Fancy a Quickie?

I bought these back when I was growing my nails because I got into the habit of changing my polish every day and I didn't want to keep cracking out some liquid or overuse my Sally Hansen sponge because it smells quite strong.

Wow, what a long sentence that was.

They smell like rotten mangoes and make your fingers feel really dry, stay clear of these as a quick fix!

Exams + Me = Nails No More

I've been banging on about my exams on Twitter recently and they've had an adverse effect on my nails.  I never believed the old "nail biting moment" thing before..mainly because I did that all year round anyway so never had any nails to bite?

I've got three exams this week and my nails have been chewed down..they look like they've been trimmed down but it's my motormouth which is the culprit.

This was my thumbnail a few weeks ago:

It grew considerably longer and then...

However, I'm secretly quite happy about this..simply because NOW I can use these:

Does anyone have any experience with false nails? Apart from a very dodgy outing with them when I was in year 9 at school and decided to whack them on (without filing them down), I've stayed away.  Is there a protocol to follow re. putting them on? Help a noob out!

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!

FOTD: Fail of the day featuring me, Sally Hansen and Nails Inc

My Jessica Nails manicure started chipping the other day and I kept going with it until it started to look totally raggedy.  On Tuesday, I decided that I'd paint my nails as soon as I got home.

So, come 5 p.m. I found myself striding through my front door like a woman on a mission.  I found the polish, "de worked" myself (changed my skirt for pj bottoms and my top for my favourite t-shirt stolen from the Simon fund) and decided to start painting my nails.

The colour I chose was Motcomb Street by Nails Inc.  I've never been shy to proclaim my love for Nails Inc polishes in the past and I never took much notice when people said they found the polishes to be streaky and the brushes to be dodgy, I just assumed they had bought a bad one.

Anyway, I sat down, got the brush out for a polish which looked decidedly like a dark petrol blue.  I took the brush out and applied it and the polish was green! There was no indication from looking at the bottle that it would be green but I didn't mind as this colour was equally nice so I started to apply the first (thin) coat.

In short, it didn't work, the brush was dodgy and didn't take the colour too well, it applied really streaky and I had to apply a massively thick coat just to cover my nail.

I vented about this on Twitter and was told by other bloggers that their freebie Nails Inc polishes were a bit dodgy and also that Nails Inc polishes are like a lottery, some good, some bad.

This experience makes me think twice about Nails Inc, I hadn't noticed this until now but I seldom reach for Nails Inc anymore, I either pick up my George@ASDA polishes or my Jessica Nails ones.  The other Nails Inc polishes I use seem to be deteriorating in quality too but the brushes are fine.

I took a photo so you could see the actual colour and the horrible application job, I blame the polish and brush for the polish on my skin because I had to redo parts of the nail due to streakiness:

The biggest loser in this story is Nails Inc, I was going to buy some more of their polishes during my lunchbreak at work tomorrow as they have a salon down by Canary Wharf station but now I'm not going to bother..

The two winners of the story are me (naturally) and Sally Hansen.

I bought this from the Pound Shop the other day:

I really like it.  However, there is a problem.  The smell.  It smells really strong, so strong that I had to stand by an open window and use it and even then I could still smell it.  If you have young kids, I wouldn't use it anywhere near them because it does really whiff.  I made the mistake of smelling it and it whooshed up my nostrils super fast.

It contains no acetone but it dried my fingers out a bit, I wouldn't use it every day and if you moisturise your hands, you won't realise a difference.  It also contains Keratin which I know is good for your nails!

Anyway, it's a sponge in a jar and you just dip your fingers in and it cleans them, I've done a little step by step thingy so you can see that it actually works:

I'd already taken my finger out of the sponge when I took this shot, it took all the polish off the nail.

You can get this in different smells, namely a lemon scented version and an apricot scented version.

Have you ladies had any fail varnish (see what I did there?) experiences? Don't be shy, share them with the group!

London Fashion Week: Part 3: The manicure!

Before I attended LFW I was asked if I wanted a complimentary manicure and for someone who has been growing her nails, I'd have been a fool to say no.

The EdC show finished and I hung around a bit waiting to find someone who could take me backstage.  The staff were, to their credit very helpful and polite.  I don't think I could have been so polite if my work day had of been so hectic.

I was finally led to the backstage entry and given this:

I went on through to the media room and was introduced to Heather from Jessica Nails by Mary Tabitha (also from Jessica Nails).

