was thinking of getting some of those Revlon falsies.  Is this a wise move or should I just let my natural nails grow on as they are?

Project Grow Your Own..presenting: Nails Inc..luded: Week 1

(Before you read the post, please note that photos herein are not pretty so you have been warned, if you're eating..come back later)

I assume that is the way most human beings come...that is of course, those who don't bite their nails.

My nail biting has been mentioned on this blog quite a few times by me and now I've decided it is time to stop.  I'm listening to Erasure's A Little Respect at the moment (which I feel is quite fitting) and whistling along like a wally but hey, that's the luxury you can afford when the Mr knows what kind of nut he lives with.

Anyway, nail biting - bad.  Plus, it looks really ugly too.  I'm not going to lie, I think my nails look horrible.  I don't have a problem getting my hands out on the tube and holding onto the rails to prevent me falling over as I'd rather people see my busted nails than me become acquainted with a dirty Tube floor.

I've been reading more and more nail related blogs recently..well not entirely nail related but blog where the owner/author does great posts on polishes and Konad art.  Check out the following blogs because these ladies are great for encouraging nail growth:

• Louise at Get Lippie

• Helen and Sheenie at Helen and Sheenie's Nice Things

• Charlotte at Lipglossiping

• Jo at BeautyliciousLove

• Leanne at DoNotRefreeze

They're all responsible for me deciding to grow my nails and use the plethora of nail varnishes I have at my disposal.  I grew my nails once before and the method which worked for me was the "polish makes them look nice so you don't bite them" method.  It's working quite well so far, I put the polish on Saturday and haven't had the urge to bite them or anything which is good going for me.

I've used tonnes of things on my nails over the years to stop me biting them, firstly I had the Stop N Grow polish which was very weak.  They claim there is a bitter taste but it was negligible and didn't stop me doing anything.  I did like the way it was a polish though.

The next product I used was this sponge thing where you dipped your fingers in and then let it get to work.  It was really disgusting and had a bitter taste which was horrendous but I had to stop using it because it tainted all the food I ate and that wasn't nice.

Anyway..

These are my Week 1 nails:

I've used George@Asda's polish in Raincloud on them and then a Sally Hansen topcoat (I nearly typed overcoat, har har).   This worked last time when I swatched it on a nail so hopefully it will work for them all.  I will be posting about this once a week so I can track my progress and not fall off the wagon.

These are my Week 2 (early) nails:

I've used a Revlon colour here and a Sally Hansen topcoat again.  I really need to learn to put it UNDER the polish too.  The only reason I've posted two sets of nails is because I've changed my polish and I've already seen grown on both the ring finger and the right hand pinky.  It's funny..usually I would have had the urge to bite but I don't seem to have it..must be the visions of matte polish I'm having.

Pardon the ring finger, it's a bit miscoloured because it's the one I jammed in a car door and had to take anti biotics for and its taking its sweet old time going back to a normal colour.

 What do you ladies use to help your nails grow and have any of you ever been biters? Also, how long (roughly) do your nails take to grow because I'm eyeing up polishes as I type..