Heather sat me down and asked me questions about my nails and what I wanted from the manicure and so I started rambling about how I'd been growing them and how one was a bit funny (anti biotic nail) but how now I was pleased that I had a surface where you could put more than a milimetre of nail polish.

She was really patient and listened to everything I had to say and explained which products would be best for my nails.

The manicure itself was my first ever manicure and I now have very high standards for any which follow.  I can't remember the order in which Heather applied products because I didn't think to write it down as soon as I got home but I don't have it totally out of sync.

Everything that was used on me was by Jessica Nails so I'll just state the name of the product.

First, Heather removed my clear nail polish with this and then got me to soak my fingers in some warm water.  I don't know if it was plain warm water or if it was diluted with a Jessica Nails product.  My fingers and were dried and Heather applied some Nourish Cuticle Formula and worked that into my cuticles (I have this in the Jessica Nails giveaway that I won on Twitter but was never sure how to use it but I do know now).  I asked a million and one questions about what cuticles were (I had no idea) and she explained what they were and how to make sure that you are removing only cuticle and not parts of the nail/skin.

Heather then applied some Phenomenon Oil to the cuticle area and massaged it in.  My cuticles were then pushed back by a vibrating machine thingy which looked painful but totally wasn't.  My nails keep getting really dirty underneath and despite me having cleaned them a million and one times during the day, they still had dirt under them so Heather took a wooden stick thingy (which I've since learnt is called an orangewood stick) and took the dirt out from under my nails.

My cuticles were then trimmed with a cuticle trimmer (shocker, I know!) and some more Nourish Cuticle Formula was rubbed in.

My nails were then filed into a round shape which I was told was the best and strongest shape for nails.  I didn't really notice a difference until I properly examined my nails the day after, they looked a lot more "professional" in shape.

My nails were brushed with warm water to get any of the excess cuticle off my hands.  I soaked them again and they were dried and ready for painting.

Heather applied Reward (a basecoat) and then two coats of the nail polish I chose (I really should have asked for the name!)

Oh, I forgot to mention this.  I asked about my anti biotic nail (ring finger nail) and Heather said that the actual nail had been injured and that this was why there was a ridge in it but she did have a product for it so that nail got a special coating with Flawless which helps to even out nails with bumps and ridges.

I asked about drying times and was told that Jessica Nails nail polish works itself into the nail and by the time you've completed your last nail, the first one is dry.

After two coats of polish, a top coat (Brilliance) was applied and once that had dried Heather added a drop of Quick Dry to each of my nails so that the polish would dry quicker.

One thing I was mighty impressed with was the high standard of hygiene, Heather cleaned her hands with a sanitiser after every single step which is something I have never seen a manicurist do before (I've seen them carried out, never had one myself).

This is the finished product and the pics don't do the brilliance of the manicure any favour, it was looking mint when I had it done but I had to get things out of my bag and pockets and so there were some slight imperfections, all my fault though :(  I took the first two pics on the Tube so the bumps and wobbly bits are reflections. 

This is how they looked when I was back home:

I didn't think to ask the name of the colour I chose to go on my nails but it's a very nice dark purple/plummy affair and I love it.

The manicure lasted from Sunday until Friday and I've decided that when my nails are a bit longer, I'm going to get another Jessica Nails manicure.

NOTD (woot woot): Jessica Nails Black Ice (and a mini-ish review)

I won this polish along with some other Jessica Nails items back in December.

There is already a post on what I won (check it out here).  This polish was the standout polish me for, not in terms of application but in terms of the stunning colour.  All the colours that I recieved are fantastic but this is my favourite.  It's very hard to photograph and I had to edit the pics to get the true colour out (and even then it's about 100 times better).

Black Ice is the name of this beauty.  It's a shiny, glossy black with palpable bits of smooth glitter in it.  I say smooth because you do get nail polishes which have gritty glitter in them.  This, however, is not one of them.  Once the polish is dry, you can run your fingertips over the polish and it's all smooth. 

   

You know how sometimes you get a nail polish with glitter in it and you have to apply it five times to get a decent glitter coverage on the nail? One coat with this gives you proper glitter coverage. Also, you know how sometimes, you apply a glittery polish only to find that the glitter has worn off? This isn't the case, the glitter stays put.  I've washed dished and handwashed some clothes and it hasn't come off.

Another thing I love about it is the fact that it's two polishes in one.  You know I wax lyrical about makeup that saves time, well this beauty saves money.  After one coat, it's a nice sheer colour and after two, its "unsheer".

Pardon the dodgy application, I'm a noob as most you know.  This is the polish after two coats

I keep thinking of more things to like about this polish, if you have no patience then Jessica Nails are the polishes for you, if you apply a second coat whilst the first is wet, you get no smears and it blends in seamlessly.

I still get urges to chew my nails but the prettyness of this polish prevents me from wanting to touch them.  It's been on a few days now and I'm having no chips and the colour hasn't faded either.

I'm not sure if the brush is a different shape to other brushes but it applied really nicely, no gloopy messes and the brush was a nice "bump" kind of shape.

I've left the best til the end.  The smell of the polish is like no other.  When I applied it, I couldn't smell the usual polish smell.  When it dries, it smells like Southern Comfort..something which is never a bad thing!

In short, I love this.

Black Ice retails for £8.95 and can be bought here.

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..

Jessica Nails

Some time last week I entered a Jessica Nails giveaway on Twitter and I subsequently won (it would kinda defeat the purpose of this post if I hadn't).

Now, I'm a nailbiter and for some reason I've never been able to stop for a significant period of time. I've grown my nails for parties etc..but they've been bitten as soon as the party is over.  The last time I managed to grow a single nail to a decent length was when I swatched the ASDA nail polish.

The fact that I'm a chronic nailbiter has not, however, prevented me from amassing a million and one nail varnishes so I was still pretty happy that I'd won this giveaway.  I'd never heard of Jessica Nails before this and I'm saddened by that as these nail polishes are great for oh so many reasons.

Anyway, before I get into that, here's what I won..

Look how rammed that little bag of goodies is. I'm going to take a second (read 150000 minutes) to go on about the packaging. I got the package on Saturday morning at 7.30 a.m. Usually, the postie would have had to leave it at the door but because I was up for a desi function anyway, I was more than happy to grab the box.  Fast forward 10 minutes and Mr Ross is going mad because I'm sitting in my dressing gown ogling my goodies. Fast forward 20 minutes and Mr Ross is somewhat placated as I've finally managed to get dressed and put my makeup on and hide the goodies (just incase we get burgled, because you know, nail varnish is the first thing those skanky burglars will take).

The box was a standard cardboard box but was packed with both massive bubblewrap and those funky S shaped polystyrene thingies you get. I was super excited when I saw the pink bag above, namely for the cute little nail varnish tag..

How gorgeous is that? The tag explains the contents of the little bag.  The visually and mentally astute amongst you will realise that the bag in the photo above contains more than is detailed on the back of the label.  That's because the folk at Jessica's Nails also sent me four nail varnishes.

These are the goodies I got in the bag:

A nail file which I found looks very classy (as far as nail files go), some hand/foot emulsion (I love that name), some cuticle care bits and an oil. Now, I'm a complete proper nail care novice so I'll be Googling how to use the certain bits. I've only smelt the pink cuticle care cream and it smells really nice, I can't place the smell but it will come to me.

I got four nail varnishes, two were of a larger size and two were smaller.  The two larger ones were Black Ice (a gorgeous black with palpable glitter in it which applies sheer after one coat and not sheer (?) after a second coat) and Midnight Mist.  Midnight mist is a really dark purply affair.

I'm a bit confused about the two smaller sizes because they came in their own cardboard box which simply stated "For your eyes only" on it.  At first I thought that was the name for both the shades (i.e. the name of the duo) but then I realised that it was the name of the purple polish.  Anyway, I'm not complaining as the colours are really nice and I assume that they're the travel sized versions. Even for a travel size, they're still pretty big.

I notice every little thing about stuff I buy/win and I feel that if the company go to an effort, someone should take notice of it. With the package I got a personal note from an employee at Jessica Nails and I also got this: 

I'm aware that everyone who won would have gotten the same thing but I loved the way the message on the back read as if it came from the heart. Plus, there is some great help inside if you have problem nails.

The only issue I have with the prize is one which is internal to me, that being my chronic nailbiting. You'd think that with diseases like swine flu doing the rounds that I'd have enough sense to not put my fingers in my mouth but in my defence, it's my nails, not my fingers (ha ha).  Anyway, I've decided to buy the Nibble No More from Jessica Nails because these polishes are far too nice to be hidden away on my toes or to be given to my mum (sorry, mum!) Hopefully that will work for me, I used a sponge dip version of that product before but it permeated onto food so I stopped using it.

The very next post will be a swatch/review of the nail polishes so stay tuned!